Legislation creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, which later became the Women's Army Corps (WAC), was signed into law on this day in 1942. The WAC's 150,000+ members were the first women other than nurses to serve in the U.S. Army.
According to the Army's Center for Military History, WAC director Oveta Culp Hobby often said, “The gaps our women will fill are in those noncombatant jobs where women’s hands and women’s hearts fit naturally. WAACs will do the same type of work which women do in civilian life. They will bear the same relation to men of the Army that they bear to the men of the civilian organizations in which they work.”
The idea was that each woman who enlisted "would be trained in a noncombatant military job and thus 'free a man for combat.'"
Of the women who joined up, there were widows, mothers and daughters of families with no men "of fighting age," according to the Army. "One out of every five had enlisted because a male member of her family was in the armed forces and she wanted to help him get home sooner."
You can hear the stories straight from the mouths of these trailblazing women on the Veteran's History Project website. Just click the link in our bio and search "Women's Auxiliary Corps."
Images: Vivian Mildred Corbett Bailey in WAC uniform, from the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.
Gloria M. Poteet in WAC uniform, from the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.
Audrae Marie Gandreau in WAC uniform, from the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.
https://www.loc.gov/collections/veterans-history-project-collection/?loclr=iloc
ANNOUNCEMENT: Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen today named 25 recordings as audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.
The oldest recording being inducted is “Cocktails for Two,” by Spike Jones and His City Slickers (1944). The most recent is Taylor Swift’s 2014 album “1989.”
In between are beloved tunes by Paul Anka, Ray Charles, The Go-Go’s, Chaka Khan, Rosanne Cash, Weezer, Beyoncé, and more.
See the full #NatRecRegistry list via the link in our bio.
A 16-year-long effort to digitize in high resolution the 175,000 or so Farm Security Administration photographs at the Library of Congress is coming to an end, perhaps by the end of this year.
The FSA’s work (also carried out under the names of the Resettlement Administration and the Office of War Information) was intended to be daily publicity and propaganda for New Deal-era social programs that ran from 1935 to 1944. But over time, the images became some of the most iconic documentary photographs in American history, and the photographers some of the most revered.
The chemical-laden images are eight decades old and deterioration has begun to set in on some due to their age. Making digital copies is essential both for their long-term survival and for ongoing historical study. Read more about the process via the link in our bio.
Images: Helen McNamara, a digital library technician, prepares a Farm Security Administration negative for scanning. Photo: Shawn Miller.
Russell Lee took this photograph on the Southside of Chicago on Easter Sunday, 1941. It became one of the iconic photos of the Farm Security Administration’s photo program. Prints and Photographs Division.
This 1936 Dorothea Lange photo at a farm camp in Nipomo, California, became known as “Migrant Mother” and the most famous photo of the Depression. It is printed full frame here to show FSA identification markings. The woman in the photo was not identified until the 1980s. She was Florence Owens Thompson. Prints and Photographs Division.
On this International Nurses Day, we'd like to honor the memory of Clara Barton, Civil War nurse and the founder of the American Red Cross.
The Library of Congress is home to her papers, which span the years 1805-1958. Included are both Barton's personal papers and official records of the American Red Cross (formerly the American Association of the Red Cross) retained by her during her tenure as president from 1881 to 1904.
Born on Christmas Day in 1821, she lived to be 90 years old, and lived by her words: “You must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it.”
Image: Clara Barton, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front. Copyright 1904 by J.E. Purdy, Boston. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
The Source, a new gallery at the Library of Congress, reimagines how young people connect with history, inviting them to explore the Library’s collections and create their own meaning through hands-on discovery. Plan your visit! loc.gov/visit
On this day in 1886, Dr. John S. Pemberton, a pharmacist and inventor, sold the first Coca-Cola at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, coined the name. His handwriting was the basis for the Coca-Cola logo.
In the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division, the U.S. Patent Office Trademarks Collection documents the visual identity of American companies between about 1869 and 1911. Within that collection you can find the 1893 Coca-Cola trademark registration featuring the distinctive cursive, pictured here.
NEWS: This weekend, the Library of Congress will launch The Source: Where Curiosity Sparks Discovery, a first-of-its-kind experiential research gallery designed for children and teens ages 8 to 15.
The new gallery reimagines how young people connect with history, inviting them to explore the Library’s vast collections and to create their own meaning through hands-on discovery.
Through interactive stations brimming with hundreds of collection items in text, image, sound and film formats, the gallery encourages critical thinking, media literacy, curiosity and creativity.
“The Source reflects the Library of Congress’ enduring commitment to expanding access to knowledge for all Americans," said Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen. "By inviting young people to explore history, creativity and discovery through immersive experiences, we are not only opening our collections, but we are also encouraging critical thinking and lifelong learning."
