Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Ryan Reft
Category: Literature Culture & the Arts
October 8, 2026 Posted by: Lewis Wyman Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist John Steinbeck (1902-1968) is gaining renewed interest with the October 2026 release of a new Netflix mini-series adaptation of his novel East of Eden (1952) from screenwriter and showrunner Zoe Kazan.
How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fought Gender Discrimination — For Both Men and Women
In 1926, Burnita Shelton Matthews — counsel to the National Women’s Party and the first woman appointed to a federal trial court — wrote, “It is of course disappointing to women that men of the legal profession are unable to see equality as equity when applied as between men and women.
Archive: August 2026 (4 Posts)
Co-Conspirators for Compassion: Christine Stevens and Ann Cottrell Free August 27, 2026 Posted by: Josh Levy Correspondence and archival materials located in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division’s Ann Cottrell Free papers shed light on the close collaboration and friendship between Free and Christine Stevens, founder of the Animal Welfare Institute.
Category: Science and Technology
Made at the Library: Outsider. Freud, In-Person Film Screening and Conversation with Director Yair Qedar January 29, 2026 Posted by: Josh Levy Join us in person for a “Made at the Library” film screening of “Outsider. Freud” (2025) and conversation with filmmaker Yair Qedar.
The Chaotic, Collaborative, Contentious Origins of the Declaration of Independence
In 1819, the North Carolina Gazette published a letter claiming that more than a year before the Continental Congress passed the Declaration of Independence, North Carolinians in Mecklenburg County had written and passed their own, in which they broke political ties with Britain and declared themselves “a free and independent people.” Some even suggested that Thomas Jefferson had plagiarized the Declaration of Independence from the Mecklenburg document.
Archive: June 2026 (5 Posts)
“The Light Has Gone Out of My Life”: Theodore Roosevelt’s 1884 Pocket Diary in Full Color June 18, 2026 Posted by: Michelle Krowl Future president Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) suffered a double tragedy in February 1884, which he poignantly recorded in his pocket diary. Now, for the first time, full color, high-resolution images of this famous diary are available on the Library of Congress website. Posted in: Diaries, Politics
Made at the Library: The Summer of ’71: Five Months that Changed the Nation with John Jenkins
From May through September 1971, the nation endured rising inflation, witnessed widespread anti-Vietnam War protests, and heard controversial Supreme Court cases. Journalist John Jenkins discusses this tumultuous period in his new work, Summer of ’71: Five Months that Changed America.
Slave Patrols Didn’t Just Oppress Enslaved People
In an April 22, 1820, letter to Massachusetts representative John Holmes, Thomas Jefferson encapsulated the nation’s struggle over the vexing issue of slavery: “As it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go.” Jefferson’s quote underscored both slavery’s power and fragility: It was a brutal system that enslaved millions and delivered great wealth but required constant vigilance and filled enslavers, like Jefferson, with nightmares of rebellion.
Made at the Library: The Other War on Drugs: Emily Dufton and Addiction Inc.
Join historian Emily Dufton, drug addiction specialist and President Richard Nixon’s former “Drug Czar” for addiction treatment Dr. Jerome Jaffe, and Manuscript Division historian Ryan Reft and reference librarian Kristen Reichenbach on April 15, 2026 from 2pm to 3pm for a discussion about Dufton’s new book Addiction Inc.: Medication-Assisted Treatment and America’s Forgotten War on Drugs, which explores the nation’s history of drug treatment for opioid addiction from the golden era of...
Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, and the “Terrible Duties” of Democracy
“The United States are destined either to surmount the gorgeous history of Feudalism, or else prove the most tremendous failure of time,” wrote American poet Walt Whitman in his 1871 work, Democratic Vistas. Despite writing in the wake of a brutal civil war and a failing Reconstruction Era, Whitman remained optimistic.
