Library of Congress: Difference between revisions

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"/>