Plan your visit at loc.gov/visit.
Images: "The Source," a new experiential research gallery for children, teens and families at the Library of Congress, is set to open to the public May 9, 2026. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.
On this day in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It was one of the first U.S. government programs to support the arts.
Of the 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the Library of Congress's collection of more than 900 is the largest. The posters—designed to publicize exhibits, community activities, theatrical productions, and health and educational programs—were added to the Library's holdings in the 1940s.
Images: Poster features an illustration of a hand reaching into a bowl of assorted fruit. Text reads: "Balanced diet for the expectant mother inquire at the health bureau." New York. WPA Federal Art Project, between 1936 and 1939.
Poster features an illustration of a man walking through a wooded area. Text reads: "Hiking." Illinois WPA Art Project, 1939.
Poster features an illustration of a picnicker napping under a tree. Text reads: "Please keep the park clean." Ohio. Federal Art Project, 1937.
Poster features an illustration of two men standing close together, one inspecting a cut on the other's finger. Text reads: "Just a scratch BUT! Infection is avoided by immediate first aid on-the-job!" Illinois WPA Art Project, between 1936 and 1941.
On this National Cartoonist Day, we’re thinking of the amateur cartoonist soldiers who illustrated their letters home. These examples are from the Veterans History Project's Robert K. Bindig, Normand Carleton, and Samuel Lionel Boylston collections.
When his Army unit was in need of an artist, Robert Bindig volunteered and immediately ceased training as a medical technician, putting to use his years of experience as an ad agency artist illustrating military manuals and publications. In his off hours, Bindig regularly wrote letters to his wife, Doris.
Normand and Lora Carleton were married in 1942. Two months later, he was called up. His illustrated envelopes capture his humor and depict the cast of characters that he encountered during World War II. They date primarily to his time at Camp Gordon, where he trained in preparation for deployment to the European Theater in 1944, following D-Day.
In addition to the letters he sent to his own family in South Carolina, Samuel Boylston would employ his artistic talents to illustrate the envelopes of his friends. In a November 1944 letter to his family, he wrote "my art has made many a dull hour fly by." Boylston's VHP collection includes envelopes sent by Boylston's friend, Corporal Gerald Duquette, to his wife in Connecticut.
See more from the Veterans History Project via the link in our bio.
Images:
1 - Illustrated envelopes from the Bindig collection, dating from October 1944, include drawings of a big-eared man with a look of concentration on his face cutting a paper doll out of newspaper, and a soldier standing in the rain, with mail also falling out of the sky, exclaiming: "Hurrah it's mailin'"
2 - Illustrated envelopes from the Carleton collection include drawings of a military postmaster holding up a comically large envelope asking "How's this for size?" and a soldier walking away with the words "Thinking of you."
3 - Illustrated envelopes from the Boylston collection. One is of a "Hollywood Research Director" on the beach, telling a man "I came over to see what the place is really like!" The man responds, "How nice!" The other is of an outhouse labeled "Camp's Big Office" with a janitor out front.
A look back at April at the Library of Congress, courtesy of staff photographer Shawn Miller. 📸
Images: Patrick Hastings of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division leads a printing press demonstration during the Library's Alumni spring reunion, April 21, 2026.
Joshua Kueh of the Asian Division displays Batak manuscripts from Sumatra, April 8, 2026.
Thomas Jefferson's handwritten draft of the Declaration of Independence, with edits and notes John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, April 29, 2026.
Cuban-Swiss musician Yilian Cañizares blends her native Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz and classical music during a performance in the Coolidge Auditorium, April 9, 2026.
Two-time Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano J’nai Bridges performs with the Catalyst Quartet and pianist Terrence Wilson in the Coolidge Auditorium, April 1, 2026.
Cuban-Swiss musician Yilian Cañizares blends her native Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz and classical music during a performance in the Coolidge Auditorium, April 9, 2026.
Divisions from across the Library display recent acquistions, April 21, 2026.
Shereen Pimentel sings work from "West Side Story" during a preview performance by the Washington National Opera in the Coolidge Auditorium, April 23, 2026.
Jamie Bernstein, daughter of Leonard Bernstein, speaks with Washington National Opera Artistic Director Francesca Zambello at a preview performance of "West Side Story" in the Coolidge Auditorium, April 23, 2026.
U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze and U.K. Poet Laureate Simon Armitage discuss poetry and translation during the closing event of Sze's first term as laureate, April 30, 2026.
For #PreservationWeek, we are bringing you a behind the scenes look at what some of our conservation experts do on a daily basis to preserve the materials housed at the Library of Congress!
