>> Hello everyone.
My name is Kathy McGuigan
from the Library of Congress.
And I am so thrilled that you
are here with us this afternoon.
Welcome to today's episode of Online
Office Hours from the Library of Congress.
Today, our focus is on the Jefferson
Building at the Library of Congress.
And we're glad you're joining us live
or even if you're watching this
after the fact on the recording.
So, these informal sessions are short.
They'll be a 20-minute demonstration.
And the sessions are being recorded.
You'll have the opportunity to talk to
each other and the presenters via chat.
So, let's get started with using chat.
If you will, tell us your name, where you're
joining us from and what and whom you teach.
So, as I mentioned earlier, today's episode
is touring the Jefferson Building from home.
And we'd like to welcome you to our workplace.
We're opening the virtual doors
to the Library of Congress.
Join us for a tour of the iconic
Jefferson Building and learn
about how we use it as a primary source.
Today's guide is Uhuru Flemming.
She is mentioned as Lio [assumed
spelling] in the,
in the presenter area or the participant area.
Uhuru Flemming is a colleague of ours
from the Learning and Innovation Office.
And she is joined by a special guest, Rachel
Gordon, with the Informal Learning Office.
In that role, Rachel develops and implements
tours for schools, kids and families.
Danna Bell, our Education Ask a Librarian
is on the chat to answer questions
and to serve the URL's from today's speaker.
And we are fully staffed today.
We also have Cheryl Lederle to play back up
to all the backups that I just mentioned.
So, without further delay, I will hand
over the mic to our presenter, Uhuru.
>> Good afternoon and welcome.
I'm going to give you, as Kathy
said, a highlights tour of,
virtual tour of the Jefferson Building.
So, I'll just get started.
The Library of Congress was
established by an Act of Congress in 1800
when President John Adams signed a Bill, which
moved the seat of government from Philadelphia
to the New Capital City of Washington.
This legislation described a
reference library for Congress only.
And with $5,000 appropriated by the Legislation,
it housed, it was housed in the new Capital.
And that's where it stayed until
1814 when during the war of 1812.
As we know, the British troops
set fire to the Capital Building,
burning the contents of this very small library.
Within a month, President Thomas
Jefferson, who was retired,
offered up his personal library
as a replacement.
He had spent about 50 years collecting books.
And Congress accepted his offer.
And he was able to sell his
collection to the library.
Now, eventually, this small library
became too small to hold the contents.
The Copyright Act happened, which mandated that
two copies of everything come to the library.
And so, as I said, the space was
just too small to hold the contents.
And so, that's when there were talks about
building a separate location for the library.
And the separate location, which we know
as the Thomas Jefferson Building,
was completed in 1897.
And there you see on the slide, the
Great Hall, all of it in its glory.
It was designed.
What you see here was done
by 50 American artists.
And it was modeled after
something that you see in Europe.
It was to look grand.
It's a time renaissance or [inaudible]
art that you see here, which is evidenced
by all the ornate marble, all
the archways and the columns.
The beautiful symmetry that you see here.
We wanted it to look costly,
in addition to it being,
paying homage to education
and knowledge and learning.
We wanted this to look very costly, like we
were keeping up with the Jones', so to speak.
And I always like to say, if you've heard
the term, if these walls could talk.
Well, everything in this building here speaks.
It talks. From the floor to this
beautiful ceiling that you see here.
It's as if we're in a room full of stories.
And what stories are being told?
What lessons are we learning?
And so, as I'm giving you this online tour, just
as I give the physical tour within the building,
I like to walk around and, and talk
about what these stories are telling us.
And I'll begin with one of the grand staircases.
As you can see, all of this beautiful marble.
And I want to focus on, if
you can see on the, the,
the kind of top of the staircase,
these small, chubby statues.
These are called putti in
Italian Renaissance art.
And they're not here just to look cute.
They each represent an occupation or
way of life that happened in 1897.
So, if you look at this first one
down at the bottom, you'll see clues.
You'll see clues on all of them.
But with this very first one,
you see a rake, you see a spade.
And the occupation that this
one has is a gardener.
Now, the second one is a little tricky.
I'll just give you the answer.
He's an entomologist.
And one of the individuals involved in the, the,
the construction of the building, his relative,
I believe, son was an entomologist.
And so, that's why that's there.
Then, if you look at the third
one, you see kind of the cap.
That's a student.
And so, that again represents
one of the occupations
or way of life that was happening back in 1897.
This right here is the commemorative arch.
