Library of Congress and Kansas State Department of Education Announce New Professional Learning Program
Program Includes Free Community Events in Hutchinson, Scott City, Lawrence and Girard to Demonstrate Library’s Digitalized Collections
The Library of Congress and the Kansas State Department of Education are working together to bring the Library’s foundational professional learning program “Teaching with Primary Sources” to K-12 educators and school librarians throughout the state in February and April 2025. The initiative is dedicated to working with rural communities to explore the use of primary sources from the national library’s vast – and free – digitalized collections as teaching and research tools, providing hands-on support and instruction.
Library of Congress education specialists will visit four Kansas cities: Hutchinson, Scott City, Lawrence and Girard. In addition to on-site workshops for educators, the visits include free events for community members to discover a variety of the Library’s online collections found at loc.gov, with demonstrations on accessing those collections. The Library is collaborating with local museums and public libraries to host these community events which include learning sessions on topics such as genealogy and local history, the Veterans History Project, and the Kansas Talking Book Project. See the community event schedules and a full list of sessions below.
“The Library of Congress is truly a library for all,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “Holding more than 178 million items in its collections, the Library offers perhaps the most comprehensive collection of human knowledge ever assembled in one place. This important learning initiative showcases the ways people can experience the depth and breadth of what the Library collects, preserves and makes available, all from their own communities.”
Banners highlighting the exhibition “Collecting Memories: Treasures of the Library of Congress”, which opened in Washington, D.C., in 2024, will be on-site at the community events. “Collecting Memories” is dedicated to sharing rare and important works created across the globe that showcase how cultures memorialize the past. These works are housed in every corner of the Library and are available for viewing online.
Community Event Schedules
Tuesday, Feb. 18, 10:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.: Hutchinson Public Library in Hutchinson, Kansas
Saturday, Feb. 22, 10:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.: El Quartelejo Museum in Scott City, Kansas
Saturday, April 5, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.: Watkins Museum of History in Lawrence, Kansas
Tuesday, April 8, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.: Girard Public Library in Girard, Kansas
Community Event Sessions
- Genealogy and Local History: This session will help attendees trace their family or town’s history trail using collections such as panoramic photographs and maps, the Historic American Building/Engineering Record/Landscapes Survey collection and historic newspapers.
- Veterans History Project: The Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand narratives – oral histories, photographs, diaries, correspondence and more – of thousands of U.S. military veterans, including medical and support staff, who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions.
- By the People: This online transcription platform invites anyone with an internet connection to transcribe documents from the Library’s digital collections. Recently completed transcription campaigns include the correspondence of President Theodore Roosevelt, the papers of women’s and civil rights activist Mary Church Terrell and the papers of the American Federation of Labor in the Progressive Era.
- Agricultural History: For those who are interested in agricultural history, the Library has rich pockets of online resources available, including the riveting and iconic photographs of the Farm Security Administration, National Child Labor Committee and American Folklife Center digital collections. This session will highlight resource guides and provide a starting point for viewing online resources from the Library’s science and technology, prints and photographs, and maps divisions.
- Kansas Talking Book Program/Kansas Center for the Book: The Library of Congress is already at work in Kansas through two programs in the State Library of Kansas. The Kansas Talking Book service is available to any resident of Kansas who has difficulty reading or handling traditional print materials because of a permanent or temporary visual impairment, physical impairment or reading disability. Learn how to access free services and audio books in this session. Kansas Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress, works to highlight the state’s literary heritage and foster an interest in books, reading and libraries through programs such as Kansas Notable Books, Kansas Reads to Preschoolers and more.
- Historical Newspapers: Chronicling America, a database of over 21 million digitized historic newspapers, provides curious researchers insight into daily life in towns large and small from as far back as the 18th century. This session will show how users can browse the collection using an interactive map and timeline, as well as access the research guides to help with sought-after topics.
- Transportation: Each new development in moving people and goods has fueled the nation’s growth and shaped the way people live and work, such as the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways Act. This session will include a sampling of primary sources such as railroad maps and historic newspapers that document how different modes of transportation have played a role in U.S. history.
- Creative Works from the New Deal: In July 1932, amid the greatest economic crisis in U.S. history, President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised “a new deal for the American people.” That promise became a series of relief, recovery and reform programs designed to provide assistance to the unemployed and poor, revive the economy and change the financial system to prevent another depression. This session will highlight several online collections related to the assembly of creative works during the New Deal Era such as American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives, Work Projects Administration Posters and items pertaining to the Civilian Conservation Corps.
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States – and extensive materials from around the world – both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.
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Media Contact: Deb Fiscella, dfiscella@loc.gov
Public Contact: Kathleen McGuigan, kmcg@loc.gov
PR 25-009
February 6, 2025
ISSN 0731-3527