On April 24, 1800, President John Adams approved the appropriation of $5,000 for the purchase of "such books as may be necessary for the use of congress." The books, purchased for what we know today as the Library of Congress, were ordered from London and arrived in 1801. The collection of 740 volumes and three maps was stored in the U.S. Capitol, which served as the Library's first home. On January 26, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson approved the first legislation that specified the role and functions of the library. In an interesting coincidence, Jefferson later sold the bulk of his book collection to Congress for $23,950 after the British set the Capitol ablaze in 1814. The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It aims to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the public, as well as to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge for future generati...

The word of the day is phalanx. It sounds like something that would be related to sphinxes, pyramids, and other things you'd find in, say, Egypt. I first heard the word used in the movie "Night at the Museum," which came out in 2006. Ben Stiller's character, a nightguard at the Museum of Natural History in New York, mentions that Attila the Hun -- ruler of the Hunnic Empire from 434 until 453, "surrounded himself with a phalanx of sorcerers and magicians." Per Dictionary.com, phalanx could mean the following: (1) any body of troops in close array (2) a number of individuals, especially person's united for a common purpose (3) a compact or closely massed body of persons, animals, or things In other words, it's a unique way of saying: - group -collection -myriad -throng -flock -horde I don't see phalanx being adopted in the corporate world anytime soon, but it's still a funky word nonetheless. Next time someone asks w...

The Library of Congress celebrates its 216th birthday today. On this day in 1800, President John Adams (1735-1826) approved legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress,” thereby establishing the Library of Congress. The first books, ordered from London, arrived in 1801 and were housed 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 during the War of 1812, including the then 3,000-volume Library of Congress. Former president Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), who championed the expansion of the library during his two terms in office, responded by offering to sell his personal library, the largest of its kind in the country, to Congress. The purchase of Jefferson’s volumes -- numbering well over 6,000 -- was approved the following next year.. In 1851, a second major...