And we see on one side a young man.
And we see an old man.
And this, this statue on this
arch is called the students.
And it represents the pursuit of knowledge.
Once you walk through these, this archway,
it leads you to the original door
towards the main reading room.
And so, that's why we have this arch here
representing the pursuit of knowledge.
You have the young man on, on the
left side, who is looking at a scroll.
He's learning something.
He's gaining knowledge.
And then, on the opposite
side, you have the old man.
And he's not so much reading
what's on his tablet.
He's more so meditating.
Thinking about what he's learned.
He, he has knowledge.
He has wisdom.
Now, when you walk through that
archway that I, that I talked about.
Because remember, it's commemorative archway.
You enter an area called
the Evolution of the Book.
It tells the story of the evolution of
the book in six lunettes that are above.
And it tells the story of
the book in historical order.
And it starts with the caveman.
And this is called the Cairn.
And so, you see primitive
men, rather collecting stones.
And perhaps, this tells the story of
a dead comrade, or perhaps a birth.
Then, the next lunette in order
shows the storyteller in Africa,
teaching through the oral tradition.
The next lunette in order takes place.
Here we are in Egypt, where
you see a man on a scaffold.
And he's carving or chipping
away hieroglyphics in stone.
Then, we move to the other side of this area
where we see a Native American
painting pictures.
Telling a story through painted
pictures on animal skin.
In the next lunette, we see a monk,
who is probably drawing illustrations
on let's say a Bible.
And so, now we see something
that is written on a document.
And then, the final one is Johannes
Gutenberg with his print press.
You see the master with the
assistant proofing a doc, a page.
And then, you see on the right, you see
an apprentice who is, is moving the print.
Now, Johannes Gutenberg was the first person
to create a book basically using a
print press using movable metal type.
And here at the Library, one of our
greatest treasures is the Gutenberg Bible.
As I said, it's the first great book printed
in Western Europe from movable metal type.
And it really marked a turning point in
the art of book making, communication
and the dissemination of knowledge.
And also, in the transition from the
Middle Ages into the modern world.
It was completed around 1455.
Roughly 180 copies of the
Gutenberg Bible was printed.
And fewer than 50 survive today.
And there are only, that we know of, three
complete versions left on animal skin.
And that is one of them here
at the Library of Congress.
And it's in a view case,
which is about 11 feet tall.
If you're walking, again, through
past the Evolution of the Book area
where the Gutenberg Bible is,
you're now in the vestibule of the,
the original entrance to the main reading room.
And this is where you have more
murals, halfmoon lunette murals.
And they are above the Reading Room door.
And they represent government.
Good government and bad government.
The mural that, that I'm showing
you right now is the central mural.
And it represents the abstract
concept of the republic.
Basically, in it's ideal state.
And then, there are two lunettes to the right
of it and two lunettes to the left of it,
which depict the workings of
government and the conditions
that can result from good or bad administration.
And this location of these murals reinforces the
significance of the advancement of knowledge.
And learning in a democracy and
the role of government and creating
and sustaining a great national library.
So, this one, government,
it shows a female figure.
And in the background, there's an oak tree,
which is emblematic of strength and stability.
She's sitting on a marble bench.
And the bench is supported by two antique voting
earns placed between those guardian lions.
She's holding a golden scepter.
And also, a tablet inscribed with the words
from Lincoln's Gettysburg
Address, as you can see there.
Government of the people, by
the people, for the people.
The individuals beside here.
Those are the winged figures of genius.
The one of the right is holding
a bridle and the reigns of power.
And the other one is holding a sword.
And that represents justice.
Or the authority of government.
Now, we're delving into bad government.
And this mural right here
represents corrupt legislation.
And here is the female figure.
And she is of questionable virtue.
And she's sitting on a throne, which
is framed by cornucopias overflowing
with coins, rather than fruit or grain.
And as you can see, the flow of the
coin is directed towards herself,
rather than outward towards the people.
She's holding a sliding scale in her hand.
And, and on her right, you
see that that scale, you know,
there's the wealthy man basically
bribing her with a bag of gold.
At his feet, are more bags of gold.
And you see that there is a
ballot box that is spilled.
And this is representing the corrupt
control of the sources of power.
And in his lap, there's the book of law,
which he basically uses to his advantage.
Then, if you look on the other side of
her, you see a very simply dressed girl.
And she represents labor.
And she's carrying her empty staff and spindle.
And she's basically being
dismissed by this woman.
