Library of Congress's Blog, page 25

“Just Jazz,” The Trailblazing Radio Show, Now at the Library

In the years before Donald Fagen co-founded the rock band Steely Dan, he rushed home to catch Ed Beach’s “fabulously erudite” jazz show on WRVR-FM. The New York Times described it as “the best of jazz interestingly presented. In fact, there’s nothing else quite like it on the air.”

From 1961 to 1976, Beach hosted “Just Jazz” on WRVR-FM in New York City. For two hours every weekday and four hours on Saturday nights, Beach played jazz — soloists, bands, traditional, modern — offering commentary in his distinctive deep voice. His playlist ranged from the early 1920s to the 1970s.  He featured artists who achieved great fame — Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Gerry Mulligan, Lester Young — along with musicians new to his audience, often airing first releases of recordings or first-generation reissues.

His show is a standout slice of the new releases that the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) unveiled on its website last year. The AAPB, a joint project of the Library and the Boston public broadcaster GBH, digitally preserves public radio and television programs and shares online content. The Council on Library and Information Resources awarded $330,816 to New York’s renowned Riverside Church and the AAPB in 2018 to digitize, preserve and make public previously unavailable WRVR archival recordings. Beach’s programs were separate — the Library acquired his collection in the 1990s — but they were digitized as part of the project. Beforehand, only a few were available on-site at the Library on request.

“Ed’s collection had incredible range,” said Rob Bamberger, the longtime host of “Hot Jazz Saturday Night” on WAMU 88.5, the National Public Radio station in Washington, D.C. “One of the things that I actually find so sweet about listening to Ed is that his presentation is stripped of the decades of analysis on jazz that we have now. Ed was working from a frame of personal reference, because he was so much closer to the original ground.”

“Just Jazz” is part of a larger new exhibit on the AAPB website devoted to WRVR-FM, a pioneering noncommercial broadcaster that influenced public radio’s early years. Operated by the Riverside Church — its dramatic limestone structure sits atop one of New York City’s highest points — the station presented a rich diversity of religious programming along with public affairs and current events.

WRVR’s civil rights reporting helped win the station a Peabody Award in 1964, and Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous antiwar speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” into a WRVR microphone in 1967. Countless others were also heard over its signal: Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, presidents and Supreme Court justices, novelists and playwrights.

But WRVR devoted most of its broadcast hours to music, especially in its early years, and “Just Jazz” was the station’s flagship jazz program. When Beach did his show, only the most celebrated early jazz recordings were publicly available, and jazz writing likewise focused on a small circle of performers. Beach’s show was far more wide-ranging.

Alan Gevinson, who directs the Library’s side of the AAPB project, invited Bamberger to help select which Beach programs to make available on the AAPB website. (Researchers can now access all 1,000-plus programs on-site at the Library or through GBH.)

Bamberger is a familiar face not only in Washington, but also at the Library. He joined the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in 1975 on a temporary appointment and retired in 2010 as an energy policy specialist.

A lifelong devotee of vintage jazz — a Tommy Dorsey Orchestra album hooked him in sixth grade — Bamberger started broadcasting weekly on WAMU in 1980 while continuing to work for CRS.

Occasionally, Bamberger also assisted with acquisitions, including the Library’s Jerry Valburn/Duke Ellington collection and the expansive 78 rpm jazz record collection of former Columbia Records executive Robert Altshuler. Bamberger also served as a liaison in acquiring the stunning William P. Gottlieb collection of jazz photographs.

In selecting Beach recordings for the AAPB website, Bamberger was guided partly by his interest in Beach’s take on artists from an era before jazz became an academic discipline and reissues became common.

Sydney Bechet playing at a New York club in 1947. Photo: William P. Gottlieb. Prints and Photographs Division.

Bamberger cites Sidney Bechet, master of the soprano saxophone, as an example. Born in New Orleans, Bechet lived in Europe in the last half of the 1920s.

“I’m curious to hear what Ed says of Bechet,” Bamberger said. “Louis Armstrong has gotten the predominant nod as jazz music’s first great soloist. I suspect that had Bechet been making records then in the U.S., the histories might regard him as Armstrong’s equal.”

In any case, Bamberger said, “The shows are an embarrassment of riches. How do you make choices when you can’t go wrong?”

