Library Of Congress Magazine - March/April 2020

WHAT IS THESTRONGESTMUSCLE IN THEHUMAN BODY?There is no one answer forthis question since there aredifferent ways to measurestrength. There is absolutestrength (maximum force),dynamic strength (repeatedmotions), elastic strength (exertforce quickly) and strengthendurance (withstand fatigue).WHY IS IT HOTIN THE SUMMERAND COLD IN THEWINTER?It is all about the tilt of theEarth’s axis. Many peoplebelieve that the temperaturechanges because the Earth iscloser to the sun in summer andfarther from the sun in winter. Infact, in the Western Hemispherethe Earth is farthest from thesun in July and is closest to thesun in January.HOW MUCH WATERDOES A CAMEL'SHUMP HOLD?None. A camel’s hump does nothold water at all — it actuallystores fat.HOW HIGH CANA NINE-BANDEDARMADILLO JUMPINTO THE AIR?Of the 20 species of armadillothat exist throughoutthe Americas, the ninebanded armadillo (dasypusnovemcinctus) is the only onefound in the United States.When startled, it can jumpstraight upward about 3 to4 feet into the air. Anotherinteresting fact: Armadillos canhold their breath for six minutesor more.WHY AND HOW DOCATS PURR?No one knows for sure whya domestic cat purrs, butmany people interpret thesound as one of contentment.Our understanding of how adomestic cat purrs is becomingmore complete; most scientistsagree that the larynx (voicebox), laryngeal muscles and aneural oscillator are involved.MORE INFORMATIONEveryday Mysteriesloc.gov/everyday-mysteries/MARCH/APRIL 2020 LOC.GOV/LCM7

PAGE FROM THE PASTA NORTH STAR FORJOURNALISMDouglass’ newspapersprovided a guiding light forAfrican Americans hoping forfreedom.Born into slavery, Frederick Douglassescaped from bondage as a young manand spent the next 50-plus years of hislife fighting for the emancipation and fullcitizenship of African Americans.To further that work, Douglass foundedThe North Star newspaper in Rochester,New York, in 1847. The publication, hewrote, would attack slavery in all its forms,advocate universal emancipation, promotethe moral and intellectual improvement ofhis people, exalt public morality and “hastenthe day of freedom to the three millions ofour enslaved countrymen.”That purpose he boiled down to a mottoemblazoned across the front page: “Right isof no sex — truth is of no color — God is thefather of us all, and all we are brethren.”The paper, published weekly, quicklybecame one of the most influentialabolitionist publications of the era. TheNorth Star soon found itself in financialtrouble, however. Douglass mortgaged hishome in 1848 to keep it going and, threeyears later, merged the paper with anotherpublication and called it Frederick Douglass’Paper. The newspaper ceased publicationaltogether in 1860. Frederick Douglassfounded The NorthStar newspaper in1847. Douglass, as heexplained in the noteshown opposite, chosethe name as a symbol offaith, hope and freedom.Prints and PhotographsDivision, Serial andGovernment PublicationsDivision, ManuscriptDivision8LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINEIn January, the Library placed a group of568 issues of Douglass’ newspapers online,including issues of The North Star, FrederickDouglass’ Paper and a later venture, NewNational Era.Douglass’ work on newspapers suchas this 1848 issue of The North Star, acontemporary African American journalistobserved, did more for the “freedom andelevation of his race than all his platformappearances.”MORE INFORMATIONFrederick Douglass newspapersgo.usa.gov/xdrBD

A NEWVIEWOF THELIBRARY10LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINEProject aims to changethe way visitorsexperience the institutionand its resources.BY MARK HARTSELL

