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Library of Congress Magazine January/February 2018

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Library of Congress Magazine January/February 2018 INSIDE PLUS A Journey Be Mine, Valentine To Freedom Happy 200th, Mr. Douglass Find Your Roots Voices of Slavery At the Library LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 Building Black History A New View of Tubman LOC.GOV LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE Library of Congress Magazine Vol. 7 No. 1: January/February 2018 Mission of the Library of Congress The Library’s central mission is to provide Congress, the federal government and the American people with a rich, diverse and enduring source of knowledge that can be relied upon to inform, inspire and engage them, and support their intellectual and creative endeavors. Library of Congress Magazine is issued bimonthly by the Office of Communications of the Library of Congress and distributed free of charge to publicly supported libraries and research institutions, donors, academic libraries, learned societies and allied organizations in the United States. Research institutions and educational organizations in other countries may arrange to receive Library of Congress Magazine on an exchange basis by applying in writing to the Library’s Director for Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington DC 20540-4100. LCM is also available on the web at loc.gov/lcm/. All other correspondence should be addressed to the Office of Communications, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington DC 20540-1610. [email protected] loc.gov/lcm ISSN 2169-0855 (print) ISSN 2169-0863 (online) Carla D. Hayden Librarian of Congress Gayle Osterberg Executive Editor Mark Hartsell Editor John H. Sayers Managing Editor Ashley Jones Designer Shawn Miller Photo Editor Contributors Bryonna Head Wendi A. Maloney Artwork peers out from a forest of marble columns on the mezzanine of the Great Hall in the Jefferson Building. Shawn Miller JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 InFEATURES This Issue Building Black History 10 Two figures were key in establishing the study and promotion of African-American history – and both have important ties to the Library. A New View of Tubman 14 The Library and the National Museum of African American History and Culture this year jointly acquired and preserved a one-of-a-kind treasure: a previously unknown photo of abolitionist Harriet Tubman believed to be the earliest photo of her in existence. 4 Find Your Roots Phillis Wheatley 20 The Library’s Local History and Genealogy reading room makes it easier for African-Americans to explore their family histories. DEPARTMENTS 02 22 Trending Experts’ Corner 24 Tony Bennett 03 Favorite Places 24 Around the Library 04 Books That Shaped Us 25 News Briefs 05 Curator’s Picks 26 Shop the Library 06 Page from the Past 27 Support the Library 08 Online Offerings 28 Last Word 09 My Job at the Library 28 ON THE COVER: This portrait of Harriet Tubman, a previously unknown image, is believed to be the earliest photo of the famed abolitionist in existence. Library of Congress and the National Lonnie G. Bunch Museum of African American History and Culture CONNECT ON Twitter: @librarycongress Instagram: @librarycongress Youtube: youtube.com/libraryofcongress Medium: medium.com/@librarycongress Facebook: facebook.com/libraryofcongress Library of Congress blogs: blogs.loc.gov Flickr: flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress LCM online: loc.gov/lcm Pinterest: pinterest.com/LibraryCongress JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 | LOC.GOV/LCM 1 #trending AT THE LIBRARY BE MINE, VALENTINE LIBRARY COLLECTIONS HOLD A TROVE OF LOVE LETTERS—CENTURIES OF PASSION AND HEARTBREAK PUT DOWN ON PAPER. History knows Ulysses S. Grant as the Robert Ware enlisted relentless Union commander who subdued the following the Japanese Confederacy, guided by a simple and brutally attack on Pearl effective philosophy of war: Hit him as soon as Harbor in 1941 and you can, hit him as hard as you can, move on. was assigned to the Army’s 104th Medical Few know Grant the romantic—the author of Battalion. Two days mushy love letters to lifelong sweetheart Julia before D-Day, his Dent, the softie who complemented his words wife Martha wrote with flowers and locks of hair. to him, pondering the uncertain future “My happiness would be complete if a return and their lost years mail should bring me a letter seting [sic] the together: time—not far distant—when I might ‘clasp that little hand and call it mine,’ ” Grant wrote “I am only living on the faith that God will to his then-fianceé in 1846 in a letter signed give me a chance before it’s too late—a chance “Your Devoted Lover.” at a permanent home, children, a certain amount of financial security and above all a Library of Congress collections hold a vast chance to live with the man I love so devotedly, trove of love letters, like Grant’s—centuries