“You’ll get to see all the secret librarian places,” my husband said enviously to me this morning as I got up to hit the Metro downtown.
“Yup,” I said cheerfully. “Because I know the Secret Librarian Handshake and my Cutter number.”
I had the privilege today of touring the Library of Congress. And, indeed, we were led up and down all sorts of odd twisty little staircases and through some fascinating back rooms. (Card catalog. They still have an entire annex full of card catalog. Not to mention that request slips travel among the three buildings via pneumatic tube. Was that Winston Smith I passed in the hallway?)
The librarians were directed to “show us treasures,” which they duly did: a Russian reference book with a WWII-era (most likely) bullet in it; the first newspaper printings of the Declaration of Independence, George Mason’s Declaration of Rights (brought out for the obvious reasons!), and the U.S. Constitution; a hand-drawn facsimile of a stunningly gorgeous Nahuatl document brought to bear against a Mexican viceroy in a legal dispute over taxes.
There’s just seriously amazing stuff in there, and the librarians are friendly, approachable, and helpful. Dorothea-Bob says check it out.
