Check it out…
Public libraries are repositories of books, of course; and of late, a source of e-book, CD, and DVD loans. But lest we think that that our options are limited to intellectual property, we can also take out fishing poles, puppets, state park passes, even seeds for our gardens… Check out a representative list of items on offer at “Weird Public Library Stuff.”
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As we renew our cards, we might spare a thought for Francis Lieber. A jurist, gymnast and political philosopher, he edited an Encyclopaedia Americana and authored the “Lieber Code” during the American Civil War (AKA the Code for the Government of Armies in the Field (1863), which laid the foundation for conventions governing the conduct of troops during wartime).
Lieber, who believed that training the body was as important as training the mind, fell in with Charles Follen, who opened the first gymnasium in the U.S. in 1826. Then, on this date the following year, Leiber followed suit, opening the first public pool and swimming school in the U.S. It was such a phenomenon that then President John Quincy Adams visited and took a dip.
