• 10
  Rudolph’s Story

  How the most famous reindeer of all went down in history.

• 14
  Taste of the Holidays

  Historical cookbooks reveal the evolution of seasonal food over the decades.

• 20
  Paris Expo Faces

  Exhibit showcased African American life at the turn of the century.

• 
• november / december 2024
  Vol. 13 No. 6
• Mission of the Library of Congress
• The Library’s mission is to engage, inspire and inform Congress and the American people with a universal and enduring source of knowledge and creativity.
• Library of Congress Magazine is issued bimonthly by the Office of Communications of the Library of Congress and distributed free of charge to publicly supported libraries and research institutions, donors, academic libraries, learned societies and allied organizations in the United States. Research institutions and educational organizations in other countries may arrange to receive Library of Congress Magazine on an exchange basis by applying in writing to the Library’s Director for Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington DC 20540-4100. LCM is also available on the web at loc.gov/lcm/. All other correspondence should be addressed to the Office of Communications, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington DC 20540-1610.
• news@loc.gov
  loc.gov/lcm
  ISSN 2169-0855 (print)
  ISSN 2169-0863 (online)
• Carla Hayden
  Librarian of Congress
• April Slayton
  Executive Editor
• Mark Hartsell
  Editor
• Ashley Jones
  Designer
• Shawn Miller
  Photo Editor
• Contributors

  Ryn Cole
  Lauryn Gilliam
  Carla Hall
  Jennifer Harbster
  Aimee Hess
  Katherine S. Madison
  Wendi A. Maloney
  Hannah Ostroff
  Neely Tucker
  Brett Zongker

All eyes fixed on the towering SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket that would carry a NASA spacecraft on a 1.8 billion-mile journey to explore Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. The mission was in the making for decades and imagined for far longer.

Galileo first discovered Europa through a homemade telescope in 1610. Now, scientists believe Europa is another water world covered with an icy crust and may hold the ingredients for life.

As the countdown clock ticked, a crowd of scientists, mission planners, family, friends — and the poet laureate of the United States — gathered under clear blue skies to watch. Then they counted down together. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Liftoff. As the rocket lifted higher and turned out over the ocean, Poet Laureate Ada Limón wiped a tear and watched it disappear into the sky.

Dr. Ruth first went on the air in 1980 in New York City. Only radio listeners with antennae strong enough to pick up New York’s 97.1 FM station could hear her German-accented voice until 1984, when NBC Radio nationally syndicated her program, “Sexually Speaking.” Her audience grew with the premiere of “Good Sex! With Dr. Ruth Westheimer” on Lifetime Television in 1984.

The Library’s Manuscript Division recently opened the Dr. Ruth Westheimer Papers for research. The collection consists almost exclusively of audience letters sent to Dr. Ruth from 1980 to 1986. Writers sought guidance for their problems regarding sexual experience (How do I achieve orgasm?) or relationship issues (Should I leave him?).

As the United States’ first federal photographer, John Wood bore witness to this epic construction project and chronicled the transformation of Washington, D.C., into an established metropolis and center of government.

In “Magnificent Intentions: John Wood, First Federal Photographer (1856-1863),” Library of Congress conservator Adrienne Lundgren highlights the significance of Wood’s photographic images — his documentation of the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Aqueduct; the first panoramic photos of D.C.; the first inauguration photo, from James Buchanan’s inauguration in 1857; and documentation of the Civil War. It also includes a magnificent large format view of Abraham Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration from the Library’s collections. Lundgren’s research established that all of the extant photographs of Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration were taken by Wood.

Portuguese cartographer Bartolomeu Velho created the map — an early nautical chart, or portolan — around 1560, and the Library acquired it last year. It is one of a small group of portolans depicting the East Coast of North America known to exist.

The Velho portolan came to the Library by a circuitous route, to say the least. It was found in 1961 at Rye Castle Museum in Sussex, England. By then, however, the portolan no longer was intact: It had been cut into quarters and repurposed for its vellum, or animal skin.

Born in 1788, Hale was an American activist, editor and writer, best known as creator of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” As editor of the popular Godey’s Lady’s Book magazine for women, she advocated for women’s education and the right to own property. A talented writer, she used her skills to persuade President Abraham Lincoln to proclaim a national day of thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November.

After years of writing to other government officials, Hale finally took her case to the top.

I am the lead writer-editor in the Publishing Office, where we publish books about the Library and its collections. I oversee our editorial output, such as developing production schedules, ensuring we meet deadlines and reviewing all prepublication text. With just six staff members, we all contribute to get a project from the seed of an idea to something you can buy in the Library of Congress Shop, online and in bookstores. This includes developing ideas, writing proposals, conducting archival research, editing text, securing permissions, arranging scanning, working with designers and marketing.

I grew up in Westchester County, New York, in the beautiful Hudson Valley. I had many interests: sports, dance, music, theater, nature — and I always had my head in a book. During high school, I studied classical voice in the precollege program at Juilliard and considered going to a conservatory. Instead, I went to Princeton University, where I majored in English with a certificate in African American studies.

That display, composed of hundreds of photographs, charts, books, maps and diagrams, was organized by W.E.B. Du Bois, the writer, activist and sociologist; Thomas Calloway, a lawyer and activist; and Daniel A.P. Murray, an assistant librarian at the Library of Congress. They wanted to show the world — or at least the international visitors to the fair — that three decades and change after gaining their freedom, Black Americans were making vast intellectual and social gains. Their exhibit, within the Palace of Social Economy and Congresses, was to advocate for the positive representation of Black Americans and the preservation of their literature, culture and history.

The director, Asaf Galay, received a $200,000 cash prize for the multipart film about the Fleischer Brothers, a family of animators who created innovative techniques that transformed the industry and still are in use today in an evolved form.

Despite being “a librarian with dyslexia,” Carter turned this challenge into a strength. She mastered the art of memorizing the reference collection and locating materials with exceptional precision. Her extraordinary skill earned her the title of a “great enabler” from noted scientist and historian Ian Bartky. She’s been acknowledged in over 70 publications, including two by Bartky.

All along, Carter has followed her father’s advice: “Do not try to be top dog in any organization; find a niche where you can make a difference, and you will be happy.” And, indeed, she is!

That time in my life is the inspiration behind my children’s book, “Carla and the Christmas Cornbread.” Food, family and love were all wrapped together during those early days, and that’s the story the book tells. In reality, though, our Christmas table wasn’t just for my immediate family — cousins, aunts, uncles and other relatives would come from all over Tennessee, New York and Michigan, filling the house with energy and laughter.

One of my fondest memories is how Granny would wait until we arrived to start making her famous cornbread. She made it fresh, and her cinnamon butter really took it over the top — just butter, powdered sugar, cinnamon and a splash of vanilla extract. You had to eat it hot, right out of the oven.