"Out of the Ashes" - Thomas Jefferson Exhibit

My walk yesterday took me to the 200 year old collection of Thomas Jefferson books. They are housed in the Library of Congress Jefferson Building. Just outside the collection is a new little exhibit "Out of the Ashes" that has several documents describing the background and history of  it. Only 2,000 of the original 6,400 volumes remain due to not one, but two fires. Having also been to Monticello several times one can only imagine how these books got transferred here to DC from Virginia by wagon. The theme of the Library's book festival this year reflects the feelings of Mr. Jefferson and this anniversary - "I can't live without my books!" Things have changed a lot since his time, but the desire to learn and be surrounded by subject matter on just about every topic is mesmerizing for the time. This collection became the Library, and it is admired by anyone who steps in to it. 

Folger Shakespeare Library and Theater

We've passed by it many times on walks around the neighborhood and finally decided to go in and see what was inside. The Folger Shakespeare Library is right next to the Library of Congress Adams Building near the rear side of the Supreme Court. Neither I nor my husband are Shakespeare fans, though we both really liked Kenneth Branagh's Henry V movie. And we stopped going to plays many years ago, but had season tickets to the Milwaukee Rep for at least ten years. There is an exhibit about four centuries of staging Shakespeare, and there is also a very small fifty person theater for shows and productions, set to look like Shakespeare times back in the day. But I'm told the major focus is that it serves as a library for Shakespearean scholars to take delight in the materials that are available here. Outside is a garden, that obviously looks very English. For those who like these sorts of things, it's so close at hand if you live in this neighborhood. And we may consider taking our out of town guests here, if they or we think of it.