The Library of Congress holds an astounding collection of 178.2 million items, brimming with endless ideas for novels and short stories. While its entire collection may not be accessible outside of the library, the digital resources are extensive and can be explored for free from your home laptop. If you or your patrons are ever in need of inspiration or just want to have some fun, I highly recommend checking out the Library of Congress!

 

I am also pleased to announce that the June We Love Libraries winner is the Charles Town Public Library in Charles Town, West Virginia!

The Library of Congress by Susan Hammerman

In preparation for SinC’s upcoming Reading Like a Writer Book Club discussion on Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, which I will be moderating, I was curious about whether there were any archival collections that contained Capote’s research for his book. A quick Google search led me to the answer. Yes! The Library of Congress had it, which makes sense. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 178.2 million items across various formats, including a vast online collection.

 

I quickly became distracted while browsing the online catalog and exploring the website pages for the individual research centers within the library. The digital collection includes books, manuscripts, audio recordings, photographs, films, and much more that can all be accessed from home for free.  

Do spirits return? Houdini says no - and proves it. 3 shows in one: magic, illusions, escapes = fraud mediums exposed. , 1909. [United States?: publisher not identified, approximately] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014636902/.

Two hours later, I had completely forgotten about my initial search for Capote’s In Cold Blood notebooks. Instead, I found myself watching a color video from Ira Gershwin’s home video collection, featuring Liza Minnelli's third birthday party from 1948. I also viewed an 1895 film of Annie Oakley shooting at targets, browsed the Women’s Suffrage Sheet Music collection, listened to various blues and ragtime recordings on 78 records, and read plot summaries and scripts of silent detective films from the 1910s and 1920s in the Motion Picture Copyright Descriptions Collection. I also searched for images that are outside of copyright and free to use. I’ve included two examples in this article.

 

Eventually, I did return to my search for Truman Capote’s notebooks and came across a blog post from the Library of Congress that described them in detail.

 

With such a wealth of material available, the Library of Congress offers endless ideas for novels and short stories. If you or your patrons ever need a spark of inspiration or just want to explore, I encourage you to check out the Library of Congress!

 

We Love Libraries Winner: The Charles Town Library in Charles Town, West Virginia!

 

From the library’s WLL application: “The Old Charles Town Library was founded in 1927 and remains on the same property to this day. OCTL serves approximately 31,000 residents, or around 50% of the Jefferson County, WV population, one of the fastest-growing counties in the state. Crime fiction titles make up a significant portion of our circulation and the new fiction titles we order. The library maintains a robust crime fiction collection from newer authors like Paula Hawkins and A.J. Finn to historic standouts like Dorothy Hughes, Ellis Peters, Colin Dexter, and Rex Stout. True crime seems to be on the rise with us, too, but our selection is much more limited. One of only two libraries in Jefferson County that is truly walkable from a population center, we see the largest number of patrons but receive the smallest per patron funding of any library in Jefferson County.”

 

The $500 We Love Libraries grant will go towards purchasing crime fiction written by local authors.

 

Please go here if you would like to make a donation to support the Charles Town Public Library. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WLL and WLB News Editor: Gail Lukasik’s fifth mystery and first gothic historical mystery is The Darkness Surrounds Us, Her memoir, White Like Her: My Family’s Story of Race and Racial Passing, was named one of the most inspiring stories of the year by The Washington Post. She is also the author of the Leigh Girard Mystery series and the stand-alone mystery, The Lost Artist. Gail appeared in the documentary, History of Memory, which is available on Amazon Prime. Her follow up book to WLH, What They Never Told Us: True Stories of Family Secrets and Hidden Identities Revealed, was released in November 2024. Website: www.gaillukasik.com

Below is a link to search for our members' books. Search by author name, location, title, or release date.

Sisters in Crime hosts LIVE webinars each month. Webinars last 60-90 minutes depending on the topic and the audience questions! These webinars are open to all.

Looking for diverse books? For many years, SINC has curated Frankie’s List, an extensive list of crime novels by people of color and other marginalized groups. Frankie Y. Bailey, building on work by the late Eleanor Taylor Bland, began to compile a list of published Black crime writers over a decade ago. Frankie has expanded the list to include other WOC and LGBTQ+ authors. Here’s a link: https://www.sistersincrime.org/page/FrankiesList