#31 And Counting. . .(11/27/24)

Bob and I had a great anniversary yesterday on the last relatively warm winter day we might have for awhile. We had a lazy morning in the room and then headed out about midday to check out the library, a park, a tower atop a hill in honor of a local celebrity, and then do a tour of the American Antiquarian Society that we had read about in a paper in Canada. As an additional bonus, we saw a couple other museums and landmarks related to the first two US presidents.

The Worcester Public Library, about a block from the hotel

Our walking path took us by the Worcester Historical Museum

A stroll through Elm Park dedicated to a local doctor

Bancroft Tower, built in 1900, to honor George Bancroft,
who was born at the foot of the hill
upon which the tower was built.
He served as Secretary of the Navy
and founded the US Naval Academy.

The view towards Worcester from the tower

The American Antiquarian Society collects and preserves all materials (graphic art, newspapers, pamphlets, books, etc) printed in the US prior to 1900. In 1876, the US government passed the Copyright Act mandating that two copies of all printed materials be maintained by the Library of Congress, so the AAS focuses primarily on preserving and storing materials prior to that. They have 25 miles of shelving and over 4 million items. They provide tours for the public every Wednesday at 3:00 pm, so we had timed our walkabout to take advantage of this opportunity.