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New Blog Look, Same Great Stories

The Library is coming up on its 223rd birthday in April and we got ourselves a modest present a bit early today: A refresh of our blog sites, to bring you the same great stories in an updated appearance. We can thank you readers for the motivation — readership of the Library’s blogs was up 18 percent last year, to some 5.5. million readers.

For this redesign, we’ve remade the entire look of the blogs, from the headlines to the layouts to the way photographs are featured. The page is cleaner, the reading space wider and overall look more streamlined. You’ll notice how much better this layout displays on your mobile phones and devices — which is important, since roughly half of our readers come to us on their phones.

This change has been in the works for more than a year, said John Sayers, chief of digital and content strategy in the office of communications.

“The Library’s blogs serve a critical role in telling the stories of the Library’s collections and services,” he said. “The blogs continue to be authoritative resources on the subjects they cover, and there are several posts that maintain strong traffic years after publication. Since they serve as the face of the Library to the public at large, we’re delighted to be relaunching them.”

Sayers expressed his gratitude to the Library’s internet technology team and to the more than 125 Library blog writers for their help. “The blog authors are the Library’s ambassadors and storytellers,” he said, “and their work brings to life everything we do.”

Another splashy change you’ll notice is that the landing page for all blogs also has been redesigned, with each blog getting a new signature image. This blog even has a new name, changing from the Library of Congress Blog to “Timeless.” It’s meant to evoke both the reach across the ages that the Library covers (some 4,000 years) in its collections of nearly 200 million items, as well as the future role that these items (and the stories they tell) will play in the nation’s culture.

The rotunda clock and surrounding sculpture in the Library’s Main Reading Room. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith.

Our new signature image, the rotunda clock in the Library’s Main Reading Room, has a nifty story itself. It, and the sculpture that surrounds it, was cast in 1896 and been greeting readers and keeping good time ever since. (It’s wound once a week by technicians in the Architect of the Capitol’s office.) It’s known as  “Mr. Flanagan’s clock” for its designer/sculptor, John Flanagan. The name might not sound familiar, but virtually everyone in the nation has seen his work — he also designed the original U.S. quarter.

In the close-up, you’ll see two young people, one reading and one writing, lounging on either side of time itself. It’s a pretty good summation of what a day at your favorite national library is all about.

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Jacqueline Katz, Library’s Einstein Scholar

Jacqueline Katz. Photo courtesy of the subject.

Jacqueline Katz is the Library’s 2022–23 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator. The fellowship program appoints accomplished K–12 teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics — the STEM fields — to collaborate with federal agencies and congressional offices in advancing STEM education. She has taught biology and chemistry at Princeton High School in Princeton, New Jersey, for the past 10 years. She began working with the Library last September.

What drew you to science teaching?

I grew up dancing, and it always fascinated me that the actions of microscopic cells and molecules allow for the macroscopic actions of a dancer.

In high school, I felt as if I did not get a chance to develop an understanding of how this connection is possible, so I majored in biochemistry as an undergrad. About halfway through undergrad, I started tutoring and encountered another fascinating puzzle: How can you present scientific information to people who do not process it the same way you do?

Tutoring showed me I could combine my curiosities surrounding the physical abilities of organisms and people’s cognitive abilities as a science teacher. I enrolled in a teacher certification program and figured I would see what happened. Ten years later, I am continually learning new things.

What resources at the Library have captivated you?

In one of my first weeks at the Library, Lee Ann Potter, director of Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives, took me to meet Manuscript Division historian Josh Levy. He showed me corn kernel samples from the papers of molecular biologist Nina Fedoroff.

The samples made me reflect on the many doors that corn research has opened in the sciences and its major role in our food systems. I then set off on a corn-themed rabbit hole that has taught me so much.

Many of the Library’s collections contain evidence of experiments that outline the evolutionary journey from teosinte, corn’s wild ancestor, to modern-day corn. These experiments were carried out by scientific characters such as Luther Burbank (the Library has his papers) and George Beadle. These stories of corn can be used to help students understand that science is a human endeavor that relates to economics, politics and society.

Luther Burbank in 1890, tending to a bed of cactus plants. Photo: Unknown. Prints and Photographs Division.

