Made at the Library is an event series highlighting works inspired by and emerging from research at the Library of Congress. Featuring authors, artists, and other creators in conversation with Library experts, this series takes a deep dive into the process of working with Library’s collections.
Made At the Library
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Film, VideoMade at the Library: Mary Cassatt Between Paris and New York Join author Ruth E. Iskin as she discusses her recent book “Mary Cassatt Between Paris and New York: The Making of a Transatlantic Legacy” with Manuscript Division staff members Elizabeth Novara and Edith Sandler. Iskin, an art historian and professor emerita at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, contextualizes Cassatt’s feminist outlook and her connections to the American women’s suffrage movement. The discussion demonstrates how…- Contributor: Sandler, Edith - Iskin, Ruth E. - Novara, Elizabeth
- Date: 2025-09-18
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Film, VideoMade at the Library: Author Michael Hill Discusses His Book "Funny Business" The program will trace the making of "Funny Business" from the acquisition and archival processing of the Art Buchwald Papers by the Manuscript Division to Hill's use of materials from the collection to craft his critically acclaimed book, which Seth Meyers has described as bringing "Buchwald's charming and zany career back to life." Made at the Library is an event series highlighting works inspired…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2023
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Film, VideoMade at the Library: The Chemistry of Fear with Jonathan Rees Watch a conversation with author Jonathan Rees about his recent biography of controversial pure food crusader and influential USDA chemist Harvey Washington Wiley, "The Chemistry of Fear: Harvey Wiley's Fight for Pure Food" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021). The book examines Wiley's many - and varied - clashes over food safety, and reveals that his impact on what Americans are often depended more upon…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2022
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Film, VideoMischievous Creatures: The Forgotten Sisters Who Transformed Early American Science Join historian Catherine McNeur as she discusses her recent book, “Mischievous Creatures: The Forgotten Sisters Who Transformed Early American Science,” with Manuscript Division historians Josh Levy and Elizabeth A. Novara. McNeur uncovers the work of entomologist Margaretta Hare Morris and her sister botanist Elizabeth Carrington Morris, whose discoveries helped fuel the growth and professionalization of science in antebellum America – even as those same…- Contributor: McNeur, Catherine - Levy, Josh - Novara, Elizabeth
- Date: 2025-02-12
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Film, VideoShopping All the Way to the Woods with Rachel Gross Rachel Gross discussed her book “Shopping All the Way to the Woods: How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America” on the surprising military origins of your favorite outdoor gear. Gross is an environmental, business and cultural historian of the modern U.S. and an assistant professor of history at the University of Colorado Denver. Her book argues that in making Americans into consumers of…- Contributor: Sheu, Sherri - Gross, Rachel - Benoit Kim, Colleen
- Date: 2025-04-22
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Film, VideoAnimating Central Park: A Multispecies History Illuminating the multispecies story of New York’s Central Park from the 1850s to the 1970s, Dawn Day Biehler examines the vibrant and intimately connected lives of humans and nonhuman animals in the park. She reveals stories of grazing sheep, teeming fish, nesting swans, migrating warblers, and escaped bison as well as human New Yorkers’ attempts to reconfigure their relationships to the land and claim…- Contributor: Day Biehler, Dawn - Levy, Josh - Bair, Barbara
- Date: 2025-08-12
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Film, VideoForgotten Veterans, Invisible Memorials Author Allison S. Finkelstein discusses her recent book, “Forgotten Veterans, Invisible Memorials: How American Women Commemorated the Great War, 1917-1945” with Library specialists Elizabeth A. Novara and Sherri Sheu. Finkelstein will explore new perspectives on women’s activism and service during and after World War I. The discussion will demonstrate how researchers search for and discover relevant materials at the Library of Congress on women,…- Contributor: Novara, Elizabeth A. - Sheu, Sherri - Finkelstein, Allison S.
- Date: 2024-11-12
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Film, VideoGeorge Rable: Conflict of Command Author George C. Rable talked about his new book, “Conflict of Command: George McClellan, Abraham Lincoln and the Politics of War” with Library specialists Michelle Krowl and Lara Szypszak. Rable talks about how he evaluated the military and political interactions of President Abraham Lincoln and General George B. McClellan during the Civil War, how his interpretations help balance the familiar hero-villain dichotomy in evidence…- Contributor: Szypszak, Lara - Krowl, Michelle - Rable, George C.
