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The Library of Congress
photo by and of Tim Spalding!

The Library of Congress

101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20540
United States

(202) 707-8000

Web site: http://www.loc.gov/index.html

Events: http://www.loc.gov/loc/events/

Description: The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.

Added by: SqueakyChu.  Contacted: Not contacted.  Venue ID: 192

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Visited while on a trip to DC. A friend, not the library type, went with me and was enthralled--as was I.
June 2008 by karen5l

Upcoming events

"What IF" Series: Booklife: The Private and the Public in the Future of Publishing (December 1 at 12:00pm)
Jeff VanderMeer reads from Booklife: Strategies & Survival Tips for the 21st-Century Writer.
What are the benefits and dangers of a confusion between the private creativity and the public career elements of a writer’s life caused by new media and a proliferation of “open channels”? What protective measures must a writer take to preserve his or her “self” in this environment? In addition ... (more)to the guerilla tactics implicit in storytelling through social media and other unconventional platforms, in what ways is a writer’s life now itself a story irrespective of intentional fictive storytelling? Examining these issues leads naturally to a discussion on the tension and cross-pollination between the private and public lives of writers in our transmedia age, including the strategies and tactics that best serve those who want to survive and flourish in this new environment. What are we losing, and what do we stand to gain?
Event location: Pickford Theater, 3rd floor of the Madison Building
Added by JeffVanderMeer.

Past events

Book Discussion (March 6 at 12:00pm)
Michael Dirda reads from Classics for Pleasure.
Prize-winning columnist discusses his new book as part of "Books & Beyond" series. Discussion will take place in the Library of Congress, James Madison Building, Pickford Theater.
Call 202-707-5221 for information.
Added by SqueakyChu.
From Hebrew to English (March 26 at 12:00pm)
Nicholas de Lange.; Yaacob Dweck.
"The challenge of translating Hebrew literature into English will be discussed by Nicholas de Lange and Yaacob Dweck. They will introduce and read excerpts from their recent translations of works of modern Hebrew literature at a program to be held at the Library of Congress at noon on Wednesday, March ... (more)26 in the African and Middle Eastern Division Conference Room (Room 220), located in the Thomas Jefferson Building at 10 First Street S.E. Washington, D.C. Their readings will include works by S. Yizhar and Haim Sabato." (Library of Congress website)

"The program is free and open to the public." (The Washington Jewish Week)
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Poetry Reading (March 27 at 6:45pm)
Rodney Jones reads from Salvation Blues: One Hundred Poems 1985-2005.; Ellen Bryant Voigt reads from Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006.
Both authors read from their work following an introduction by U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic.
James Madison Building, Montpelier Room.
Call 202-707-5394 for more information. (Book World, The Washington Post)
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Discussion (April 29 at 6:00pm)
Bill McKibben reads from American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau.
The writer and activist discusses his new Library of America anthology. Montpelier Room. 202-707-5221. (Book World, The Washington Post)
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Discussion and Book Signing (May 6 at 12:00pm)
Eric Navarro discusses God Willing: My Wild Ride With the New Iraqi Army.
The U.S. Marine Corps Captain discusses and signs his book. James Madison Building. Room LM 139. 202-707-5034.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Book Talk (May 6 at 12:00pm)
Madeleine Albright discusses and signs her book. Her distinguished career in government includes positions on the National Security Council and as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Lecture (May 20 at 1:00pm)
Avi Beker discusses The Chosen: The History of an Idea and The Anatomy of an Obsession.
The author discusses his book. Pickford Theater in the Madison Building. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored jointly by the Hebraic Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division and the Hebrew Language Table, in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel. Tickets are not ... (more)required.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Book Discussion (July 9 at 12:00pm)
Louis Maier discusses From the Golden Gate to the Black Forest: TheOdyssey of a New American in Search of His Parents' Fate.
The Silver Spring, Maryland, resident will discuss his memoir. Room 220. Thomas Jefferson Building. Open to the public. Free. Tickets are not required.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Book Talk (September 8 at 12:00pm)
Raymond Scheindlin discusses The Song of the Distant Dove: Judah Halevi's Pilgrimage.
The author will discuss his book in the African and Middle Eastern Division Conference Room at the Thomas Jefferson Building. His book deals with the 12th-century Spanish Jewish poet who spent the last year of his life traveling to the land of Israel. The event is free and open to the public. 202-707-3779.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Book Discussion (September 9 at 12:00pm)
Ruth Fredman Cernea discusses Almost Englishman: Baghdadi Jews in British Burma.
The author will discuss her book in the Asian Reading Room of the Thomas Jefferson Building. The program is free and open to the public. 202-707-9897.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
"The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family" to be Discussed by Author (September 23 at 4:00pm)
Annette Gordon-Reed discusses The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.
The relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings has been a subject of speculation for centuries and even more so in the past decade, when DNA testing increased evidence of a sexual liaison.

