This May, the Library of Congress quietly opened 222 containers of psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's papers. While the great majority of Americans haven't heard of the man, for a select few, the ability to read through his letters will be a big deal. That's because Fredric Wertham wrote a book about comic books and juvenile delinquency. [...]

I cheated on Washington City Paper this week. Last night Sir Paul McCartney performed in the East Room of the White House and collected the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and I filed this report for Rolling Stone.
Based on the lineup—McCartney performed, as did Stevie Wonder, the Jonas Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Jack [...]

In the two years she’s been the United States' poet laureate, Kay Ryan has published a book of poetry (The Best of It: New and Selected Poems) and supported community colleges (Poetry for the Mind’s Joy, a project focusing on work by community college students)—not to mention held readings and talks across the country. Before [...]

In 1933, the then 18-year-old Alan Lomax began going on trips throughout the American South with his folklorist father John in which they recorded singers, mainly African-American ones, using the bulky recording machines of the time. From that period on until his death in 2002, Lomax, the subject of a lunchtime presentation at the Library of [...]

"Molto Animato! Music and Animation," a small exhibit in the Library of Congress' Madison building, attempts to show how "moving images have always appeared more fluid and expressive when accompanied by music." To continue quoting from its Web site, "Molto Animato ('very animated'), juxtaposes music scores, lyrics, and drawings with film clips and sound recordings [...]

Poets Jill McDonough and Atsuro Riley, winners of the 2010 Witter Bynner fellowships, will read from their work tonight at the Library of Congress. The Fellowship recipients were selected by Poet Laureate Kay Ryan (right), who will introduce them.
McDonough, who is from Boston, is the author of Habeas Corpus, a 2008 collection of 50 sonnets. [...]

If you spend time on Capital Hill, odds are your days are pretty busy. Trust us, we understand, but your packed schedule shouldn't prevent you from checking out the "Herblock!" exhibit at the Library of Congress—especially if you're in, or even interested in, the business of governing. Use our handy guide to the latest exhibit [...]

Encouraging children to read isn’t an easy task, which is why the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book and nonprofit group Every Child a Reader created the position of National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced this morning that succeeding wacky author and first ambassador Jon Scieszka (The [...]

As the lead library technician for the Library of Congress’ music division, Carl Cephas specialized in retrieving obscure rock and jazz materials for patrons. To a handful of his coworkers and managers, he specialized in being a major headache. There was the time he told his supervisor Mary Wedgewood, “Fuck you, go suck eggs,” after [...]

In January Richie Unterberger  was at the Library of Congress discussing his book The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film.  Now he is back, tonight, Monday August 3rd at the Library to talk about his new detail-packed, 368 page book, White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day (I have not seen it yet).  According [...]