And she is begging for her right to work.
And the broken jar at her feet represents
her, her savings that she's lost.
And if you look behind her, you see
the factories are smokeless and idle.
And while the factories behind
the wealthy man are booming.
And they're very prosperous.
This mural or lunette is called anarchy.
And here, we see the failure of government.
And she's raving over the ruins of civilization.
She's holding a torch that's
formed from the scroll of learning.
There are serpents twisting around in her hair.
She's trampling on the scroll.
And basically, on all of the symbols
of learning, religious, art and law.
And then, under her feet, on the other
side, you see, you know, the broken arch
and you see a bomb, which
also represents destruction.
The man to our right, he's prying a brick
from a building, which is contributing
to the collapse of the civilization.
And then, the woman on the other
side, she is, she has a staff
and she's basically prying
civilization into the chasm.
You see the millstone, the broken
millstone and the mill wheel.
And at that's showing.
It is an uncultivated field.
And it's showing the failure
of industry and agriculture.
And now, we are delving into
good administration.
And in this mural, there is a woman.
And she's holding a book in her lap.
And she's got a pair of scales
evenly balanced in her hands.
She's resting her hand upon a shield.
And that shield is quartered to represent
the even balance of parties and classes
that should exist in a well-organized
and well-ordered democracy.
The frame of her chair forms an arch,
which represents every stone
performing an equal service.
And that's symbolic of the equal
part that we all should play
in a democratic form of government.
On the right, you see that [inaudible]
is casting his vote in the voting ern.
And he's carrying books, which
shows that he has knowledge.
He has made a well-educated
decision on his vote.
On the left, you see the young girl.
And she's, she's winnowing wheat into the
other voting ern, so that the good grains fall
into the ern and the [inaudible] is
basically scattered away by the wind.
And finally, we see peace and prosperity.
And here, we see the female figure against the
background of an olive tree, which is the symbol
of peace and fruitfulness and strength.
She's holding two wreaths, which
is a reward for excellence,
and you see the two youths on her sides.
The one on the left sits with a jar
and he's decorating a piece of pottery.
In the background, we see a Greek
temple, which represents architecture.
And we see the lyre in the
foreground, which represents music.
The youth on the other side, the
right, represents agriculture.
And you see that he's planting something.
And it's suggesting, you know,
the strong permanent government,
on which the tree can grow.
This right here is the Librarian's Room.
It's the original office of
the Librarian of Congress.
And it's also in this section of the library.
Now, it is open to a certain extent.
There's an area that you can kind
of step in and take a look at it.
And it is now only used for ceremonial purposes.
But Presidents and heads of states
have, have all visited this room to look
at some of our most treasured documents.
This right here is Minerva.
And it is a mosaic, believe it or not.
I mean, if you can imagine all of the
numbers, thousands of pieces of, of,
of glass and stone compromised
this majestic mosaic.
It, it, it faces you as you are walking up
towards the overlook of the Main Reading Room.
Minerva is the Roman Goddess of
[inaudible], of knowledge and wisdom.
She also represents warfare.
In this case, she's representing
defensive warfare
because she's got her, her, her spear downward.
But she's holding it.
So, she's ever vigilant.
As you can see, her shield is on the ground.
And her helmet is also on the ground.
She's holding a scroll.
And on this scroll, there
are subjects of learning.
And the statue that is to our right, with the
wings, that's Nike representing achievement.
If you look, it's over to our
left, by her foot, you see an owl.
And, as you know, that represents wisdom
and the disastrous clouds are rolling back,
while the sun rays of knowledge
are coming forth.
And now, we are in the main reading room.
And as you can see, it is absolutely gorgeous.
You see all of the beautiful marble.
You see the columns.
And you see somewhat of the
dome that's up at the top there.
And I have another view to show you.
But just to give you an idea
of the size, it's, it's eight.
It's 100 feet wide by 160 feet tall.
And this is where some people
finally see some of the books.
And it's our Reading Room for humanities, social
sciences and I believe genealogy, as well.
And you see all of the, the, the seats
down at the bottom where researchers sit.
Here's another view of the dome.
And you see that at the top, there's a mural
and it, this mural is by Edwin Blashfield.
And it's called the Evolution
of the Civilization.
And I have to say it's the,
Evolution of Civilization
as seen by the artist Edwin Blashfield.
Because you have to keep
everything within context.
And so, it just, it, it consists
of the countries and ethics
that have contributed to civilization.
And it starts with the pharaoh
and it goes counterclockwise.
