William Marvel: Megalopolis

Historical research still requires a lot of driving, and I plan most of my trips to avoid holidays and traffic. Holidays are an annoyance because all the libraries I need to visit are closed, forcing me to waste an expensive day on the road without getting any work done. They also tend to create mammoth traffic jams at certain times of day. Most of the repositories I have to visit lie in Megalopolis — that urban nightmare that blights the landscape from the James River to the Merrimack, so even on a normal weekday there’s already more traffic than I want to see.

I thought I came up with a slick plan to maximize research time and minimize traffic congestion during my last trip, which ended with a week in the National Archives and Library of Congress. I’m usually standing at the door of one of those institutions by opening time each day. With its endless collection of private papers and newspapers, the Library of Congress is now my preferred roost as long as it’s open, and on three evenings a week they don’t close the doors until 9 o’clock. A hearty breakfast beforehand and a midafternoon lunch at the cafeteria keep me from having to leave the building, and I seldom start packing my belongings until five minutes before closing time.