Archive: March 2026 (4 Posts)
Two American Diplomats in London and the Presidential Election of 1800 March 5, 2026 Posted by: Julie Miller A note by Rufus King, President Washington’s ambassador to Great Britain, appears to be a first-hand account of the tie-breaking vote in Congress after the presidential election of 1800. But, King was in London and could not have witnessed events in Washington. So, what is the story behind this note? Posted in: Early America, Politics
Justice Miscarried: The Trial, Conviction, and Murder of Leo Frank
The discovery of 14-year-old Mary Phagan in the basement of the National Pencil Company factory on April 27, 1913, set Atlanta on fire with indignation. Found choked to death with bruised eyes, cut cheeks, and a broken skull, Phagan was covered so deeply by soot that authorities were not immediately able to determine her race. The gruesome nature of her murder, her age, and the Southern ideals regarding womanhood resulted in a wildfire of rumor and innuendo.
50 Years Ago: A Journalist’s Death Empowers the Chicano Movement
By the summer of 1970, Americans’ dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War was widespread. The expansion of the war into Cambodia in April and the Kent State shootings in May had only inflamed anti-war sentiment. Though public dissent against the war continued to grow, the anti-war movement had stagnated as it struggled to overcome factional disputes.
From Closeted Citizens to Activists: High Tech Gays and the Fight for LGBTQ+ Equality in Silicon Valley
In the 1980s, at a time when the federal government turned its back on the LGBTQ community, gay men and lesbians found an unlikely partner in their fight for equality: corporations.
Category: Asian American History
May 8, 2025 Posted by: Julie Miller The Milagros Gonzalez Jamias Family Photograph Album portrays aspects of Philippine society during the American colonial period, including social and economic reforms implemented by President William S. Taft, and the private life of a wealthy family.
The Fall of Saigon as Seen Through the Eyes of a Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist
“I’m kind of feeling my 44 years at the moment,” New York Times foreign correspondent Malcolm Browne wrote to a friend after departing Saigon in April 1975.
Unfolding History
Florence Kelley and the Feminist Opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1920s March 14, 2024 Posted by: Josh Levy In 1921, when the National Woman’s Party drafted a constitutional amendment declaring equal rights for men and women, one of the most formidable opponents of the amendment was a friend and ally in the suffrage movement. Florence Kelley, a leading reformer and head of the National Consumers’ League, feared the amendment would put hard-earned workplace protections in jeopardy.
Corruption, Compliance and Conscience: A Glimpse Into Supreme Court Ethics Scandals
In 1919, as depicted in John Sayles’ 1988 film, Eight Men Out, eight players on the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the World Series. Rumors and accusations dogged the team for over a year; the players were eventually indicted in October 1920. Amidst the scandal, Major League Baseball’s owners sought to tighten up the ethical hatches and appointed federal judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis as its first commissioner, with a mandate to clean up the sport.
Before Citizens United: The Origin of Campaign Finance Reform Troubles
Since the Supreme Court handed down its decision over a decade ago in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, political analysts and voters have complained about the role of money in federal elections, frequently blaming the 2010 ruling. While the decision undeniably impacted the electoral landscape, the SCOTUS opinion in Citizens United is not actually ground zero for campaign finance reform. Rather, a 1976 decision by the Court in Buckley v.
Archive: August 2024 (5 Posts)
Maria Mitchell’s Enduring Legacy: From Astronomical Poetry to Liberty Ships August 22, 2024 Posted by: Josh Levy This post is coauthored by Morgan Black, librarian at the United States Naval Observatory, and Josh Levy, historian of science and technology at the Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
Flying into Exile: Nixon’s Arc of Political Redemption
When President Richard Nixon resigned from the Office of the Presidency on August 9, 1974, he immediately departed for the Western White House, Nixon’s home overlooking the Pacific Ocean in San Clemente, California. Accompanying him into exile was Nixon’s skeleton staff, which included former press secretary Ron Zeigler, Zeigler’s assistant and future ABC news star Diane Sawyer, Nixon presidential advisor Frank Gannon, and former White House Director of Communications Ken W. Clawson.
