March 23—I had forgotten that for almost four years I lived four blocks from the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. in the 1970s. Researching George Herbert Putnam (1861–1955), the eighth Librarian of Congress and the inventor of the Library of Congress (or LOC) catalog system, brought up lots of memories. Most I am willing to share. The Library of Congress itself has a good online biography of Putnam, so I will only highlight a couple of fun facts. In addition to inventing the LOC system, he instituted the sale and distribution of printed catalog cards (which you might remember if you are old enough); he created interlibrary loan, without which I would be unable to do research; and started the national union catalog, which lists various manuscript collections from around the country. Although the Dewey Decimal system prevailed in the public libraries when I was growing up, the LOC ruled in college and beyond, as it does today internationally. It is slightly more comprehensible, providing catalog letters from A to Z, and then subdividing by adding more letters. (I always thought the BS identification for the section on the Bible was somewhat deliberate, although I suppose Biblical Studies might have been in mind.) Then numbers are added to narrow the classification further. Again, the Library of Congress has a good chart to explain the cataloging. Although I was working full time and going to Antioch College at nights, I still found time to walk to the Library of Congress to do actual research on papers for school. I felt like a real scholar working in the main reading room (pictured). You had to write out requests for books on a little card, with your seat number on it, and then wait for a librarian to go into the stacks—a mysterious subterranean planet—and return with your books. In this way I was able to read the original books written by [Mary] Delariviere Manley (1663–1724), one of the first women novelists, though not as famous as Aphra Behn. She was best known for a scandalous roman à clef that led to her arrest, but the charges were dropped. I was not able to find the paper I wrote on Manley. However, I did find a paper titled “The Eight-Hour Day: A Living Wage; To Guard the Home—The Women’s Trade Union League, 1903–1922,” that I wrote dated June 25, 1973. The bibliography cites some books and reports published in 1915 and 1908–1911, also from the Library of Congress. It is a bit embarrassing to read this paper almost fifty years after the fact. I don’t recommend reading any school papers older than a decade. I considered the Library of Congress my personal research library. It had other uses, however. When Mac and I were first dating in 1977, we would inform our respective employers that we would be at the Library of Congress doing some research. Then we would go to a double feature at the Circle Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue. But usually only on rainy days. Most of the time.
Ann M. Johns
3/23/2020 03:09:07 pm
Enjoying these immensely! And I've sent the link on to my N. County book club.
Rebecca
3/23/2020 04:19:17 pm
They're fun to write! Glad you are enjoying them. Comments are closed.
|
Author Rebecca Moore is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is currently Reviews Editor for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions and Co-Director of The Jonestown Institute. Archives
December 2021
CategoriesContact:
[email protected] |