As to what I did this past week...who wants to see pictures from the Library of Congress? ;)
This first section will focus on the history of the Library. To hear about what I actually did there, scroll to the second and third sections.
Library of Congress: History
Established in 1800 with $5,000 appropriated for the creation, the original legislation described the Library of Congress as merely a reference library that would contain "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress." The original library was housed in the Capitol until August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the Capitol Building during the War of 1812. Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library of 6,487 books as a replacement, which Congress accepted in January 1815.
Congress authorized construction of a new building be built in the style of the Italian Renaissance, and in 1888 construction began. The Library of Congress building opened its doors to the public on November 1, 1897. Since 1962, the Library also maintains offices abroad to acquire, catalog, and preserve library and research materials from countries where such materials are largely unavailable through conventional acquisition methods. | Thomas Jefferson's collection. While many of the original books were lost in the Library fire of 1851, the surviving volumes are marked with a green ribbon. |
The Library consists of three buildings. The Thomas Jefferson Building is the oldest, and is the building most often visited by tourists since it holds the Main Reading Room. The John Adams Building was originally built as an addition to the Jefferson Building to store additional books, but now holds additional reading rooms and work spaces as well. The James Madison Building was not completed until 1976 and it is here visitors can obtain Library of Congress library cards that give them the ability to enter the Main Reading Room in the Jefferson Building for a tour. Encompassing 1.5 million square feet of space, the Madison Building is the largest library structure in the world.
Library of Congress: Scavenger Hunt
Last Tuesday, July 25, the Library held an evening scavenger hunt through the Jefferson Building. Six of us interns (including one intern's co-worker) signed up to participate in the activity, and we went as one large group to puzzle our way through the clues.
Each clue sent us to a new room of the Jefferson Building, and to receive the next clue we needed to complete a task in each area. Though I can only speak for myself, I’m sure all the interns can agree the best room by far was the new exhibit “Drawing Justice: The Art of Courtroom Illustrations.”
The exhibit opened this year on April 27, and will be open until October 28. The exhibition pulls from the Library’s collection of more than 10,000 courtroom drawings to provide a look into high-profile court cases from the last 50 years, starting with the work by Howard Brodie of the Jack Ruby trial in 1964 (Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected murderer of President John F. Kennedy).
There are 98 illustrations on display, representing a wide variety of trials that include murder, terrorism, political activism, and landmark legal issues. These cases shaped how Americans perceived race and race relations, religion, gender issues, and the role of celebrities in society.
When the seven of us arrived, we were told the activity we must complete was to select one of the illustrations and pose like the figures in the drawing while one group member drew the result. After looking through some options, we decided on the en banc appellate court hearing that ruled on the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) appeal against the state of Maryland on the issue of school desegregation. An “en banc” case means a case where all the judges of a court hear a case rather than a panel selected from among them. In this case, there were seven judges, but only six are shown in the illustration since one judge died before the opinion was issued. Since there were seven people in our group, that number worked out perfectly: six posing, and the “dead” one doing the drawing! | Above: Our lovely artistic intern buddy, posing with the original illustration. Below: Aren't we all such good models? We totally look just like the original! |
Library of Congress: Private Tour
Just that experience would likely be considered pretty great on its own, right? Well, I was able to arrange something even better for Saturday!
The other week I met a fellow Coe alumna for lunch, and she put me in contact with Constance (Connie) Carter. Who is Connie Carter? Well, buckle in, because this woman is absolutely amazing.
Connie has worked at the Library of Congress for 52 years, and actually retired a few years ago but still volunteers there over 40 hours a week (so, not really retired, just isn't Head of the Science Reference Section anymore). She graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts with a degree in zoology. | Senior picture of Connie from Smith College, Class of 1959 |
What might come as a huge surprise to some people is that Connie is actually dyslexic. However, she said it aids her at the Library tremendously since back in the day the Library used to hire dyslexic people to work at the Library all the time and so books were shelved in very odd places. But since Connie is dyslexic, she said she is able to figure out how the original dyslexic staffers likely shelved a book and is thus able to locate missing items.
During a 2011 interview, when asked what she would want to be if not a librarian, Connie replied:
"I’d like to have gone to Cornell University’s School of Hotel Management and be the housekeeper of the White House/Blair House. I grew to love the history of the White House when I spent time there working on the designs for Lady Bird Johnson’s White House china in 1968. I enjoy making people feel warm and comfy—everyone would get a few of my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies left on the pillow at bedtime."
Waiting for us was a very enthusiastic Connie, who had prepared two coffee cakes (one cinnamon, one orange) and a fresh pot of coffee. All over the table were books on science communication that she'd pulled for us to look through, and she also brought a bunch of historical documents as well, including a copy of the speech given by the doctor who first attended to Abraham Lincoln after he was shot. Connie told us she discovered the speech when an actor, who was going to play the doctor, wanted to know where to put his hands on Lincoln's body. After some investigating, Connie found the speech, which recounts the exact details on where the doctor placed his hands! | Mmm, orange coffee cake, yum! |
At the end of the tour Connie told us to feel free to contact her anytime we needed help, and if we happen to be in the area for July 4 she promised to sneak us past the long lines into the National Archives since she has a membership. :)