so completely—my husband.” Above: Civil War of devotion, passion, longing, regret and commander and 18th President Ulysses S. heartbreak put down on paper. Ware never saw her letter—he was killed going Grant wrote passionate ashore with the first wave at Normandy, just If Grant’s letters are earnestly romantic, others love letters to lifelong days after she wrote it. sweetheart Julia. are whimsical and offbeat: Film and theater Prints and Photographs director Rouben Mamoulian kept many cats Grant and Dent, though, enjoyed a long and Division in his home and playfully wrote love poems happy life together. They married in 1848 and from the cats to his wife (“For Azadia on her Top right: Martha Ware remained devoted to each other until his death wrote letters to husband birthday Jan. 16—Piddles the Kitten”). in 1885, through war, peace and two terms in Robert, who was killed the White House. going ashore on D-Day. And some terms of endearment (“Dearest Veterans History Project Stinky”) might not sound romantic to all ears. In 1875, during Grant’s second term, During the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, Julia remembered the anniversary of their Wilson’s daughter Eleanor became engaged engagement and sent the president a note, THOUGHTS ON THE WORKS OFto (andPROVIDENCE would marry) his Treasury secretary, marked for “immediate” delivery: William McAdoo. McAdoo sent Eleanor florid ARISE, my soul, on wings enraptur’d, rise love letters, some signed with a not-so-mushy “Dear Ulys: How many years ago to day is that To praise the monarch of the earth and skies, flourish: “Ever your Devoted, ‘Mr. Secretary.’ ” we were engaged? Just such a day as this too Whose goodness and beneficence appear was it not? Julia.” As round its centre moves the rollingWar separates year, sweethearts, and, in an era Or when the morning glows withwithout rosy charms, email, FaceTime or easy access to Grant replied at the bottom of the note: Or the sun slumbers in the ocean’sphones, arms: letters often were the only means Of light divine be a rich portion oflent communication. Their correspondence— “Thirty-one years ago. I was so frightened To guide my soul, and favour mytelegrams, intent. valentines, letters sealed with however that I do not remember whether it Celestial muse, my arduous flightlipstick sustain kisses—are preserved in the Veterans was warm or snowing.” And raise my mind to a seraphicHistory strain! Project, a testament to love amid the —Mark Hartsell — From “Poems on Variousuncertainties Subjects” of war. 2 LCM | LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE favorite PLACES MORE INFORMATION: Thomas Jefferson Building 10 First Street S.E. Shawn Miller Washington, D.C. 20540 THIS BENCH ON NEPTUNE PLAZA in front The bench, recognizing Murray’s role as of the Jefferson Building is a place not just a trailblazer for African-Americans at to sit, but to sit and reflect on the the Library and his work documenting contributions of a person who played a the literature of the African diaspora, was seminal role in the Library’s early history: dedicated on April 28 in a ceremony attended Daniel Alexander Payne Murray, the first by more than 100 people – including several African-American assistant librarian of Murray descendants. Congress (see page 10). The bench was placed in collaboration Murray was an indispensable part of the with the Toni Morrison Society as part small staff overseen by Ainsworth Rand of its Bench By the Road Project, which Spofford, the sixth librarian of Congress and commemorates African-Americans who the man who convinced Congress to build fought, in various ways, to improve the lot of the Jefferson Building, which opened in 1897. their people throughout U.S. history. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 | LOC.GOV/LCM 3 THAT SHAPED US books A FIRST FOR VERSE IN AMERICA BORN IN AFRICA AND SOLD INTO SLAVERY, A YOUNG FEMALE PRODIGY WAS THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN POET TO BE PUBLISHED. Phillis Wheatley’s “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral”—one of the signal moments in American letters—was originally published overseas, in London, in 1773. Contemporaries considered Wheatley a prodigy, and the collection, published when n o she was about 20, marked a milestone: i s i v the first volume of poetry by an African- i D s n American ever published. o i t c e ll o C Born in the Senegambia of West Africa, l ia c e Wheatley was sold into slavery and p S d transported to Boston at age 7 or 8. Prosperous an k oo e B merchant John Wheatley purchased her for his Rar wife Susanna in 1761, and she was soon copying the English alphabet on a wall in chalk. Rather than fearing her precociousness, the Wheatleys encouraged it, allowing daughter Mary to tutor Phillis in reading and writing. She also studied English literature, Latin and the Bible—a strong education for any 18th-century woman. Wheatley’s first published poem, “On Messrs.
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