What are your stand-out projects so far?

Part of Fedoroff’s collection is born digital, and I worked with Chad Conrady and Kathleen O’Neil of the Manuscript Division to emulate older versions of software Fedoroff used to view documents. Opening some files required a bit of detective work, but we were ultimately able to view Excel spreadsheets of raw data, images taken with scanning microscopes and DNA sequences. I am very excited to bring these resources into the classroom and have my students think like Federoff.

Another project I have been working on in collaboration with Eileen Jakeway Manchester of LC Labs focuses on data as a primary source. I have been able to explore the selected datasets collection and unearth some interesting spreadsheets that will provide students with great opportunities to develop their data literacy.

Both of these projects have expanded what I thought was possible with the Library’s resources.

How are you sharing the resources you’ve discovered with other teachers?

As a part of the PLOI team, I have been given many opportunities to share.

One major outlet is the Teaching with the Library of Congress blog. A blog series now underway explores concepts that traverse all disciplines of science and suggests how primary sources can help elevate these concepts in the classroom.

I also presented at the National Council for Social Studies conference in early December. The ability to get feedback from other teachers in real time has been extremely helpful in my journey. I am looking forward to presenting at several other conferences in the spring and heading back to my home district for a workshop in February.

What do you wish more STEM educators knew about the Library?

I wish more STEM educators saw the Library as a hub of interdisciplinary learning. There are so many rich conversations that can be had surrounding the resources at the Library. Students need to incorporate knowledge from multiple disciplines to make sense of a primary source. The prospect of this type of interdisciplinary thinking has been incredibly motivating to me as a teacher.

I would urge other teachers to come to the Library to expand the way they think about their content area. You never know what you will find and the connections that can be made.

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Burt Bacharach, Gershwin Prize Winner: A Fond Farewell

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The Library’s Mark Hartsell, in the Communications Office, and Mark Horowitz, in the Music Division, contributed to this post.

Burt Bacharach, the elegant songwriter and composer whose lifetime of work the Library honored with the 2012 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, died yesterday in Los Angeles. He was 94.

Bacharach’s iconic career stretched for more than half a century, co-writing hits with lyricist Hal David (the pair shared the Gershwin Prize) that seemed to defy age or pop trends. His first big break in the 1950s was touring with show biz legend Marlene Dietrich; in the 21st century, he was working with rap impresario Dr. Dre and English singer/songwriter Elvis Costello. In between, he won eight Grammys, three Oscars and an Emmy.

“His songs were a uniquely American imprint on popular music and a testament to the power the creative spirit has to unify and uplift people all over the world,” said Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress.

Hits came for decades, most particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, with easy-on-the-ear melodies found in “Alfie,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Walk on By” and the Oscar-winning “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.”

He was a noted perfectionist and often said that he and David wrote only one song in a single day (“I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.”) The rest of his arrangements were crafted and then chiseled. “Songs that sound simple are deceptive,” he told The Guardian, the British Daily, in 2015. “It’s a very complicated process.”

The results were admired by musicians and adored by audiences. His songs were recorded by hundreds of artists, from Elvis Presley to Aretha Franklin to Frank Sinatra. His favorite interpreter was Dionne Warwick. Over time, his and David’s work became, much like the songs of George and Ira Gershwin, part of the American songbook.

The Gershwin Prize in 2012 was so meaningful to him that in his memoir, “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” published the following year, the final chapter was “The Gershwin Prize.” During his two-day visit to the Library, he spent nearly an hour discussing his work with the Music Division’s Mark Horowitz. (David, who had a stroke a few weeks before the concert, was unable to attend. He died in September of that year.)

The show, performed in the Library’s Coolidge Auditorium, began with host comedian and Bacharach fan Mike Myers in tuxedo, crooning Bacharach and David’s “What’s New Pussycat?” He first channeled through the song through his Austin Powers character, a natural fit since Myers had gotten Bacharach to make cameos in the Austin Powers films. Myers then crossed to performing the song as the soulful Tom Jones. Stagehands ran out to rip off his tear-away tuxedo, revealing a blue Elvis-style jumpsuit secured by a giant buckle bearing a name: Burt.

