Good morning, Whitewater.
Sunday in town will be partly cloudy and warm, with a high of seventy-six. Sunrise is 5:56 AM and sunset is 7:48 PM, for 13h 51m 50s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 95.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
Friday’s FW poll asked if a snake that feel from an elementary school ceiling in Mississippi was an unwanted pest or an opportunity for observation. A majority of respondents (65.22%) felt that it should be considered an unwanted pest.
On this day in 1800, a Library of Congress is authorized:
…legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress,” thus establishing the Library of Congress. The first books, ordered from London, arrived in 1801 and were stored in the U.S. Capitol, the library’s first home. The first library catalog, dated April 1802, listed 964 volumes and nine maps. Twelve years later, the British army invaded the city of Washington and burned the Capitol, including the then 3,000-volume Library of Congress.
Former president Thomas Jefferson, who advocated the expansion of the library during his two terms in office, responded to the loss by selling his personal library, the largest and finest in the country, to Congress to “recommence” the library. The purchase of Jefferson’s 6,487 volumes was approved in the next year, and a professional librarian, George Watterston, was hired to replace the House clerks in the administration of the library. In 1851, a second major fire at the library destroyed about two-thirds of its 55,000 volumes, including two-thirds of the Thomas Jefferson library. Congress responded quickly and generously to the disaster, and within a few years a majority of the lost books were replaced.
After the Civil War, the collection was greatly expanded, and by the 20th century the Library of Congress had become the de facto national library of the United States and one of the largest in the world. Today, the collection, housed in three enormous buildings in Washington, contains more than 17 million books, as well as millions of maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints, and drawings.
On this day in 1977, Whitewater loses an establishment:
1977 – Morris Pratt Institute of Spiritualism Moves to Waukesha
On this date the Morris Pratt Institute, dedicated to the study of Spiritualism and Mediumship, moved from Whitewater to Waukesha. Founded in 1888 and incorporated in 1901, it was one of the few institutes in the world that instructed spiritualists. These were people “who believe as the basis of his or her religion, in the communication between this and the Spirit World by means of mediumship and who endeavors to mould his or her character and conduct in accordance with the highest teachings derived from such communication.” [Source: Morris Pratt Institute]