Top of page

Category: Presidents

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Broccoli, Opossum, and Gingerbread: Presidential Food

Posted by: Ellen Terrell

Today’s post is written by science librarian and culinary specialist Alison Kelly. She has provided her expertise in a number of Inside Adams blog posts related to food history and cooking such as Early American Beer, and Early Mixology Books. Abraham Lincoln liked gingerbread cookies, William Howard Taft enjoyed roast opossum, and Ronald Reagan always …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Roosevelt, Muir, and The Camping Trip

Posted by: Ellen Terrell

This guest post was written by Constance Carter the previous head of Science Reference who now volunteers here at the Library. One of the most delightful children’s books I have read is Barb Rosenstock’s The Camping Trip that Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and our National Parks (New York, Dial Books for Young Readers, …

Print shows Thomas Jefferson, full-length portrait, facing slightly right, standing beside a table; he is lifting from the table the Declaration of Independence with his right hand and pointing to it with his left hand; there is a bust of Benjamin Franklin on the table, as well as several books. On a small table to the right is a single-disc electrostatic generator and beneath that, resting on the floor, is a globe.

Counting the Miles: Thomas Jefferson’s Quest for an Odometer

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

Today’s post is guest authored by Julie Miller, historian of early America in the Library’s Manuscript Division. Julie has written for Inside Adams before- see her post on “The President and the Parsnip: Thomas Jefferson’s Vegetable Market Chart (1801-1808).” Thomas Jefferson, who liked to count and measure everything, coveted an odometer. While in Paris as …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

The President and the Parsnip: Thomas Jefferson’s Vegetable Market Chart (1801-1808)

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

Today’s post is guest authored by Julie Miller, historian of early America in the Library’s Manuscript Division During most of his two terms as president of the United States, (1801-1809) Thomas Jefferson carefully compiled a chart recording the seasonal appearances of fruits and vegetables in Washington’s market. This seems like a funny way for a president …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Presidential Food Book Display at Main Reading Room Open House

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

Today’s post is authored by Constance Carter, head of the science reference section. Connie has written for Inside Adams before- see her posts on Presidential Wheels, Civil War Thanksgiving Foods,  Food Thrift, the Chocolate Chip Cookie, LC Science Tracer Bullets, and her mentor Ruth S. Freitag. On the 16th of February, in honor of George Washington’s birthday …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Getting Around: Presidential Wheels

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

Today’s post is authored by Constance Carter, head of the science reference section. Connie has written for Inside Adams before- see her posts on Civil War Thanksgiving Foods,  Food Thrift, the Chocolate Chip Cookie, LC Science Tracer Bullets, and her mentor Ruth S. Freitag. Knowing my interest in all things presidential, a colleague recently left a copy …

Science and Business Reading Room mural with quotation from Thomas Jefferson about the living generation. Mural by Ezra Winter. John Adams Building, Library of Congress.

A Lesson from a Founding Father

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

The Earth belongs always to the living generation. They may manage it then, and what proceeds from it, as they please, during their usufruct. They are masters too of their own persons and consequently may govern them as they please. When researchers walk into the Science and Business Reading Room, not only are they inspired …