Library of Congress

We apologize for the confusion resulting from the missing content on the Constitution Annotated (CONAN) website today. It has been our urgent priority to re-publish the content and determine what happened. CONAN is an educational tool which includes discussions of the Supreme Court’s latest opinions linked to the text of the Constitution. When updating the site to reflect our constitutional scholars’ analysis of the impact of the latest cases on Article I, Sections 8-10, the team inadvertently removed an XML tag. This prevented publication of everything in Article I after the middle of Section 8. The problem has been corrected and our updated constitutional analysis is now available. We are taking steps to prevent a recurrence in the future.

constitution.congress.gov

UPDATE: Missing sections of the Constitution Annotated website have been restored. Upkeep of Constitution Annotated and other digital resources is a critical part of the Library’s mission, and we appreciate the feedback that alerted us to the error and allowed us to fix it. constitution.congress.gov

UPDATE: Missing sections of the Constitution Annotated website have been restored. Upkeep of Constitution Annotated and other digital resources is a critical part of the Library’s mission, and we appreciate the feedback that alerted us to the error and allowed us to fix it. constitution.congress.gov

It has been brought to our attention that some sections of Article 1 are missing from the Constitution Annotated (constitution.congress.gov) website. We’ve learned that this is due to a coding error. We have been working to correct this and expect it to be resolved soon.

NEWS: The Library of Congress has launched a significant upgrade to the Chronicling America website, the nation’s leading free resource for historical U.S. newspapers. newsroom.loc.gov/news/library...

The cover of the November 1949 American Library Association "ALA" bulletin features a black and white photo of author Marguerite Henry alongside her small pony, "Misty."

This week marked the 100th annual Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Co. "pony penning" in Virginia, famously featured in Marguerite Henry's 1947 bestseller "Misty of Chincoteague." Did you know the real Misty was "librarian for a day" at an American Library Association conference in 1949? 🥰

NOTICE: Due to inclement weather, tonight's installment of Summer Movies on the Lawn will be postponed. The makeup date is August 14th. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Marie Tharp played a major role in one of cartography’s greatest achievements: Mapping the sea floor for the first time in history. She started this work at a time when women weren't even allowed on sea-faring research ships. Tharp would have turned 105 this week. 🎂 blogs.loc.gov/maps/2025/07...

Alexander Graham Bell facing his wife, Mabel Hubbard Gardiner Bell, who is standing in a tetrahedral kite, Baddeck, Nova Scotia. October 1903. Gilbert H. Grosvenor Collection of Photographs of the Alexander Graham Bell Family, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Did you know the papers of Alexander Graham Bell are housed at the Library of Congress? So are many photographs of Bell and his family. Here he is leaning in for a kiss from his wife as she stands inside one of his many inventions, a tetrahedral kite.

Bell's papers: www.loc.gov/collections/...

Poet Laureate Ada Limón watches the Europa Clipper lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, October 14, 2024. The clipper, bound for Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, bears a vault plate engraved with Limón's poem, "In Praise of Mystery." Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.

To celebrate the creation of NASA on this day in 1958, we are fondly remembering when Ada Limón, 24th U.S. Poet Laureate, watched the agency launch her poem, "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa," into space last October. A beautiful moment for art and science. www.loc.gov/programs/poe...

A (Road) Trip Down Memory Lane What would you have found along American roadways in the latter half of the 20th century? The answer lies in Roadside America, a collection of photographs that captures the commercial structures that ...

Magazine Monday: A Leaning Tower of Pizza, colossal replicas of dinosaurs, a giant shrimp wearing a cowboy hat and carrying six-shooters — John Margolies’ photos capture the roadside attractions of America’s golden age of car travel. lcm.loc.gov/issue/july-a...

Gratian's "Decretum". Gratian was a 12th-century Benedictine monk and canon lawyer from Bologna. Little is known about him beyond the fact that he compiled and wrote this collection of legal texts, which became the code of...

You can find that right here: www.loc.gov/item/2021667...

The Book of Mormon in the Library of Congress | Bibliomania The Library of Congress has two copies of the first edition of the Book of Mormon in addition to other foundational texts from the Church of the Latter-day Saints. This post discusses the institutiona...

Learn more about this text via the Bibliomania blog on this Pioneer Day, which marks when Brigham Young & members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints arrived in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847, completing a treacherous 1,000-mile exodus.
blogs.loc.gov/bibliomania/...

Title page of The Book of Mormon. Palmyra [N.Y.] Printed by E.B. Grandin for the author, 1830. Copy 1. Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

At the Library of Congress, early imprints from the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints are some of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division’s most requested items—particularly the first edition of the Book of Mormon. 🧵

Chronicling America | The Library of Congress Search results 1 - 40 of 3170890.

We're upgrading! In two weeks, on August 4, users will automatically be sent from the legacy version of the Chronicling America historic newspaper archive to the new version.

Check out the added features and tools: www.loc.gov/collections/...

The ceiling of the Library of Congress Jefferson Building's Great Hall is lit up during an event on September 9, 2015. The point of view is from below a statue holding a torch toward the ceiling, which is decorated with intricate geometric patterns. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.

Magazine Monday: The Library of Congress' Jefferson Building is often called the most beautiful building in Washington, D.C. Library staff members recommend favorite things to see and do in the building in the latest issue of the Library of Congress Magazine. lcm.loc.gov/issue/july-a...

Volunteer Solomon Scott smiles as he holds an "Ask Me" sign while working the morning shift of the National Book Festival outside the Main Stage, August 31, 2019. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.