The collections of the Library ofCongress chronicle centuries of humanachievement and creativity in all theirforms, a rich and enduring source ofknowledge for the American publicand scholars around the world.the building and better understand theLibrary’s history, mission and resources.The gallery also will incorporate anexhibition of the historical foundationof the Library’s collections: the originalbooks of Thomas Jefferson’s own library.Those collections harbor countlessmilestones of history and culture: the roughdraft of the Declaration of Independence,original copies of the Gettysburg Address,Rosa Parks’ personal papers, Edisonprints from the dawn of filmmakingand tens of millions of other items thatcollectively document our shared past.Another goal of the project is to providevisitors with a new view — literally — ofthe 123-year-old Jefferson Building.A new undertaking by the Library aimsto help visitors to the historic JeffersonBuilding experience the institutionand those resources in new ways.The Library is implementing a visitorexperience plan that calls for the creationof a new 6,500-square-foot orientationgallery; a 5,000-square-foot learning centerfor families, teens and student groups; anda treasures gallery that showcases someof the most awe-inspiring items of theover 170 million in Library collections. Theproject also calls for modifications to theJefferson Building that will provide visitorswith greater views of its grand spaceswithout disturbing the work of researchers.In fiscal year 2018, Congress endorseda public-private partnership to fundthe project. The fundraising is ongoing,and design work is underway as well.Philanthropist David Rubenstein hascommitted 10 million to support thiswork.The project is expected to takethree to five years to complete; thetreasures gallery, the first element to befinished, would open by the end of 2022.The new experience is intended toensure that diverse audiences arewelcomed, inspired and empoweredto discover and explore.The orientation gallery, located on theground floor, will help visitors navigatePlans call for the creation of a large circularopening, called an “oculus,” in the floor ofthe magnificent Main Reading Room. Visitorsstanding one floor below in the orientationgallery will be able to peer up through theoculus into the reading room and take inthe great Edwin Blashfield mural, “HumanUnderstanding,” that crowns the dome. Opposite: An artistrendering shows theplanned orientationgallery on the groundfloor of the JeffersonBuilding (bottom).Visitors standing in thegallery can look throughan opening in the ceiling(top) and view thebuilding’s magnificentdome rising above. Pure AppliedA learning center, also on the groundfloor, would provide visitors with abehind-the-scenes look at the work ofLibrary staff and give learners of all agesopportunities to engage with diversecollection materials, from cuneiformwriting to film editing and oral histories.Two floors up, a treasures gallery wouldshow more of the rarest and mostremarkable items from the collections.Different items would regularly rotate intothe exhibition, ensuring fresh opportunitiesfor repeat visitors to understand thescope of the Library’s holdings and toensure the conservation of the materials.On the mezzanine, a new café and seatingspace will give visitors a spot to linger andadmire the Great Hall of the JeffersonBuilding and, from the windows, take ingrand views of the U.S. Capitol across thestreet and the National Mall stretchingwest to the Washington Monument.Over its 220-year history, the Library alwayshas served as a source of authoritativeinformation for Congress and the Americanpublic. This project is a new way ofinviting people from across the countryto build lifelong connections to it.MARCH/APRIL 2020 LOC.GOV/LCM11

DIGGING INTO THE TREASURE CHESTResearchers seek out gems in theLibrary’s rich collections to further theirown work and passions.The Library of Congress is one of theworld’s great public resources: Itscollections hold over 170 million itemsdocumenting centuries of globalhistory and culture — the single mostcomprehensive accumulation ofhuman knowledge ever assembled.The Library seeks to open thistreasure chest as wide as possibleto as many people as possible.In fiscal year 2019 alone, the Librarywelcomed nearly 1.9 million visitors toits campus on Capitol Hill in person andrecorded another 119 million visits online.The uses they make of theLibrary’s holdings are as varied as12LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINEthe collections themselves.Researchers at the Library, amongcountless other undertakings, conductscientific research on Mesoamericantextiles, study the roots of blackmusical theater, explore the papers ofU.S. Supreme Court justices, uncoverunheard works by famed Broadwaycomposers, use modern tools to bringcolor and life to historical photographsand learn about the experiences of AfricanAmerican soldiers during World War I.In this issue of the Library of CongressMagazine, we take a look at waysresearchers use the collections to pursuetheir own interests and passions.