Archive: May 2024 (5 Posts)
Of Note: Eleanor Roosevelt, Alien Investigator May 2, 2024 Posted by: Josh Levy In summer 1947, a pilot named Kenneth Arnold spotted nine bright objects in the sky over Washington State flying, he said, “like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water.” Reporters shorthanded the description of these objects to “flying saucers.” Sightings proliferated, and Americans fell into breathless speculation. Three years later, an unlikely investigator was on the case: Eleanor Roosevelt.
Archive: November 2023 (5 Posts)
Home Rule and Go-Go “Live! at the Library,” November 30, 2023 November 17, 2023 Posted by: Ryan Reft Join us on November 30 for a “Live! at the Library” commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of home rule in Washington, D.C., with a panel discussion on the legacy of home rule moderated by Kojo Nnamdi and featuring journalist Tom Sherwood; The Drum and Spear Bookstore co-founder, Eyes on the Prize documentarian and civil rights activist Judy Richardson; and historians G.
Archive: June 2023 (6 Posts)
LGBTQ History in New Exhibit: “Join In!” June 1, 2023 Posted by: Ryan Reft For much of the twentieth century “coming out” carried with it a particular meaning associated with friendship, intimacy, and community. The new “Join In” exhibit explores how Americans have engaged in associational life in order “to achieve goals from simple fellowship to social change.” It also highlights the emergence of the LGBTQ community in the United States during the twentieth century.
Made at the Library: Making Mexican Chicago with Mike Amezcua | Unfolding History
“The Windy City,” “The City of Big Shoulders,” and even “Second City” have long been nicknames ascribed to one of the nation’s premier, but often overlooked, metropolises: Chicago. The capital of the Midwest has served as home for any number of immigrant groups over the course of the twentieth century – Poles, Czechs, and Irish to name just three – and the incorporation of these groups into Chicago’s built environment and political culture has shaped the city in countless ways.
Archive: May 2023 (6 Posts)
The Manuscript Division Transcribes Fifty-Six Letters from Philip Schuyler to Alexander and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton May 11, 2023 Posted by: Julie Miller Fifty-six unpublished, mostly newly acquired letters from Philip Schuyler (1733-1804) to his daughter, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, and her husband Alexander Hamilton, have been transcribed by Manuscript Division staff.
Cancelling Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
Marked, Unmarked, Remembered A Labor Online public history series curated by Alex Lichtenstein, Indiana University. Contact him at to contribute or make suggestions. If you blinked, you might have missed the historical marker dedicated to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at the site of her childhood home in Concord, New Hampshire, on May 1, 2023.
Big Win For Victims Of Racist Restrictive Covenants
On April 23, 2023, the Washington state legislature passed the Covenants Homeownership Act (CHA), pioneering legislation that will provide compensation to victims of the racist restrictive covenants that destroyed opportunities for generations of Black, Asian, Latinx, and Indigenous families.
Archive: April 2023 (4 Posts)
Behind the Scenes: Preserving the Edwin Swillinger Scrapbook April 13, 2023 Posted by: Josh Levy Manuscript collections often include scrapbooks, which tell unique stories but can be challenging to preserve. With Edwin Swillinger’s scrapbook, archivist Katherine Madison chose to disassemble it in order to provide the best care for the many photographs and other documents depicting Swillinger’s military service and life in post-World War II Japan.
Dominicans on the Hill 2023
Ryan would like to thank his colleague, historian Meg McAleer, for her assistance in writing this post. If one has ever attended the National Dominican Day Parade, held annually in New York every summer, then you know the vibrancy and centrality of Dominicans and Dominican-Americans to both the Empire State and nation.
