Library of Congress
by Suzanne Stout
Title
Library of Congress
Artist
Suzanne Stout
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress, but which is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. John Cole argues that it is now the largest and most international library in the world. He attributes that to its highly influential leaders, especially Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1864–97), Herbert Putnam (1899–1939), Luther H. Evans (1945–53), and James H. Billington (1987–). Cole says they "have affirmed and expanded Thomas Jefferson's concept that the Library of Congress is a national institution that should be universal in scope and widely and freely available to everyone."
The Library of Congress moved to Washington in 1800, after sitting for eleven years in the temporary national capitals of New York and Philadelphia. John J. Beckley, who became the first Librarian of Congress, was paid two dollars per day and was also required to serve as the Clerk to the House of Representatives. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s. Most of the original collection had been destroyed by the British in 1814 during the War of 1812. To restore the collection in 1815, the library bought from former president Thomas Jefferson, 6,487 books, his entire personal collection.
http://www.loc.gov/about/
Uploaded
February 14th, 2015
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