- Date: 2024-09-17
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Film, VideoRouben Mamoulian, Hollywood and Broadway This program explores Kurt Jensen’s new book, “Peerless: Rouben Mamoulian, Hollywood and Broadway.” Jensen joins senior archivist Laura Kells and literature, culture and arts specialist Barbara Bair to discuss the life and career of filmmaker and theater director Rouben Mamoulian and his collection of personal papers at the Library of Congress.- Contributor: Kells, Laura - Jensen, Kurt - Bair, Barbara
- Date: 2024-07-18
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Film, VideoCassandra Good and George Washington’s Heirs George Washington is widely known to have had no biological children of his own. Less well known is his role in raising several of the children and grandchildren of Martha Washington’s marriage to her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis. In this informal conversation with the Library’s Julie Miller, Cassandra Good, author of “First Family: George Washington’s Heirs and the Making of America,” discussed her…- Contributor: Good, Cassandra
- Date: 2024-04-30
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Film, VideoFrances Oldham Kelsey and the Battle Against Thalidomide Historian Cheryl Krasnick Warsh discussed her recent biography of Food and Drug Administration pharmacologist Frances Oldham Kelsey and Kelsey’s pioneering battle against the life-threatening drug thalidomide. The panel was moderated by historian Josh Levy and reference librarian Loretta Deaver, who showed items from the Library’s Frances Oldham Kelsey papers. They discussed Kelsey and the thalidomide tragedy, Kelsey’s place within the larger landscape of women…- Contributor: Deaver, Loretta - Warsh, Cheryl Krasnick - Levy, Josh
- Date: 2024-10-23
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Film, VideoScandal and Intrigue in 1920s America When Harry Daugherty secured a federal court injunction against a burgeoning nationwide railroad strike in September of 1922, little did the sitting attorney general realize the series of events he set into motion. In Montana, the state's soon-to-be-elected populist senator Burton Wheeler set his sights on Daugherty -- first using him as a whipping post for his election to the Senate, then later seeking…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2023
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Film, VideoGoldwater v. Carter: Foreign Policy, China, and the Resurgence of Executive Branch What role does the judiciary play in foreign policy and how does it relate to the legislative and executive branches is a central question in Joshua Kastenberg's new book, "Goldwater v. Nixon: Foreign Policy, China, and the Resurgence of Executive Branch Primacy." While the Supreme Court ultimately upheld President Jimmy Carter's unilateral nullification of the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty with the Republic of China…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2023
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Film, VideoMaking Mexican Chicago Mike Amezcua is a historian and a professor in Georgetown University's Department of History. His 2022 work, "Making Mexican Chicago: From Postwar Settlement to the Age of Gentrification" explores the growth of Chicago's Mexican/Mexican-American community, its fight for political and cultural recognition, and its battles with gentrification. Amezcua utilized several collections from the Manuscript Division, including the records of the Work Projects Administration and…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2023
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Film, VideoSaving Freud with Andrew Nagorski Historians Meg McAleer and Josh Levy discuss the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud's narrow escape from Nazi-controlled Vienna with Andrew Nagorski, author of the new book "Saving Freud: The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom."- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2023
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Film, VideoBruce Ragsdale's "Washington at the Plow" For Washington's birthday, join us for a conversation between Kluge Staff Fellow and historian Julie Miller and historian Bruce Ragsdale, whose recent book "Washington at the Plow: The Founding Farmer and the Question of Slavery" explores this relationship and draws on the George Washington Papers held by the Manuscript Division.- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2022
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Film, VideoPatsy Takemoto Mink: First Woman of Color in Congress In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, Judy Tzu-Chun Wu and Gwendolyn Mink join us to discuss their new biography of Congresswoman Mink, "Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress". Wu is a professor of Asian American Studies and director of the Humanities Center at the University of California, Irvine. Gwendolyn Mink, Patsy's daughter, is a…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2022
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Film, VideoBenjamin Franklin Butler: A Noisy, Fearless Life Long after his death in 1893, Benjamin Franklin Butler was remembered largely by caricatures: as "Beast Butler," the Yankee general who insulted the honor of white Southern women and purportedly stole silver spoons while in command of New Orleans in 1862; or as a political opportunist who changed parties frequently in order to advance his own ambitions. But how much does Butler's historical reputation…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2022
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Film, VideoMatthew Dallek: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right A discussion with author Matthew Dallek about his forthcoming book, "Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right". Dallek utilized over a half dozen collections from the Manuscript Division in his research, including Joseph and Stewart Alsop Papers, the David S. Broder Papers, the Arthur J. Finklestein Papers, the records of the NAACP, Joseph Rauh Papers, the William A. Rusher Papers, and…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2023
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Film, VideoPatton's War, 1942-1944 Kevin Hymel has served as a historian and writer for the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force for the last fifteen years and is a regular contributor to WWII History and WWII Quarterly. He is the author of a book based on Patton's photograph albums in the Library's collections. As a historian and tour guide for Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours, he has walked with…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2023
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Film, VideoPropaganda War: The Committee on Public Information and World War John Maxwell Hamilton, Hopkins P. Breazeale LSU Foundation Professor of Journalism at Louisiana State University and a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C. joins us to discuss his award-winning 2020 book, "Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda" and the issues it engages and the questions it asks about the role of journalism, government, and…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2021
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Film, VideoRediscovering Eleanor Roosevelt David Michaelis' new book "Eleanor" is a biography of America's longest-serving first lady. Much of its research was conducted in the Library's Manuscript Division, including the papers of the NAACP and the National Women's Trade League, as well as the personal papers of Kermit and Belle Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, second wife of President Wilson. Colleen Shogan, senior vice…- Contributor: Library of Congress - Library of Congress. Center for the Book - Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Date: 2021
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Film, VideoPoet and Social Critic Muriel Rukeyse Library literature, culture and the arts specialist Barbara Bair talks to Eric Keenaghan and Rowena Kennedy-Epstein about their new anthology “The Muriel Rukeyser Era: Selected Prose.”- Contributor: Keenaghan, Eric - Kennedy-Epstein, Rowena
- Date: 2024-04-25