On April 24, 2025, the Library of Congress turns 225. It was on April 24, 1800, that John Adams signed into law legislation providing for the establishment of a Library to be shared by both houses of Congress.
At the time, the legislature of the new United States was meeting in borrowed quarters and using a borrowed library in Philadelphia. As part of Congress' move to the new capital city of Washington, space in the new Capitol building was assigned to the new library, and an order for 162 titles was placed with a prominent London bookseller and publisher, Cadell & Davies.
In the days before steamships and airmail, such an order would have been a big undertaking. Cadell & Davies filled most of the order, carefully packed the 728 books and 3 maps in eleven seaworthy hair trunks and three map cases, and sent the shipment to America on a two-masted sailing ship called a brig. While fast for its time, the journey probably took 6-8 weeks, arriving in a Baltimore warehouse February 25, 1801. From there, a Baltimore merchant was tasked with getting the shipment on another boat going up the Potomac to Georgetown, and from there probably by stagecoach to the new district called Columbia. Various agents along the way had paid drayage, porterage, warehouse storage, and customs fees, all of which were reimbursed over the following five years by Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a candidate when the books were ordered, was President by the time the books were conveyed to Congress in May 1801, at which time the Secretary of the Senate reported to him that the books had arrived, safe and dry. The books were arranged on shelves in a central room of the Capitol and the hair trunks which had kept them safe were sold to recoup some of the cost.
The U.S. House and Senate were designed to function differently from one another, sometimes even against each other, so the collaboration required by having a shared library was new, and took some adjustment. To operate it, a joint committee was formed. The Joint Committee of Congress on the Library is the oldest continuing joint committee of the U.S. Congress (1802). It oversaw the one Librarian, then as now appointed by the President. The committee took this responsibility seriously and obliged the Librarian to post bond "for the safe keeping of such books, maps and furniture as may be confided to his care, and the faithful discharge of his trust". By the time the requirement of a bond was abolished, along with other bonds required of Federal officers (1972), the amount had risen to $30,000, equivalent to $228,000 today. The two houses of Congress also shared the salary of the Librarian "a sum not exceeding two dollars per diem, for every day of necessary attendance" (about $40 today).
The Library of Congress was not a public library. Circulation of materials was limited to members of Congress, the President and the Vice President. In addition to oversight of the operations of the Library of Congress, the Joint Committee today manages the National Statuary Hall Collection, the U.S. Botanic Garden, and works of fine art in the Capitol. The chairmanship of the Joint Committee, then as now, alternated between the House and Senate with each Congress.
The new collection needed a catalog. The first "catalog" was a simple eight-page brochure, , opens a new windownothing but Cadell & Davies' invoice, complete with the 1800 prices. Prices were included because the library required its Congressional borrowers to pay back double a book's cost if an item were not returned. The collection contained well known volumes - all in translation if not originally in English - on history, philosophy, travel, and law, and reflected what educated and propertied men of the time thought would be needed by lawmakers in a new country already thrust into world affairs.
In spite of the care taken to gather, transport, and manage this early collection, over half the library’s books were lost when the British burned the Capitol in 1814. It would not be the only fire in the library's history. In 1815 many, but not all, of the lost original volumes were replaced when Congress agreed to buy 6,487 volumes which had constituted the private library of now-former President Thomas Jefferson. One major difference with the Jefferson collection was that his books were not all in English translation, as the London collection was. Another major difference was the sheer scope of topics. This acquisition changed the library forever, though two thirds of this collection, too, would succumb to the most serious fire in the Library's history, in 1851.
Librarians of Congress
Ainsworth Rand Spofford, appointed by Abraham Lincoln, built the Library into a national institution. A journalist and abolitionist, Spofford pushed for the Copyright Law of 1870, signed into law by Ulysses S. Grant, which required all copyright applicants to send to the Library two copies of their work. Each Librarian of Congress since Spofford has shaped the institution in a different manner, but all of them have continued Spofford's philosophy of the Library as both a legislative and a national library. Spofford obtained other large collections, but making the Library into a depository for copyrighted books alone resulted in an incoming deluge of books, pamphlets, maps, music, prints, and photographs which he then used to argue for construction of a separate new building. In 1897 the collection moved to a beautiful Beaux Arts building across from the Capitol. The Library continued to grow. The Annex, today known as the John Adams Building, opened in 1939, and a third structure, the James Madison Memorial Building, opened in 1980.
John Russell Young, appointed by William McKinley, was also a journalist and statesman with strong anti-slavery views. He used his diplomatic connections to expand the international holdings of the library, and created what became the library service for the blind and physically handicapped, today called the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, opens a new window. Because of Young's efforts, Congress in 1913 directed the American Printing House for the Blind to begin depositing embossed (braille) books in the Library, and in 1931 a separate appropriation was authorized for providing "books for the use of adult blind residents of the United States."
Herbert Putnam, appointed by William McKinley, was the first professional librarian to hold the post. Under Putnam, the Library of Congress Classification scheme was created, the Presidential Papers collection was acquired and expanded, and the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were given to the library from the State Department. In 1924 these key documents went on permanent public display in a specially-designed "Shrine" in the Library's Great Hall, cementing the Library of Congress as a symbol of democracy.
Pulitzer Prize winner Archibald MacLeish was appointed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939. MacLeish served as Librarian of Congress until the end of 1944, when he became assistant secretary of state. An advocate of U.S. involvement in World War II, MacLeish urged all librarians to "become active and not passive agents of the democratic process." In 1941, the Library set aside a "democracy alcove" containing books and writings about American democracy in the Main Reading Room.
Atlanta native Daniel J. Boorstin, a historian with an unusual political background, was appointed by Gerald Ford. Among other initiatives, he guided the library through the establishment of the American Folklife Center. Its products are among the most fascinating and diverse of the Library's holdings. One is the popular Veterans History Project, which records personal narratives in veterans' own voices thus, in a way, has saved tens of thousands of lives. You can read American Folklife Center blog postings online, opens a new window.
The current Librarian of Congress is Carla Hayden, appointed by Barack Obama. She is the first woman and the first African American to hold the post. With a strong background in public library service, she has expanded the digital collections that make the holdings of the Library of Congress accessible worldwide.
The Library has book collections, as well as manuscripts, music scores, photographs, recordings, maps, films, artwork, diaries, globes, even the contents of President Lincoln's pockets, opens a new window when he was assassinated in 1865. If you are interested in keeping up with new purchases and exhibits, you can read the Library of Congress publication Library of Congress Magazine, opens a new window online. It is a beautifully illustrated bimonthly showcasing events and special exhibits, and contains articles profiling new digital exhibits and exciting, little-known corners of the collection.
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