Rare Book News & Events UPDATE

This talk will be held on Thursday, May 16 at 3:00pm in the Rosenwald Room at the Library of Congress.

Please join The Rare Book and Special Collections Division as we host Caroline Koons to speak about her current project, Composing Civic Harmony between Declaration and Inauguration. This project looks at songs printed as broadsides from 1776 to 1783. Koons argues that during this formative period in American identity--between the Declaration of Independence and inauguration of George Washington--songs were a uniquely entertaining and educational resource through which to work out what it meant to be "American." In this presentation, Koons will present several of the broadside songs she found in the archives and walk through what it meant to be American based on these early documents.

Caroline Koons is a Doctoral Candidate at the Pennsylvania State University. She is a doctoral fellow at the Center for Democratic Deliberation through the McCourtney Institute for Democracy. Her research focuses on intersections of ancient Greek rhetoric, sonic rhetoric and American public address. Her dissertation, tentatively titled "Composing American Harmony" examines harmony as a civic and musical concept through American history.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Please request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at 7-6362 or ADA@loc.gov.

As always, talks are held in the Rosenwald Room on the second floor of the Jefferson Building. If you have any questions, feel free contact us via Ask a Rare Book Librarian.