Author Annette Gordon-Reed, who received attention in 1997 for a book that carefully evaluated claims ... (more)and counter-claims about the Jefferson-Hemings relationship, has written a new book about Sally Hemings – a slave in the Founding Father’s household – and her family.

Gordon-Reed will discuss "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family" at the Library of Congress at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, in Room 119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. The book will be on sale and available for signing.
Event webpage
Added by bertilak.
2008 National Book Festival (September 27 at 10:00am)
The 2008 National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, will be held on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 3rd and 7th streets from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (rain or shine). The event is free and open to the public.
Event location: on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 3rd and 7th streets
Event webpage
Added by bertilak.
15th Annual Presentation of the Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature (October 4 at 10:00am)
Pat Mora, Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico!: America's Sproutings.; Laura Resau, Red Glass.
This presentation recognizes "U.S. works of fiction, poetry, folklore, or selected non-fiction published in the previous year in English or Spanish that authentically and engagingly portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States". The 2007 honorees are author Pat Mora and illustrator ... (more)Rafael Lopez for the picture book Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico!: AAmerica's Sproutings, and author Laura Resau for the YA novel Red Glass. A continental breakfast at 9:30am will precede the ceremony, which takes place in the James Madison Building. Free, but reservations are required. 202-707-2013.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Author Event (December 11 at 12:00pm)
Edna Nahshon discusses Jews and Shoes.
The Hebrew professor at the Jewish Theollogical Seminary in New York and senior associate at the Center of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Oxford will discuss her new book which spotlights Jewish material culture. Free. Thomas Jefferson Building. African and Middle Eastern Division Conference Room (Room ... (more)220). 202-707-3779.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Lecture (January 12 at 12:00pm)
Anat Berko reads from The Path to Paradise: The Inner World of Suicide Bombers and Their Dispatchers.
6th floor. Madison Building. Anat Berko, visiting Schusterman Professor at George Washington University, discusses her book "The Path to Paradise: The Inner World of Suicide Bombers and Their Dispatchers" in a program co-sponsored by the Embassy of Israel at noon in the West Dining Room. Free and open ... (more)to the public. 202-707-9897.
Added by SqueakyChu.
Discussion and Book Signing (February 20 at 12:00pm)
Anthony S. Pitch discusses "They Have Killed Papa Dead!": The Road to Ford's Theatre, Abraham Lincoln's Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance.
The author discusses and signs his book as part of the "Books & Beyond" series at the Library of Congress, James Madison Building, Mumford Room. 202-707-5221.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Discussion and Book Signing (February 26 at 4:00pm)
Maurice Jackson discusses Let this voice be heard : Anthony Benezet, father of Atlantic abolitionism.
The author discusses and signs his book in the Thomas Jefferson Building, Room 119. 202-707-2692.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Poetry Reading (February 26 at 6:45pm)
U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan introduces the 2009 winners of the 12th annual Witter Bynner Fellowships, poets Christina Davis and Mary Szybist, followed by a reading of their work at the Library of Congress, James Madison Bldg., Montpelier Room, 202-707-5394.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Discussion and Book Signing (March 17 at 12:00pm)
Bibi Gaston discusses The Loveliest Woman in America: A Tragic Actress, Her Lost Diaries, and Her Granddaughter's Search for Home.
Bibi Gaston discusses and signs The Loveliest Woman in America: A Tragic Actress, Her Lost Diaries, and Her Granddaughter's Search for Home, her memoir of her grandmother Rosamond Pinchot, the debutante-turned actress, as part of the "Books & Beyond" series at the Library of Congress, James Madison Bldg., ... (more)Pickford Theater, 101 Independence Ave. SE, 202-707-5221.
Event webpage
Added by SqueakyChu.
Lecture (March 25 at 12:00pm)
Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire.
Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire presents a lecture, "The Artist as Translator: Thomas Nast and French Art" at the Library of Congress, James Madison Bldg., West Dining Room, 101 Independence Ave. SE. Nast, who began his career as a newspaper illustrator in 1850s New York, created a novel style of large-scale ... (more)cartoons (drawing on the Old Masters and French contemporary painters) with a political/social bent, such as "Democracy" and "Tammany Tiger Loose," both published in Harper's Weekly. Delamaire is a fellow at the Swann Foundation, which presents annual grants to aid research and writing projects in the fields of caricature and cartoon. For details, call 202-707-9115.
Added by SqueakyChu.
Panel Discussion: Building the Bomb (May 27 at 2:00pm)
Mary Palevsky.
The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress will hold a panel discussion on "Building the Bomb, Fearing Its Use: Nuclear Scientists, Social Responsibility and Arms Control, 1946-1996." The discussion will take place at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27, in Room 119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, ... (more)10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Library’s Kluge Center, the event is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are needed. Mary Palevsky, a Black Mountain Institute fellow at the Kluge Center, will moderate the panel discussion. Palevsky, author of "Atomic Fragments: A Daughter’s Questions," is pursuing research at the Library for a book that examines the ways in which Cold War nuclear testing transformed lives and landscapes in the Mojave Desert. From 2003 to 2008, Palevsky directed the Nevada Test Site Oral History Project at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Panelists will include Hugh Gusterson, William Lanouette and Martin J. Sherwin. Gusterson is an anthropologist at George Mason University, whose interests include the cultures of nuclear-weapons scientists and antinuclear activists. He is the author of "Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War" and "People of the Bomb." Gusterson writes a monthly online column for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Lanouette is a writer and public-policy analyst who has covered nuclear issues since 1969. He is the author of "Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb." He served as a senior analyst for science and energy issues at the U.S. General Accounting Office from 1991 to 2006. Sherwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and professor of history and public policy at George Mason University. Also, he is professor emeritus of history at Tufts University. In 2006, he and co-author Kai Bird won the Pulitzer Prize in biography for "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer." He also wrote "A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and Its Legacies." His current book project is "Gambling with Armageddon: The Military, the Hawks and the Long Straight Road to the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1945-1963." After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, statesmen and scientists confronted the unprecedented destructive power of nuclear weapons, according to Palevsky. Early postwar efforts for international control of atomic energy failed, and by the mid-1950s both American and Soviet scientists had invented the hydrogen bomb, a weapon of greater destructive potential than the atomic bomb. Yet arms-control efforts were ongoing even during the Cold War’s darkest days. Within a year of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, prohibiting nuclear tests in the atmosphere, underwater and in outer space. International treaty negotiations directly affected the daily lives of thousands of American scientists, engineers and support personnel who designed, built and conducted the tests of new weapon designs. According to Palevsky, some of the questions that these scientists and statesmen encountered still exist today, and those questions will be the basis for the panel discussion.
Event location: Kluge Center Meeting Room, 1st floor, Thomas Jefferson building
Event webpage
Added by karenharris.
Books and Beyond: WWII (May 27 at 7:00pm)
Margaret E. Wagner discusses World War II 365 Days.
Described in a recent review as "one of the best single-volume histories of the war yet published," "World War II: 365 Days" (2009, Harry N. Abrams in association with the Library of Congress) is a unique compilation of riveting text and more than 600 color and black-and-white images (many of them rarely ... (more)seen) from the Library of Congress’ collections. The book will be discussed on Wednesday, May 27, at 12:30 p.m. in the West Dining Room on the sixth floor of the Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. The program is sponsored by the Library’s Center for the Book, Publishing Office and Veterans History Project (VHP). The event features author Margaret E. Wagner of the Publishing Office, picture editor Athena Angelos and Tom Wiener of VHP. "World War II: 365 Days" is enriched by material from nearly two dozen VHP collections, including photographs, drawings and hand-drawn maps, as well as moving verbal testaments from American men and women, each of whom played a unique part in this epic conflict that raged across the world’s oceans and in countries from Norway to North Africa and from Britain to Burma. The book examines many aspects of the war: the carnage and bravery on the battlefield, the air and sea battles, the home-front sacrifices made by people in all walks of life and in all combatant countries, and the miracle of mobilization that made the United States the "arsenal of democracy." Copies of the book will be available for sale and signing.
