The Library of Congress launched a new traveling exhibition that will bring facsimiles of many of its top treasures and information about the millions of resources in its unparalleled collections to America.
The exhibit will include programming especially for teachers and students and provide relevant and engaging learning experiences for lifelong learners. The truck, which will be staffed and driven by two docents well-versed in the Library and its collections, will be parked at various schools, libraries, community centers and other public venues. This weekend, the traveling exhibit is in Dover, Delaware, on its way around the northeast region of the United States.
The trailer expands to three times its road width, and visitors will enter from a central staircase to find several areas of museum-style exhibits including a welcoming multimedia display, computer terminals displaying Library of Congress websites including the main site, www.loc.gov and other library websites including the Center for the Book/Literacy Programs site www.read.gov and sites pertaining to U.S. collections, exhibitions and a special site for use by teachers.
The exhibition will also outline the history of the Library, including Thomas Jefferson’s role in allowing its re-establishment following the burning of the U.S. Capitol in 1814 by providing his personal book collection to the nation. Jefferson’s organization of his books by "Memory, Reason and Imagination" will inform the organization of the exhibition.
The exhibition will feature facsimiles of such treasures as the 1507 Waldseemüller Map (the first document to use the word "America"); the 1455 Gutenberg Bible; the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, in Thomas Jefferson’s hand with edits by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams; the 1962 drawings for the comic book that introduced Spider-Man to the world; the handwritten manuscript to jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton’s "Frog-i-More Rag"; and Walt Whitman’s poem "Leaves of Grass."
The “Gateway to Knowledge” and its national tour are made possible by the generous support of the Rapoport family. Bernie and Audre Rapoport are founding members of the James Madison Council, the Library’s private-sector advisory group.
For further information about the exhibit and a schedule of appearances, visit
www.loc.gov/gateway/.
Photos: Library of Congress Gateway to Knowledge Exhibition in Washington, Illinois. (Library of Congress Photo/ Abigail Van Gelder). GTK Exhibition in Grinnell, Iowa. (Library of Congress Photo/ Abigail Van Gelder).