Library of Congress's Blog, page 191

A Big Day for "Small-d"

Here at the Library of Congress, we take in more than 10,000 items a working day – books, films, music, photographs.  Many are the basic stuff of everyday research; some are rare items, especially beautiful, unusual or unique; and some are major treasures of the world, to be held and preserved for the knowledge and benefit of future generations.

On October 23, 1991, we let one of those Really Big Treasures slip from our grasp – and were happy to do that, because we were sending it home in loving hands.

On that date, Vaclav Havel, then-president of Czechoslovakia (who died earlier this week) visited the U.S. Capitol to receive the 1918 first draft of the Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence, in the handwriting of the man who might be termed the Czech Thomas Jefferson — Thomas G. Masaryk, the first president of the Czechoslovak federation created at the close of World War I.  In a ceremony attended by the bipartisan leaders of the U.S. House and Senate, Havel was given the document to repatriate to his country.

It had been given to the Library of Congress to keep safe in 1951 after Czechoslovakia came under Communist rule, by Masaryk's former private secretary, Jaroslav Cisar.  At that time, Cisar stated that "it would, in proper time, be transferred to its final resting place in the Archives of the National Museum in Prague."

But in 1980, Cisar wrote to the Library and made an outright gift of the document, despairing of seeing his nation return to its earlier form of governance: "My hopes of seeing Masaryk's name restored to its rightful place in the official accounts of the foundation of the first formative era of our new state have, alas, proved to be overoptimistic," he said.

Cisar said he felt the document would be safer at the Library of Congress.  And so it was, until the day came — following the bloodless 1989 "Velvet Revolution" that brought playwright and anti-Communist Havel to his nation's executive mansion – when it could return home safely. Havel served as president of the republic of Czechoslovakia for 2-1/2 years, and later served two terms as president of the Czech Republic that followed.

Dr. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, noted that "This document … rightfully belongs to the people who have, after so many years, realized Thomas Masaryk's ambitions."

Then-House Speaker Thomas Foley noted, "Once the Library of Congress takes possession of a document, it seldom, if ever, gives it up … This is a major exception and only presented because it is a foundation document of a nation."

Havel said the care it had received at the Library of Congress "is better than it would have gotten on some shelf of the Communist Party."

"This deed is part of history," Havel said as he received the document, which he termed "the birth certificate of our nation … I cannot but be deeply moved."

Here's a webcast of a human-rights lecture Havel delivered in the Library's Coolidge Auditorium on May 24, 2005, titled "The Emperor Has No Clothes," when he was the holder of the Kluge Chair for Modern Culture at the Library's John W. Kluge Center.  You can also view a discussion Havel led at the Kluge Center on Feb. 20, 2007, titled "Dissidents and Freedom."

 

A Stradivari Good Copy

To say that a violin made by master luthier Antonio Stradivari (1644 – Dec. 18, 1737) is priceless is an understatement. His are some of the finest stringed instruments ever made, often selling for several million dollars – that is, when they are lucky enough to be found and put on the market. Of the estimated 1,000 violins Stradivari made, there are only about 650 still in existence. The Library has three of them (and a few violas and violoncellos he also made).

Violin by Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1704, "Betts" / Michael Zirkle

People have been copying these and other Stradavari instruments almost ever since they were first produced. And, while owning an original may be unattainable, thanks to some cool science, getting your hands on a pretty spot-on copy could be well within reach.

Minnesota radiologist Steven Sirr, along with violin makers John Waddle and Steve Rossow, have conceived a way to replicate a Stradivarius through CT scans. Using computed tomography (CT) imaging and advanced manufacturing techniques, they recently built a reproduction of one of the Library's Strad violins – the "Betts," dated 1704. Their goal was to "understand how the violin works" and to make reproductions available to "young musicians who can't afford an original."

Metallic aura scan of "Betts" violin / Steven Sirr

 

More than 1,000 CT scan images of the "Betts" were produced and then converted to a program that instructs a machine to replicate those elements. Then, Waddle and Rossow finished, assembled and varnished the replica by hand. What resulted was an instrument with a sound quality very similar to an original Strad, according to Sirr, who is also an amateur violinist.

Scan of front detail of "Betts" violin / Steven Sirr

This isn't the first time Library strings, including the "Betts," have been scanned. Through a project with the Smithsonian Institution, Bruno Frohlich, a research anthropologist with the Museum of Natural History, has scanned nearly 50 violins and other stringed instruments – by Stradivari, his peers and today's artisans – to study their anatomy of design and hopefully uncover that elusive sound secret.

A New Copyright Blog — and a Challenge

One of the largest card catalogs in the world, the U.S. Copyright Office card catalog comprises approximately 46 million cards. Photo by Cecelia Rogers, 2010.

The following is a guest post by Maria A. Pallante, Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office. See the new U.S. Copyright Office blog at http://blogs.loc.gov/copyrightdigitization/

Help Wanted: Have you ever attempted to build an electronic index and searchable database of a complex and diverse collection of 70 million imaged historical records? Neither have we.

Current records dating back to 1978 are available online and searchable at www.copyright.gov/records. The office's records date back to 1870, however, and many pertain to works still under copyright protection. These records are the focus of our current digitization efforts.  This is an ambitious project that I announced recently as one of several priorities and special projects the U.S. Copyright Office is undertaking. To date nearly 13 million index cards from our card catalog and over half of the 660 volume Catalog of Copyright Entries have been scanned, and the images have been processed through quality assurance and moved to long-term managed storage.

So, back to the earlier question: How do we go about creating a searchable database comprised of 70 million digital objects? For that matter, how do we create metadata for such a large volume of records? Assuming we would like to achieve full-level indexing, how do we do so on a rudimentary indexing budget? What technologies and creative approaches can we profitably employ to get this work done? We welcome your ideas and suggestions on these and many other questions related to this project.

The Copyright Office historical catalog serves as the mint record of American creativity, and there are great benefits to making the collection accessible online. We know that working collaboratively will ensure that the final product best meets the needs of the widest audience of users. I hope you will subscribe to our project blog at http://blogs.loc.gov/copyrightdigitization/ and visit our project web page at www.copyright.gov/digitization from time to time. Most of all, I hope that you will be an active partner in this important effort.