GAZETTE Volume 28, No. 16 • May 5, 2017 • A weekly publication for Library staff Inside Dedicated to Daniel Murray The Library and the Toni Morrison Soci- ety dedicate a bench to the memory of Daniel A.P. Murray, a historic figure in Library history. Page 3 Shawn Miller Farewell to a Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera concludes his David Rubenstein interviews Sonia Sotomayor in the Coolidge Auditorium on April 27. tenure as U.S. poet laureate with a celebration in the Jefferson Building. Page 4 Sotomayor Helps Library Open Exhibit on Art of Courtroom New Acquisitions The Madison Council recently made possible the acquisition of new items for discussion of their work. Library collections, including the papers By Mark Hartsell That evening in the Coolidge, as two of “Roots” author Alex Haley. courtroom artists sketched the scene, Page 6 he Library of Congress last week Rubenstein interviewed Sotomayor about opened its new exhibition about the her experiences and about the court’s T art of courtroom illustration with the work. (Afterward, she would tour the help of a participant in many of the legal exhibition and find among the illustrations dramas that have most profoundly shaped a rendering of a young judge – herself our nation in recent years: U.S. Supreme – presiding over a case involving Major Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor. League Baseball.) Sotomayor, along with Madison Coun- Sotomayor described for Rubenstein cil Chairman and Carlyle Group CEO the difficulty of deciding cases (“we David M. Rubenstein, appeared in the struggle with the answers more than Coolidge Auditorium on April 27 to mark our writings reflect”), the dominance of the opening of “Drawing Justice: The Art certain universities on the court (“there of Courtroom Illustration,” an exhibition is a little bit too much Ivy League”), the Gloria Gaynor performs in the that explores the work of the artists who loss of Justice Antonin Scalia (“the shock Great Hall of the Jefferson Building chronicle high-profile court cases. itself was so great to every one of us”) on May 6. The celebration began earlier that day, and socializing with fellow justices (“the On Tap when three artists featured in “Drawing opera lovers tend to go to the theater often Lectures, films, concerts, classes and Justice” – Marilyn Church, Pat Lopez and together; I don’t have any dance lovers other events at the Library of Congress on the court”). in the coming week. Bill Robles – joined curator Sara Duke in Page 8 room 119 of the Jefferson Building for a SOTOMAYOR, continued on page 7 2 THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS GAZETTE MAY 5, 2017 NEWS Letter to the Editor: My family and I would like to express our sincere gratitude for all of the thoughtful- GAZETTE ness and compassion shown to us during the passing of our son, Justin. Your thoughts, www.loc.gov/staff/gazette prayers, phone calls, email messages, cards, visits, food and hugs meant so much to us as we struggled with our loss. Thank you for the floral tributes, attending the GAYLE OSTERBERG Executive Editor funeral service and all of the donations made in his memory. We would like for you MARK HARTSELL to know that your generosity has touched us deeply. Your expressions of sympathy Editor will always be cherished. 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MAY 5, 2017 THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS GAZETTE 3 NEWS Bench Honoring Daniel Murray Dedicated at Jefferson By Jennifer Gavin There’s a new bench on Neptune Plaza in front of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building – a place not just to sit, but to sit and reflect on the contributions of a person who played a seminal role in the Library’s early history: Daniel Alexan- der Payne Murray (1852-1925), the first African-American assistant librarian of Congress. “I can definitely say ‘I’m standing here because of Mr. Murray,’ ” said Carla Hayden, who is seven months into her term as the first African-American and first female librarian of Congress. She Shawn Miller noted that Murray helped design the Jef- Library employees and Morrison Society members dedicated a bench for Daniel A.P. ferson Building, “the first federal building Murray on April 28. Seated are Iris Taylor (left) and Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. in the U.S. Capitol [complex] that was Standing are Deputy Librarian Robert Newlen (from left), Rosalyn Jones Fountain, not built by slave labor,” and was “indis- Arnold Wiggins, Darren Jones, Larry Sarratt, Ahmed Johns, Theresa Davis, Evelyn Jaffe Schreiber, Carolyn Denard and Craig Stutman. pensable” on the small staff overseen by Ainsworth Spofford, the sixth librarian of ones who made the journey and of those an encyclopedia. Congress and the man who convinced who did not make it. There is no suitable Murray was nominated to be com- Congress to build the Jefferson Building, memorial or plaque or wreath or wall memorated with a bench by the Library which opened in 1897. or park or skyscraper lobby. There’s no employees group the Daniel A.P. Murray But despite his excellent work and three-hundred-foot tower. There’s no small African-American Cultural Association, administrative talent, Murray “was passed bench by the road.” which since 1979 has sponsored numer- over for promotion” on grounds that white Born in Baltimore, Murray, the son of ous speakers and events at the Library. Iris employees would not want to be super- a freed slave, came to Washington, D.C., Taylor, currently treasurer of the group, vised by a black man. at the age of 9 to work for his brother, suggested that Murray be nominated for The bench, recognizing Murray’s role who managed the U.S. Senate’s restau- a bench. as a trailblazer for African-Americans at rant. A decade later, Murray joined the In addition to the bench dedication the Library and his work documenting 12-member staff of Spofford as personal emceed by Center for the Book Director the literature of the African diaspora, was assistant, later rising to become only the Pamela Jackson, which included songs at dedicated with joy and song on April 28, second African-American to hold a pro- the open and close by Ayanna Gregory, in a ceremony attended by more than fessional position at the Library, as refer- the daughter of African-American activist 100 people including several of Murray’s ence librarian.