- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
US Library of Congress spotlights its American 'treasures'
The US Library of Congress houses more than just books, with a new exhibit opening this week highlighting some of the institution's most diverse and symbolic treasures from the nation's history.
From the contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets the night of his assassination to early Spiderman sketches, a hundred treasures from the United States and beyond are on display from Thursday.
The library, located in a vast and elegant building in the heart of Washington, will showcase, for example, the first map of the newly independent United States compiled, printed and published in America by an American, which was printed in 1784 by engraver Abel Buell.
Also on hand are jaw-dropping photos of the first atomic explosion in the New Mexico desert, under the eyes of the "father" of the bomb, Robert Oppenheimer.
"The Library of Congress holds more than 178 million items in its collections, perhaps the most comprehensive collection of human knowledge ever assembled in one place," said its director, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.
The exhibit, officially titled "Collecting Memories: Treasures from the Library of Congress," features only a tiny fraction of the institution's vast troves of millions of books, audio documents and photographs, as well as objects of all kinds, including numerous musical instruments.
The library, opened in 1800, is home to the largest collection of flutes in the world, says Carol Lynn Ward Bamford, who takes care of instrument collections in the library's music division.
However, only one is a part of the exhibition, a crystal flute that belonged to former US president James Madison, who lived from 1751-1836.
The instrument is particularly symbolic because it was saved from the White House when it was burned by British troops in 1814.
Entrusted to the library by Madison's family, it was exceptionally taken out of storage in 2022 to be played by US hip hop star and classically trained flautist Lizzo.
- Glasses and press clippings -
Also on display are another president's belongings -- Abraham Lincoln's glasses, his handkerchief and his wallet, recovered from him following his assassination at a theater in April 1865.
Stephanie Stillo of the library's rare book division called the objects "definitely some of the most iconic that we're going to have in the gallery."
"There's kind of a mythology around Abraham Lincoln, and this is all very humanizing, I think in many ways. So we have a glasses case, this little circular object up here is a glasses cleaner," she went on, enumerating other belongings the 16th president had on him.
He was also carrying glowing press articles about himself, which he always kept with him, Stillo said. These clippings, which are not part of the exhibit for conservation reasons, could be shown in a few months, she explained.
This hodgepodge of objects on display, above all, embodies the lives of ordinary people through the centuries, she said.
From images filmed during a wedding in 1944 to contemporary testimonies about the Covid-19 pandemic to the story of a Japanese professor who survived the bombing of Hiroshima, the library examines how to preserve individual and collective memories.
P.Santos--AMWN