Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Stephanie Stillo, Chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, welcomes guests to the division’s America 250 symposium, Our Common Ground: 250 Years of Americans Engaging with Nature.
Then, Ashley Rose Young, Curator of American History in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, shares rare books and related materials from the division that demonstrate how artists have celebrated American landscapes—from the Everglades and Appalachians to the Rocky Mountains and redwood forests—through memorable and evocative works of art.
Finally, the event’s featured speaker, printmaker and book artist Jessica C. White, presents her talk, “We Create.” Inspired by the ancient landscapes and folk traditions of Appalachia, as well as traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques, White discusses how she combines these influences to create whimsical “crankies”—hand-cranked graphic scrolls often performed with live storytelling and musical accompaniment. Her talk explores the history of the book in its broadest sense and examines how her artists’ books and crankies draw inspiration from both historical and contemporary woodblock printing and crankie traditions.
For transcript and more information, visit test.loc.gov/item/video-12082
Stephanie Stillo, Chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, welcomes guests to the division’s America 250 symposium, Our Common Ground: 250 Years of Americans Engaging with Nature.
Then, Ashley Rose Young, Curator of American History in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, shares rare books and related materials from the division that demonstrate how artists have celebrated American landscapes—from the Everglades and Appalachians to the Rocky Mountains and redwood forests—through memorable and evocative works of art.
Finally, the event’s featured speaker, printmaker and book artist Jessica C. White, presents her talk, “We Create.” Inspired by the ancient landscapes and folk traditions of Appalachia, as well as traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques, White discusses how she combines these influences to create whimsical “crankies”—hand-cranked graphic scrolls often performed with live storytelling and musical accompaniment. Her talk explores the history of the book in its broadest sense and examines how her artists’ books and crankies draw inspiration from both historical and contemporary woodblock printing and crankie traditions.
For transcript and more information, visit test.loc.gov/item/video-12082