So, he's saying that Egypt.
It started with Egypt.
And down below that, you have written
records and Judea and religion.
And it goes all the way around.
And then, it ends with America with
our contribution being science.
And then, the individual that you see
to the left is a young Abraham
Lincoln holding his face in his hands.
Now, the Main Reading Room is
divided up in eight sections.
Each section has these beautiful
stained-glass windows
where you see the state seals or territories.
Alaska and Hawaii aren't included.
And then, in between each of these
windows, you see a female figure.
If you can see the statue right in
the middle holding the building.
Each one of these.
There are eight.
Represents an area of civilized
thought, so to speak.
And so, she represents art.
If you look at the bottom landing
there, you see the word art.
And so, there are eight of them.
And they go all the way around.
There's commerce.
There's science.
There's religion.
And then, if you look at the next level of
statues below these female figures to the right
and to the left of her feet,
you will see someone,
someone renowned in history in that area.
So, she represented art.
And so, to the right, you see Beethoven.
And he's holding his ear.
And then, if you were looking to the
left, you would see Michelangelo.
And then, finally, this is Jefferson's Library.
There was another fire that
happened in the Capital Building.
And unfortunately, it destroyed
two-thirds of Jefferson's collection.
And so, what survived, the third that survived,
is on display in the Library of Congress.
And what we've done is we have included
copies from our personal library and books
that have been purchased from book
sellers to, to complete the collection.
And then, there are markers for
books that have yet to be found.
It's, it's in a circle because drawings show
that Thomas Jefferson organized his
books just like this in a circle.
And he had them organized in three
areas, Reasons, Imaginations and Memory.
And your homework is to find out which books
probably went in either one of those categories.
And I want to leave you with the notion
that, you know, we are not just a library.
We are the nations largest library.
But we are also a Congressional,
we have a Congressional research
service for, for Congress.
We are the Copyright Office.
We are many, many things.
And so, I hope that you enjoy the tour.
And I hope, you know, when we do
get a chance to, to visit agencies
and institutions that you do come and visit us.
So, thank you.
And I will pass it onto Rachel.
>> Hi everybody.
Can you hear me?
>> Yes, loud and clear.
>> Great. Okay.
Thank you, Uhuru.
That was great.
Uhuru's showing off the gorgeous
Thomas Jefferson Building.
And as she said, I'd like to reiterate.
When we reopen, please come and see
us in person if you possibly can.
Because [inaudible] picture, they
really don't do justice to the scale,
the magnificence and the power [inaudible].
One of my favorite things whenever I take
groups around of any age is to see people come
up the stairs from the ground floor,
where we usually start the tours.
And walk into the Great Hall.
And you literally see people's mouth open and
their jaws drop and hear [inaudible] breath
because it's such an impressive sight.
So, I'm going to elaborate
on ways of expanding the use
of the physical Jefferson
Building, the structure.
Expanding it's use as a primary
source because there are
so many ways in which we are able to do that.
I'm going to cover [inaudible]
three main, main topics.
First, I'll talk about basically the flexibility
of the building when we use it in those terms.
Secondly, about some of the, the big topics
that we use to illustrate [inaudible] make.
And then, lastly, I'll cover how you
can supplement the physical building
with primary sources in some of our
collections and the exhibitions.
Basically, so let's go to the first one.
Flexibility and adaptability.
The Jefferson Building is so adaptable
because you can take conversations in many,
many different directions depending on the
age of your, your audience or their interests.
And it's one of the most enjoyable things
about my job is to constantly trying to think
about new ways in which we can do this.
Uhuru talked about the good and the
bad government mural, for example.
So, let's go, [inaudible] slide 16
come back up again, please, Uhuru.
That is the one that [inaudible] straight to
the corrupt legislation, illustrating now.
Uhuru explained, you know, thoroughly
exactly what it represents, how it looks.
But you can dig a little
bit deeper into all of this.
You can talk about how this particular
panel illustrates the reach of money.
The influence of the, the [inaudible].
So, if you're teaching U.S. History in
the gilded age, the Jefferson Building
as a whole is a physical manifestation
of America's rise in power,
[inaudible] influence in the late 19th century.
And this particular panel shows all of that.
So, we have the influence of money
and the [inaudible], as I said.
The disparity, the wealth disparity that
was [inaudible] manifest in many countries.
But in the U.S. in the case of the end of
the 19th century to have this [inaudible].