Archive: March 2023 (6 Posts)
Made at the Library: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right March 14, 2023 Posted by: Ryan Reft Join historian Ryan Reft and senior archives specialist Connie Cartledge at noon on Thursday, March 23, as they discuss the intersection of mid-century politics, anti-communism, and Manuscript Division collections with Matthew Dallek, author of the new book Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right. Posted in: Events, Politics
Made at the Library: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right
Join us at noon on Thursday, March 23, for a conversation with George Washington University political scientist Matthew Dallek about his new book, Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right (Basic Books, 2023), Manuscript Division collections, and the arc of American politics since 1950. Dallek will speak with Manuscript Division historian Ryan Reft and senior archives specialist Connie Cartledge.
The racist history of America's highways
By Ryan Reft, Amanda Phillips de Lucas, and Rebecca Retzlaff7 minute Read During an early 2022 press conference, Florida governor and prominent Republican Ron DeSantis criticized President Biden’s infrastructure bill. He decried its funding for what he viewed as items or programs unrelated to infrastructure, such as rectifying past injustices or adding trees and speed cameras, the latter dismissed by the governor as a further extension of the surveillance state.
Justice and the Interstates
Home / Books / Justice and the Interstates The Racist Truth about Urban Highways 254 pages 6 x 9 35 photos and illustrations Book Description Review Quotes Contents Book Description When the U.S. interstate system was constructed, spurred by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, many highways were purposefully routed through Black, Brown, and poor communities. These neighborhoods were destroyed, isolated from the rest of the city, or left to deteriorate over time.
Highways have damaged communities of color
Last year, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg unveiled new efforts to address the problematic racial legacy of interstate highway construction, dedicating $1 billion to “reconnect cities and neighborhoods racially segregated or divided by road projects.” Buttigieg’s efforts were quickly assailed by critics who lamented the “wokefication” of the interstates.
We mythologize highways, but they've damaged communities of color
In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act, making the interstate system a reality. Created in the era of Cold War competition, the construction and engineering of the system came wrapped in scientific language that obscured its impact.
Perspective | We mythologize highways, but they’ve damaged communities of color
Comment Save Last year, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg unveiled new efforts to address the problematic racial legacy of interstate highway construction, dedicating $1 billion to “reconnect cities and neighborhoods racially segregated or divided by road projects.” Buttigieg’s efforts were quickly assailed by critics who lamented the “wokefication” of the interstates.
The Romance of the Highway Obscures Harm to Communities of Color
SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post 1/19/2023 Roundup tags: racism, urban history, urban renewal, transportation, highways by Ryan Reft Ryan Reft is editor and contributor for the forthcoming Justice and the Interstates: The Racist Truth about Urban Highways (Island Press, 2023) and 2020's East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte (Rutgers Press) Last year, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg unveiled new efforts to address the problematic racial legacy of interstate highway...
Of Note: A Dessert Straight Out of History
This guest post is by Andrea J. Briggs, an archivist in the Manuscript Division. Every year I host a holiday party for my friends, in which we dress up in our finest pajamas, exchange gifts, and laugh as we reminisce about the past year. But most importantly: we eat. Everyone brings something to share, and this year I decided to take reminiscing to the next level by contributing a dessert straight out of history.
Made at the Library: Benjamin Franklin Butler, Reevaluating the Man Behind the Caricatures
This guest post is by Manuscript Division reference librarian Bruce Kirby and Civil War and Reconstruction specialist Michelle A. Krowl. Join us at noon on Monday, December 5, for a conversation with historian Elizabeth D. Leonard, author of the recent biography Benjamin Franklin Butler: A Noisy, Fearless Life (University of North Carolina Press, 2022) about the controversial lawyer, Civil War general and Massachusetts politician whose papers are held in the Library of Congress.
Libraries, Self-Determination, and Collaboration: Virginia Mathews and the 1978 White House Preconference on Indian Library & Information Services
This guest post is by Shir Bach, a 2022 Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress. On October 19, 1978, more than two hundred people gathered at the Denver Airport Hilton Inn to attend the White House Pre-Conference on Indian Library and Information Services On or Near Reservations.
