This week I continued doing research for my blog post. I spent the bulk of my time on the Congressional Globe, an online archive containing congressional records. I was specifically looking for primary sources on the 1808 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves. At first glance I was concerned the Globe wouldn’t have the records I needed. On the homepage, the link to browse the congressional globe took me to a page that only contained records from the 23rd to the 40th Congress (with some years missing). However, if you click the link to search through the globe’s archives then you can access the records of earlier Congresses. I’ve found some interesting Senate debates and I am currently in the process of confirming the identities of the quoted politicians. One specific document may be referring to state senators and representatives instead of members of the national Congress. I will be providing more details on this document when I can speak about it with certainty. Until then I hope I have provided some helpful navigation tips for anyone else who wants to read through the globe’s archives:
This week I also attended a meeting with other Library of Congress interns where we shared our favorite parts from the Library of Congress’ public website. In this meeting I learned about some excellent programs the Library produces such as the Library’s series of podcasts and concerts. I additionally learned about the Moving Image Research Center which hosts the Library’s movie and television archives.
More relevant to my research are the WPA Slave Narratives conducted by the Roosevelt administration’s Federal Writers Project. These narratives consist of interviews in which survivors of American slavery recall their experiences. I have not read through these yet however I will be looking into them next week.
On a lighter note, I also discovered numerous pages dedicated to the history of newspaper comics and comic books. The Comic Art exhibit was very comprehensive. I particularly enjoyed the Disney Comics exhibit as I am a huge fan of Carl Barks’ Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics. I am also a huge fan of E.C. Segar’s Thimble Theatre comic strip. The most well remembered of Segar’s characters is Popeye the Sailor. The Library has preserved the cover of a 1931 collection of Thimble Theatre strips:
Comments