Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library - Central Library

Murder in Black and White

Historical mystery recommendations

With all of history to be inspired by, historical mysteries have been set in dozens of different eras and different countries, from Ancient Rome in the Flavia Albia novels to 1830s New Orleans in the Benjamin January series, just to name two.

Bright boulevards, bold dreams: the story of Black Hollywood cover

Mr. DeMille, I’m Ready for My Close-Up

Classic Hollywood nonfiction and biographies

Classic Hollywood: an era in American cinema that stretched from the 1910s to the 1960s and influenced film world-wide. Countless books have been written about the era. Some focus on actors, often describing their lives and experiences in their own words; or on specific films; and others on scandals that rocked the industry. Some examine how society and government, such as the Hays Code and the Red Scare, influenced Hollywood. Still others look at women’s roles within the industry.

Lock In cover - depicts many white and a few red figures around the title

Sir, That’s My Emotional Support Wookie

Science Fiction and Fantasy With Protagonists With Disabilities

Science fiction and fantasy worlds show countless possibilities. People can travel to other planets, shape-shift, even alter the universe with magic. All too often, however, these books focus on protagonists who are neurotypical and able-bodied.

The Underground/The Washington Independent

New Collection Acquired: The Underground

Special Collections recently acquired the Underground (which became the Washington Independent) newspaper collection from Francesco DiBaggio, the son of the newspaper’s creator — writer and journalist, Thomas DiBaggio. The paper, which was hand-distributed on the American University campus, was unique for its "free range" criticism, offering a variety of perspectives within its pages.

Educators & Students

Now that Washingtoniana has settled into its new interim location, we'd like to invite groups of educators and students from around the city to visit and discover all that our division has to offer. Our collections contain a number of resources that may be useful in the classroom or for specific research projects, such as: Photographs Maps Books on DC history Vertical files and newspapers Building permits and directories Genealogy and house history resources Archival collections

The Intelligencer

Special Collections' Newsletter

Want to stay up-to-date on all the latest happenings in Special Collections? Consider signing up for our newsletter, The Intelligencer! Sent via e-mail every three weeks, The Intelligencer covers collection updates, interim services, and upcoming programs and events for Washingtoniana, the DC Community Archives, the Peabody Room at Georgetown Neighborhood Library, and the Black Studies Center.

26th Annual Letters About Literature National Writing Contest

2019 DC Letters About Literature

11:30 AM Story

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Adults

In Resurrection City songbook by J. Edward Haycraft, signed

Poor People's Campaign Collection Online

Digitized for the 50th anniversary of the Campaign

The Library is pleased to announce that the Poor People's Campaign Collection has been added to Dig DC, your home for digital local history. The collection has been digitized in its entirety to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the campaign and Resurrection City.

D.C. History

Cover of the January 16, 1969 Washington Free Press, an illustration of a protest at the U.S. Capitol

Historic Washington Free Press 1967-1969 online

Digitized counterculture newspaper now available in Dig DC

DC Public Library Special Collections recently published The Washington Free Press Collection in Dig DC, the library's portal to digital local history archives. The collection contains issues of the underground newspaper the Washington Free Press published from 1967 to 1969.