The Linda Hall Library, Kansas City

Another of the world’s incredible libraries – right here in Kansas City.

The University of Missouri Kansas City wraps around the Linda Hall Library as if to suffocate it, but the square defends its boundaries with refinement, wrought iron fencing and immaculate landscaping.  As I walked through campus on errands for work, I couldn’t help but notice how different it looked: secluded, set apart, a relatively untrafficked corner of campus.

On further investigation, I discovered that the Linda Hall Library is a world-class institution: an independent library for all kinds of works specifically related to science, engineering, and technology.  AND… they had a rare book library (!) with works by… Galileo! (!!!)  That was all I needed to hear, really.  I called the library and scheduled an appointment to visit.

The Linda Hall Library was established in 1945 when Herbert and Linda Hall donated their considerable estate to build a free public library on their estate grounds.  After they died – Linda in 1938, Herbert in 1941 – their trustees hired consultants from the national library community to determine what type of library they should establish.  They made the decision to establish it as a science and technology library.

The library’s website says that the Library’s first major purchase was the library collection of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1946 (many of Linda Hall’s rare books came from this collection).  A second significant acquisition occurred in 1985 when part of the library of the Franklin Institute was transferred from Philadelphia. Finally, in 1995, the Engineering Societies Library (ESL) was also transferred to the library.

So then, this is a relatively young library… but a quickly growing one.

Its energy is palpable.  Walking into the warmly-lit, low, comfortable brick building stirs the imagination.  Huge, fantastical, spiraling artistic works of the cosmos work their way over the walls.  Going down the stairs to the Cosmology Theater, I passed glass display cases of wonderful historic works.  My appointment was past all this on the other side of two glass doors: the rare book room.

Cindy was shorter than me, and blonde, with a quiet way of speaking that I recognized immediately as similar to my own.  We went to the window at the far end of the room.  Through the glass, there stood the vault of rare books – massive, elegant, leather-bound books.

“You have something by Galileo?” I blurted.

She smiled.  “We have several works by Galileo,” she said.  She kindly retrieved three books from the vault for me and told me I could spend as much time with them as I wanted.  After a few basic instructions on handling the old pages, she disappeared and there I was, enjoying time alone with books that have been around since books became books with the invention of the printing press around 1450 a.d.

The first – and I was lucky to see this one – was Pliny’s Natural History, published in 1472.  They don’t usually get it out for visitors because of its age and rarity.  But luck was with me – the book hadn’t been out for a while, so Cindy decided it was okay.  This well-preserved text is filled with sharp fonts of many languages.  The letters are beautifully illustrated in what hammered gold.  This was such a treat.

 

Galileo’s book came next!  Galileo’s Dialogo – The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632.  This text was in Italian, since Galileo felt getting works to his people was of utmost importance.  It navigates the debate of the times between the geocentric and heliocentric models of our universe.  The famous copperplate title page by Stefano dell Bella was a highlight for me.

Finally, I turned to my last book: Herbarium by Elizabeth Blackwell.  I’d asked Cindy for something that piqued her interest from the collection, and this was it!  The work is an encyclopedia of plants and organisms of a garden in London, some of which had just arrived in Europe from the New World.  Her husband having been thrown into debtors prison, she did what her hand found to do – writing a botanical encyclopedia – and this famous work was the result.  This special 3-volume herbarium contains works from 1754-1773.  Here is a link to a page with a picture of her and more information about her work.  (With the proceeds from her work, she managed to free her husband from prison.  They emigrated to Sweden, but he became involved in a conspiracy against the King, resulting in his beheading.)

The wonderful scripts in the book are one thing… the vivid illustrations are another.  The book is a work of art!

This was such a wonderful day.  I was thrilled to get to visit the library and to spend time with these works!  Kansas City keeps on amazing me with what it has to offer.

~ The Dauntless Princess ~