You've got a picture of the
factories in the background
as a reminder of the rapid industrialization.
And the related immigration that was needed to
keep those factories going and to help America
and she begins to become a world power
at the end of the late 19th century.
So, the scale, this [inaudible] decorations.
But the scale of the building
itself, the magnificence
and the decorations orchestrate advances of
science, technology, and industrialization.
Another thing to bear in mind as
you look around is the building,
of course, is a snapshot of the time.
It is a late 19th century representation of
attitudes and views towards different groups
of people, different parts of the world.
And although sometimes, you
know, people bristle at that.
Its actually really good teaching tool.
The names on the statues
throughout the building with very,
very rare exceptions, the names are all of men.
There are two exceptions, two
women's names in the building.
And every single statue [inaudible]
individual or portrait statue is a man.
And they're all.
Not only are they all men,
they're mostly western European.
It's pretty much illustrating
a [inaudible] view of history.
But then, again, as I said,
that's a good teaching tool.
What does it tell us about
19th century attitudes?
[Inaudible] reminders of how things were.
And how they have changed or maybe
how they haven't changed or not.
So, rather than have people say,
oh, we shouldn't talk about that.
I think it's actually a really
valuable tool that we can use.
The statues, we had a glimpse of the statues
in the Main, in the Main Reading Room.
Like, just to give an example,
you know, it's Beethoven.
It's Michelangelo.
The names on the ceiling in the Great Hall.
It's Shakespeare.
It's [inaudible], Aristotle.
There's actually only one quotation from
a non-western [inaudible] in the building.
Confucius is mentioned elsewhere.
So, that's an example of how you
can take these [inaudible] subjects
and take them in different directions.
When it comes to big topics
that we're talking about.
The umbrella topics that we can use to frame
some of our discussions about the building.
I'm going to give you two
examples that we, that we use.
Mythology is one.
And imagination is the other.
So, if we could have slide 20 up, please, Uhuru.
[Inaudible].
We have a mythology tour.
We've been doing it for quite a few years now.
That looks at the many references to mythology
in the classical world in the building.
It's very, very popular with
schools and families.
And we do it predominantly for those audiences.
But it's something again you can actually
also do with, with an adult audience as well.
Mythology.
When I say mythology, I mean basically
classical mythology, Greek and Roman mythology,
is an evergreen topic resurrected
almost [inaudible] in the last decade
or so of [inaudible] and
the Percy Jackson books.
And thanks to him, kids are
amazingly knowledgeable.
So, it's a tour that's fun because we get
an awful lot of audience participation.
We like to let the audience
tell the stories and chime
in with their [inaudible]
different myths and legends.
So, we do everything.
We cover architectural features,
such as different kind of columns.
And we do have an accompanying movement, even
[inaudible] dance that teaches difference
between Ionic, Doric and Corinthian columns.
We also talk about.
We talk a lot about Minerva.
As you can see from this image
here, that discussion then goes on.
We talk about what Gods and Goddesses.
And that can, you normally have to reign
that conversation in because there's
so much the children want to say about that.
We could talk about Medusa.
If you look at the image on the screen, you'll
see there's a little Medusa's head on the shield
at the bottom near Minerva's feet.
And it's a little bit hard to make out.
But you've got her snaky hair hanging out there.
And we. So, we talk about Medusa.
We talk about how her head got on the shield.
That leads to conversations
about Perseus and his story.
Why did Minerva or Athena, her Greek
counterpart, why did she change Medusa
into a monster in the first place, which
leads to all kinds of interesting discussions.
Because, as I'm sure you
know with myths and legends,
some of them are pretty graphic
in all kinds of terms.
Be it, violence or, you know, physical relations
between Gods and Goddesses, Gods and humans.
So, that's actually always quite an
interesting challenge, as to how you tell
that story in an age appropriate manner.
We've had some very funny little retellings of
these, of these various stories over the years.
We also like t point out how references
to the classical world are all around us.
Not just in the Thomas Jefferson Building.
But in Washington D.C. itself.
When you're up on Capital Hill, it's impossible
not [inaudible] buildings around the Library
of Congress and not to be
reminded at every step either of,
by the columns of, or the Senates buildings.
The Supreme Court which, which is right next
door and looks as if it's been picked up out
of Ancient Greece and plopped right
down in Washington D.C. And then,
we have a fountain right in
front of the Jefferson Building.
The Neptune Fountain showing
Neptune, the God of the sea.
And we also may like to tie this whole concept
of the classical mythology to U.S. history.
