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08/14/2025

Today in History - August 14

08/14/2025

Today in History - August 14

On August 14, 1848, Congress created the Oregon Territory, an area encompassing present-day Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and parts of western Montana and Wyoming. Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

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Upcoming US Law Webinars – September 2025

08/14/2025

Upcoming US Law Webinars – September 2025

08/14/2025 08:00 AM EDT

Today's blog post announces the upcoming U.S. Law webinars occurring in the month of September including another entry into our Lunch and Learn webinar series and an Orientation to Law Library Collections webinar featuring the Texas State Law Library.

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Crazy About Those Martians!

08/14/2025

Crazy About Those Martians!

08/14/2025 09:00 AM EDT

We're talking today with David Baron, author of “The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America,” who will be at this year’s National Book Festival on Sept. 6. It’s about the public fascination between 1890-1910 with what looked to be the very real possibility of life of Mars. The main cultural artifact of this belief might be H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel, “The War of the Worlds,” which imagined hostile Martians invading Earth in spectacular fashion. But as Baron writes, most of the views were utopian, picturing Martians as a far advanced, heroic people.

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National Book Festival Updates: Schedule Launch and Family Friendly Activities

08/14/2025

National Book Festival Updates: Schedule Launch and Family Friendly Activities

08/14/2025 10:31 AM EDT

We’re excited to announce that we have posted the schedule for this year’s Library of Congress National Book Festival on the festival website here, also accessible via this link: loc.gov/bookfest. We’ve been improving the website to make it easy to find events you’d be most interested in. Use the filter function to sort by location, …

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Amanda Pascali, AFC’s 2025 Artist in Resonance

08/14/2025

Amanda Pascali, AFC’s 2025 Artist in Resonance

08/14/2025 11:00 AM EDT

AFC is happy to introduce Amanda Pascali, the 2025 Artist in Resonance. Pascali is an internationally acclaimed, bilingual singer/songwriter who blends folk/Americana influences with Mediterranean, Balkan, and Latin rhythms. Born in New York City and raised in Texas, she has performed internationally, and was named the 2021 Houston Chronicle "Musician of the Year." Earlier this year, she performed in our very own Archive Challenge Showcase at Folk Alliance International. Pascali is also a Fulbright Fellow who pioneered the first comprehensive project to translate and revitalize folk songs written in Sicilian— a UNESCO endangered language. She has amassed a viral following online, and has presented her work at conferences and universities in the US and abroad. For her Artists in Resonance project, she plans to draw on several AFC collections in Italian, Sicilian, and English, emphasizing the connections between American folk music and Italian traditional songs, as well as between historical struggles and contemporary issues. In this blog, we’ll introduce this unique artist and her project, embed her Archive Challenge video, and link you to more of her music.

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National Book Festival Offers Free Activities for Readers of All Ages

08/14/2025

Festival to Feature Interactive Programs and Return of STEM and Story Districts

With free activities for readers and attendees of all ages, the 2025 Library of Congress National Book Festival will continue to unite book lovers on Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Washington Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

There is something for everyone at the festival, which offers a variety of author programs on stages and free activities for families. The schedule tool at loc.gov/bookfest can be used to find programs by genre, stage and event type. Interested attendees can also search by author names. The 2025 festival features more than 90 authors and illustrators.

Click here for more information.

Karen Gearreald: Teaching the Language of Braille Music

08/14/2025

Karen Gearreald: Teaching the Language of Braille Music

08/14/2025 12:01 PM EDT

In this post, we celebrate Karen Gearreald’s extraordinary contributions as a braille music educator, transcriber, and mentor, whose work has shaped the field and supported generations of certified transcribers.

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Law Library: News & Events: Join us on Thursday, August 21, for an Introduction to Congress.gov Webinar at 2:00 PM EDT

08/14/2025

Join us on Thursday, August 21, at 2:00 PM EDT for an Introduction to Congress.gov Webinar. This orientation is designed to give a basic overview of Congress.gov. While the focus of the session will be searching legislation and the congressional member information attached to the legislation, the new features of Congress.gov will be highlighted.

Of Note: A Scene from a Summer Vacation in 1887

08/14/2025

Of Note: A Scene from a Summer Vacation in 1887

08/14/2025 11:59 AM EDT

A look at an eye-catching vacation photo from the summer of 1887 contained in the F. Holland Day Papers.

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United Kingdom: Amendment to Immigration Bill Would Deny Refugee Protections to Serious Sex Offenders

08/14/2025

United Kingdom: Amendment to Immigration Bill Would Deny Refugee Protections to Serious Sex Offenders

08/14/2025 01:27 PM EDT

On May 8, 2025, the U.K. government introduced an amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill that, if enacted, would deny refugee status to anyone convicted of a serious sexual crime that would qualify them for inclusion on the U.K.’s sex offenders register.The United Nations Refugee Convention allows governments to refuse asylum to …

Continue reading “United Kingdom: Amendment to Immigration Bill Would Deny Refugee Protections to Serious Sex Offenders”

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