News from the Library of Congress

Library to Reopen Four Reading Rooms June 2

Beginning Tuesday, June 1, 2021, the Library of Congress will reopen four reading rooms to allow research access for a limited number of registered readers by appointment only.

This represents the first step in the Library’s plan to gradually resume on-site public services and access, while incorporating proven health and safety policies and procedures. The Library expects to resume additional reading room services as conditions allow, followed by a return of limited, ticketed public access to Library buildings this summer.

Read more: loc.gov/item/prn-21-024/

Remembering the Fallen: Memorial Day This Memorial Day, we commemorate those who have died in service with these looks into our collections: Remembering the Fallen in Photographs Walt Whitman at Memorial Day Civil War Nurse Clara Barton: A Memorial Day Story

The Tulsa Race Massacre: 100th Years After This week marks the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, in which a white mob invaded and burned to ashes the thriving African American district withinin Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as Greenwood, so prosperous at the time to have been called "the Black Wall Street." It was, then and now, among the bloodiest outbreaks of racist violence in U.S. history. The official tally of the dead has varied from 36 to nearly 300. White fatalities are documented at 13. Some 35 square blocks of Black-owned homes, businesses, and churches were torched; thousands of Black Tulsans were left homeless – and yet no local, state or federal agency ever pursued prosecutions. The event was so quickly dismissed by local officials that today, a century later, several local organizations are still investigating reports of mass graves. The Library has assembled these resources to help you conduct your own research about the Tulsa Race Massacre with Library collections: Racial Massacres and the Red Summer of 1919 Tulsa Race Massacre: Topics in Chronicling America Also, several Library of Congress blogs guide you through different aspects of this staggering tragedy: How to Research the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Tulsa Race Massacre: Newspaper Complicity and Coverage For Teachers: Exploring the Impact of the Tulsa Race Massacre The Tulsa Race Massacre: Relief and the Role of the American Red Cross Also, follow #Tulsa100 on the social media channels of the Library and the museums of the Smithsonian Institution through June 1, the National Day of Remembrance, to learn more.

May is Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America's history and are instrumental in its future success. Visit this joint web portal highlighting collections, resources and events: asianpacificheritage.gov

Celebrating Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month:
Blog Posts from Around the Library

• Chinese Americans and the Gold Rush
• King David Kālakaua: Royal Folklorist
• Teaching the Japanese Tea Ceremony: Mine Somi Kubose
• Native Hawaiian Law
• Recognizing the Service of Asian Pacific American Veterans
• Homegrown Plus Concert: Ann Yao
• Tragedy and Transformation: Looking at San Francisco’s Chinatown with Primary Sources

Video: Jim Lee and Asian American Superheroes

DC Chief Creative Officer and Publisher Jim Lee discussed his work in celebration of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. He appeared in conversation with illustrator Bernard Chang ("Generations Forged") and writers Sarah Kuhn ("Shadow of the Batgirl") and Minh Lê ("Green Lantern: Legacy"). This event was moderated by former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Gene Luen Yang ("Superman Smashes the Klan").

Watch it now: loc.gov/item/webcast-9784/

Hawaiian Imprint Collection: A Resource Guide The Rare Book and Special Collections Division holds an important collection of early Hawaiian imprints, dating from 1822 when printing first started in the Islands to about 1860. The 275 books and pamphlets forming the Hawaiian Imprint Collection consist largely of nineteenth-century school books, religious texts, and government documents and include some of the earliest works printed in Oahu and Maui. Many of these items are only known to exist in only a few copies in research Libraries around the world, often with no other copy in the Continental United States. guides.loc.gov/early-hawaiian-imprints/

May is Jewish American Heritage Month. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Jewish Americans who helped form the fabric of American history, culture and society. Visit this joint web portal highlighting collections, resources and events: jewishheritagemonth.gov

Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month: Blog Posts from Around the Library

• American Yiddish Radio
• Roman Totenberg: A Symphony of a Life
• Exploring Buildings by Louis I. Kahn in the Historic American Buildings Survey
• Francis Salvador, the First Jewish Member of a Legislative Assembly in American History
• Imagining the U.S. Immigrant Musical Theater
• Simon Sobeloff and Jewish Baltimore

Public Service Recognition Week

The Library celebrated its employees and the hard work and dedication of the Federal workforce during Public Service Recognition Week, May 2-8, 2021.

More than 3,200 people work at the Library of Congress, and our staff includes world-class experts and scholars in a vast number of fields — U.S. and world history, literature, book-binding, films, folklore, maps, manuscripts, printing, photography, maps — and the art and science of keeping all of those available to the public while also preserving them for centuries to come. Sure, we have great librarians, but also chemists, film preservationists, and, in the case of the papers of Alexander Hamilton, scientists who used hyperspectral imaging to uncover long-hidden lines of text.

Watch each short video in a series of Library staff talking about their work.

Literary Series Programs for June 2021

The Library of Congress continues its series of online literary events. All programs will be virtual and premiere on the Library's Facebook page and its YouTube site (with captions).

Thursday, June 10, 7 p.m.: Made at the Library with Paul Hendrickson. Author of “Plagued by Fire: The Dreams and Furies of Frank Lloyd Wright,” Hendrickson discusses how his book was “made” through his use of the unparalleled collections of the Library of Congress. According to Hendrickson, Wright was plagued by fire both literally and metaphorically throughout his life.

Thursday, June 24, 7 p.m.: Behind the Book: Great American Translators with Nobel Prize in Literature recipient Mario Vargas Llosa and his longtime Spanish-to-English translator, Edith Grossman. Throughout her celebrated career, Grossman has also translated works of other writers such as Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Mayra Montero and Miguel de Cervantes.

Read full details here: loc.gov/item/prn-21-023/

We are more grateful than ever for all that you do to keep us strong. Whether you support the Library with a gift or simply by spreading the word about what we do, you help us in our mission to connect millions of people around the world with the stories of our collective past, present, and future.

If you haven't yet had a chance to give and you're in a position to donate, please consider making a gift at loc.gov/donate/.