I needed a vacation. Badly. Like, I love my job and coworkers, but if I didn’t get a break, there was going to be a riot. So, my husband recommended we go somewhere. I wanted to go to the Dr. Samual D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry at the University of Maryland, because really, who wouldn’t. In discussions with the curator, however, we realized that he did not have the type of materials I needed for my research. So, while looking for other areas of interest, I thought, I wonder if I can use the Library of Congress. And the rest is glorious history.
The Library of Congress – SQUEEE!
You have to submit a request to use the Library of Congress as a researcher. So, a week before our trip, I submitted my request. The Main Library’s Research Librarian asked me some questions and then, after APPROVING my request, recommended I talk to the Research Librarians at the John Adams Building. I did. They were helpful, and so, for 2 glorious afternoons, I was ensconced in the greatest library in the world.
What I Found
I requested 20 books. 5 of them were in the Rare Books Section, so I wasn’t able to get them – this time. 3 of them could not be located on the shelves, but that gave me 12 books I didn’t have access to before and I was OK with that. I will say that 75% of the material I reviewed supported the information I already gathered, but I will take confirmation. I am working on writing a post about the new material I’ve found and will be re-writing my research paper.
A Preview
Some of the books I had the pleasure of reviewing are listed below. Again, there will be content-specific posts coming when I’ve had time to catch my breath. Work has been crazy for the past few weeks.
- Dentistry in Ancient India by K.M. Choksey
- The Smile Stealers: the fine + foul art of dentistry by Richard Barnett
- The Natural History of Teeth by John Hunter
- The Collected Works of Ambroise Pare
- Dental Chronology: A record of the More Important Historic Events in the Evolution of Dentistry by Hermann Prinz
- A million years in a day: a curious history of everyday life from the Stone Age to the phone age by Greg Jenner (OMG this book was amazing and I need to get a copy!)
Can we talk about Greg Jenner for a minute?
Seriously, who is this person and how can we become friends? The book, like the title states, takes us through a million years of history broken out by minutes in a day. Fun fact: oral hygiene is discussed at nearly midnight. He is witty and funny and has a bibliography for each area of history he discusses. Check him out: https://www.gregjenner.com/