Libraries, Boston, Alexandre Vattemare, and me. June 30, 2007
One
of my favorite places in Boston is one of it’s best kept secrets. It’s not
obvious how to get there, or that it even exists, but secreted within the bowels
of the
Boston
Public Library is a beautiful courtyard. It’s a wonderful, quiet, relaxing
place to spend an afternoon reading. There’s even a little coffee shop just
before one of it’s entrances.
This afternoon I went on an excursion. In
my
quest to expand my mathematical knowledge I bit off a bit more than I was
ready to chew with
The
Nature of Mathematical Modeling. It came highly recommended and would be
great knowledge for my new job, if only I had the mathematical vocabulary
required to read it. So, a few steps back, maybe
a
refresher course in linear algebra. But, alas, I had to return it having
barely started in on it, and that’s what brought me to the library, where I was
given a wonderful reminder of the power of unexpected individuals.
You see, once upon a time there was a french man named Alexandre Vattemare with
a talent for voices. Some have called him the world’s greatest ventriloquist,
but that is only what made him famous, not what made him great. Alexandre’s
talents enabled him to travel the world, meet emperors and the crowned heads of
Europe, and that enabled him to make connections. Alexandre used those
connections to create a system of international exchanges between libraries
which later expanded to include art, maps, and specimens of natural history. It
was because of him that a young United States came to acquire 300,000 volumes
for it’s libraries, and because of him that the Boston Public Library came to
be.
I have long believed that the public library is one of the greatest things about
the United States. It’s not that we have them, it’s that they are supported by
law, that they are open to anyone without regard to money, status, or even
citizenship. They aren’t owned, and thus controlled, by private individuals. The
people of every state have collectively decided to build and support an
institution where everyone can go to better themselves even if they don’t have a
penny to their name.
I don’t think many of us have any idea just how amazing this is. I don’t think
many people have given it much thought, or realize that this is something that
simply doesn’t exist for many people around the world. What an incredible
privilege it is to have a place you can go to learn the skills you need to do
practically anything… It’s a place where you can go and learn that no matter
how quirky your skill or personality, you have the power to change the world,
because there are hundreds of volumes on people like Alexandre Vattemare whose
penchant for making cadavers “speak” got him expelled from medical school and,
ultimately, gave me my favorite place in Boston.
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