Cartoon America
 Great
Hall Gallery South
November 2, 2006-January 27, 2007
Thomas Jefferson Building
Monday-Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm
James Arthur Wood, Jr., began collecting original cartoon art
as a childhood hobby. In his teens, Wood honed
his drawing skills by copying the styles and characters of
his favorite cartoonists. He began writing letters to cartoonists
requesting original artwork and in these letters
included his own sketches inspired by their
work. For many decades, cartoonists rewarded Wood with original
drawings and became his lifelong friends.
Wood worked diligently throughout his professional life as an
editorial cartoonist to showcase his collection. He ultimately
turned to the Library of Congress to preserve and present his
collection to the American people and the world.
The Library's Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature
contains more than 36,000 original cartoon drawings. The 102
drawings selected for this exhibition reflect Wood's primary
collecting interests and the vitality of an innovative and evolving
art form.
Links: Read
News Release
Illuminating the Word: The Saint John's Bible
 Northwest
Gallery, 2nd Floor
October 6-December 23, 2006
Thomas Jefferson Building
Monday-Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm
This exhibition is devoted to a single work of art, an illuminated,
handwritten Bible commissioned by Saint John's University
and Abbey in Minnesota. This contemporary
Bible is at once old and new: a masterpiece of the ancient crafts
of calligraphy and illumination
that could only be made by artists of today. The Saint John's
Bible is being created by professional scribes, under the direction
of Donald Jackson, one of the world's foremost calligraphers.
In the Middle Ages, monumental Bibles were made for daily use
in monastic communities, yet they were carefully preserved for
future generations. The Saint John's Bible is the modern
representative of that great tradition.
In addition to the St. John's Bible, this installation
includes several priceless volumes from the Library's extraordinary
collection of 1500 printed Bibles housed in the Rare Book and
Special Collections Division. The works on display cover more
than five centuries. This glimpse into the Library's rich
collections also includes a multimedia presentation that provides
a brief overview of illuminated works in the Library's
medieval and renaissance manuscript collections. This presentation
demonstrates vividly the tradition of illumination to which the
St. John's Bible belongs.
Links: Read
News Release
Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by HERBLOCK
 Southwest
Gallery, 2nd Floor
July 17, 2006 - January 20, 2007
Thomas Jefferson Building
Monday - Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm
A special installation within the American Treasures exhibition,
Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by HERBLOCK features original
work by the Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist Herb Block
and draws from the generous gift of 14,000 original drawings and
more than 50,000 preparatory sketches donated to the Library of
Congress by the Herb Block Foundation in 2002. The exhibition's
central theme, entitled "Get Out the Vote," chronicles
off-year elections from 1946 to 1994. The exhibition also focuses
on six major themes of enduring importance to Herblock that continue
to resonate in American society today: ethics, environment, extremism,
the Middle East, privacy/security, and war. In addition to the
final cartoons, rough sketches for finished drawings are included
in an exhibition for the first time. The exhibited works cover
most of the presidential administrations from the 1940s through
the 1990s. In true Herblock form, the cartoons critique and comment
on Democrats and Republicans alike.
Links: Online
Exhibition | Read News Release
American Treasures of the Library of Congress  Southwest
Gallery and Pavilion, 2nd Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building,
Ongoing Exhibition
Monday - Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm
The "American Treasures" exhibition
showcases some 300 items that represent the breadth and depth
of the Library's American historical items. The Library of Congress
is the nation's oldest and most
comprehensive presidential library. The Library has in its custody
the papers of twenty-three presidents, including those men who
founded the nation and led it through some of its greatest crises.
Among these papers are key documents relating to the early presidential
inaugurations. This exhibition is free and open to the public.
No reservations are needed.
Links: Online
Exhibition | Read
Article
Bob Hope and American Variety
 The
Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment, Ground Floor, Thomas
Jefferson Building, Ongoing Exhibition
Monday - Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm (except December 24-25, December 31 and January 1)
Bob Hope has been a friend of
every president of the United States since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Now on view are engaging photographs of Bob Hope making the presidents
laugh, a personal holiday greeting from Richard M. Nixon and
scores of political jokes from Hope's 89,000-plus-page personal
Joke File, displayed in its entirety at the Library. The gallery
also includes items from the newly acquired Bob Hope Collection,
materials from the rich and varied collections of the Library,
and objects borrowed from the Bob Hope Archives. This exhibition
is free and open to the public. No reservations are needed.
Links: Online
Exhibition | Read
Article
The Gerry Mulligan Collection
 Foyer
of the Performing Arts Reading Room, LM 113, James Madison Building
Ongoing Exhibition
Monday - Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm (except December 24-25, December 31 and January 1)
Gerry Mulligan’s gold-plated
Conn baritone saxophone is the centerpiece of a new permanent
exhibition. Other items on display from the Library’s Gerry
Mulligan Collection are photographs that document Mulligan’s
long career, music manuscripts in Mulligan’s hand, record
covers, performance programs and posters, and a 1981 Grammy that
he won for the best jazz instrumental performance in his album
Walk on the Water. This exhibition is free and open to the public.
No reservations are needed.
Links: News
Release | Read
Article
Maps in Our Lives
 An Exhibition in the Foyer of the Geography and Map Division
Madison Bldg, Room LM B01
[Map
showing location]
September 14, 2005-January 6, 2007
The Library of Congress presents Maps in Our Lives, an exhibition
in recognition of a thirty-year partnership between the Library's
Geography and Map Division and the American Congress on Surveying
and Mapping (ACSM), the nation's primary professional organization
dedicated to surveying and mapping activities. This exhibition
explores four constituent professions represented by the ACSM--surveying,
cartography, geodesy, and geographic information systems (GIS)--and
draws on both the Library's historic map collections and
the ACSM collection in the Library of Congress.
The exhibit also features a video that provides a historical
and spatial comparison of the surveying maps featured in this
exhibit. These maps are overlaid with contemporary GIS data of
the same area and show the power of GIS in presenting and interpreting
landscape over time.
Links: Online Exhibition - Geography & Map
Division Home Page
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