The Library of Congress

Ask a Failed Musician: Go Where The Successful Musicians Go

Welcome to Ask a Failed Musician, in which I will help struggling musicians make sense of their careers and even offer some advice. Whether or not it will work, who knows? It obviously didn't work for me. But then again, I was on Kimmel once, so there's that. Hello, I'm an R&B/gospel singer and ... More >>

LMFAO - American Airlines Center - 6/15/12

See also: 20 shots from LMFAO at American Airlines Center At least 57* opening acts preceded LMFAO's RedFoo and SkyBlu at the American Airlines Center on Friday night. They brought with them a live band (shocking, right?), a DJ, the show-stealing Quest Crew dancers, several scantily clad female boo ... More >>

Margaret Hunt Hill, Meet Justin Terveen

​We began the day on the bridge, we end the day on (OK, near) the bridge -- this time with one of Justin's photos compiled for the Margaret Hunt Hill slide show you'll find here. It was either this or this: from the Library of Congress's archives, a 100-year-old photo of the then-brand-new Houston ... More >>

The Favorite Foods of All 44 Presidents

​After an exhaustive search of public records and historical documents at the Library of Congress (read: drunken Google search), we are ready to honor President's Day with a comprehensive list of the foods enjoyed by our fearless leaders of the past. Throughout this process one question continued ... More >>

Giving Photog Terry Falke His Due

Insuring the Insurers: What Something Called "Faktor K" Could Mean for Big D

​Writer and radio journalist Julia Barton, a regular reader of Unfair Park, tipped me today to a really fascinating piece published September 1 by BusinessWeek, called "The God Clause and the Reinsurance Industry." It's about an arcane industry located in cities far from Dallas, but Barton spied t ... More >>

Four Decades After L.M. Kit Carson Birthed Dallas's Modern Film Scene, His Diary Returns

L.M. Kit Carson in David Holzman's Diary​From time to time we'll name-drop L.M. Kit Carson, perhaps the most influential local-born filmmaker, with good reason: The Irving-born actor (Running on Empty, great on Miami Vice) and writer (Paris, Texas with Sam Shepard; that Breathless remake) was co-f ... More >>

For Sale: A Stereographic Look Back at Downtown Dallas During Elks Week in July 1908

Via eBay seller "vpctx"​More than once during my occasional visits to the Library of Congress's treasure trove of Dallas-related artifacts, I've come across this stereograph: "Night view of Elks' Court of Honor, at intersection of Main and Akard Streets, Dallas, Texas--Grand Lodge meeting, July 19 ... More >>

For Your Thursday Listening Pleasure: 1917's "Dallas Blues," From the Library of Congress

​So. Funny thing. A couple of weeks back, while writing about 508 Park Ave. and Robert Johnson's 100th, I pulled down a few blues histories-of to dig a little deeper. Among the stacks: Elijah Wald's essential Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues, published in 2004, whe ... More >>

Robert Johnson's Dallas Recording Studio Gets Pulled From Purgatory.

More Than 20 Years After Their Death, Eight-Tracks Are Resurrected In Dallas.

Extra, Extra, Read All About It: The Amazing Story of the Shuman Brothers, 100 Years Later

Lewis Wickes Hine/Library of Congress​The two boys you see at top are Morris and Louis Shuman in a photo taken on a downtown Dallas street corner in October 1913. Morris is on the left; he was 12 at the time. Louis, his brother, was 7. Maybe you recognize it: It first appeared on Unfair Park in Ap ... More >>

T Bone Burnett To Be Honored By The Producers & Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy In Ramp-Up To 2011 Grammy Awards

T Bone Burnett​The Producers & Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy swears it's kind of a big deal, having created a "best practices guideline" and leading various charges, etc., since forming 10 years ago. OK, whatever. Doesn't really matter.Because, if nothing else, what it's doing in the ... More >>

The Newsman of Dallas: From Far Away, Joe Manning Has Found Our City's Lost History

Lewis Wickes HineFrom the Library of Congress: "Seven year old Rudie Kartis, and brother, Louis, 9 years old. The older brother soon finds little one is a drawing card. Location: Dallas, Texas."​I've introduced the Friends of Unfair Park to Joe Manning before, but to refresh: He's the Massachusett ... More >>

A Question About "The First Moving Pictures of Dallas Ever Taken." And, Some Answers?

