The Library of Congress (Thomas Jefferson building)
The bibliophilic Holy Bee comes home
Tuesday, October 23, 2011. The Library of Congress. 9:38 am. After a night’s sleep that was as good as could be excpeted, considering I was on a hotel sofa bed just a partition away from four loud-mouthed, giggling, snorting, farting eighth-grade boys, I was definitely looking forward to the day’s first destination: The Library of Congress. Regular readers know I’m a library junkie, making at least a trip per week to one of my local branches just to nose around. So a visit to what is essentially the national library of the United States would be as close to a religious experience as it’s possible for me to have. The Library of Congress began because former president Thomas Jefferson was a spendthrift with a taste for pricey imported French wines, and, like most of the Virginia planter class, lived on credit. By 1815, creditors were breathing down his neck.
The Library tour guide is giving details on “the richest interior in America.” Heather looks dubious.
So he sold his entire book collection — 6,487 volumes, the largest private collection in the country at the time — to the fledgling U.S. government. From there, it’s grown to over 22 million books housed in the Thomas Jefferson Building (built 1890-97) just across from the U.S. Capitol, and in three other (massive) buildings nearby. Continue reading
Holy Bee of Ephesus 