The sequence of events for Thursday, February 1:
8:45 am - catch the MARC 525 train from Perryville to Union Station, Washington, DC, arriving at 10:28am—$ 26 roundtrip. You can buy your tickets using a credit card from the kiosk in the lobby. Parking is free. The train cars are double-decker style, and you must climb steps to board the train and reach either level of the seating.
From Union Station, we will walk about 1 mile (definitely uphill) to the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is directly behind the U.S. Capitol Building and looks toward the Lincoln Memorial down the mall. Be prepared to go through metal detectors. We have timed tickets to get into the Library, so we must be together when we enter.
We’ll go to the 1st floor for Reader’s Card Registration to have your photo taken and pick up your FREE Reader’s Card. You’ll need a photo ID. YOU’LL NEED TO FILL OUT THE ONLINE FORM by Wednesday to get your card at https://reader-registration.loc.gov/readerreg/remote/.
As soon as everyone receives their reader’s card, we’ll walk through the underground tunnel to the James Madison Building to eat in the 6th-floor cafeteria. There are lots of food options which you pay for by weight at the register. Enjoy the view from the wall of windows.
After lunch, we’ll walk back to the Jefferson Building. We’re trying to get someone to give a bit of a tour of the building. The central atrium is over-the-top ornate. We’ll try to walk into the main reading room, but with a group our size, we have to be very quiet.
By 1:00pm, we’ll go to the Rare Book Room. We should be met by Eric Frazier, who will be our host. Hopefully, we’ll meet Stephanie Stillo, the new Chief of Rare Books.
You don’t have to wear gloves to handle the books, but they expect you to wash your hands thoroughly beforehand. Be prepared to present your reader’s card. You may bring a pencil (no pens), paper, and cell phone into the reading area. All coats, bags, hats, etc., must be placed in one of the nearby lockers (no charge).
We’ll likely divide into 2 or 3 groups to examine the requested books. Some books are specific, and others are bookbinding styles in both early and contemporary artist’s book forms.
For your information, your reader’s card is good for 2 years. After this trip, you can return to the Rare Book Reading Room, find a book you want to look at in their online catalog, and ask to see it.
Around 3:00 or 3:30, assuming the weather is OK, we can walk past the U.S. Congress Building, think about politics to ourselves for a moment, and then on to the Natural History Museum (about 1 1/2 miles downhill), where we can see the “Nature of the Book” display. This isn’t a large display, but it covers many facts about bookmaking materials that interest you. We will likely enter the museum from Constitution Avenue and walk straight into the museum, heading to the two exhibition cases in a broad hallway.
Nature of the Book explores books of the hand-press era (from the use of moveable type in Europe in about 1450 to the rise of mechanization in the 19th century) through the myriad natural materials—animal, vegetable, and mineral—that went into their making. From essential ingredients like flax, leather, copper, and lead to the unexpected, like wasps and seaweed, the exhibition shows what the use of these materials can tell us about the book, touching on questions of use, process, global trade, and economy.
We’ll walk back to Union Station, where we can grab a bite to eat and catch the 6:35pm MARC 544 train back to Perryville, arriving at 8:23pm.
