I went to the library twice but didn't get a single book!
I've been disappointed with the NY Public Library's TNG programs - until Weds. The patrons are still funny-looking and unfashionably dressed, but they took us backstage.
The head of the rare books collection is the best public speaker I've ever seen. He has great material and had the crowd laughing throughout the presentation. He showed us an original printed version of Columbus' letter about his first voyage; one of the original printed copies of the Declaration of Independence (by Dunlap); Hemingway's notes that he scribbled in the nearest book for his Nobel Prize speech; and one of the two books they had on Pitcairn Island, ironically a bible belonging to Fletcher Christian's wife. Incidentally, they have a Gutenberg bible on display in the public areas on the third floor, at which we also peeked.
The woman guiding us through the closed stacks was less entertaining, but it's an amazing building. They're still using the original conveyor belt and dumbwaiter system and the books are sorted by *gasp* size. Yikes!! It was very impressive to look between the cracks and see six stories down of books; I also hadn't known that there are two floors of books under Bryant Park.
Afterward my sister and I went to the rooftop bar at the Library Hotel, which is my new favorite watering hole near GCT. With busty waitresses in low cut dresses, short tables, and classic cocktails, how can you go wrong?? My sister might disagree though, considering I talked her ear off about how I seem to accidentally be reading books about mid-19th century insurgencies and decided to compare and contrast the Lakota and the Chechnyans. I blame the sidecar.
Last night I went to a presentation by Edwin Burrows and the library's geospatial specialist about the history of Wall St. Intellectually I'd known how little of the island was used in the early days, but it's another thing to be taken through the street's history map by map, with a historian pointing out the landfill, the changing composition of the street. Best line was when he said something about the English conquest of 1644, referring of course to when the redcoats took over New Amsterdam. The geospatial specialist walked us through stuff the NYPL has added to Google Earth and I have to say, it's pretty darn awesome to look at fire insurance maps. If history were my bag, I'd be salivating at this sort of data.
I wish the night had ended as well as the one before, but I went to the event with a friendly coworker: it was good to catch up on gossip, but when she asked how my job hunt is going, it ended up giving me a bad case of insomnia. *le sighs*
The head of the rare books collection is the best public speaker I've ever seen. He has great material and had the crowd laughing throughout the presentation. He showed us an original printed version of Columbus' letter about his first voyage; one of the original printed copies of the Declaration of Independence (by Dunlap); Hemingway's notes that he scribbled in the nearest book for his Nobel Prize speech; and one of the two books they had on Pitcairn Island, ironically a bible belonging to Fletcher Christian's wife. Incidentally, they have a Gutenberg bible on display in the public areas on the third floor, at which we also peeked.
The woman guiding us through the closed stacks was less entertaining, but it's an amazing building. They're still using the original conveyor belt and dumbwaiter system and the books are sorted by *gasp* size. Yikes!! It was very impressive to look between the cracks and see six stories down of books; I also hadn't known that there are two floors of books under Bryant Park.
Afterward my sister and I went to the rooftop bar at the Library Hotel, which is my new favorite watering hole near GCT. With busty waitresses in low cut dresses, short tables, and classic cocktails, how can you go wrong?? My sister might disagree though, considering I talked her ear off about how I seem to accidentally be reading books about mid-19th century insurgencies and decided to compare and contrast the Lakota and the Chechnyans. I blame the sidecar.
Last night I went to a presentation by Edwin Burrows and the library's geospatial specialist about the history of Wall St. Intellectually I'd known how little of the island was used in the early days, but it's another thing to be taken through the street's history map by map, with a historian pointing out the landfill, the changing composition of the street. Best line was when he said something about the English conquest of 1644, referring of course to when the redcoats took over New Amsterdam. The geospatial specialist walked us through stuff the NYPL has added to Google Earth and I have to say, it's pretty darn awesome to look at fire insurance maps. If history were my bag, I'd be salivating at this sort of data.
I wish the night had ended as well as the one before, but I went to the event with a friendly coworker: it was good to catch up on gossip, but when she asked how my job hunt is going, it ended up giving me a bad case of insomnia. *le sighs*