USApedia

Library of Congress: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Library of Congress (view source)

Revision as of 17:33, 3 February 2025

67 bytes removed ,  3 February
m
Text replacement - "Theodore Roosevelt" to "Theodore Roosevelt"
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
m (Text replacement - "Theodore Roosevelt" to "Theodore Roosevelt")
 
(4 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Organization
|OrganizationName=Library of Congress
|OrganizationType=Independent Agencies
|Mission=To support the Congress in fulfilling its constitutional duties and to further the progress of knowledge and creativity for the benefit of the American people. The Library achieves this by acquiring, preserving, and providing access to a universal collection of knowledge and the record of America's creativity.
|CreationLegislation=Act of April 24, 1800
|Employees=3149
|Budget=$749 million (Fiscal Year 2023)
|OrganizationExecutive=Librarian of Congress
|Services=Collection management; Research services; Copyright registration; Educational outreach
|HeadquartersLocation=38.8885, -77.00281
|HeadquartersAddress=101 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
|Website=https://www.loc.gov/
}}
{{Short description|US Congress research library}}
{{Short description|US Congress research library}}
{{Organization
 
|OrganizationName= Library of Congress
|OrganizationType= Independent Agencies
|Mission= To support the Congress in fulfilling its constitutional duties and to further the progress of knowledge and creativity for the benefit of the American people. The Library achieves this by acquiring, preserving, and providing access to a universal collection of knowledge and the record of America's creativity.
|OrganizationExecutive= Librarian of Congress
|Employees= 3149
|Budget= $749 million (Fiscal Year 2023)
|Website= https://www.loc.gov/
|Services= Collection management; Research services; Copyright registration; Educational outreach
|ParentOrganization=
|CreationLegislation= Act of April 24, 1800
|Regulations=
|HeadquartersLocation= 38.8892594, -77.0031680
|HeadquartersAddress= 101 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
}}
The '''Library of Congress''' ('''LOC''') is a [[research library]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], serving as the [[library]] and research service for the [[United States Congress]] and the ''de facto'' [[national library]] of the [[United States]].<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica: Library of Congress" /> It also administers [[Copyright law of the United States|copyright law]] through the [[United States Copyright Office]].
The '''Library of Congress''' ('''LOC''') is a [[research library]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], serving as the [[library]] and research service for the [[United States Congress]] and the ''de facto'' [[national library]] of the [[United States]].<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica: Library of Congress" /> It also administers [[Copyright law of the United States|copyright law]] through the [[United States Copyright Office]].


Line 53: Line 52:
In 1865, the Smithsonian building, also called the Castle due to its Norman architectural style, was severely damaged by fire. This incident presented Henry with an opportunity related to the Smithsonian's non-scientific library. Around this time, the Library of Congress was planning to build and relocate to the new [[Thomas Jefferson Building]], designed to be fireproof.<ref>{{cite web |last=Library of Congress |title=Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress 1866 |url=https://www.copyright.gov/reports/annual/archive/ar-1866.pdf |website=U.S. Copyright Office |access-date=April 30, 2018 |archive-date=April 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427060600/https://www.copyright.gov/reports/annual/archive/ar-1866.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Authorized by an act of Congress, Henry transferred the Smithsonian's non-scientific library of 40,000 volumes to the Library of Congress in 1866.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gwinn |first=Nancy |title=History |url=https://library.si.edu/about/history |website=Smithsonian Libraries |access-date=April 30, 2018 |archive-date=May 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501004949/https://library.si.edu/about/history |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 1865, the Smithsonian building, also called the Castle due to its Norman architectural style, was severely damaged by fire. This incident presented Henry with an opportunity related to the Smithsonian's non-scientific library. Around this time, the Library of Congress was planning to build and relocate to the new [[Thomas Jefferson Building]], designed to be fireproof.<ref>{{cite web |last=Library of Congress |title=Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress 1866 |url=https://www.copyright.gov/reports/annual/archive/ar-1866.pdf |website=U.S. Copyright Office |access-date=April 30, 2018 |archive-date=April 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427060600/https://www.copyright.gov/reports/annual/archive/ar-1866.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Authorized by an act of Congress, Henry transferred the Smithsonian's non-scientific library of 40,000 volumes to the Library of Congress in 1866.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gwinn |first=Nancy |title=History |url=https://library.si.edu/about/history |website=Smithsonian Libraries |access-date=April 30, 2018 |archive-date=May 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501004949/https://library.si.edu/about/history |url-status=live }}</ref>


