• 6
  Doc’s ‘Dance’

  The bittersweet backstory of Doc Pomus’ “Save the Last Dance for Me.”

• 10
  ‘Alive in Many Hands’

  A new exhibit celebrates 50 years of the American Folklife Center.

• 20
  Iconic Images

  Yearslong project preserves 175,000 photos from the iconic FSA collection.

• 
• september / october 2026
  Vol. 15 No. 5
• 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)
• Robert Randolph Newlen
  Acting Librarian of Congress
• William Ryan
  Executive Editor
• Mark Hartsell
  Editor
• Ashley Jones
  Designer
• Shawn Miller
  Photo Editor
• Contributors

  Serena Ying-Ting Chiu
  David Harrington
  Megan Harris
  Valda Morris
  Meg Nicholas
  Michael Pahn
  Lee Ann Potter
  Michelle Stefano
  Neely Tucker
  Stephen Winick
  Ashley Rose Young

Published between 1827 and 1838, the work was issued as a series of hand-colored engravings, printed on enormous “double elephant” sheets measuring roughly 38 by 26 inches. Audubon partnered with the London engraver Robert Havell Jr. to translate his paintings into prints of remarkable precision and color.

Subscribers received the plates in installments, eventually assembling a collection that included 435 illustrations depicting 489 species of birds. All that paper adds up: Typically bound in four volumes, “The Birds of America” can be astonishingly heavy. The Library’s set totals 196 pounds, with the largest volume weighing a whopping 55 pounds.

Audubon’s commitment to realism extended beyond careful observation. He used wires and pins to stage specimens in dynamic poses, composing scenes that suggest motion and vitality. Wings arc midflight, talons clutch prey and necks twist with startling energy.

“Something happened which had never happened before in my 12 years of flying, that is, the altimeter, the instrument required to register altitude — height above ground — failed,” she said of her 15-hour flight. “The hand swung around the dial in such a manner that I knew it was out of commission for the rest of the night.”

When her memoir, “The Fun of It,” came out a few months later, her publisher (who was also her husband and promoter, George Putnam) threw in a nifty promotional gimmick: a tiny 78 rpm record of a snippet of that speech, tucked inside the back cover.

But we have a particular fondness for the wooden card catalog cases that once contained hundreds of cards. They conjure fond memories from childhood, of how we first discovered our favorite books. Arranged by title, author and subject, the cards introduced us to individual items in a library’s collection and helped us find them. They taught us important lessons about organizing and making sense of information. They helped us appreciate and gain knowledge.

In the 1970s, libraries began to digitize their catalogs, and the physical card catalog cases soon were retired.

As a library technician at the American Folklife Center (AFC), I process archival folklife collections in a wide range of formats — manuscripts, photographs, audio recordings, moving images and digital files — and help make them accessible to researchers and the public. I particularly enjoy the multiformat nature of the work, where I can listen to everything from wax cylinder recordings to reel-to-reel tapes to contemporary digital formats.

My path to AFC was not a direct one. Originally from Taiwan, I came to the United States to study music at the University of Maryland — I’m a classically trained pianist. When I decided to change careers, I started thinking about working in a library. I felt the two fields share something in common: You can discover hidden treasures in both worlds.

Before joining the Library of Congress, I worked at the National Library of Medicine, where I gained experience working with large-scale collections. At the same time, I still wanted to stay connected to my musical background. An opportunity at AFC immediately felt like the right place for me, where my interests in living traditions, folk culture and performance could come together. In many ways, it connects my path in music with my interest in archives and cultural memory.

Frank Warner, a musician and folksong collector, arrived with a prized new possession in hand: a handmade banjo, fresh from the mountains of North Carolina.

Nathan Hicks had crafted this fretless, five-string instrument from figured walnut just months earlier, and Warner quickly customized it to his own style, adding frets and removing the drone string.

That evening, amid the good cheer and easy laughter, Warner impulsively decided on another alteration. He turned to Carl Sandburg, the famed poet, song collector and Lincoln biographer, and held out the banjo. Would you mind signing it?

Sandburg obliged, scrawling his name and the year beneath the bottom string.

It’s kind of a big deal.

The FSA’s work (also carried out under the names of the Resettlement Administration and the Office of War Information) was intended to be daily publicity and propaganda for New Deal-era social programs that ran from 1935 to 1944. But over time, the images became some of the most iconic documentary photographs in American history, and the photographers some of the most revered.

There is Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother,” Arthur Rothstein’s Dust Bowl-defining images, Russell Lee’s Southside Chicago photo of “Negro Boys on Easter Morning” and dozens of others, including work by Walker Evans, Marion Post Wolcott and Jack Delano. They have been used for decades in books, documentaries, feature films, photography retrospectives, museum collections and endless newspaper, magazine and online stories.

Friends members make so much possible, from major public programs like the National Book Festival and Concerts at the Library of Congress, to special initiatives such as Fashion at the Library, to ensuring that all may read through programs like the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, to supporting the volunteers who make the Library a welcoming, accessible place for all.

In turn, Friends get closer to the Library through special events, bespoke communications, behind-the-scenes tours and events and more.

“I’m proud that I’m an inaugural member of the Friends of the Library,” said Denise Neary, who joined Friends at its 2021 launch. “When we first joined, the Friends program was a way to make a contribution that we felt was significant, and the value has been reciprocated so many times over with the extraordinary programs offered.”

Many years ago, I saw a beautiful and gripping documentary about Gullah Geechee music on a 1960s Alan Lomax TV show. Instantly I knew this music had to become part of our Kronos Fifty Future free online library. After a call to AFC, I was referred to someone with connections to Gullah composers, and within days we were already collaborating. When I learned that AFC had the earliest known recording of a Gullah spiritual called “Come by here” — more commonly known as “Kumbaya”— it became clear that gold had been found!

For a Kronos album celebrating Pete Seeger, one of our composers needed samples of Seeger’s voice. A trip to the American Folklife Center was essential for him and the compositions. Multiple composers have received informational leads about topics of interest and direct access to available sound sources housed at AFC.