The artists who performed his songs as tributes that night showed off his range — jazz singer Diana Krall; pop star Sheryl Crow; the hard-to-define Lyle Lovett; and previous Gershwin Prize winner Stevie Wonder.

“I have followed you since I was a little boy,” Wonder said as he sat at the piano, playing and musing. “I’ve loved your music. I loved the chord structures. They inspired me so much — the words, the lyrics.”

Burt Bacharach at the 2012 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, when he and lyricist Hal David were inducted.

Bacharach ended the evening by leaning against the piano on stage, talking about his carer.

It was clearly a touching moment for a man who’d been in the spotlight before the dawn of the rock era. He recounted that when a journalist had asked him to put the Gershwin Prize in context of all his many awards, he listed it at the top.

“The Academy Award is just for one song or one score,” he said, recounting the conversation. “This award was for all of my work, and so for me, it was the best of all awards possible, and I meant that with all my heart.”

Warwick closed the show with “What the Words Needs Now is Love.” It was a fitting end to the night, and a fitting epitaph to his lifetime of work.

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NLS Shares Ukrainian Books to Aid War Refugees

People fleeing the war in Ukraine in March 2022, crossing into Moldova. Photo: UN Women/Aurel Obreja.

This is a guest post by Claire Rojstaczer, a writer-editor in the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. It recently appeared in slightly different form in the Library’s Gazette.

Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a flood of Ukrainian refugees has washed over Europe. The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled has found a way to help those distant refugees — thanks to an earlier wave of Ukrainian immigrants who settled in Cleveland, Ohio, some one hundred and forty years ago.

“I was attending a … meeting for the [International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions] section for libraries serving people with print disabilities in July when someone brought up the shortage of accessible Ukrainian-language books for refugees,” said Kelsey Corlett-Rivera, an NLS foreign language librarian.

She remembered that NLS had a selection of books in Ukrainian but held off on speaking up — she wasn’t sure that the NLS would be able to share them.

Since 2019, the United States has been a member of the Marrakesh Treaty, which allows it to exchange special-format books with other signatory nations even when those materials are under copyright. However, the treaty only allows NLS to share books it produced — which was indeed the case for the NLS Ukrainian collection.

“It turned out that almost all those books were produced by the Cleveland Society for the Blind on contract for the local NLS network library in the 1980s and ’90s,” Corlett-Rivera says. Cleveland has one of the largest and most established Ukrainian immigrant communities in the United States, with the first wave of immigrants coming in the 1870s and 1880s and settling on the west side of the city, according to the “Encyclopedia of Cleveland History,” researched and published by Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

During a follow-up meeting in September, Corlett-Rivera shared the good news with nations hosting refugees. “The main country excited was Lithuania,” she says, “but Finland, Norway and Germany also expressed interest.”

The Cleveland Society for the Blind tapes are just a small part of the foreign language collection at NLS’ Multistate Center East, a storehouse for books and other NLS materials located in Cincinnati. This collection, which includes approximately 900 Ukrainian books, is on cassette tapes, an analog format that NLS began phasing out 15 years ago — but MSCE employee Quincy Jones has been slowly working to digitize them. Once Jones converts a book from cassette, the digital files are uploaded to BARD, the NLS Braille and Audio Reading Download website.

It takes an additional round of format conversion to make the Ukrainian titles that Jones has digitized ready for upload to the Global Book Service of the Accessible Books Consortium , the online catalog that supports the practical implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty. That’s because NLS uses a different accessible book format than most of the world.

Sometimes cataloging works in foreign languages poses challenges for NLS staff, but not in the case of Ukrainian. Anita Kazmierczak, head of the NLS Bibliographic Control Section, speaks Ukrainian — so she was able to listen and confirm that the books matched their catalog records.

By year’s end, 59 NLS Ukrainian titles were available for download from GBS by authorized entities in Marrakesh signatory countries. They range from translations of world literature, such as short stories by Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway, to original Ukrainian works, including the poems of Taras Shevchenko, known as the father of Ukrainian literature.

“We’re delighted,” says Monica Halil Lövblad, head of the Accessible Books Consortium in Switzerland. “Now any of our participating ABC libraries located in countries that have implemented the Marrakesh Treaty looking for books in Ukrainian can immediately get them.”

