LOC Blogs
Yesterday’s blog about Executive Orders mentioned one of The Legal Genealogist‘s favorite blogs, In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress. Almost immediately, a regular reader responded that she hadn’t been aware of that blog.
Time and time past to remedy that, for sure. The LOC blogs are among the best offerings the Internet has.
The LOC blogs. Sounds like a disease, doesn’t it? “The LOC blogs are coming to get you!”
Never fear. The only thing contagious about the LOC blogs is their enthusiasm for teaching all of their readers about neat things and our enthusiasm for learning about them.
Because, you see, the LOC blogs are the blogs of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where librarians and archivists can strut their stuff online and share all kinds of information that, in the past, required a visit to the Nation’s Capital.
There are, at the moment, 10 blogs published on the Library of Congress website, and every last one of them has a subscription feature; you can have each new post delivered to your e-mail box, or you can send it to your online RSS reader. So there’s really no excuse for not adding these gems to your reading list.
And there’s bound to be one or more of those 10 that’s just right for you, no matter what your particular interests are, since they cover everything from music and art on one side to science and technology on the other. If you’re a teacher, there’s a LOC blog for you. A poet? Yep. Got you covered. Interested in digitization? That too.
No matter what facet of life in America you might want to learn about, to see how you might add a tidbit here or there to your family history, take a gander through the LOC blogs, offering “Personal voices from the Library of Congress: compelling stories & fascinating facts”:
Library of Congress Blog
This is the main blog of the Library of Congress. It doesn’t have a description on its About page but posts cover a wide variety of topics and categories range from Abraham Lincoln to Washington DC.
Recent Posts
Let’s Give Thanks
Library in the News: October Edition
InRetrospect: October Blogging Edition
In The Muse: Performing Arts Blog
“The Performing Arts Blog will showcase treasures in the Music Division’s collections of Music, Theater and Dance, from works of the great masters to long forgotten slices of our musical heritage. This blog will also highlight events in the Library’s concert series in the Coolidge Auditorium.”
Recent Posts
1707: A Year That Will Resonate with Handel Lovers
Richard Robbins Not Forgotten
“The Paganini Project” Comes to the Coolidge Auditorium
The Signal: Digital Preservation
““The Signal” is meant to elicit two images. The name sounds a bit like a town newspaper, one that has timely information that people can put to practical use. That is our basic intent–discuss digital stewardship in a way that is informative and appealing. “Signal” also associates with computer technology, most especially management, transmission and use of data. Technology is moving fast, and we cover exciting new developments that have an impact on digital preservation and access.”
Recent Posts
When Data Loss is Personal
Framing the Digital Preservation Conversation
An Update: What Skills Does a Digital Archivist or Librarian Need?
Picture This: Library of Congress Prints & Photos
“The Picture This blog invites you to share our love of pictures and the stories they can tell. You’ll see special images that caught our eye and also learn about entire collections as we explore the vast holdings of the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress—more than 14.5 million photos, posters, cartoons, architectural designs, and historical and fine art prints.”
Recent Posts
“Down to Earth”: Exhibition about Environmental Issues
Happy Thanksgiving
The Visual Legacy of Jack E. Boucher, Architectural Photographer
From the Catbird Seat: Poetry & Literature at the Library of Congress
“A blog celebrating the Center and the wealth of literary resources at the Library of Congress, as well as engaging with current topics in literature.”
Recent Posts
Epistle for Thanksgiving
Coming to the End of His Triumph
Poetry at Work
Inside Adams: Science, Technology & Business
“Inside Adams will point readers to the Library’s large and diverse collections of books, journals, prints, photographs, digital collections, finding aids, and Webcasts related to science, technology, and business. This blog will give us the opportunity to highlight the bibliographies, research guides, and special pages that have been developed by staff, as well as share the history, art, and architecture of the John Adams Building. Come with us on this journey Inside Adams.”
Recent Posts
Pics of the Week: Sequoyah
Veterans History Project: Illuminating the Future by Sharing the Past
Creatures of the Night
In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress
“In Custodia Legis is Latin for “in the custody of the law,” a nod to the fact that the Law Library of Congress is a custodian of law and legislation for both the nation and the world. Our team of bloggers covers current legal trends, developments and enhancements in THOMAS, issues in collecting for the largest law library in the world, legal history and arcana and a range of international perspectives including New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Israel, Eritrea and Mexico.”
Recent Posts
The November Update to Congress.gov
Happy Belated Birthday, Title IX
Executive Orders: A Beginner’s Guide
Teaching with the Library of Congress
“Discover and discuss the most effective techniques for using Library of Congress primary sources in the classroom. Teaching strategies, outstanding primary sources, lesson plans, teacher resources, and current thinking on effective classroom practice are all open for discussion. The Library of Congress has millions of primary sources available for free online. Teaching with primary sources is powerful way to help students engage with content, build their critical thinking skills, and construct knowledge.”
Recent Posts
The Thomas Jefferson Building: Exploring Symbolism and Purpose
Thanksgiving and Football: A Unique American Tradition
Introducing Primary Source Analysis to Students: Lessons from the Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institute
Copyright Matters: Digitization and Public Access
“Welcome to the blog for the Copyright Digitization and Public Access project, a long term effort to convert non-digital records of copyright ownership and transfers and assignment of rights and to make them widely available online via the web. We’re planning periodic posts with information about plans and progress and we welcome your input and comments.”
Recent Posts
Current Copyright search capability: Tell us what you think.
Quiet but not quiescent: Steady progress on several fronts
A brief status update on the digitization and public access project
Voices of the Civil War
“This blog complements The Civil War in America exhibition, displayed on site at the Library of Congress between November 12, 2012, and June 1, 2013, and online http://myloc.gov/exhibitions/civil-war-in-america. Posts are written by more than forty individuals featured in the exhibition and are excerpts from their diaries, letters, and published memoirs—all eyewitness accounts to the events of the war. To place these excerpts in context, click on the direct link to The Civil War in America embedded at the end of each entry.”
Recent Posts
“Suffering in a noble cause”
“Our worst fears are confirmed”
“To stand by the stars and stripes”
Judy, thanks for sharing this!
Always learn so much from you.
Valerie
Thanks for the kind words, Valerie!
Judy, so many things I would never know if I didn’t read your blogs!
And so many things I wouldn’t know if I wasn’t writing them, Mary Ann! We all have so very much to learn from each other.
Ah-ha! Now I know your secret, Judy. I thought you were amazingly brilliant, but it turns out you are amazingly-brilliant at finding fabulous sources… oh, that means you’re amazingly brilliant. Amazing. I now have 5 of these blogs on my GoogleReader. Maybe it will rub off. Cheers!
Knowing where to look is about 90% of genealogy, Celia!! Glad you’re finding these blogs useful. They’re just so cool.