It may be 40 more years until #StarTrek #FirstContactDay 🖖 but our collections contain a rich history of human interest in space travel, UFOs & extraterrestrial communication. There's lots to see in this 🧵, from a 17th century moon mission to a current Library/@NASA team-up! Advances in earthly science tend to boost curiosity about extraterrestrial matters. As such, on the heels of Galileo’s telescopic moon observations came Francis Godwin’s "The Man in the Moone" (1638), a tale of a man's space travel in a bird-powered craft. go.loc.gov/zzyq50NB8wV

If you read/listen to one thing today, make it this 🧵, the story of what may be the best beer 🍺 run in history. The Battle of the Bulge, a last-ditch German effort to turn the tide of WWII, began #OTD in 1944. Enter our protagonist: PFC Vince Speranza of the 101st Airborne. Sound up. 🔊 Here, in a Veterans History Project interview in 2014, Speranza tells the first part of his story, about him tracking down beer in a bombed-out Belgian town & figuring out a way to get it back to his injured friends.

Christopher Columbus' 1492 voyage is what he is best known for, but he lead more expeditions to the Caribbean, as well. After his third, he was charged with maladministration of Hispaniola. He was brought back to Spain in disgrace, and in chains, in 1500. 🧵 When he pleaded his case before Queen Isabella & King Fernando of Spain, they promised restitution of the rights & offices that Columbus had negotiated with them ahead of his first expedition. But months passed without redress. This is where the "Book of Privileges" comes in.

Many of you following along with #LizzoAtLOC were surprised that the Library has a flute vault. We are the largest Library in the world & home to more than 173 million objects, so there are many more surprises like that in our collections. Enjoy this thread of just a few of them. First: More instruments! @YoYo_Ma has played our 1699 Stradivari cello. We also have George Gershwin's piano, which has been played by #GershwinPrize winners @LionelRichie & @smokeyrobinson. More on instruments: go.loc.gov/WjQO50KXi0V
Follow @Events_LOC for news about concerts!

You didn't think @lizzo played that antique flute on stage without practicing first, did you? She visited the Library Monday & played several of the flutes in our collection, which is the largest in the world. #LizzoAtLOC

See & hear more from her visit: blogs.loc.gov/loc/2022/09/it… A flute @lizzo played in the Main Reading Room Monday (with permission from some lucky researchers who were there!) looks similar to the crystal one she had at her concert, but is actually plexiglass. It is also very rare & was manufactured when the material was first invented.🔊

You probably know the Wright brothers (whose papers are held at the Library, see🔗) were the inventors of the first successful airplane. But aviation history, from its beginnings in 18th century France, boasts a remarkable number of sibling team-ups. 🧵loc.gov/collections/wi… The first public, unmanned balloon flights were the work of French brothers Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier. On September 19, 1783, at the palace of Versailles, they launched a balloon carrying a sheep, a rooster & a duck. King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were onlookers.

Thanks, Eric! Next up is Amanda May of the Preservation Reformatting Division (PRD). Amanda will present “Digital Forensics: Preserving Born-Digital Archival Materials from Obsolete Media.” #PresTC The Preservation Reformatting Division processes archival collections with born-digital materials, which may include CDs, DVDs, 5.25” and 3.5” floppies, Zip disks, computers, or more obscure formats. #PresTC