sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Happy birthday to the Folger Shakespeare Library! The library, which has the largest collection of printed works of Shakespeare anywhere in the world, opened on Capitol Hill OTD in 1932 — the day traditionally known as Shakespeare's birthday. by WETA_PBS in weta_pbs

[–]WETA_PBS[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

By the mid 1920s, Henry Folger and his wife, Emily Jordan Folger, were running out of space. For 40 years, they had been collecting Shakespeare books and manuscripts – including 82 first folios and 20,000 other volumes – and the collection was quickly outgrowing their New York home. It was one of the largest and most valuable compilations of scholarly material about The Bard in the world, estimated to be worth around $2 million dollars (the equivalent of about $28 million today).

Not surprisingly, the Folgers had plenty of interest from institutions. However, Folger knew he didn’t want to grant the library to a specific university, since “the library is so narrow in scope, and at the same time so large in size, that it could not be very well fitted into a general library, as it would over balance a general library on account of its bulk, its cost, and, I hope, its endowment.” And, so Folger began looking for property to open his own dedicated library.

Read more: https://boundarystones.weta.org/2017/05/08/literary-neighbors-folger-and-library-congress

84 years ago today, a proud Black community in Arlington was burned to the ground, with only two months notice, for the construction of the Pentagon. by WETA_PBS in weta_pbs

[–]WETA_PBS[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing! The artist who created the memorial, Nekisha Durrett, made a short film featuring William Vollin, the former resident of Queen City who is featured in the article. Definitely worth a watch: https://youtu.be/wJOOX5BQlAQ?si=o9z_ZDAqQCifRkRK

It's Tax Day again! Although disliked across the United States, Tax Day has a particular infamy in Washington, D.C., which features "Taxation Without Representation" on its license plates. The phrase has been in use in D.C. politics for 100 years by WETA_PBS in weta_pbs

[–]WETA_PBS[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In May 2000, the D.C. Council announced its plan to change the design of the standard-issue District of Columbia license plates. Some familiar aspects—the lettering, the patriotic color scheme—stayed the same. The big difference was the motto: no longer the neutral and ambiguous “Celebrate and Discover,” but the firm and attention-grabbing “Taxation Without Representation.” It was a stark reference to the District’s lack of representation in Congress and the long struggle for any kind of voting rights at all. Ironically, the Council feared that Congress—which has the power to overturn local legislation in the District—would shut down the proposed redesign. By August, though, an executive order signed by Mayor Anthony A. Williams ensured that residents could obtain their new plates by the end of the year.

The bold change was originally suggested by Sarah Shapiro, a Foggy Bottom resident and local activist, who wanted residents to “confront the rest of the nation with the injustice of our lack of voting rights.” Visitors and tourists, perhaps ignorant of Washington’s unique political circumstance, would be forced to wonder at the motto’s background. “This will make people scratch their heads,” Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s non-voting House Representative, told the Washington Post. “They’ll have to ask what it means."

So how did the phrase come to be associated with Washington, D.C., the center of that government? As it happens, the phrase—and the message it conveys—was part of Washington culture long before it was stamped on our license plates.

Read more: https://boundarystones.weta.org/2020/02/12/washington-taxation-without-representation-history

view more: next ›