Again, we try and bring everything
back to U.S. history.
The founding fathers saw the United States as
inherited the Roman Law and the Greek democracy.
We like to remind the audiences that
Latin and Greek were important elements
of a good education for generations,
including for Thomas Jefferson himself
and for many other of the founding fathers.
And of their counterparts.
So, that's just one example in how
we can, we can riff on the contents
of the Jefferson Building in another way.
One of our latest ways of changing
the conversation about the building
from the elements of the structures we
see around us is our latest [inaudible].
We're using imagination as a central theme.
And we call the tour, Imagination,
everyone's superpower.
Because the emphasis here is on
the power and reach of imagination.
And how it fuels everything
that we see, and we do.
And that has turned out to be
actually a really powerful way
of engaging our audiences, students especially.
And getting them to think beyond the obvious.
Because our aim is to encourage
kids' creative sides.
And to basically give them the liberty to
give their imaginations absolutely free reign,
which is not always possible
I know in a classroom setting.
So, it's very, very [inaudible].
And we define imagination beforehand.
We ask teachers to talk about, to
define imagination with their kids.
And to also talk about imagination
[inaudible] in a [inaudible].
And then, we also talk about how the
Library of Congress is a repository of both.
Now, this tour we piloted
with groups of third graders.
But it works for any age.
And we start off with a tour of the building.
And then, we stop in Comic Arts Exhibition.
And then, we are able to
have a hands-on activity.
We have a new learning lab space, which
we're just beginning to use with groups.
And we're really excited about being able
to add on either a hands-on activity,
or some kind of coming together
of the group after the tour
to really discuss what we've seen.
So, if we could move to slide
[inaudible], please.
This is the image of the Great Hall that we
started off with at the beginning of the tour.
And it's really a good one to illustrate
how absolutely everything that you see
in the building started off
in somebody's imagination.
So, we tie the concept of the Library of
Congress itself [inaudible] imagination
to the physical features of the space.
Another thing that is really
important to remember on this tour.
It's fun is, fun is vital.
To my mind, if you can't incorporate a degree
of fun and sometimes [inaudible] enough
into a school tour, then you're not
going to engage and keep your audience.
So, it's a very lively and interactive tour.
We like to validate kids' ideas.
There's no right and wrong in your imaginations.
So, we [inaudible] come at all kinds of things.
So, if we could go to slide five, please.
The putti slide.
One of the ways we like to do this is to
think of alternate tools for the putti.
So, we see here, as Uhuru explained.
We have at the bottom, we have the
gardener with a shovel and a rake.
The entomologist in the middle.
And the student at the top.
And kids come up with all kinds of
ideas, like for the entomologists.
Some of them would say bug spray.
Which, you know, it's a, it's
a completely valid suggestion.
Even if entomologists are
not quite as exterminators.
But, hey. And I think you'd
probably be quite touched to know
that with the students, rather than the obvious.
You say, [inaudible].
I can into this expecting kids would
say, oh, computer, or a tablet.
Most of the kids when you ask them
what else a student should have,
they'll say an apple for the teacher.
Which I think is quite nice.
So, if we could go to slide six next.
The old and the young scholar.
This one, the [inaudible] on the arch are
essentially representing lifelong learning.
The fact that learning is a lifelong activity.
And so, we talk about that.
That's what the artist meant,
[inaudible] them to represent.
But what else could they stand for?
And again, here, we try to be a frivolous
to just encourage them to really come
out with whatever ideas they want.
So, for example, one of the things
we say, well, you know what I think.
I think that the message could also
be that all people need to eat more.
Which normally makes them
fall about with laughter.
But they can see exactly why
because you've got skinny old man
on the right with his ribcage showing.
And then, the slightly better covered
young man on the left-hand side.
But the point we're trying to get across
is everybody's imagination is unique.
And your imagination may be nothing
like the person's next to you.
But that does not invalidate it at all.
The next stop we make is the Gutenberg Bible.
If we could have that come up, please.
It's slide 13.
And this is, this I would like to talk about.
It's a really good example of how
imagination can change the world.
Now, to the, to the modern audience, books
and printing is so universal that you have
to remind people that it was once revolutionary
and once completely new technology.
It's a really good jumping off point to talk
about everything from increased literacy.
Because obviously, when there are more books,
more printed materials around,
more people can learn to read.
To increase freedom of thought and ideas.
Because when you can read something for
yourself in your language, as opposed to having
to have something translated by an educated
person from Latin, you can make up your own mind
about the material that you're reading.