LOU DEL BIANCOThree years ago, the Del Bianco family gatheredin a small South Dakota town for a very special— and long overdue — occasion: the unveilingof a plaque by the National Park Servicerecognizing an ancestor as chief carver of theMount Rushmore National Memorial.The ceremony — staged 76 years after thememorial was completed — marked the endof a decades-long quest by the family touncover evidence documenting the pivotal rolethat ancestor, Luigi Del Bianco, played in thecreation of an iconic American landmark.Luigi, a memorial stone carver in Vermontand New York, also worked with notedsculptor Gutzon Borglum on various projects.When Borglum was commissioned todesign the Rushmore memorial in 1933, hehired Luigi as chief carver. In that capacity,Luigi would carve the expression in thefaces of Presidents Washington, Lincoln,Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt.Luigi, however, was not acknowledged for hisrole by the park service, which instead creditedall the workers equally. When Luigi’s son Caesarread a book about the making of Rushmorein the mid-1980s, he was taken aback to findno mention of his father. So, he enlisted hisnephew, Lou, to help rectify the oversight.Over the course of a half-dozen trips to thenation’s capital, Caesar and Lou spent days inthe Library’s Manuscript Division poring overthe papers of Borglum, whose family donatedthe material to the Library. In those papers,they found numerous discussions by Borglumof the importance of Luigi’s work on Rushmore.“He is the only intelligent, efficient stone carveron the work who understands the language ofthe sculptor,” Borglum wrote.In 2015, two National Park Service historianswere dispatched to the Library to examine theDel Biancos’ discoveries. They recommendedrecognition for Luigi that very day — a decisionthat led to that ceremony in Keystone, SouthDakota, in 2017. Above: Luigi Del Biancostands with a model ofMount Rushmore in thestudio of sculptor GutzonBorglum around 1935.Left: Using ManuscriptDivision resources,Lou Del Bianco helpeduncover the story ofhis ancestor’s work onthe iconic monument.Photos courtesy of LouDel Bianco“It means so much. We are so proud of hisaccomplishment and only wanted him to getthe credit he was due — no more, no less,” Lousays. “To our family, justice has finally beenserved, and history is now telling a much moreaccurate story.”—Wendi A. Maloney is a writer-editor in theOffice of Communications.MARCH/APRIL 2020 LOC.GOV/LCM13

Amara Alexanderuses material fromLibrary collections in herclasswork, such as thispamphlet promoting anearly car manufactoryfounded by AfricanAmerican inventorLucean Arthur Headen.Shawn Miller, ManuscriptDivisionAMARA ALEXANDERFew things help students learn likegetting up close to primary sources— the raw materials of history.Seeing, say, the penciled sketches ofexperimental telephones that AlexanderGraham Bell drew in his lab notebooksnearly 150 years ago helps young peoplebetter understand the engineering-designprocess and lets them see history unfold.As the 2019-20 Einstein Fellow at the Libraryof Congress, I have spent the past severalmonths exploring such treasures with ateacher-researcher’s goals in mind.The need for primary sources — originaldocuments and objects created at thetime under study — to facilitate lessonsfocused on STEM (science, technology,engineering and mathematics) educationhas guided my investigations.Primary sources increase studentengagement, growth and retention ofconcepts. The resources I discoverduring my year here will enhance myclassroom instruction and the learningexperiences of my students.The STEM-related historical documentsand artifacts in the Library’s manyreading rooms are captivating.In the Manuscript Division, I discoveredAfrican American inventor Lucean ArthurHeaden, who owned his own automobilemanufacturing company in the 1920s andproduced a car he designed called theHeaden Pace Setter. Wow! A moment intime, previously unknown to me, unfoldedas a result of my research here andyielded connections between STEM andhistory. Knowing this story will createadditional opportunities for me to exposestudents to new STEM career paths.In addition to visiting reading rooms, I’vesearched the Library’s digitized collections14LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINEto uncover online primary sources relatedto science and engineering practices.Through the Library’s website, inventionsand discoveries from bygone eras leapfrom Bell’s lab journal pages into thehands of today’s students, inspiringtheir own creativity and extendingtheir depth of knowledge. Historicaldocuments chronicling the advancementof weather technology transform thehistory of meteorology from an abstractconversation to a hands-on explorationrich with analysis and questioning.Taking on the role of a teacher-researcherempowers me to explore new topics,make unique discoveries and sharewhat I’ve learned with fellow educators,colleagues, students and parents. Thanksto my time at the Library of Congress, mycommunity now has access to primarysources and historical expertise thatwill expand the power of learning andadvance knowledge and understanding.—Amara Alexander is the 2019-20 EinsteinFellow at the Library of Congress.

