library of congress marker redux

Back in business.

If anything, the LOC maintenance shutdown allows me to show you all the reverse of this lovely bookmark. From the Library of Congress site about its history:

"The Library of Congress was established by an act of Congress in 1800 when President John Adams signed a bill providing for the transfer of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the new capital city of Washington."

Just four years later, in August 1814, British troops set fire to the Capitol Building, burning the library. Within a month, retired President Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement.

The Library of Congress, isn't just beautiful, its huge, the largest library in the world! According to their website, the library contains "33 million books and printed materials, as well as more than 113 million maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints and drawings, and other special collections." The stuff they have ranges from baseball cards, and comic books, to fine old manuscripts, and early American maps and documents, to sound, music and film recordings. Check out a video presentation about the LOC here.

Their website is fantastic! There is all kinds of stuff available on line. Its staggering really just browsing through it, its seems to go on forever.

Thanks again, to Natalie and Hope for picking this up for me in Washington DC.