​A very good Friend of Unfair Park found this old newspaper cutout here. It's an ad from the October 4, 1911, issue of the Dallas Times Herald, and, as you can see, it promises quite the something special -- then, certainly, and now most definitely. Our Friend, a history buff hoping for a miracle ... More >>

Once, Odell McDuffey and Sam Stillman Were Two Kids In a Photo Taken in Dallas in 1913. This Morning, At Last, They Come to Life.

Lewis Wickes HineSix-year-old Odell McDuffey, left, and 7-year-old Sam Stillman on a Dallas street corner in October 1913​We first saw this photo of Odell McDuffey and Sam Stillman selling newspapers on a downtown Dallas street corner in December 2008, when it showed up on Shorpy accompanied only ... More >>

From Massachusetts, One Historian's Dogged Pursuit of Dallas's Lost History Strikes Gold

Lewis Wickes Hine/Library of CongressThe original caption that accompanied this photo: "Group of workers at the Dallas Cotton Mill. The small boy helps his sister. Eternal vigilance will be needed to keep these little ones out of the mill. Location: Dallas, Texas."​It's been a long while since we' ... More >>

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Willie Nelson at the KAFM Studios on July 1, 1976

​Only yesterday, according to Willie Nelson's Web site, the Library of Congress added to its National Recording Registry one of the greatest albums ever recorded 'round these parts: Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, cut at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland in February '75. You'll hear plenty of that rec ... More >>

Local Actress Liz Mikel Out-sings Every Musical In Town (Including Wicked and Avenue Q).

Black Pearl Sings

Once, These Were Just 100-Year-Old Photos of Child Workers in Dallas. Now, They're Stories.

Lewis Wickes Hine From the records of the National Child Labor Committee, one more photo from the Dallas Cotton Mill taken in October 1913​Fret not: We're running dangerously low on Lewis Wickes Hine photos, taken in Dallas in October 1913 as part of his federally commissioned child-labor abuse se ... More >>

Most Likely For the Final Time, a Lewis Hine Photo -- And An Amazing Connection Made

Lewis Wickes HineFrom Hine's original cutline: "Two six-year old newsboys. Odell McDuffy, Sam Stillman, Dallas. There are many other of six and seven years selling here. Location: Dallas, Texas."​What you see above is the first Lewis Wickes Hine photo I ever saw, and one of the few we've yet to ru ... More >>

From the Lewis Wickes Hine Archives, a Rare Photo of Dallas Children at Play

Lewis Wickes HineThe cutline, written by Hine himself: "Group of children in the kindergarten school composed of the cotton mill people. Even during the play the mill is ever in the background. Dallas Cotton Mill. Location: Dallas, Texas."​Ever since we mentioned that Massachusetts historian Joe M ... More >>

In Massachusetts, Tireless Historian Links Dallas's Distant Past With the Present

Lewis Wickes HineAnother October 13 photo from the Library of Congress's archives. Reads the cutline: "A few of the young workers in Hughes Brothers Candy Factory, S. Ervay St., I counted five going and coming at night and at noon, that appeared to be from 12 to 15 years old. One girl told me that ... More >>

Back in 1913, When Dallas Had a Red-Light District and Bike Messengers Dropped Off, You Know, Prescriptions

Lewis Wickes Hine​I've been trying to dig up some of Lewis Wickes Hine's reports written during his sojourn to Dallas in 1913 on behalf of the National Child Labor Commission, when he met 6-year-old newsie Louis Shuman and 15-year-old cotton spinner Rosy Phillips. So far, no luck -- they reside de ... More >>

More Pictures of Child Workers Taken During Lewis Hine's 1913 Trip to Dallas

Lewis Wickes HineClick to expand this portrait taken at a Dallas cotton mill in October 1913​Last week we met 6-year-old Louis Shuman, one of the many young newsies encountered by Lewis Wickes Hine during his trip to Dallas in October 1913 as he traveled the country documenting worker abuse for th ... More >>