Corlett-Rivera hopes to eventually add more and is also looking into other languages that NLS can contribute. “We have U.S.-produced Hungarian and Romanian collections we could share, too,” she says.

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Black History Month, Day 1: A Petition for Justice Nearly 20 Yards Long

A small section of the unrolled petition. Manuscript Division. Photo: Shawn Miller.

This is a guest post by Michelle Krowl, a historian in the Manuscript Division. It appears in the Jan.-Feb. issue of the Library of Congress  Magazine .

In the wake of emancipation during the Civil War, African Americans submitted petitions to government entities in greater numbers than ever before to advocate for equal treatment before the law.

One such petition, submitted by Black South Carolinians just months after the war ended, is unusual: The introductory page containing the text addressed to the U.S. Congress is followed by individual pages of signatures glued end-to-end to form a document that is just over 54 feet in length when fully extended.

According to the Congressional Globe (the predecessor of today’s Congressional Record), on Dec. 21, 1865, Sen. Jacob Merritt Howard (R-Mich.) introduced a petition to the Senate, then meeting in the first session of the 39th Congress.

Howard noted that the petition contained 3,740 signatures of Black South Carolinians, who requested that Congress ensure that any new state constitution adopted in South Carolina following the Civil War guarantee African Americans “equal rights before the law.”

The petition contains 3,740 signatures. Manuscript Division. Photo: Shawn Miller.

The text of the petition further advocated “that your Honorable Body will not sanction any state Constitution, which does not secure the exercise of the right of the elective franchise to all loyal citizens,” as “without this political privilige [sic] we will have no security for our personal rights and no means to secure the blessings of education to our children.”

Howard requested that the petition be referred to the Joint Committee on Reconstruction.

Little is currently known about this petition in terms of the conditions under which it was created or how it came to be part of the Manuscript Division’s papers of Justin S. Morrill, a Vermont congressman and U.S. Senator of the era.

The petition may have been created in conjunction with the “State Convention of the Colored People of South Carolina,” which met in Charleston from Nov. 20 to 25, 1865, which also produced a memorial to Congress containing different text.

Morrill (R-Vt.) served on the Joint Committee of Reconstruction, so it is possible the petition came into his possession during his committee service. Organized as part of the “Miscellany” series of the Morrill Papers, the petition seems to have been little known until recently.

After Manuscript Division staff became reacquainted with it, the document was displayed as part of the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s exhibition on Reconstruction, which ended last year. The issues of race, citizenship and voting rights that would be critical during the Reconstruction period that followed the Civil War, however, continue to be relevant.

The Library’s By the People crowdsourcing project is planning a transcription campaign of the document this spring, with the goal of making the signatures more discoverable and encouraging further contextual research on the signers and the petition’s creation.

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A Voice Among the Stars: Poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Will Ride to Europa on NASA Spacecraft

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U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, who is known for work that explores the human connection to the natural world, is crafting a new poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission.

Her poem, to be released in the coming months, will be engraved on the Europa Clipper spacecraft. It will travel 1.8 billion miles on its path to the Jupiter system – and will be part of an upcoming NASA-led program that will invite international public participation.

The spacecraft is set to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in October 2024 and by 2030, it will be in orbit around the gas giant. It will conduct multiple flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, to gather detailed measurements and determine if the moon has conditions suitable for life. Europa is thought to contain a massive internal ocean and is considered one of the most promising habitable environments in our solar system, beyond Earth.

More information – about the new work by Limón and how the public can get involved – will be released in the coming months. The project is a special collaboration, uniting art and science, by NASA, the U.S. Poet Laureate and the Library.

Meanwhile, Europa Clipper is under construction at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and the work is broadcast live, 24-7 from JPL’s Spacecraft Assembly Facility. In addition, you can check out these other ways to learn more and to participate in the mission.

Limón, 46, was appointed 24th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden last year. She was born in Sonoma, California, and is of Mexican ancestry. She is the author of several poetry collections. “The Carrying” won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and “Bright Dead Things” was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Books Critics Circle Award. Her most recent is “The Hurting Kind,” published last year.

Her official position — the Library’s Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry — was created in 1937, when Archer M. Huntington endowed the Chair of Poetry at the Library. Previous laureates include Joy Harjo, Tracy K. Smith, Juan Felipe Herrera, Robert Penn Warren, Rita Dove, Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams.

