The Library of Congress

So I just have to get all fan-girl here because the Library of Congress is so amazing. I’ve been there several times, but today we got to go behind the scenes and really experience some of the library’s coolest places. I have a ton of other blog posts that I meant to write first, but I had to get this one out. This is one of those DC Days (TM) that was part of a DC Week (TM) as an Einstein Fellow. Amazing!

First a bit of an overview. We started the day learning about using primary sources with students as phenomena to spark their interest. Then we toured the rare book room, the preservation lab, ate lunch, went to the Science and Technology Reading room and toured the stacks, and then had a short tour of the Jefferson Building. Then some of us went into THE main reading room, which up to now I’ve just viewed from the above gallery. All you need is your library card—so amazing!

Some information about the actual library—the library has three buildings around the Capitol, the Jefferson, Madison, and Adams building. The more ornate and elaborate one that most people visit is the Jefferson Building. The other two buildings house collections, BOOKS, various reading rooms, etc. The Madison Building, incidentally, has a great cafeteria where random House members eat… I saw Adam Schiff there today, NBD. The Capitol, House and Senate office buildings, and the library buildings are all connected via underground tunnels. In addition to the three main buildings, the Library of Congress has many warehouses and buildings in Maryland and Virginia to house their massive collections of at least 150 million items.

Also, educators, check out all of the LOC’s teacher resources here. So many cool things, including collections of items that are already curated for specific events/topics. Not just books, but pictures, engravings, and much more.

Here are a few to whet your interest:

• I believe I have already established that I am a HUGE history buff and, in particular, are fascinated by the civil war. Here’s a collection of amazing resources about the lead up to the Civil War from 1850-1861.

• Oh man, another one… I can’t help it… here’s one of Civil War Portraits.

• Ok, science! Changing models of the solar system, here.

• And finally, Scientific Data: observing, recording, and communicating information here.

So, bear with me, I took a ton of photos and most of the information is going to be found in the captions, so click through and read about our adventure today! Slide Show today… because there are just too many images. To see the captions, hover over the image as you scroll through.

The Rare Book Room

Waiting to enter the book mecca…

Rare Book Reading Room

If you are approved to view one of the library’s rare books, you get to enter these amazing doors and peruse your chosen tome. Supervised by caring librarians, of course.

The Rare Book Room

Some of the books in the rare book room. They are mostly kept under specific humidity and temperature regimes.

Rare books!

Some of the rare books that were pulled out for our visit!

The Randomly Amazing Table

Look at this table! I can’t remember where the table that the rare books were resting on came from, but it was so beautifully made of individual small tree cores…

A Book of Hours

Hand copied and painted on vellum (calf skin), this was a book used in the 1400’s(!) to help organize prayer time.

Prayer Book

Another page of the book with an elaborate capital. How beautiful is this?

Another Tome is Revealed

After the book of hours, we looked at a leaf from a Guttenburg Bible that had been chopped into individual pages (insert Munch “The Scream” face here), and then one of the first printed medical texts.

Original Urinalysis

A woodcut carving of a physician whose job it is to interpret the ailments of patients by examining their urine. Notice the “pages” bringing samples from patients at home. The facing page has a interpretation guide. I think this was from the early 1500’s. Not long after the Guttenburg Bible.

Astrological Medicine

A page illustrating astrological medicine.

De Humani Corporis

De Humani Corporis Fabrica, printed at Basel in 1555, by Andreas Vesalius. Vesalius didn’t publish anything he didn’t observe himself through dissection. One of the pillars of modern anatomical study. So amazing. These were woodcuts! This is the title page inside. Vesalius is the man with his hands in the body.

De Humani Corporis

Another page from the book.

De Humani Corporis

The book is amazing, but especially known for the muscular detail sketches.

De Humani Corporis

Love these.

De Humani Corporis

Detail of the previous page.

A book about Botany

I can’t remember the name of this book, but it was published around the same time as the De Humani Corporis. These books all questioned the prior knowledge of doctors. This one tackled plants, and the author insisted that doctors needed to know about the plants, aka medicines, that they were prescribing their patients—including how to identify them. Seems wise! This page also features portraits of the artists, a rare inclusion.

Another Page

A detailed plant engraving from the same book.

Copernicus

Again, this book was published around the same time as the previous two books. This was the diagram that, literally, had the Catholic Church excommunicate him. A fundamental shift of thinking from an solar system that revolved around the Earth to one that revolved around the Sun. This book was published after his death, because it was so controversial.

Robert Hooke's Micrographia

A page from this amazingly detailed book of things seen under a microscope. Notice the beautiful drawing of a piece of woven fabric to the right. I have my students draw pictures of fabrics under the microscope for my Forensic Science class, so I loved this.

Robert Hooke's Micrographia

An image of a flea.

The Origin of Species

Oh man… amazing. A first printing of the first edition of the book that would change … pretty much everything in biology. We know it’s a first edition, and therefore at least $10,000 more valuable, because on p. 20 of the 1st printing, the word “species” was misspelled.

An Embarrassment of Riches

Quite literally… here are all of the books we got to look at…

Card Catalog

A close up of the original card catalog of the Library of Congress.

The Card Catalog is Kind of Big...

A whole city block, to be precise!

Hand-Written Card

… From the card catalog.

The Preservation Room

The library has its own preservation staff. They work on all of the library’s holdings, including books, recordings, artifacts, etc. Here’s a table of “sad things.”

Preservation Room

Of the scientists in the preservation lab told us about some of the projects she’d worked on, using spectroscopy to determine the type of inks and other materials used in various things.

Preservation Lab

A view of the lab and some of the amazing equipment they have to help preserve and investigate old things.

Card Catalog Drawers

The first of three close ups of another card catalog in the serial catalog of the science and technology reading room. I just liked the subjects. :)

Card Catalog Drawers

Image 2/3. Also, the handwriting! So beautiful!

Card Catalog Drawers

Image 3/3

The Claustrophobic Elevator

On the way to the stacks… in an ancient elevator.

The bowels...

Where few tread…

The Stacks!

Book stacks actually are built into the building and literally hold up the rest of the structure. You can’t visit the stacks as an everyday visitor, but we were able to go with our guide.

Me in the Stacks

Selfie in the stacks!

The Jefferson Building

Our last stop was the Jefferson Building. This is the one that everyone thinks of. It is so stunning… it’s my favorite place in DC. It’s just so ornate, and every bit of it is decorated and has meaning and purpose.

Cherubs

Some of the detail of the main hall. Each cherub in the staircase represented a job, and the two central figures represented parts of the world. The right: Africa, the left: a Native American who doesn’t need to have a hand on the globe, but reaches towards innovation.

Mosaic

A beautiful mosaic near the great hall representing science.

TJ's Library

The library was chartered, I believe, in 1800, and was originally housed in the Capitol Building. During the war of 1812, the British burned the building and the library was lost. Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his substantial library to restart the library (he actually had more books at the time). The library burned again several years later, and this is a recreated version of his original library, with some replacements from other sources, and some books that have never been found again.

TJ's Library

Books that were part of TJ’s original collection have a green ribbon. Imagine holding a book that was once held by a founding father… amazing!

The Main Reading Room

This is such an amazing space. This is the viewing balcony off of the main hall. The statues and frescos are all stunning and full of meaning.

The Main Reading Room

If you have a library card, you can go into the main reading room. You’re not supposed to take pictures, but I couldn’t resist taking this quick photo. The room is just awe-inspiring to sit in. I can’t wait to come and actually work in this space soon.