Archive: October 2022 (6 Posts)
Of Note: Supreme Baseball October 6, 2022 Posted by: Laura Kells The notes exchanged between baseball fans Harry A. Blackmun and Potter Stewart during the 1973 American League Championships and the 1975 World Series show how notes exchanged between justices of the Supreme Court provide insight into their informal relationships, allowing us to understand better the individuals who serve on the nation's highest court. Posted in: Of Note, Sports, Supreme Court
Halloween Greetings
This guest post is by Manuscript Division reference librarian Loretta Deaver. Prepare for Halloween this weekend with some items from collections held in the Manuscript Division that are likely to raise a few hairs. Petition for Bail from Accused Witches, ca. 1692 Hysteria over suspected witchcraft boiled over in New England in 1692. More than 150 people were accused of being witches, 19 were executed, one was crushed to death, and some died while imprisoned due to harsh conditions.
Screaming Past Each Other at Christmas: Anthony Lewis, Robert Conquest, and the Unending Debate about Vietnam
Fifty years ago this December, U.S. forces in Southeast Asia embarked on a bombing campaign of North Vietnam amidst the holiday season with Christmas one week away. President Nixon, frustrated over peace talks with the North, broke off negotiations, believing aerial bombardment might force the northern communists’ hand.
Unfolding Research: Exploring the History of the John Birch Society
Unfolding Research is a recurring series in which people answer questions about their experiences conducting research in the Manuscript Division. This entry was written by Matthew Dallek. Tells us about yourself: who are you, where you are from, and what are you researching? My name is Matt Dallek. I live in Washington, teach at George Washington University, and I am researching the John Birch Society, the far-right movement from the 1960s, and its role in radicalizing the American right.
Archive: September 2022 (6 Posts)
Boundary Crossing for a Better Future: Pauli Murray, Patricia Roberts Harris, and the 1982 Mayoral Election in the District of Columbia September 1, 2022 Posted by: Ryan Reft Forty years ago, Patricia Roberts Harris went down in defeat to Marion Barry in the 1982 mayoral election in the District of Columbia, yet, her campaign correspondence with legal scholar, feminist, civil rights activist, and unofficial political advisor Pauli Murray reveals the impact of gender on the outcome, the role...
Boundary Crossing for a Better Future: Pauli Murray, Patricia Roberts Harris, and the 1982 Mayoral Election in the District of Columbia
“Democracy demands inclusion in ways that are both symbolic and concrete,” journalist Natalie Hopkinson wrote in her social history of Go-Go, a local music genre unique to Washington D.C.[1] Inclusion for Black Washingtonians, however, often required the crossing of boundaries, racial and otherwise. Few events in the city’s history illustrate this process like the 1982 Democratic mayoral primary, which in largely liberal Washington operates as the de facto campaign for the office.
Archive: August 2022 (4 Posts)
What Lieutenant Ijams Saw During Operation Crossroads, and What He Didn’t August 4, 2022 Posted by: Josh Levy A new collection in the Manuscript Division contains the vivid testimony of a witness to the 1946 atomic tests at Bikini Atoll. But it also raises questions about what those who viewed the tests were unable to see, and how researchers might try to fill the gaps. Posted in: Letters, Science and Technology, War and Society
Behind the Scenes: Surveying Part X of the NAACP Papers
This is a guest post by Michael Folkerts and Nate Scheible, Senior Archives Specialists in the Manuscript Division and is the latest in an occasional series that looks behind the scenes at the work of Manuscript Division staff. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has been a major force in the fight for civil rights for more than a century.
Unfolding Research: Exploring the History of Drug Addiction Policy
Unfolding Research is a recurring series in which people answer questions about their experiences conducting research in the Manuscript Division. This entry was written by Emily Dufton. Tells us about yourself: Who are you? Where are you from? What are you researching? My name is Emily Dufton. I’m from Takoma Park, MD, and I’m researching the history of medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. In general, what are your research strategies and how have they changed over the years?
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Ryan
Contact Ryan, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack