Walt Whitman Bicentennial at the Library of Congress

Working at the Library of Congress was one thing, but visiting the Library is a lot more fun. So whenever there are new exhibits or programs of interest we take a ride in to DC. We moved from Capitol Hill to Virginia just two months ago. So we plan excursions after morning and before evening rush hours since we can’t just walk two blocks down the street anymore. Last week we attended a Kluge Center program in the beautiful Jefferson Building and because we were early we checked out the Baseball Americana exhibit, walked through Jefferson’s Library, and also stopped by the Walt Whitman section that was set up for his bicentennial. Having had a lot of exposure and interest about the Civil War, been a member of the Milwaukee Civil War Round Table, planned a lot of vacations around this topic, and knew Walt Whitman’s involvement with hospital work at the time, I found the photos interesting. But the items in the display cases reminded me more about high school English class and BOM - our teacher Billie Owens Mock. She exposed us to “Leaves of Grass,” “O Captain My Captain,” and “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” And there they all were in plain sight. It was an unexpected reminder of days long ago in more than one way. It’s funny how we see things from an older person’s perspective compared to a teenager forced to read and learn something for class. Luckily for me I enjoyed all of it then as much as I do now.