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Posters Power!

An 1893 poster by Jules Cheret, showing a fashionable Parisian woman ice skating. Prints and Photographs Division.

This is a guest  post by  Sahar Kazmi, a writer-editor in the Office of the Chief Information Officer. It appears in the January-February issue of the Library of Congress Magazine.

Before the internet meme, there were posters.

Once upon a time, posters full of dazzling images and arresting slogans dominated the media landscape. They were displayed in shop windows, covered billboards and were even draped over human bodies — the so-called 19th-century “sandwich men” who patrolled city sidewalks carrying advertising posters over their shoulders.

Posters were designed to speak to the people, to catch their attention and evoke their curiosity. Not unlike today’s memes, they spoke to cultural trends, replicating and repeating popular artistic styles, often with an amusing twist. Perhaps most notably, they brought art to the masses.

The Library’s collection of posters traverses nearly two centuries and multiple continents. Its contents tell the story of an evolving form that exhibited the work of major artists and promoted everything from food to political candidates.

They tout dance shows and circuses, tourism and theater, military recruitment and social rebellion. They advertise household goods and mind-melting drugs. They sell war bonds and butter, victory gardens and deli meats.

“Five Celebrated Clowns,” creating art (and nightmares) since 1856. Morse, M’Kenney and Company. Prints and Photographs Division.

One of the Library’s oldest posters, an enormous (and possibly, for some, terrifying) woodcut print titled “Five Celebrated Clowns” hails from 1856. Punctuated with bright blues and tangerine reds, the poster for Sands, Nathans & Company’s Circus features five clowns with painted faces, flouncy collars and polka-dot tights posed in exaggerated pantomime gestures.

They are distinctly American — one is even decked out in the patterns of Old Glory — and their sheer size gives a hint about the scale and popularity of circuses in the era. But the Library’s many European posters also showcase the cultural significance and artistic impacts of the medium in its early heyday.

The elegant work of 19th-century French artist Jules Chéret, an example of which is at the top of this post, showcases women at play and leisure, demonstrating their more liberated roles in the Paris of the Belle Époque. Among the Library’s assorted Chéret posters, women in ornate and sometimes sensual fashions are depicted riding bikes, ice skating or reading the newspaper. The characters in Chéret’s posters, who became known as Chérettes, embodied a whole new ethos of womanhood — vivacious and cosmopolitan.

Other artists, too, used posters to push the bounds of old social mores. In one print from painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a glamorous woman in a red dress plants a bold kiss on an older gentleman over dinner. The poster served double duty as the cover of a book from author Victor Joze, although it has since far surpassed the novel in fame.

The figures in Ethel Reed’s posters are mysterious and darkly alluring, such as the sly red-haired woman who holds a vivid poppy on the otherwise entirely black book cover for José Echegaray’s “Folly or Saintliness.”

Another often-reproduced example from Henri Privat-Livemont shows a woman in diaphanous fabrics as she raises a glass of absinthe in practically spiritual awe. Billowing curlicues dance in the background, the intoxicating terrain of the “Green Fairy.”

Revelry and entertainment are common themes in poster art spanning the ages. In the Library’s collection of works from Czech artist Alphonse Mucha, plays and concerts are advertised like scenes in an elaborate painting.

The poster for a performance of the play “Lorenzaccio” features opulent golden lines and delicately detailed borders surrounding a snarling green dragon as it peers down at the titular character, lost in thought. Mucha’s poster for the play “La Dame aux Camélias” is equally sumptuous, presenting an ethereal lady Camille against a background glittering with silver stars.

With such magnificent images posted in public spaces, it wasn’t uncommon for Mucha’s posters, and those of his contemporaries, to routinely be stolen by art lovers. Decades later, psychedelic poster art promoting rock-and-roll concerts would become equally covetable for collectors.

The Library’s collection of works from Wes Wilson, dubbed the father of the 1960s rock poster, flaunt swirls of eye-popping neon text contrasted against dramatic human figures. One poster for a concert featuring the Grateful Dead and Otis Rush & His Chicago Blues Band depicts a woman’s face in profile, the names of the event’s performers spiraling through her hair in a trippy kaleidoscope of pink and seafoam blue.

