America's Greatest Library: An Illustrated History of the Library of Congress

by John Y. Cole

Overview

Packed with fascinating facts, compelling images, and little-known nuggets of information, this new go-to illustrated guide to the history of the Library of Congress will appeal to history buffs and general readers alike. It distils over two hundred years of history into an engaging read that makes a Washington icon relevant today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781911282303
Publisher:	D Giles Limited
Publication date:	01/09/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	156 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

John Y. Cole is the Library of Congress Historian, the top technical expert and adviser on the history of the Library of Congress, documenting institutional history and conducting historical research. Cole was the founding director of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, which was created by law in 1977. Cole has served the Library of Congress since 1966 following two years of service as a U.S. Army second lieutenant and chief of the library branch of the U.S. Army Intelligence School. He has been instrumental in shaping numerous literacy and reading-promotion programs during his 50-year tenure at the Library and is the author of several books about the institution.

Table of Contents

Preface by the Librarian of Congress
Foreword/Acknowledgements
General Introduction

Section I: THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY, 1800-1897
Topics Covered:
• The President and the Congressional Library
o A Library for the New National Government
• Thomas Jefferson’s Shadow: Knowledge for All
o The 1815 Purchase of Jefferson’s Private Library
• The Library of Congress in the Capitol
o Recovery after the Fire of 1851
• Ainsworth Rand Spofford Sells the National Library Idea, 1864-1897
o Copyright Deposit Means Everything
o The Stuggle for A Structure, 1871-1897
• Reaffirmation and Reorganization , 1896-1897
o the 1896 Congressional hearings

Possible sidebars :
• The U.S. Capitol as the Library’s first home
• Thomas Jefferson and Monticello
• The Copyright Law of 1870
• Ainsworth Rand Spofford, the unique and instrumental Librarian of Congress
• Senators Voorhees and Morrill, Spofford’s supporters in obtaining authorization for the first LC building
• The design competition for the Library’s first building
• Design and construction photos of the Thomas Jefferson Building
• John Smithmeyer and Paul Pelz: embattled architects of the Library of Congress
• Daniel Murray, African American reference librarian
• the 1896 Congress hearing with the witnesses from the American Library Assn

Section II: FOR CONGRESS AND THE NATION, 1897-1958
Topics Covered:
• The Book Palace of the American People
o The Largest, Costliest, and Safest” Library Building in the World
o The widespread approval of the building as the key to LC’s initial success;
o The building’s ambitious decorative program
• Herbert Putnam Expands the Library’s Legislative and National Functions, 1899-1939
o A National Library Must Serve the Nation’s Libraries, 1901-1907
o Informing the Legislative Debate Through the Legislative Reference Service (1914)
o The Origins of the International Collections, esp. 1906-1932
o Presidential Papers (esp. 1903-1957); Founding Documents (esp. 1921-1952). , and World Treasures, esp. the purchase of the Vollbehr collection and the Gutenberg Bible in 1930.
• Gifts and Bequests Welcome: Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge and the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board, 1925-1938
• The Library of Congress and American Democracy: Archibald MacLeish as Librarian of Congress, 1939-1944.
• Librarian of Congress Luther Evans Looks to the Future
o The 1946 expansion of the Legislative Reference Service
o The Library of Congress Planning Committee (1947)
• Between 1954 and 1958 Librarian L. Quincy Mumford reassures Congress about the validity of the institution’s national role

Possible sidebars:
• Robert M. La Follette and the creation of the Legislative Reference Service
• The emergence of the performance arts through the activities of the Music Division and the Archive of American Folk Song
• The commissioning of Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copeland, first performed in the Coolidge Auditorium on Oct. 31, 1944
• Annex Building’s construction and unique art deco features
• The creation of the Hispanic Division in 1939
• The Library’s first area studies reference unit
• Archibald MacLeish’s appointment and accomplishments as Librarian of Congress
• The 1927 Rockefeller grants to support the copying of American history resources in foreign archives and the new National Union Catalog
• Profile Gertrude Clarke Whittall
• The Radio Research Project (1941)
• The Library in World War II

Section III: FOR CONGRESS, THE NATION, AND THE WORLD, 1958-
Topics covered:
• The Library in the Post-World War II Era
o The first overseas Acquisitions Offices (1958)
o Microfilming programs intensify
o A committee on “mechanical information retrieval is formed (1958)
• In 1962, responding to a memorandum addressing the Library’s future prepared by Harvard librarian Douglas at the request of Sen. Clairborne Pell, Librarian of Congresss L. Quincy Mumford strongly defends the Library’s location in the legislative branch of government. He emphasizes that the Library “performs more national functions and any other national library in the world.”
• Automation and the Development of the MARC Format
o Publication of “Automation in the Library of Congress” in 1964
o Under the leadership of Henriette Avram, between 1966 and the early 1970s, the Library developed MARC, a machine-readable standard that became the national and international standard for creating records that can be used by computers and shared among libraries.
• From Legislative Reference to Congressional Research: the Legislative Reorganiation Act of 1970
• Collection Preservation and Conservation Come to the Fore, 1966-1978
o Library assists the National Library of Florence in the aftermath of the Florence floods of 1966
o Preservation Office established 1967; Conservation Division established in 1971
• Opening of Madison Building in 1980
• Renovation and Restoration of the Jefferson Building, 1986-1994.
• The National Digital Library (1995)
• 2007: the opening in Culpeper, Virginia of the Packard Campus, the four-building cornerstone of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, which was authorized by Congress in 1997.
• The World Digital Library (2009)

Possible sidebars
• Henriette Avram, creator of the MARC Format and Pioneer in American Library Automation
• the Kennedy Assassination and the Library of Congress
• the Madison Council
• John Kluge and the Kluge Center
• the American Folklife Center
• the National Book Festival
• Treasures in the Mountain: the Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation
• The Alan Lomax Collection (2004)
• A Closer Look at the Declaration of Independence
• The World Within Reach: The World Digital Library
• The Library of Congress Literacy Awards


APPENDICES
The Librarians of Congress, 1802-
Gifts and Endowments, A Selective List, 1869-

Index

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/01/2018
Like its subject, this title takes on several roles at once. Handsome, slightly oversize, with high production values and lavish photographs and illustrations, it could be taken for a coffee-table book. But this would do it a disservice, as Library of Congress historian Cole has compiled a thorough overview of the library's history, with an exhaustive time line ranging from President John Adams's 1800 act to appropriate $5,000 "for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress" to the 2016 swearing in of current Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, accompanied by well-written essays. The chronology offers detailed accounting of the institution's construction, collection building, division development, staff, outreach, cataloging and computing innovations, and ever-expanding mission. The essays zero in on subjects and events such as the library's role after John F. Kennedy's assassination (providing emergency historical reference for presidential funerals and keeping its restrooms open all night for mourners), or a portrait of pioneering African American bibliographer Daniel Murray, who became a member of the library staff at 19 in 1871. VERDICT For interested browsers and library buffs but also a solid, detailed, creatively packaged institutional history.—Lisa Peet, Library Journal

Library Journal

"Easily digestible nuggets of information conveyed in timelines of events organized by year plus in-depth mini-stories"—Erica Moody, Washington Life Magazine
“Cole is a deft tour guide, whether explaining the institution’s origins or telling compelling stories.”—Washingtonian
"The book Palace of the American People: John Y. Cole offers a new look at the inspiring and sometimes troubled history of the Library of Congress."—The Washington Post
"Recommended for anyone with an interest in the rich collections and cultural history that constitute the Library of Congress."—Jim Frutchey, Booklist Online

From the Publisher