Thursday, April 24, 2014

Happy birthday, Library of Congress!

The Library of Congress was established on April 24, 1800 as part of the transfer of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the District of Columbia.

The collections of the Library of Congress include more than 32 million cataloged books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 61 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America, including the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, a Gutenberg Bible (one of only three perfect vellum copies known to exist); over a million US government publications; one million issues of world newspapers spanning the past three centuries; 33,000 bound newspaper volumes; 500,000 microfilm reels; over 6,000 titles in all, totaling more than 120,000 issues comic book titles; films; 5.3 million maps; 6 million works of sheet music; 3 million sound recordings; more than 14.7 million prints and photographic images including fine and popular art pieces and architectural drawings; the Betts Stradivarius; and the Cassavetti Stradivarius.

It is not the oldest library in the country, nor even the oldest one supported by taxes. But it is an amazing institution. When I was a student in Washington, I visited there several times. Since it was established originally as a resource for the members of Congress, one can only hope that they continue to make use of it while pondering matters of national and international import.

I have to admit, when I hear the members speak, I sometimes wonder ...

1 comment:

Moving with Mitchell said...

I'm sure our members of Congress visit the library some times. They host parties there.