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Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
As you walk through the main center door of the Science and Business Reading Room, you see the Book Service Desk straight ahead. Because the Library’s books stacks are closed to the public, this is where researchers turn in paper call slips to retrieve items from the General Collections and pick up delivered items. Thousands …
Posted in: John Adams Building, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
In the spirit of the holiday season, we are highlighting another Everyday Mystery relevant to this time of the year: Who invented electric Christmas lights? The short answer is Thomas Alva Edison and Edward H. Johnson. After all, Edison created the first practical light bulb and successfully strung together the first strand of electric lights …
Posted in: Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History, Inventions
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
We decided to follow the lead of our Law Library colleagues at In Custodia Legis with a Picture of the Week series. In this series we will show you interesting things we see in and around the Library of Congress John Adams Building. With that said, our first photo features one of the John Adams Building owls that greets vistors …
Posted in: John Adams Building, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
While winter has not yet officially arrived, some of us have been given a taste of the season to come with cold temperatures, frigid winds, frost, ice, and even powdery snow. When I think of winter, I think of twinkling ice crystals falling from the sky and colliding to become intricate snowflakes. Each winter there …
Posted in: Weather
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
The earliest cultivation records of the sweet potato date to 750 BCE in Peru, although archeological evidence shows cultivation of the sweet potato might have begun around 2500-1850 BCE.
Posted in: Cookbooks and Food, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
K-rations, better night vision binoculars, and synthetic rubber are just a few examples of innovations resulted from scientific research during World War II. The story of science during World War II is one of partnerships and prolific research. On June 28, 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8807which established the Office of Scientific Research and …
Posted in: Favorites From the Fifth Floor, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History, Inventions, Military science, Technical Reports and Standards
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
Everyone around here is talking about Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity and Halloween celebrations, but there is another bit of exciting news that warrants some attention this weekend. Drum roll, please…. The ‘Inside Adams’ blog celebrates its first birthday. We launched this blog on October 30 to coincide with the birthday of our founding father and namesake …
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
So you think you have a cool job? Here in the World’s Largest Library, there’s always something going on: lectures, special programs, concerts and exhibits. And you never know who you’re going to see in these hallowed halls: famous authors, actors and musicians, Poets Laureate old and new, maybe even the President or Royalty if you’ve been tapped to participate in a special event.
Posted in: Biography
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
All over the world there are animals on the move. Animals move for various reasons–some move to get to food or water, some move for breeding, and some move to avoid cold temperatures in the winter. Certain species of animals are deemed migratory–basically they move seasonally from one region to another. One of the most …
Posted in: Zoology