Once every four years, Americans enter into a months-long national spectacle — often with bitter battles, high drama, mudslinging, and hilarious blunders. At the end of all of this discourse, we ultimately entrust the leadership of our country to the victor. Although, the election of George Washington as the country's first president was a foregone conclusion, the campaigns to follow were usually anything but. This Special Collection provides a guide to those individuals elected to lead our country, as well as a look at how the Presidential campaign has evolved in the last 200 years. As we observe Inauguration Day 2013, this is a good time to immerse yourself in some presidential history.

Reference Books

America at the polls.

On January 8, 1815, during the War of 1812, British forces suffered more than 2,000 casualties in their attack on New Orleans. The defending U.S. forces were led by General Andrew Jackson who became a national hero as a result. Ironically, neither side knew that the war had already ended two weeks before with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.

The Battle of New Orleans by Robert V. Remini

President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. It declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." Every advance of Union troops into the Confederacy expanded former slaves' freedom. Additionally, the Proclamation allowed black men into the military, and by the end of the Civil War almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had joined and fought for the Union cause.

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: the end of slavery in America by Allen C. Guelzo

The National Film Registry of The Library of Congress has just announced its list of inductees for 2012. Established in 1989, the films are selected for their enduring importance to United States culture. For a history of the Film Registry you can watch the fascinating documentary These amazing shadows: the movies that made America. Titles available in the Libary's collections can be found below. The entire list — complete with film history — can be found here.

3:10 to Yuma [videodisc] — Starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin (1957)

Armchair historians can't go wrong with this diverse list of recently published biographies and histories:

Thomas Jefferson: the art of power by Jon Meacham

The man who saved the union: Ulysses Grant in war and peace by H.W. Brands

The passage of power by Robert A. Caro

Just in time for Christmas! Check out one of these new biographies of your favorite rock stars:

Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin

My cross to bear by Gregg Allman with Alan Light

A natural woman: a memoir by Carole King

Waging heavy peace: a hippie dream by Neil Young