And something that people don't
tend to think about quite so much is
that the [inaudible] printing press
was the beginning of standardization.
Obviously, with a written document.
First of all, there weren't many books around.
But depending on the, the size of the writing
or the type of font would be very different,
Gutenberg introduced standardization.
With standardization come
things like page numbers.
That means it's much easier for scholars in
different parts of Europe to communicate ideas.
To refer to certain pages or
certain chapters in a book.
And everybody knows exactly
what you're talking about.
So, that's something that you
don't necessarily first think
of when you start talking
about Johannes Gutenberg.
For slightly older students, or
adult audiences, one thing I really
like to emphasize is how the growth,
the invention of the printing press led
to the gradual loosening of controls by secular
and religious authorities on populations.
Even the reformation and the spread
of Protestantism you can link
back to the printing press.
Now, when you talk about Martin Luther,
we know he handwrote his 95 Theses.
Very soon after that, they were printed.
And that's how those ideas were able to
spread like wildfire throughout Germany
and throughout Northern Europe
and start off the reformation.
So, the basic message here is that
books and words have immense power.
Something that I think we need
to keep reminding ourselves of.
Because there's such, they're so
commonplace nowadays that we forget quite,
quite how groundbreaking and
world changing they were.
The last part in this imagination
tour, we like to.
We go to Thomas Jefferson's Library.
And I really like to talk there about
the, the audacity of imagination.
The power of imagination.
Because again, we [inaudible] that the
American Revolution happened [inaudible].
But if you really think about how radical it
was, the group of separate colonies defied
and defeated a major world power.
And the, the sort of flights of fancy
imagination, the willpower it took to do that.
Is really quite stunning.
It's. We have the vision and the
imagination of the founding fathers,
which was written down by Thomas
Jefferson in the Declaration
of Independence, which is absolutely astounding.
One of the things we do have in the
collections is Jefferson's handwritten draft
of the Declaration of Independence.
You can actually see the thought
process that went into this.
And the way that the document changed over time.
And it's extremely powerful message when you are
standing in the middle of the space surrounded
by Jefferson's books and you talk about
[inaudible] Thomas Jefferson was influenced
by what he read in his books
here and throughout his life.
And how some of that information
was distilled and came
down to the Declaration of Independence.
The last thing that I want to mention is
primary sources beyond the physical building.
The collections are full
of additional resources.
And the exhibitions are an
easy way to access these.
And I just wanted to give you three examples.
When you're talking about the
gilded age in the late 19th century,
we had an exhibition a few years ago about
the work of Jacob Riis, who was a journalist,
who's graphic photographs
of the horrible [inaudible]
and living conditions of
immigrants in New York City.
He really did a great deal
to [inaudible] reform.
That exhibition is called Jacob Riis,
revealing how the other half lives.
Danna's just put it up in the chat.
Thank you, Danna.
When you want to talk about the
influence of Gutenberg's printing press
and the role [inaudible] in America,
we had an exhibition several years ago
called First Among Many, The Bay Psalm Book
and Early Moments in American Printing.
That talked about the development of the
press, the, in printing including America.
And how it was integral to
the fight for independence.
This exhibition also showcases the Dunlap
Broadside, which is the, was the first printing
of the Declaration of Independence.
The Library of Congress actually
has two copies in our collections.
Lastly, to illustrate the wide variety of comic
art style and wide variety of imaginations,
another way of [inaudible] the different
types of imaginations is to have kids be able
to see the different styles that are
around, is the Comic Arts exhibition.
The Comic Arts, 120 Years of Panels and Pages.
That's a current exhibition of the Library.
So, if you are able to come and see us sometime
in the next few months, that should still be up.
And that's a really good way to talk about this.
So, I hope that gives you a little
bit of an idea of how you can riff
on the physical structural of the Jefferson
Building depending on the message you want
to get across or the audiences
you're involved with.
And I'm happy to answer any
questions if anybody has any.
>> Thanks, Rachel.
And thank you, Uhuru.
This was. This was fascinating.
And, and I've, I work at the
Library of Congress, obviously.
But I have to say, Uhuru, when you
were taking us through the tour.
It was the first time that I got
to spend significant time looking
at particular images with, in a closeup
environment without my glasses on.
[Laughter].
I just want to say, thank you.
Because I'm not sure I've really ever had
enough time to think about all the concepts
that are articulated through the building.
So, that was, that was truly wonderful.