Event location: West Dining Room, 6th floor, James Madison Building
Event webpage
Added by karenharris.
Books and Beyond: Victor Fleming (June 2 at 12:00pm)
Michael Sragow discusses Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master.
Victor Fleming was the most sought-after director during Hollywood’s golden age, renowned for his ability to make films across an astounding range of genres: westerns, earthy sexual dramas, family entertainment, screwball comedies, buddy pictures, romances and adventures. Baltimore Sun film critic ... (more)Michael Sragow will discuss and sign his new biography, "Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master," during a Books and Beyond event on Tuesday, June 2, at noon in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The event, sponsored by the Library’s Center for the Book and the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. Fleming is best remembered for directing two iconic movies, "Gone with the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz," but the more than 40 films he directed also included such classics as "Red Dust," "Test Pilot," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Captains Courageous." Paradoxically, his talent for knowing how to make the right film at the right time, rather than remaking the same movie in different guises, has resulted in Fleming’s relative obscurity in our time. Michael Sragow restores the director to the pantheon of great filmmakers and fills a hole in Hollywood history with this portrait of a man at the center of the most exciting era in American filmmaking. Sragow argues that the actors Fleming directed wanted to be their characters (Fleming created enduring screen personas for Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper), and actresses wanted to be with him (Ingrid Bergman, Clara Bow and Norma Shearer were among his many lovers). "Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master" (Random House, 2008) not only returns the director to the spotlight but also gives us the story of a man whose extraordinary personal style was as thrilling, varied and passionate as the stories he brought to the screen. The book will be available for sale and signing following the program.
Event location: Dining Room A, 6th floor, James Madison building
Event webpage
Added by karenharris.
Lecture: Trial of Andrew Johnson (June 3 at 12:00pm)
David O. Stewart discusses Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy.
After Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, the United States continued to tumble through tumultuous times. President Andrew Johnson was failing to heal the nation’s wounds, and the bitter political environment culminated in an impeachment trial. Author David O. Stewart will discuss Johnson’s 1868 trial, ... (more)when once again the nation’s fate hung in the balance, at noon on Wednesday, June 3, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The lecture is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are needed. Stewart’s lecture is based on his new book "Impeached: the Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy," which will be released May 12 by Simon & Schuster. A book-signing will follow the talk. In his book, Stewart discusses how Johnson squandered Abraham Lincoln’s precious political legacy of equality and fairness, failing to become Lincoln’s political heir. In addition, he explores the considerable and long-ignored evidence that senators were bribed to vote in favor of Johnson. Stewart arrived at these conclusions after careful examination of the papers of Johnson, U.S. Rep. Ben Butler, R-Mass., and other key figures that are in the collections of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. On his website, Stewart says, "America’s challenges after the Civil War were immense. How to bind up the nation’s wounds after four years of murderous war, yet still protect four million freed slaves from the unbridled prejudices of the day? Andrew Johnson--racist, stubborn and deaf to the views of others--was not equal to those excruciating challenges. "The radical Republicans, led by the fiercely brilliant Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, fought for two years to force the president to defend the rights of the freedmen. Stevens’ iron will and sheer cussedness produced the final confrontation in the impeachment trial, from which no one emerged a winner. The book explores long-ignored evidence of bribery and corrupt influences in the final Senate vote." Some of the most brilliant lawyers of the day, along with some of the most unscrupulous, were players in the Senate trial. Behind the scenes, political power-brokers maneuvered to save Johnson’s presidency with political deals, promises of patronage jobs and even cash bribes. In the final tally, Johnson escaped conviction in the Senate by a single vote. Stewart is the author of the bestselling and highly acclaimed book, "The Summer of 1787," an account of the writing of the U.S. Constitution. He has practiced law in Washington, D.C., for more than 25 years, and has argued appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Stewart was a law clerk to Justice Lewis Powell, and developed a fascination with impeachment when he served as principal defense counsel during the Senate impeachment trial of Judge Walter L. Nixon, Jr., of Mississippi in 1989.
Event location: Dining Room A, 6th floor, James Madison building
Event webpage
Added by karenharris.
Poetry Reading (June 4 at 12:00pm)
Aaron Taub reads from What Stillness Illuminated.
Event location: African/Middle Eastern Reading Room, 2nd floor, Thomas Jefferson Building
Event webpage
Added by karenharris.
Lecture: Israel's Lost Submarine (June 8 at 12:00pm)
David W. Jourdan discusses Never Forgotten: The Search for Israel's Lost Submarine Dakar.
On Jan. 25, 1968, the Dakar, Israel’s just-commissioned submarine, disappeared without a trace in the eastern Mediterranean. Israel spent the next 31 years looking for the massive submarine and her crew of 69 officers and seamen. In 1996, the country invited a noted ocean explorer, David Jourdan, to ... (more)investigate, and in 1999 Jourdan and his team solved the legendary mystery. Jourdan will discuss "Never Forgotten," his newly released book about the quest to find the missing sub, at the Library of Congress at noon on Monday, June 8, in the Mary Pickford Theater on the third floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The lecture is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are needed. The illustrated presentation is sponsored by the Library’s Science, Technology and Business Division and the Library employees’ Hebrew Language Table, in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel. A book signing will follow the discussion. "Never Forgotten" traces the Dakar from its origins in the British Navy in World War II through its sale to Israel and the fateful voyage across the Mediterranean. The book describes the search for and discovery of the submarine, and it also tells the story of the boat’s crew and the impact the tragedy had on an entire nation. Jourdan is the co-founder and president of Nauticos, an ocean exploration company in Cape Porpoise, Maine. A 1976 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Jourdan served as a U.S. Navy submarine officer. He holds a master's degree in applied physics from The Johns Hopkins University.
Event location: Pickford Theater, 3rd floor, James Madison Building
Event webpage
Added by karenharris.
C. M. Mayo (July 20 at 12:00pm)
C. M. Mayo discusses The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire.
Event location: Pickford Theater 3rd floor James Madison building
Event webpage
Added by karenharris.
2009 National Book Festival (September 26 at 10:00am)
70 authors.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will serve as Honorary Chairs of the 2009 National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress. Now in its ninth year, this popular event celebrating the joys of reading and lifelong literacy will be held on Saturday, Sept. 26, ... (more)2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 7th and 14th Streets from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (rain or shine). The event is free and open to the public. "We are delighted that the President and Mrs. Obama are committed to bringing this inspirational event to people of all ages nationwide," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "The National Book Festival has become a true American institution. It is a joyous and very popular celebration of books and reading in the Washington, D.C. area." The 2009 National Book Festival will feature about 70 award-winning authors, poets and illustrators in pavilions dedicated to book subjects ranging from history and biography to mysteries, thrillers, poetry and prose, and books for families and young people. Festival-goers can meet and hear firsthand from their favorite authors, get books signed, have photos taken with PBS storybook characters and participate in a variety of learning activities. The Pavilion of the States will represent reading- and library-promotion programs and literary events in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. trusts and territories.
Event location: National Mall, Washington, D.C.
Event webpage
Interested: Jac8604, gi_fe1972, redsauce, cyderry Added by cyderry.
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