Tim Walz
Contact

Contact Tim

Send an email with your comments
E-Newsletter

E-Newsletter

Sign up for Tim’s latest updates

Stay Connected

Subscribe To RSS Watch On YouTube View On Flickr
Walz Announces Library of Congress Will Bring Rolling Exhibition to Mankato PDF Print

(Mankato, MN) - A Library of Congress traveling exhibition including facsimiles of many of its top treasures and information about the millions of resources in its unparalleled collections will be in Mankato, Minnesota on November 9th and 10th.  The exhibit will be parked in the Mankato East Junior High Parking Lot at 2600 Hoffman Rd in Mankato. The exhibit will be open from 10am-6pm on Tuesday, November 9th and from 8am-4pm on Wednesday, November 10th.

 

“Gateway to Knowledge,” traveling in an especially fitted-out 18-wheel tractor-trailer, was launched from the site of the National Book Festival on the National Mall on September 25, and is expected to visit up to 60 sites in states across the Midwest and South over the next year.

 

The exhibition was the idea of philanthropists Abby and Emily Rapoport, who donated $1 million to the Library to make the “Gateway to Knowledge” exhibition possible.  The exhibit includes programming especially for teachers and students and provides relevant and engaging learning experiences for lifelong learners.

 

“This is a tremendous opportunity for our students, teachers and the broader Mankato-area community to see some of the priceless treasures held by the Library of Congress,” said Congressman Tim Walz. “I’m pleased to see that the Library of Congress is making our national heirlooms more accessible to the public and I encourage everyone to take advantage of this unique opportunity. I’m also grateful to the Mankato East for making space available for the exhibit.”

 

The truck, staffed and driven by two docents well-versed in the Library and its collections, expands to twice its road width, and visitors enter from a central staircase to find several areas of museum-style exhibits including a welcoming multimedia display, computer terminals displaying Library of Congress websites including the main site, www.loc.gov and other library websites including the Center for the Book/ Literacy Programs site www.read.gov and sites pertaining to U.S. collections, exhibitions and a special site for use by teachers.

 

The exhibition also outlines the history of the Library, including Thomas Jefferson’s role in allowing its re-establishment following the burning of the U.S. Capitol in 1814 by providing his personal book collection to the nation.  Jefferson’s organization of his books by “Memory, Reason and Imagination” informs the organization of the exhibition, which features facsimiles of such treasures as the 1507 Waldseemüller Map (the first document to use the word “America”); the 1455 Gutenberg Bible; the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, in Thomas Jefferson’s hand with edits by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams; the original 1962 drawings for the comic book that introduced Spiderman to the world; the handwritten manuscript to jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton’s “Frog-i-More Rag”; and Walt Whitman’s poem “Leaves of Grass.”

 

More information on “Gateway to Knowledge” is available at http://www.loc.gov/gateway/.

 

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution.  The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions.

 

-30-

 

 
Economy Veterans Health Care Energy Government Reform

Wall Street Reform

News image

Holding Wall Street Accountable, Standing Up for Main Street Final Passage of Wall St...

CONTINUE READING

Health Care Website Update

News image

New Health Care Website Health and Human Services recently unveiled Healthcare.gov, a ne...

CONTINUE READING
Rochester Office • 1134 7th St NW • Rochester, MN 55901 • Phone: 507-206-0643 • View Google Map
Washington Office • 1722 Longworth HOB • Washington, D.C. 20515 • Phone: 202-225-2472 • View Google Map
Mankato Office • 227 E Main St #220 • Mankato, MN 56001 • Phone: 507-388-2149 • View Google Map

Thomas Bill Search

Search Bill Number


Search Word/phrase


Thomas Image

Stay Connected

Subscribe To RSS Watch On YouTube View On Flickr