The Library of Congress was established by an act of
Congress in 1800 when President John Adams signed a bill providing for the transfer
of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the new capital city of
Washington. The legislation described a reference library for Congress only,
containing "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress - and
for putting up a suitable apartment for containing them therein…"
Established with
$5,000 appropriated by the legislation, the original library was housed in the
new Capitol until August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the
Capitol Building, burning and pillaging the contents of the small library.
Within a month,
retired President Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library as a
replacement. Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating books, "putting by
everything which related to America, and indeed whatever was rare and valuable
in every science"; his library was considered to be one of the finest in
the United States. In offering his collection to Congress, Jefferson
anticipated controversy over the nature of his collection, which included books
in foreign languages and volumes of philosophy, science, literature, and other
topics not normally viewed as part of a legislative library. He wrote, "I
do not know that it contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to
exclude from their collection; there is, in fact, no subject to which a Member
of Congress may not have occasion to refer."
In January 1815,
Congress accepted Jefferson's offer, appropriating $23,950 for his 6,487 books,
and the foundation was laid for a great national library. The Jeffersonian
concept of universality, the belief that all subjects are important to the
library of the American legislature, is the philosophy and rationale behind the
comprehensive collecting policies of today's Library of Congress.
Ainsworth Rand
Spofford, Librarian of Congress from 1864 to 1897, applied Jefferson's
philosophy on a grand scale and built the Library into a national institution.
Spofford was responsible for the copyright law of 1870, which required all
copyright applicants to send to the Library two copies of their work. This
resulted in a flood of books, pamphlets, maps, music, prints, and photographs.
Facing a shortage of shelf space at the Capitol, Spofford convinced Congress of
the need for a new building, and in 1873 Congress authorized a competition to
design plans for the new Library.
In 1886, after
many proposals and much controversy, Congress authorized construction of a new
Library building in the style of the Italian Renaissance in accordance with a
design prepared by Washington architects John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J. Pelz.
The Congressional
authorization was successful because of the hard work of two key Senators:
Daniel W. Voorhees (Indiana), who served as chairman of the Joint Committee
from 1879 to 1881, and Justin S. Morrill (Vermont), chairman of Senate
Committee on Buildings and Grounds.
In 1888, General
Thomas Lincoln Casey, chief of the Army Corps of Engineers, was placed in
charge of construction. His chief assistant was Bernard R. Green, who was
intimately involved with the building until his death in 1914. Beginning in
1892, a new architect, Edward Pearce Casey, the son of General Casey, began to
supervise the interior work, including sculptural and painted decoration by
more than 50 American artists.
When the Library
of Congress building opened its doors to the public on November 1, 1897, it was
hailed as a glorious national monument and "the largest, the costliest,
and the safest" library building in the world.
Collections
Today's Library
of Congress is an unparalleled world resource. The collection of more than 155 million
items includes more than 35 million cataloged books and other print materials
in 460 languages; more than 68 million manuscripts; the largest rare book
collection in North America; and the world's largest collection of legal
materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings.
Joint
Committee on the Library
The Joint
Committee on the Library (the oldest continuing Joint Committee of the U.S.
Congress) was created on April 24, 1800, when President John Adams signed the
bill establishing the federal government in Washington and creating the Library
of Congress. The act appropriated $5,000 for "the purchase of such books
as may be necessary for the use of Congress" after it moved to the new
capital city of Washington. The Library's appropriation for fiscal year 1811
officially made the Joint Committee on the Library a standing committee. From
the 95th Congress forward, the Joint Committee on the Library has been composed
of the chairman (or designee) and four members each from the Senate Committee on
Rules and Administration and the Committee on House Administration. The
chairmanship and vice chairmanship alternate between the House and Senate every
Congress.
The
Librarian of Congress
James Hadley
Billington was nominated in April 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and was
confirmed by the Senate to be the 13th Librarian of Congress. He took the oath
of office in the Library's Great Hall on September 14, 1987.
This can be found at http://www.loc.gov/about/history.html
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