President [[Abraham Lincoln]] appointed [[John G. Stephenson]] as librarian of Congress in 1861; the appointment is regarded as the most political to date.<ref name="John G Stephenson">{{cite web |last=Library of Congress |title=John G Stephenson |url=https://www.loc.gov/about/about-the-librarian/previous-librarians-of-congress/john-g-stephenson/ |website=John G Stephenson – Previous Librarians of Congress |access-date=April 30, 2018 |archive-date=April 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421031400/https://www.loc.gov/about/about-the-librarian/previous-librarians-of-congress/john-g-stephenson/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Stephenson was a physician and spent equal time serving as librarian and as a physician in the [[Union Army]]. He could manage this division of interest because he hired [[Ainsworth Rand Spofford]] as his assistant.<ref name="John G Stephenson"/> Despite his new job, Stephenson focused on the war. Three weeks into his term as Librarian of Congress, he left Washington, D.C., to serve as a volunteer [[aide-de-camp]] at the battles of [[Battle of Chancellorsville|Chancellorsville]] and [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="John G Stephenson"/> Stephenson's hiring of Spofford, who directed the library in his absence, may have been his most significant achievement.<ref name="John G Stephenson"/>
President Abraham Lincoln appointed [[John G. Stephenson]] as librarian of Congress in 1861; the appointment is regarded as the most political to date.<ref name="John G Stephenson">{{cite web |last=Library of Congress |title=John G Stephenson |url=https://www.loc.gov/about/about-the-librarian/previous-librarians-of-congress/john-g-stephenson/ |website=John G Stephenson – Previous Librarians of Congress |access-date=April 30, 2018 |archive-date=April 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421031400/https://www.loc.gov/about/about-the-librarian/previous-librarians-of-congress/john-g-stephenson/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Stephenson was a physician and spent equal time serving as librarian and as a physician in the [[Union Army]]. He could manage this division of interest because he hired [[Ainsworth Rand Spofford]] as his assistant.<ref name="John G Stephenson"/> Despite his new job, Stephenson focused on the war. Three weeks into his term as Librarian of Congress, he left Washington, D.C., to serve as a volunteer [[aide-de-camp]] at the battles of [[Battle of Chancellorsville|Chancellorsville]] and [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]] during the American Civil War.<ref name="John G Stephenson"/> Stephenson's hiring of Spofford, who directed the library in his absence, may have been his most significant achievement.<ref name="John G Stephenson"/>


===1865–1897: Spofford's expansion===
===1865–1897: Spofford's expansion===
Line 70: Line 69:
Librarian Young's successor [[Herbert Putnam]] held the office for forty years of the [[20th century]] from 1899 to 1939. Two years after he took office, the library became the first in the United States to hold one million volumes.<ref name="loc history"/> Putnam focused his efforts to make the library more accessible and useful for the public and for other libraries. He instituted the [[interlibrary loan]] service, transforming the Library of Congress into what he referred to as a "library of last resort".<ref name="interlibrary loan">{{cite web |title=Interlibrary Loan (Collections Access, Management and Loan Division, Library of Congress) |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/loan/ |date=October 25, 2007 |publisher=Library of Congress website |access-date=December 4, 2007 |archive-date=November 29, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071129021335/http://www.loc.gov/rr/loan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Putnam also expanded library access to "scientific investigators and duly qualified individuals", and began publishing [[primary sources]] for the benefit of scholars.<ref name="loc history"/>
Librarian Young's successor [[Herbert Putnam]] held the office for forty years of the [[20th century]] from 1899 to 1939. Two years after he took office, the library became the first in the United States to hold one million volumes.<ref name="loc history"/> Putnam focused his efforts to make the library more accessible and useful for the public and for other libraries. He instituted the [[interlibrary loan]] service, transforming the Library of Congress into what he referred to as a "library of last resort".<ref name="interlibrary loan">{{cite web |title=Interlibrary Loan (Collections Access, Management and Loan Division, Library of Congress) |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/loan/ |date=October 25, 2007 |publisher=Library of Congress website |access-date=December 4, 2007 |archive-date=November 29, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071129021335/http://www.loc.gov/rr/loan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Putnam also expanded library access to "scientific investigators and duly qualified individuals", and began publishing [[primary sources]] for the benefit of scholars.<ref name="loc history"/>


During Putnam's tenure, the library broadened the diversity of its acquisitions. In 1903, Putnam persuaded President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] to use an executive order to transfer the papers of the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] from the State Department to the Library of Congress.
During Putnam's tenure, the library broadened the diversity of its acquisitions. In 1903, Putnam persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to use an executive order to transfer the papers of the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] from the State Department to the Library of Congress.


