Today in History: Ernest Hemingway

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Today in History–July 21–the Library of Congress features writer Ernest Hemingway, born on this day in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. Like his father, Hemingway was a hunting and outdoors enthusiast. Seeking adventure, he served as an ambulance driver in Italy in World War I, reported on the Spanish Civil War, and worked as a foreign correspondent in Europe during World War II. Hemingway received a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for his novel The Old Man and the Sea and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. Learn more about this iconic American writer by visiting the Today in History section, then click the links below to access more resources related to Ernest Hemingway.

Ernest Hemingway historical newspaper coverage

Hemingway Dead of Shotgun Wound; Wife Says He Was Cleaning WeaponNew York Times July 3, 1961

Ernest Hemingway image set

Picturing Hemingway National Portrait Gallery

Foreign Affairs oral history mentions of Ernest Hemingway

Letter, Ernest Hemingway to Archibald MacLeish discussing Ezra Pound’s mental health and other literary matters, 10 August [1943]

Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) Books That Shaped America online exhibition

Streaming webcasts

Ernest Hemingway Was Born from America’s Library

Hemingway Was Here Wise Guide, November 2010

Papa Hemingway Library of Congress Information Bulletin November 1999 – Vol 58, No. 11

Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure PBS

The Ongoing Mystery Of Hemingway’s Misdiagnosed Death: Accident, Suicide Or Genetic Disorder?Medical Daily Jul 2, 2013

Hemingway on War and Its Aftermath Prologue Magazine Spring 2006, Vol. 38, No. 1