The Library’s posters aren’t all fun and games, though.

Between the liberated merrymaking of the Belle Époque and the experimental decadence of the Swinging Sixties were two world wars that shook the soul of the planet. Strife and survival were foremost in people’s minds, and governments and revolutionary causes alike seized on the atmosphere to capture the public’s attention.

 

This British poster from World War I inspired the famous “I Want You” Uncle Sam poster for the United States military. Prints and Photographs Division.

The Library holds an original World War I poster of Britain’s Secretary of State for War Earl Kitchener pointing straight at the reader. The text reads, “Your country needs you.” It was this image that inspired James Montgomery Flagg’s definitive portrait of a white goateed Uncle Sam a few years later.

In one, a U.S. Marine points at the viewer. In another, a stern Statue of Liberty invokes the reader to buy war bonds. There’s a pointing poster of a Black Uncle Sam, and even an anti-war poster in which a bandaged version of Flagg’s Sam extends an open hand pleading, “I want out.”

Russian and Soviet propaganda posters, too, are widely known for their distinctive style, a “constructivist” technique full of hard lines and abstract shapes. The Library holds a reproduction of a famed 1920 example from the artist El Lissitzky, in which a red triangle symbolizing the Bolsheviks wedges into a white circle representing anti-communist forces. The design has been replicated on album covers, in the sci-fi television series “Farscape” and most recently on Russian billboards promoting COVID-19 vaccination, in which the white circle now appears as a spiked coronavirus cell.

These variations stand as sterling examples of the cultural weight and staying power of poster imagery. Their creators often printed hundreds if not thousands of copies. Much more than just information bulletins, posters encapsulated cultural moods and reflected shared ideas.

Dorothy Waugh’s colorful prints advertised U.S. National Parks in stunningly bold designs fit for modern travelers. Japanese tourism posters spotlighted blushing cherry blossom trees against steely cityscapes and winding rivers, inviting visitors to experience a country both innovative and idyllic.

“Peace Now,” a poster created by Gemini Enterprises during turbulent late ’60s and early ’70s. Prints and Photographs Division.

In one of the most remarkable displays of the poster’s persuasive powers, the Library’s Yanker Poster Collection contains political and social issue posters from dozens of nations, primarily created in the 1960s and 1970s. Through their striking artwork, they call for world peace, the Equal Rights Amendment, recycling programs, union strikes, cancer screenings and political candidates.

One poster repeats “Peace Now” in rainbow letters across its width, from top to bottom. Another depicts a simple flower with the words, “War is not healthy for children and other living things,” winding through its stem. On another, an image of a shattered globe, bursting with mud and worms, hangs in black space. At the bottom, a brief message: “Love is the answer.”

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Bewitched by TV Themes

The sheet music for “Jeannie,” the theme song to the hit TV show. Music Division.

Most folks know the ridiculously catchy instrumental theme song for the 1960s classic TV comedy “I Dream of Jeannie.” But how many can recite its lyrics — “Jeannie, fresh as a daisy!/Just love how she obeys me” — or even knew it had any?

The theme for “Bewitched,” another ’60s favorite, briefly had its day: Peggy Lee, among others, recorded a jazzy vocal version in 1965. The lyrics weren’t used in the series, however, and over many decades of reruns faded from public consciousness.

The original lyrics for both songs, and countless others, are preserved in Library collections as submissions to the U.S. Copyright Office, which is part of the Library. Such submissions for registration help preserve mostly forgotten stories about pop culture staples: They chronicle the creators’ original ideas and, sometimes, the subsequent histories of their works.

In 1966, Alexander Courage composed the theme music for a new show, called “Star Trek,” and submitted it for copyright under his name that Nov. 7.

Fifty days later, the Copyright Office received a second registration for the same music — with two additions. Beneath Courage’s name, another had been written — that of series creator Gene Roddenberry — in a different ink and handwriting. Below that, lyrics had been scrawled alongside the music.

The “Star Trek” theme, Courage had understood, would be instrumental. But a clause in Courage’s contract allowed Roddenberry to add lyrics if he chose. So, he did: “Beyond the rim of the starlight/My love is wandering in starflight.”

