Artist’s Date: Library of Congress
A few months ago, I met my husband in Washington, DC while he was on a business trip. We usually try to take in a few sites in DC each year that we’ve never been to. This artist’s date was not taken alone, and I enjoyed wandering through the history with someone who was impressed with it as I was.
On this trip we took in the Library of Congress. I’d only been to the research part of the Library of Congress, in a separate building, several years ago when I was researching for my M.A. Thesis. This part is the showy part with the exhibits–the Gutenberg Bible, the Civil War in America exhibit that housed artifacts and letters, and of course Jefferson’s library.
Most buildings in DC that are meant for the public are awe-inspiring. The art, the scale, and the stories never cease to amaze me, and I’ve been there many, many times. Just like I was impressed with the Jefferson gardens for the dozenth (is that a word?) time at Monticello, Jefferson’s recreated library at the LOC was also stunning. I couldn’t take pictures in there, I don’t think. At least I didn’t come home with any. I’ve seen people who had more books than he had, but I was struck by the variety of the types of books that he owned.
I’m sure there were stories in this visit. I wrote down names to look up later, things that interested me, but mostly I just soaked it all in–looked at all of the artifacts, read some of the stories that I’d never heard.
