The Library will be open on the Saturday before Memorial Day, from 10 am - 5 pm, but we will be closed on both Sunday, May 24 and Memorial Day, May 25.
Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC is one of the most well-known pieces of sculpture in our country, despite the fact that it is less than 30 years old. The Library of Congress holds the archives of papers relating to the design contest which Lin won and to the building of the memorial.
Looking at Lin's original submission to the contest, it seems somewhat amazing that the judges were able to visualize how profound and moving her design would be once built.
In her text that accompanied her drawings, Ms. Lin wrote that "these names, seemingly infinite in number, [would] convey the sense of overwhelming numbers, while unifying these individuals into a whole."
After Lin's design was chosen as the winner, the contest committee evidently felt that a more conventional drawing was needed in order to convey a sense of what the monument would look like to the visitor. Architect Paul Stevenson Oles was asked if he could create several drawings in just a matter of hours that would show the Lin's design in a more conventional manner.
Oles checked with Lin to make sure that his drawing fit her conception. She asked him (shyly, as he recalls) if she could be included in his drawing. She seems to be the young lady standing at the top of the Wall looking down.
More details of this story, and more pictures of her sketches, can be found at the Library of Congress's
American Treasures website.
Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC is one of the most well-known pieces of sculpture in our country, despite the fact that it is less than 30 years old. The Library of Congress holds the archives of papers relating to the design contest which Lin won and to the building of the memorial.
Looking at Lin's original submission to the contest, it seems somewhat amazing that the judges were able to visualize how profound and moving her design would be once built.
In her text that accompanied her drawings, Ms. Lin wrote that "these names, seemingly infinite in number, [would] convey the sense of overwhelming numbers, while unifying these individuals into a whole."
After Lin's design was chosen as the winner, the contest committee evidently felt that a more conventional drawing was needed in order to convey a sense of what the monument would look like to the visitor. Architect Paul Stevenson Oles was asked if he could create several drawings in just a matter of hours that would show the Lin's design in a more conventional manner.
Oles checked with Lin to make sure that his drawing fit her conception. She asked him (shyly, as he recalls) if she could be included in his drawing. She seems to be the young lady standing at the top of the Wall looking down.
More details of this story, and more pictures of her sketches, can be found at the Library of Congress's American Treasures website.
