It's National Cat Day! We’re sharing everyone’s favorite feline from the Library's Prints and Photographs Division, Brünnhilde, and some of her friends from the collection. 😻
Put this on your to-do list of FREE cultural experiences in Washington, D.C. ⬇️
The Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress—considered one of the world’s finest acoustic environments—turns 101 today! 🥳
🔗 loc.gov/concerts
Benefactor Elizabeth Coolidge funded its construction AND provided a permanent fund for concerts, which are FREE to the public and still ongoing today.
The Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress—considered one of the world’s finest acoustic environments—turns 101 today! 🥳
🔗 loc.gov/concerts
Benefactor Elizabeth Coolidge funded its construction AND provided a permanent fund for concerts, which are FREE to the public and still ongoing today.
Today, in honor of Theodore Roosevelt's birthday, we are sharing that the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress has acquired its first copy of Roosevelt's famous Milwaukee, Wisconsin speech of Oct. 14, 1912, delivered immediately after he was shot by attempted assassin John Schrank. 🧵
This newly acquired copy of the speech is a version typed by Elbert Martin, Roosevelt's stenographer (pictured), who is also well known for tackling Schrank after he fired the shot. It contains numerous penciled emendations and alterations to the text made by Roosevelt himself. 🧵
The speech that is now held by the Library is NOT the one from Roosevelt's pocket that famously slowed down the bullet, although there are images at the Library that represent that fortuitously-placed copy, including the picture of Martin holding it (above), a political cartoon, and an X-ray!
To celebrate National Roller Skating Month, here's a segment of an All-American News reel featuring the roller skating craze of the 1940s. 🛼
These newsreels were the first produced specifically for a Black audience. See more of them here. ⬇️
go.loc.gov/GCpV51018xV
MAGAZINE MONDAY | Technology lets us hear Amelia Earhart’s voice on a tiny recording, played for the first time. Read about it in the current issue of the Library of Congress Magazine. ⬇️
lcm.loc.gov/issue/september-…
It's World Series time! Before radio and TV broadcasts, if you wanted to watch the big game but couldn't attend, you might keep track via a "Playograph." This mechanical device was manually operated by people working behind the board, showing crowds where the ball and players were at any given time.

ALT Photo shows crowd gathered outside the New York Herald newspaper building in New York City to watch a "playograph" during the World Series, 1911. Bain News Service photograph collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

ALT Advertisement in The Washington Daily News, Monday, Oct. 4, 1926 advises baseball fans to "See the World's Series on The Washington Daily News Playograph," an "ingenious mechanical devise that reproduces the actual game play by play" via "a special wire from the ball park to the rear of the Playograph" that "insures speed and accuracy." "As fast as a play is made a crew of three operators will reproduce it for you on the Playograph."
Spooky season special: The Library is home to the sole surviving nitrate print of the first film adaptation of "Frankenstein," produced in 1910 by the Edison Manufacturing Company!
Watch the full film and learn how it came to the Library.
⬇️
blogs.loc.gov/loc/2018/11/th…
The Library has recently acquired two letters written by former first ladies Martha Washington and Mary Todd Lincoln. They provide researchers and the public with a rare glimpse into the private lives of these remarkable women.
newsroom.loc.gov/news/librar…
The Library's Liljenquist collection of Civil War photographs contains several images, like these, of veterans who fought for the Union posing with family members (likely their grandsons) who served in World War I.
More of the Liljenquist collection. ⬇️ loc.gov/pictures/collection/…
MAGAZINE MONDAY | Read all about how the Library is digitizing the classic Farm Security Administration photographs (all 175,000 of them) in a massive, multiyear project. ⬇️
lcm.loc.gov/issue/september-…
Did you know the Wright brothers had a sister? Katharine Wright was not only a caretaker to the Wright family after their mother died and to Orville after a test flight injury, but also a college graduate, a teacher, a suffragist and a member of the Wright Company alongside her brothers. 🧵
The Library of Congress is home to the Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers, which also contain some of Katharine's correspondence.
Check it out. ⬇️
loc.gov/resource/mss46706.02…
The conservators at the Library of Congress mend a lot of paper by hand, but sometimes the situation calls for a different method. That's where this process comes in.
Are you interested in earning your Eagle Scout badge or Gold Award? The Library of Congress has the perfect community project for you! Scouts can arrange and conduct interviews with veterans and donate them to the Veterans History Project. Email us at [email protected] for special Scout guidance!
Florence Pugh and Zoe Kazan, the star and screenwriter (respectively) of Netflix’s “East of Eden,” a fresh take on John Steinbeck’s classic 1952 California novel, recently came to the Library to get a look at some original Steinbeck material.
Read more. ⬇️
blogs.loc.gov/loc/2026/09/ea…
Did you know the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) at the Library of Congress also serves people with reading disabilities like dyslexia? If you find it difficult to use print because of a reading disability, you can still enjoy reading with free audiobooks from NLS! 🧵
NLS has materials you won’t find anywhere else in audio, like cookbooks, crafting books, how-to guides and graphic novels. Find out more about NLS services and how to enroll at loc.gov/nls/who-we-serve/rea….
#DyslexiaAwarenessMonth

