🗣️ Calling all book lovers! If you love reading and being a part of a team, you’re invited to volunteer for the 25th Library of Congress National Book Festival on September 6th! 📚📖🎉
www.loc.gov/visit/volunt...

#NatBookFest

Black and white photo shows a seated, shirtless, mustachioed man wearing suspenders and jeans, smoking a pipe, flexing his arm with his Social Security number tattooed on it. His wife is in the background, cupping her head in her hand. Unemployed lumber worker goes with his wife to the bean harvest. Oregon. Photographed by Dorothea Lange, U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Some National Tattoo Day trivia: When the Social Security Administration first began issuing numbers, it wasn't uncommon for people to get their number tattooed on their body. 💪

Photo from the Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress.

A small sketch of a nuclear explosion, drawn in one of the diaries in the J. Robert Oppenheimer collection at the Library of Congress.

Today is the 80th anniversary of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, the Trinity test in New Mexico. Did you know the Library has leader of the Manhattan Project and father of the atomic bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer's papers? More than 300 boxes worth.

Read more: blogs.loc.gov/loc/2023/07/...

How to Nominate Films | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs | Library of Congress We are accepting nominations for the 2025 National Film Registry. Deadline is August 15, 2025.

Is "Die Hard" a Christmas movie? It came out on this day (July 15) in 1988, and was added to the Library's National Film Registry in 2017.

Nominations for the 2025 National Film Registry will be accepted for one more month! Nominate something before August 15th. 👇
www.loc.gov/programs/nat...

The Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, November 21, 2017. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.

NOTICE: While planning your visit to the Library of Congress, please check this recently updated list of prohibited items: www.loc.gov/visit/know-b...

Here's an abridged look at what has to happen when a roughly 800-year-old manuscript comes to the Library of Congress' Conservation Division in need of repair.

Read more about this manuscript & the repair process: blogs.loc.gov/preservation...

Good Wood: Using Beech to Rebind a Medieval Manuscript, Part 3 | Guardians of Memory Senior Rare Book Conservator John Bertonaschi will write about the efforts made to repair some of the wear and tear suffered by the Decretum Gratiani manuscript over the past 700 years.

Here's an abridged look at what has to happen when a roughly 800-year-old manuscript comes to the Library of Congress' Conservation Division in need of repair.

Read more about this manuscript & the repair process: blogs.loc.gov/preservation...

Mila Hill, a 2024 junior fellow in the Library of Congress Office of Communications, poses with the Blackwell's Kinfolk Family Tree. Blackwell is a family name on her mother's side of the family, and she learned during her fellowship that this Library treasure represents part of her own family.

The Blackwell's Kinfolk Family Tree, a sprawling illustrated family tree with names written on leaves, hangs at the Library.

Tennis great Arthur Ashe would be 82 years old today. When we think of him, we think of The Blackwell's Kinfolk family tree, a physically impressive genealogical treasure housed here at the Library of Congress that documents his family as far back as 1789. www.loc.gov/exhibitions/...

More Than 90 Authors to Join the 25th Library of Congress National Book Festival Uniting book lovers for 25 years, the Library of Congress National Book Festival will return on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

NEWS: The full author lineup for the 25th Library of Congress National Book Festival is out now! Mark your calendars for September 6th. 👇

newsroom.loc.gov/news/more-th...

Aloha! Community Collections Grant Project Unearthing the Lost Songs of Kohala Is Live and Online | Folklife Today The American Folklife Center proudly announces the availability of an online collection of documentary field research created through the Community Collections Grants (CCG) program. Unearthing the Lost Songs of Kohala is an initiative of the research team of Mark Boots Keahi aʻamau pio ʻole i ka poli o Pele Lupenui (project director, interviewer, and musician), Adam Palya (videographer), and Cheryl Lupenui (project manager). Their year-long efforts have resulted in this unique collection of video recordings, song sheets, and photographs that document generations-old “heirloom songs” of the Kohala region in the northwest portion of the island of Hawai’i.

The "Unearthing the Lost Songs of Kohala" project aims to document generations-old “heirloom songs” from the Kohala region of Hawaii. It's part of an initiative to archive cultural expressions & traditions that may otherwise be absent from the national record. blogs.loc.gov/folklife/202...

Eighteenth Century Track Changes: Uncovering Revisions in Founding Fathers’ Documents | Guardians of Memory Amidst the festivities as we celebrate Independence Day, this blog takes a moment to consider the significance and responsibility that went into outlining, drafting, and shaping our nation as the Foun...

The change emphasizes the weight of words & Jefferson’s keen ability to choose them. "Subjects" evoked the monarchy the Founding Fathers were rejecting, while "citizens" indicated the forging of a fresh path. Read more about how the discovery was made: blogs.loc.gov/preservation...

Depiction of image processing steps taken to reveal that, in a draft of the Declaration of Independence, an instance of the word "citizens" originally said "subjects."

Upon closer examination under the microscope, it’s evident there is a word underneath the smudge, and the word “citizens” is judiciously written on top. Spectral imaging reveals that Jefferson first wrote “our fellow subjects."

Close up of the word "citizens" in a draft of the Declaration of Independence, which is visibly smudged

Illustration of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams reviewing a draft of the Declaration of Independence. Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, artist. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

For Independence Day, a story brought to you by Library of Congress scientists. Throughout June 1776, Thomas Jefferson was drafting what we now know as the Declaration of Independence. As he edited, he made neat strike outs. In one instance, though, there's an obvious smudge. 🧵

The west face of the Library of Congress Jefferson Building with the sun setting on it. November 21, 2017. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.

NOTICE: All buildings of the Library of Congress will be closed on Friday, July 4 for the federal Independence Day holiday.