And Rachel, I want to thank you so much
for sharing how students get to interact
with the building and these resources.
And I actually have a question.
While we're waiting for folks to put
in some questions that they might have.
I have a question about.
Rachel, you talked about like when
people are walking up the stairs
and you see their mouths drop open.
And like, they're trying to
take all, take all of it in.
I'm imaging adults.
What's happening with students.
So, what do you hear from students?
Like, I would imagine because they have
such a rich imagination that, you know,
the comments just must run the gamut.
>> Well, they do.
The [inaudible].
The physical reaction is that you have the
dropping jaws and they need to take a breath.
And they're just like, they usually say, woah.
And they just, they say it like a palace.
It's a book palace.
The beauty really strikes them.
And it's. That's why, one of the reasons
why I think it's so important if we can to,
either as parents or as educators, to take our
kids to these places because there's something
about standing in these grand, grand physical
buildings that is really moving and really,
really just impressive in
every sense of the word.
They really are amazed.
And a lot of kids, a lot of the school
groups we have are from D.C., obviously.
And they can't quite understand why
they've never been there before.
Because it's, it's such a, it's an accessible
resource for those who live in the area.
But anywhere you live when
something is on your doorstep,
you sometimes take a little bit for granted.
So, I think it's really important to
remind people wherever you live to go out
and use those resources that we have around us.
And luckily to a great degree for free.
>> That's great.
Thank you.
For our teachers who are joining
us today, I'm wondering what kind
of buildings you might have used with your
students, in terms of bringing a concept
that you're teaching in your classes.
And is it a library that you use?
Maybe a visit to the State House.
What are some places that you have visited,
or you would like to, or when things reopen,
that you may think about
using as a result of this?
And we'll let those, those questions come.
I guess, Uhuru, my, my question to you is,
you know, in all the tours that you have as a,
as a [inaudible], are there any
standout comments or questions
that you've received from,
from somebody on your tour?
>> Well, I get a lot of comments about
the evolution of civilization obviously.
Because that, that seems to
really spark a lot of debate.
And so, if I were to.
If I categorized the questions that I get that
stand out, it really has to do with context.
And putting everything in context.
And, and, and kind of teaching that, you know.
You see all of this artwork and
sculptures and everything and you listen
to the stories and what it's teaching you.
But you have to also put everything
in context, in terms of it being 1897
and what was happening during that time.
So, when you're looking at say the putti,
the evolution of civilization and some
of the other images that you, that you see, you
know, that, that's what tends to really stand
out from the ones who like to kind of
really delve deeper into, into things.
>> If I could chime in as well.
The thing that I am often struck by.
This is with adults mostly.
But there's, there's a really,
there's a great sense of pride.
A sense of pride in that this
is America's National Library.
It is this beautiful.
This physically impressive.
Once you started talking
to people and explaining
about the collections and what the Library does.
About how comprehensive it is.
So, I think people, people are very proud.
>> That's great.
Thank you.
So, for our audience, I want to
thank you for joining us today.
We have about 12 minutes left in the hour.
If you have any questions, we have two
great guests who are happy to answer them.
And we have some other Library
employees who, who work in the Jefferson
and with the Jefferson Building
in a lot of different ways.
So, if you have questions,
let them come in via chat.
And if you need to run on,
we certainly understand that.
But we have the, we'll have the recording posted
as soon as possible for this fantastic tour
of the Jefferson Building, as
well as we'll save the chat.
So, you'll have all the URL's.
So, thank you for joining us.
And as an announcement.
On Thursday, we will be celebrating
early, an early Law Day.
Law Day is May 1st.
And our civics teacher and resident,
Jenn Riddell will be with Anna Price
from the Library's Law Library
to talk about resources we have
to support the teaching of law in the classroom.
So, we hope that you'll join
us on Thursday from 2 to 3.
I want to thank again Uhuru Flemming for
a fantastic tour in a virtual environment.
And I want to thank Rachel Gordon for
sharing all of the, the different ways
that she uses the, the Jefferson Building
as a primary source with students.
So, thank you all.
If I don't see any questions, which I haven't.
Cheryl has moved up the office hours.
So, Uhuru, Rachel, any last words?
>> I really enjoyed sharing some of the
ways we talk about the Jefferson Building.
And we really hope that we're open
soon and that you can come [inaudible].
>> Yes.
>> Alright.
Well, thank you everyone.
And we hope to see you Thursday
at 2 o'clock to celebrate Law Day.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Bye.