JOE MANNINGIn fall 2005, Joe Manning agreed to help afriend solve a mystery that had turned into anobsession: discovering the story of a little girl ina photo taken at a Vermont cotton mill in 1910.The friend, author Elizabeth Winthrop, hadseen the image in an exhibit of child-laborphotographs by Lewis Wickes Hine and couldn’tget it out of her mind. Research revealedthe girl’s name — Addie Card — but Winthropwanted to know more. So, she asked Manning,a New England writer and genealogist, for help.Within two weeks, Manning located andcontacted Addie’s granddaughter. Two weekslater, he was standing at Addie’s grave. Notlong afterward, he and Winthrop met Addie’sgreat-granddaughter. Addie, he learned, hadquit school after the fourth grade to work inthe cotton mill, lived a long and difficult life butsurvived until age 94.None of those family members, it turned out,had ever seen Hine’s photo of Addie untilManning contacted them.From 1908 to 1924, Hine took thousandsof pictures for the National Child LaborCommittee, exposing the often-dangerousconditions children endured working at textilemills, coal mines and farms and as late-night“newsies” on urban streets. The Library holdshis collection of over 5,000 such photos.After uncovering Addie’s story, Manningresolved to find more. Today, he hasresearched and written about more than 300other such children.The stories of these young people, Manningsays, are sadly missing from history books— children such as Giles Newsom, who wasphotographed working in a North Carolina millat age 12 and who died at 18 and was buried inan unmarked grave. Or the nine children of theYoung family of Tifton, Georgia — six of whomworked at a cotton mill and seven of whomeventually were placed in an orphanage. This image of youngmill worker Addie Cardinspired Joe Manningto research and tell thestories of the boys andgirls documented inthe child-labor photosof early 20th-centuryphotographer LewisWickes Hine. Prints andPhotographs Division,courtesy of Joe Manning“I have learned that in most cases, if I amsuccessful in contacting descendants of thesubjects in the photos, it will be the first timethey have seen the photo of their ancestor,”Manning said. “That in itself inspires me to keepchoosing more and more photos to research.How can I resist?”—Wendi A. MaloneyMARCH/APRIL 2020 LOC.GOV/LCM15

Using maps foundin the Geography andMap Division, MylesZhang charted thedevelopment of NewYork City over a periodof more than 400 years.Courtesy of Myles Zhang,Chioma NwanaMYLES ZHANGMyles Zhang’s portfolio is filledwith watercolors of New York Cityneighborhoods; drawings of buildings inhis hometown of Newark, New Jersey;a video imagining the constructionof a 12th-century English church.Zhang recently added a new entry:an animation showing the growth ofNew York City from 1609 to today,largely based on maps in the Library’sGeography and Map Division.As a student at Columbia University, Zhangstudied architectural history, urban studiesand art history. New York City is a perfectplace to explore those subjects. Over thepast 400 years, humans transformedthe natural landscape of hills, rivers andwetlands around New York Harbor intoone of the world’s great metropolises.For this project, Zhang began examiningold maps of the city and realized that thelocations of many streets correspondto former trails, streams and valleys. Forinstance, the winding path of Broadwayfollows a Lenape Indian trail. CanalStreet began life as a drainage ditch inthe marshy soil of lower Manhattan.“I realized that visualizing and mappingthese changes could capture the scale andpace of human intervention,” Zhang says.Zhang analyzed several hundred city mapsand selected 25 that capture snapshotsof every 20 to 30 years in the city’shistory. From the Library, he used a 1767lithograph of New York City; an 1807 mapof the island of Manhattan; an 1857 city-16LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINEcounty map; an 1860 depiction compiledfrom maps of the U.S. Coast Survey;a 1921 aerial survey; and other mapsextending in time to a 1964 street map.Individual maps had different dimensions,colors and scales, and these differencesmade comparison of change betweeneras difficult. By stretching and warpingthe maps to align to each other and thenredrawing each with consistent colorand line weight, the changing pace andtype of urban growth became clearer.“Maps in particular,” Zhang says, “connectpeople to the history of their builtenvironment. A lot of historical mapsand documents are fragile to handle andunwieldy to move. It is a public serviceof great value to have these recordsonline, where anyone can consultthem from anywhere in the world.”—Wendi A. Maloney

JENNIFERASHLEY TEPPER Jennifer Ashley Tepperused material fromthe Jonathan Larsoncollection to create asong cycle in Larson’shonor. Larson’s papersinclude an outline for amusical version of “PolarExpress” along withsketches of ideas for aset. (top and bottom).Courtesy of JenniferAshley TepperI grew up inspired by Jonathan Larson’smusicals. Even as a teenager, I identifieddeeply with his ideals — his dedication toart made from the heart, his passion forbringing musical theater to new generations,his devotion to friendship and community,and, of course, th

5 Online Offerings 6. Curator's Picks 8 Page from the Past 22. My Job 23 Favorite Place 24. . Library of Congress Magazine. is issued bimonthly by the Office of . Communications of the Library . roses on an AIDS quilt panel in the Great Hall during a ceremony in November. Shawn Miller.