Visiting the Libraries

Luckily, I have only during the day on Saturday to write about and then this week and I am all caught up!

Saturday, I did the two libraries in my neighborhood. I started at the Folger Shakespeare Library, home of the largest collection of Shakespeare scholarship on this side of the Atlantic. It is quite small, most of it is only open to researchers but the current exhibit is on Armor and Shakespeare which was interesting to look through. My main reason for coming though was right inside the door of the Gallery. One of the First Folios. I had seen one in Stratford of course but I loved this one because it is encased with a touchscreen system which lets you digitally browse through the book as they have digitalized the first part of it. It was fun to look through and see the spellings and find my favorite lines. Like I was looking through Romeo and Juliet and found "I bite my thumb at thee sir!" It took me back to eighth grade and my first experience with Shakespeare (which I will admit, he's grown on me over the years). I also looked into the theater they have at the library. Their season is already done for the year which is a same, I would have liked to have seen a production there. Though it was sort of a poor substitute after seeing the Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company theaters in Stratford, it was still faithful to the intimate and country feeling to the theaters of Shakespeare's time. I picked up a copy of Much Ado about Nothing while I was here. Now I am quoting my favorite Shakespeare heroine non-stop; I need a Benedick to burn my library for ;-)

After I finished at the Folger, I crossed the street to the Library of Congress. It seriously is one of my favorite buildings in DC. It has the unassuming green dome terraced, with the fabulous fountain out front and Minerva everywhere (they insist on the Roman names here so I will grudgingly use them - the Greek ones are prettier). I wondered in and just missed the start of the tour but since I couldn't see the Main Reading Room without a tour, I nonchalantly joined one in front of the Guttenburg Bible. I really enjoyed my tour actually. The tour guide was this adorable old woman who knew everything about every mural, stone bust and painting in the place. The Main Reading Room is sadly under refurbishment at the moment so sections of it are covered in scaffolding and sheets. But it was beautiful to finally see it in person after seeing it in the movies for so long. After the tour disbursed, I wondered Creating the United States which had drafts of the Declaration and Constitution on display along with countless letters and journals. I then found Thomas Jefferson's Library. It is a reconstruction of Jefferson's original library that he sold to Congress to start their library. It was a nice tie-in to my visit to Monticello last weekend though I wonder were exactly all those books fit at Monticello... I then walked through an exhibit on the Exploring Early America - lots of maps and arguments over who gets what land in the New World. There was a very neat case on pirating in the New World though. After this, I wondered downstairs and into the Bob Hope Gallery, focusing on Bob Hope but also looking at Vaudeville and Hollywood in general during his time. I saw yet another Oscar - seen a lot of those lately. I then shopped (of course - they had a book store people...) and picked up a great read on the presence of American Women in the Library. I then went and got my Reader's Card for the Library in the Madison Building so I can actually go and use the Library now if I want to which I am excited to do. I just need to figure out when exactly I am doing that and what I want to look at. The woman who did my application for the card gave me the name of a fabulous woman's history librarian so I hope to get a hold of her and look at some of their woman's collections. Maybe store up an idea for a thesis for when I get back to school for my woman's history masters....

This week has been fairly standard at work - I've been scanning all week with the new resolutions the Smithsonian just approved so my pictures take twice as long to scan now but I did the Kennedy files this week which were fascinating to look through and read all the newspaper clippings (like, FYI, did you know the Kennedys had a child die 20 hours after birth while in the White House? I didn't even know little Patrick Bouvier Kennedy ever existed...that family really is cursed.) We did have our staff picnic yesterday. They shut down the Folklife Festival to the public for the day and give us the run of the place. This year the tents are Texas, Bhutan and NASA (as it's their 50th anniversary this year). We ate at Texas - Taquitos but I want to try Bhutan when I go this weekend. Hopefully I don't murder any tourists before then. I cannot wait for the Fourth of July to be over and done with - too many Americans around for my taste. Most of the time I've noticed, the tourists come from outside the States. One day, eating lunch in my favorite spot, I didn't hear English anywhere around me. I like it that way - ugh, Americans.

I will report on the Fourth of July next. I cannot wait for this fireworks show!!!!!