On Learning: What’s new at the Library of Congress

A 1939 Frank Warner Banjo /
Acquired by the Library of Congress.

One of my favorite days each year at the Library of Congress is the annual “New Acquisitions” display, when the public is invited to view 100 of the most interesting items in all formats that the Library has obtained during the past fiscal year.

During this year’s open house last week, there were holograph manuscript sketches for Beethoven’s monumental “Hammerklavier” Piano Sonata, Op. 106, presented by the Music Division; the 1941 Japanese Pearl Harbor damage assessment map used to brief Emperor Hirohito, presented by the Asian Division; and one of the most famous issues of the New York Daily News, which contains a front page with one of the most iconic baseball cartoons of all time, “Who’s a Bum!” by cartoonist Leo O’Mealia, presented by the Serial & Government Publictions Division.

Multi-faceted French Toy Theatre

There were many fascinating items from a variety of curatorial divisions in the Library, and curators were on hand to answer visitor questions and provide commentary. For instance, I shared a wonderful discussion with Sybille Jagusch, chief of the Children’s Literature Center (which is part of the Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections) about her recent purchase of a superb, multi-faceted French Toy Theatre, with small hand cranks which move color images across the back of a hollow box. I learned that the chromolithgraphed scenes included in this French toy theatre are lovely and handsome images of the Paris Exposition of 1900.

Also, I engaged with Raymond White, a senior music specialist with the Library’s Music Division, to learn about what the Library has added to its wealth of original Felix Mendelssohn (1808-1847) holdings. I did not realize that the Library is a well-known repository for its sources of Mendelssohn research, which includes approximately 20 music manuscripts, nearly 400 autograph letters and a large collection of first and early printed editions, in addition to portraits, contemporaneous clippings, and other documents. It all combines to make the Library of Congress the leading American source for all things Mendelssohn.

Among other new items of interest:

• A World’s Fair New York “Straight to the Gate” print by German-born artist Sasha Maurer that depicts a couple admiring the vista of a train streaming through Manhattan’s Penn State to the brightly glowing World’s Fair Station, presented by the Prints & Photographs Division.

• A beautifully illustrated Book of Hours for an English Market, made in Flanders for exportation to England during the middle years of the 15th century in an era of religious reform, presented by the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

• A Frank Warner banjo, signed by more than 200 performers, made in 1939. The banjo is made of walnut, with walnut tuning pegs, steel strings and animal skin. The signatories include Alan Lomax, Odetta, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, presented by the American Folklife Center.

• Copies of Besuboru magajin (“Baseball magazine”), which belong to a set of 66 issues recently acquired by the Asian Division. These issues span from 1946 to 1951, a period that coincides with the U.S. occupation of Japan (1945-1952) and “marks a time of profound political, social and cultural change.” Besuboru magajin, I learned, appeared shortly after Japanese professional baseball officially returned in November 1945, after a year of inactivity due to World War II.

Photos: By Michael Dickens © 2019.