Photos from Dibner Library Lecture

I finally have some photos from the Dibner Library Lecture. The lecture took place in a lovely room in the Smithsonian Castle. It used to be the library, and you can see bookshelves lining the walls. These are now used as display cases; each member institution of the Smithsonian gets to put a representative display in one of the cases.

(This was taken about an hour before the lecture began. The hosts had received so many RSVPs for the lecture that they set up about 100 seats, most of which were full by the time I began speaking!)

There were numerous rather large and looming examples of 19th-early 20th century taxidermy arrayed on top of the cases:

And here I am during the talk, probably explaining the finer points of how the members of the Philosophical Breakfast Club brought about the invention of the modern scientist (either that, or describing how much they ate and drank at their breakfasts!).