From the Library of Congress Archives, Lewis Hine's Child Labor Research Brought Him to Dallas in the Fall of 1913

Lewis Wickes Hine​From time to time over the years, we've perused the Library of Congress's archives for photos of Dallas not seen since they were first taken decades ago. But Friend of Unfair Park PeterK, who shares my love for these vintage pictures, sends word of myriad recent additions to the ... More >>

This Week's Local History Lesson: Quentin Corley, Dallas Judge and Prosthetics Pioneer

Library of Congress via FlickrThe late Dallas County Judge Quentin Corley, pictured here in 1916​It's been too long since we've published a photo from The Wayback Machine, so much thanks to the Friend of Unfair Park who was messing around on Flickr and found this gem amongst the treasures kept by ... More >>

The Downtown Site Where Robert Johnson, Bob Wills Recorded Takes Its First Significant Step Down Path to Destruction

Paula Bosse​Here we go again -- though, perhaps, for the final time.Unfair Park has learned that this week, Glazer's Distributors and Colby Properties, the owners of 508 Park Avenue downtown, filed with the city a certificate of demolition that would allow for the razing of the former Warner Bros. ... More >>

How do we know whether Walt Disney was a Mexican? Maybe a little mouse told us.

The Trinity River, 1908

Henry ClogensonA Friend of Unfair Park this morning was browsing the Library of Congress's archives and came across this Henry Clogenson photo of the Trinity River in 1908 -- "the flood of record," as Schutze describes it. So happens Jim has been making open records demands from the U.S. Army Corps ... More >>

From 1961, Don Law's Notes Concerning What Took Place at 508 Park Avenue in June 1937

In 1961, while compiling the Robert Johnson collection King of the Delta Blues Singers, producer Frank Driggs sent Don Law a letter with a few questions concerning the bluesman and his sessions in San Antonio and in Dallas in November 1936 and June 1937, respectively. Law -- who worked for Brunswick ... More >>

Downtown Dallas at the Crossroads

The city's effort to clean up downtown could cost us important parts of history.

The Only Thing Better Than a New Newspaper Is a Really, Really Old One

On this decidedly slow news day during which everyone's running out the clock before bidding 2008 good riddance, perhaps this offering from the Wayback Machine's just the ticket: a look at the front page of the Fort Worth Daily Gazette from December 30, 1883. I stumbled across it early this morning ... More >>

Since Dallas Ain't Got Much History Left, We'll Just Have to Look at these Old Photos Instead

So, yesterday this old photo of Odell McDuffy and Sam Stillman selling newspapers on a Dallas street corner (circa 1913) showed up on Shorpy, which highlights daily several beautimous old photos stored in the Library of Congress's archives. One mouse click later, and yesterday had turned into today ... More >>

DISD Doesn't Deserve to Win Its Bond Election Because of Its Fiscal Incompetence

Full Voter Assault

L.A. Story

Charles Burnett's revered, rarely seen South Central-set film finally gets its theatrical due

This Land Is Your Land

Flashback Friday

Here to There

Exhibition shows roads increasingly traveled

Equal Rights Stuff

See the women who fought for your rights at the Women's Museum

Wave On

Music's lunatic fringe lives, breathes and flourishes on the shortwave radio dial

End of the Road

Thirty years later, Harry Belafonte finds closure in a once-lost project

The Sundance Kidder

With his own movie in tow, Dallas' indie-film guru goes to Robert Redford's festival, falls in love with the First-Timer, and embraces the hype

Good rockin' last night

A new CD resurrects the echoes of the long-gone Big "D" Jamboree, where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and some forgotten heroes made Saturday nights swing

Home movies

Deep Ellum Film Festival debuts

Hot damn, Jamboree

A stink over 'Think'

A local housewife-songwriter claims country hunk Collin Raye stole her song

Git it

After years of detective work, Gene Vincent's Lost Dallas Sessions resurface