History's Voice

I was in D.C. four days. This is my fourth post. And it's the caboose.

Tuesday was my patriotic day. Not that everything else I saw didn't show devotion to the country, but there's something different about the original buildings designed for D.C.

Great Hall in LOC

I started out in the Library of Congress. I actually had no idea where to go, so I went into the Madison building first, because that was the first building I saw with "Library of Congress" on it. Then a kindly gentleman pointed me to the tunnel that would lead to the Jefferson Building, where the exhibits are, after I told him I was looking for the Bibles.

So of course the first things I saw were the Gutenberg and Mainz Bibles, 15th century printed and handwritten (respectively) volumes.
I also saw Thomas Jefferson's library collection, but I am pretty sure my photos from that are horrible.
One of the temporary exhibits was the Magna Carta, and the influence it had in American government. Didn't take pictures there, because security was everywhere, and I was nervous I wasn't allowed to.
The last exhibit I saw in the Library was on the musicians Gershwin and Gershwin (brothers). I only know them for Rhapsody in Blue, but apparently they wrote more than that.

Gershwin exhibit

I crossed from the Library of Congress to the Capitol building through another tunnel, and had to go through security again. Not sure what I could have picked up in the Library that was so dangerous, considering I was screened on entering that as well. The Capitol security guards were picky, and when the metal detector kept beeping on me, had me take off my boots and send them through the scanner. Apparently the metal buckles are enough to set the detectors off.
I conveniently made it just in time for a tour (there is no other way that you can see the Capitol building), but not in time to see the old Senate home. It was still beautiful.

Old House of Representatives

Old Supreme Court

Capitol under renovation

I'm not entirely sure when I saw the National Archives Museum, because I am reconstructing what happened based on picture dates and I couldn't take pictures there. So I'm going to include it here.
There is also a Magna Carta there, a 1297 version. But the main feature of the Archives are the original documents of the Charters of Freedom--the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. In one of the temporary exhibits on signatures, I got an autograph from John Hancock (as he signed it on the Declaration) courtesy of an autopen machine. Because John Hancock is actually dead, and can't sign anything.

The Folger Shakespeare Library was nearby, and houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material. Unfortunately, that material is largely inaccessible to passersby, but I did see a confusing exhibition on codes and ciphers, as well as an Elizabethan theater.

The last museum of the trip was the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which was heart-wrenchingly well-done, but made my departure mood somber. As I left the exhibit, these words by Martin Niemöller summed up the attitude I hope mankind never adopts again:

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."