Putnam expanded foreign acquisitions as well, including the 1904 purchase of a 4,000-volume library of Indica, the 1906 purchase of G. V. Yudin's 80,000-volume Russian library, the 1908 Schatz collection of early opera [[libretto]]s, and the early 1930s purchase of the Russian Imperial Collection, consisting of 2,600 volumes from the library of the [[Romanov family]] on a variety of topics. Collections of [[Hebraica]], Chinese, and Japanese works were also acquired. On one occasion, Congress initiated an acquisition: in 1929 Congressman [[Ross Collins]] (D-Mississippi) gained approval for the library to purchase [[Otto Vollbehr]]'s collection of [[incunabula]] for $1.5 million. This collection included one of three remaining perfect [[vellum]] copies of the [[Gutenberg Bible]].<ref name="loc history"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Snapp |first=Elizabeth |title=The Acquisition of the Vollbehr Collection of Incunabula for the Library of Congress |journal=The Journal of Library History |volume=10 |issue=2 |date=April 1975 |pages=152–161 |publisher=University of Texas Press |jstor=25540624}} (restricted access)</ref>
Putnam expanded foreign acquisitions as well, including the 1904 purchase of a 4,000-volume library of Indica, the 1906 purchase of G. V. Yudin's 80,000-volume Russian library, the 1908 Schatz collection of early opera [[libretto]]s, and the early 1930s purchase of the Russian Imperial Collection, consisting of 2,600 volumes from the library of the [[Romanov family]] on a variety of topics. Collections of [[Hebraica]], Chinese, and Japanese works were also acquired. On one occasion, Congress initiated an acquisition: in 1929 Congressman [[Ross Collins]] (D-Mississippi) gained approval for the library to purchase [[Otto Vollbehr]]'s collection of [[incunabula]] for $1.5 million. This collection included one of three remaining perfect [[vellum]] copies of the [[Gutenberg Bible]].<ref name="loc history"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Snapp |first=Elizabeth |title=The Acquisition of the Vollbehr Collection of Incunabula for the Library of Congress |journal=The Journal of Library History |volume=10 |issue=2 |date=April 1975 |pages=152–161 |publisher=University of Texas Press |jstor=25540624}} (restricted access)</ref>
Line 100: Line 99:
*[[John W. Kluge Center|Kluge Center]], started with a grant of $60 million from [[John W. Kluge]] in 2000, brings international scholars and researchers to use library resources and to interact with policymakers and the public. It hosts public lectures and scholarly events, provides endowed Kluge fellowships, and awards the [[Kluge Prize|Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity]] (now worth $1.5 million), the first Nobel-level international prize for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences (subjects not included in the [[Nobel awards]]);<ref>{{Cite web |title=The John W. Kluge Center – Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/ |website=Loc.gov |access-date=September 22, 2015 |archive-date=September 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920064635/http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[John W. Kluge Center|Kluge Center]], started with a grant of $60 million from [[John W. Kluge]] in 2000, brings international scholars and researchers to use library resources and to interact with policymakers and the public. It hosts public lectures and scholarly events, provides endowed Kluge fellowships, and awards the [[Kluge Prize|Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity]] (now worth $1.5 million), the first Nobel-level international prize for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences (subjects not included in the [[Nobel awards]]);<ref>{{Cite web |title=The John W. Kluge Center – Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/ |website=Loc.gov |access-date=September 22, 2015 |archive-date=September 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920064635/http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[Open World Leadership Center]], established in 2000; by 2015 this program administered 23,000 professional exchanges for emerging post-Soviet leaders in Russia, Ukraine, and other successor states of the former [[USSR]]. Open World began as a Library of Congress project, and later was established as an independent agency in the legislative branch.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Founding Chairman {{!}} OpenWorld |url=http://www.openworld.gov/about-us/founding-chairman |website=openworld.gov |access-date=September 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905053401/http://www.openworld.gov/about-us/founding-chairman |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*[[Open World Leadership Center]], established in 2000; by 2015 this program administered 23,000 professional exchanges for emerging post-Soviet leaders in Russia, Ukraine, and other successor states of the former [[USSR]]. Open World began as a Library of Congress project, and later was established as an independent agency in the legislative branch.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Founding Chairman {{!}} OpenWorld |url=http://www.openworld.gov/about-us/founding-chairman |website=openworld.gov |access-date=September 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905053401/http://www.openworld.gov/about-us/founding-chairman |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*[[Veterans History Project]], congressionally mandated in 2000 to collect, preserve, and make accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans from [[World War I]] to the present day;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Veterans History Project (Library of Congress) |url=https://www.loc.gov/vets/ |website=Loc.gov |access-date=September 22, 2015 |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204512/http://www.loc.gov/vets/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[Veterans History Project]], congressionally mandated in 2000 to collect, preserve, and make accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans from World War I to the present day;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Veterans History Project (Library of Congress) |url=https://www.loc.gov/vets/ |website=Loc.gov |access-date=September 22, 2015 |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204512/http://www.loc.gov/vets/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[National Audio-Visual Conservation Center]] opened in 2007 at a 45-acre site in [[Culpeper, Virginia]], established with a gift of more than $150 million by the [[Packard Humanities Institute]], and $82.1 million in additional support from Congress.
*[[National Audio-Visual Conservation Center]] opened in 2007 at a 45-acre site in [[Culpeper, Virginia]], established with a gift of more than $150 million by the [[Packard Humanities Institute]], and $82.1 million in additional support from Congress.


Retrieved from ‘https://openusaproject.com/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/21123...26872’