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‘Gateway to Knowledge’ Now Rolling Toward D.C.

Posted by: Matt Raymond

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After a very long time in the planning stages, our “Gateway to Knowledge” traveling exhibition is finally becoming a reality.

We were emailed a photo today (shown at right) that got everyone buzzing.  It’s the first picture I have seen of the actual truck, rather than a rendering.  (Don’t worry; I don’t think it was actually parked by that fire hydrant!)

Our curator-driver team, Josh and Abigail Van Gelder, set out from the Detroit area and will be rumbling toward the Beltway tomorrow, arriving sometime around mid-afternoon, before heading to Fourth Street on the National Mall to give attendees of Saturday’s National Book Festival the first look inside.

We have posted a special page on our website at www.loc.gov/gateway where you can follow the progress of the tour, which we expect ultimately to visit some 60 communities over the next several months.  We’re also going to try to post updates and pictures from the road.  I have a hunch that the Van Gelders’s dog, Pippi, might become a star!

The truck then will head west to Winchester, Va.; Cumberland, Md.; Charleston, W.Va.; and Marietta, Twinsburg, Oberlin and Troy, all in Ohio.  We will be announcing more locations soon.

So if you see the 18-wheeler on the road tomorrow or later on, I’d love to see a photo: [email protected].  And stop back by our website again to “Follow the Torch.”  (Not the Olympic one, the Torch of Learning on top of the Thomas Jefferson Building.)

Comments (8)

  1. Librarian says:

    This sounds wonderful!! I’d love to be a part of this. If you guys could find a way to stop around Steubenville, Ohio on October 7. that would be awesome! Whether at one of our fine local colleges or at our great Carnegie Library, I’d love to see you stop in our town! Anyway, best of luck spreading knowledge and hope you all have a wonderful time.

  2. Mary Anne Pacious Carlson says:

    Please come to Fort Myers, Fl.! This native Washingtonian needs a jolt of “knowledge” in Southwest Florida.

  3. Margaret says:

    Please come to Roanoke Rapids, NC — Halifax County!

  4. Bud says:

    I just viewed this yesterday and its interesting. I’m wondering where the money is coming from to build this unit and keep it going.

  5. phyllis self says:

    Is this tour continuing through 2011?

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