The lyrics never were used in the show and weren’t intended to be. Roddenberry had other motivations: He received a co-writer credit for the lyrics — and 50% of the royalties. Courage’s share, meanwhile, was cut in half.

The financial ramifications, it turned out, were enormous.

“Star Trek” ran for only three seasons but lives on in syndication (the Associated Press once dubbed it “the show that wouldn’t die”). It also spawned other TV series, video games, novels, comic books and, to date, over a dozen films.

Courage’s original theme, in some form, has been heard in every film — living long and prospering.

The sheet music to the “Star Trek” theme, with Gene Roddenberry’s credit added.

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Meet Meg Medina, the Library’s New Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

Meg Medina, the new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Photo: Scott Elmquist.

Meg Medina, a writer whose work explores how culture and identity intersect through the eyes of children and young adults, today was named as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2023-2024, the Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader announced.

Medina, a Cuban-American, is the eighth author to hold the position and the first of Latina heritage to do so. She succeeds Jason Reynolds, whose term stretched from 2020 through 2022.

“I am delighted Meg Medina will serve as the next National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature,” said Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress. “Meg’s warmth and openness, coupled with her long-running commitment to young readers, libraries and librarians, is extraordinary. I look forward to the ways she will invite young people — especially Spanish and bilingual speakers — to share their favorite books and stories.”

Medina’s middle-grade novel, “Merci Suárez Changes Gears,” the first of three books in a trilogy about the Suárez family, received the 2019 Newbery Medal and was named a notable children’s book of the year by the New York Times Book Review. Her young adult novels include “Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass,” which won the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award and will be published in 2023 as a graphic novel illustrated by Mel Valentine Vargas; “Burn Baby Burn,” which was long-listed for the National Book Award; and “The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind.”Her most recent picture book, “Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away,” received multiple honors, including the 2021-2022 Charlotte Zolotow Award.

Raised in Queens, New York, Medina, 59, now lives with her family in Richmond, Virginia.

“It’s an enormous honor to advocate for the reading and writing lives of our nation’s children and families,” Medina said. “I realize the responsibility is critical, but with the fine examples of previous ambassadors to guide me, I am eager to get started on my vision for this important work. More than anything, I want to make reading and story-sharing something that happens beyond classroom and library walls. I want to tap into books and stories as part of everyday life, with all of us coming to the table to share the tales that speak to us and that broaden our understanding of one another.”

For her two-year term, Medina will engage readers across the country through her new platform, “!Cuéntame!: Let’s talk books.” Inspired by the Spanish phrase that friends and families use when catching up with one another, ¡Cuéntame! encourages conversations about books that reflect the readers’ experiences and those that expose readers to new perspectives.

“Merci Suárez Changes Gears” won a 2019 Newbery Medal.

Medina’s work will include encouraging families and young people to build relationships with their local libraries. She’ll also create materials to introduce and connect readers with authors across a range of styles and genres. During in-person visits with students, she will discuss her work and host book talks.

Hayden will inaugurate Medina into the role on Jan. 24 at 10:30 a.m., in a ceremony at the Library. Reynolds will be on stage as well. Local school groups will be in attendance, too. The event will be livestreamed on the Library’s YouTube page.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the selection of Meg Medina as the next ambassador,” said Carl Lennertz, executive director of Every Child a Reader and the Children’s Book Council. “She will inspire young people of all ages over the next two years with her energy, ideas and passion for reading and storytelling.”

The National Ambassador is chosen for their contributions to young people’s literature, the ability to relate to children and teens, and dedication to fostering children’s literacy. The selection, made by the Librarian, is based on nominations from a diverse pool of distinguished professionals in children’s publishing and from an independent selection committee comprising educators, librarians, booksellers and children’s literature experts.

The program was established in 2008 by the Library, the Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader. It is supported by the The Library of Congress James Madison Council, The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation and Dollar General Literacy Foundation.

Previous National Ambassadors include authors Jon Scieszka (2008–2009), Katherine Paterson (2010–2011), Walter Dean Myers (2012–2013), Kate DiCamillo (2014–2015), Gene Luen Yang (2016–2017), Jacqueline Woodson (2018–2019) and Jason Reynolds (2020-2022).

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