-DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 070 465 LI 004 017 AUTHOR Cole, John Y. TITLE LC in the 19th Century; An Informal Account. INSTITUTION Professional Association, Washington, D. C. PUB DATE 72 NOTE 15p.;(0 References) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS Chronicles; *Government Libraries; History; National Libraries IDENTIFIERS *Library of Congress ABSTRACT A brief historical account of the Library of Congzess from its establishment in 1800 up to the development of a new classification scheme in the early 1900's is presented. A chronology of major events from 1800 to 1907 is included..(SJ)

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te.5..0 . U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION 8 WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS SEEN REPRO- DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG- INATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN- IONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY f.EPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU- CATION POSITION OR POLICY.

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- LC in the 19th Century: AnInformal Account has beenFaTiEedin an ediaR7157-1-200 copies by the Library of Congress Professi.....0a1 Associa- tion (1972). These essays first appeared,in substantially the same form, in the LCPA News- JEFFERSON TAKE-OFF letter during 1970 and 1971.This is not an official Library ofCongress publication. The views expressed are solelythose of the author. Many American traditions andinstitutions Mr. Cole is on the staffof the Assistant Direc- are traced to ; in thecase of tor for Library Resources inthe Reference LC, it really happened. Department. As Vice-President Jefferson took an active partin the Library's establishment in 1800.He maintained this close interest during his Presidency,even personally preparing a catalog ofdesiderata in 1802. That list formed the basis forthe fledgling Library's early acquisitions. LC's first catalog was issued in thesame year; ten .pages in length, it lists 964volumes (classi- fied by size) and nine maps. To care for the tiny legislative library, housedin the Capitol building, President Jeffersonappointed his personal friend and "campaignmanager," John Beckley of Virginia.A skilled behind-the- scenes political strategist, Beckley hadbeen instrumental in Jefferson's election,and the Library appointment wasa political plum. The first received$2 a day for his duties and also servedas the-first Clerk of the House of Representatives,

. Beckley was well aware of his friend's keen interest in the Library, andhe joined the President in aggressively solicitingbooks for its collection: But the Librarian had many CONTENTS enemies, mostly Federalists, andparticularly Alexander Hamilton and George Washington,whom Jefferson Take -Off . . 2; George the Third. .he contemptuously called "old Ebb Tide .3; W".and had tried .. 4; Bordering on Greatness to get impeached. . Another opponent proved to be Struggle for a Structure S; I . . 7; Struggle for- the only other LC,staff"member," Josias a Structure II Wilson . . 8; A New and Monumentallle- King, the,House of. Representativesengrossing ginning . . 10; Bacon Slicing clerk. . . 12; LC and In 1806 Mr'. King fileda formal com- its Collections,a Chronology 1800-1907 . : 14. plaint with-Congress about Mr.Beckley's behavior. .King claimed,thatBeckley had agreed to pay h001A day for arranging and labeling :the books,,but that Beckley hadnever paid him the agreed-upon sum;.in the meantime,he had doing all: the Librarian's work. LC's first-personnil:Aispute reaulted'in thefirst Congressional investigation of Libraryaffairs. The employee lost.

Librarian Beckley was in poor health and, in 1807. he died in office, ., a lawyer and former Congreiiman fromMaryland, asked for and obtained the combined post'of Librarian and Clerk of the House. t. He quickly EMI established new and severe rules for the loan of books to Congressmen: folios could only be kept three week: and the overdue fine was a stiff $3 a day, quartos two weeks and $2, and octavos one week and $1 a day.

In the the British burned the unfinished Capitol building, -including the 3,000 volumes in the Library. Contrary to legend and a good story, LC's books did not serve as capital landling. Nonetheless, as related in a contemporary account, the British commander expressed polite regret at the burning of the books: "I lament most-sincerely I was not apprized of the circumstance, for had I known it in time, the books would most certainly GEORGE THE THIRD have been saved. . . I make war neither against Letters or Ladies." In 1814, after the destruction by the For failing to protect the Library during British of the Capitol and its tiny Congressional -the fire, in 1815, Librarian Magruder was fired. Library, Congress engaged in a lively debate He claimed he was a scapegoat and that Congress about the proposed purchase of ex-President seemed all too willing "to sacrifice not only Jefferson's personal library..Opponents of the my family but my reputation;" perhaps his high acquisition, including Daniel Webster, were Library fines and restrictive loan policies .Federalists who objected to: 1) Thomas Jefferson, were the true causes of Congressional resentment. 2) the large number of foreign-language Literary and philosophical works in'the library, including volumes by Voltaire, Rousseau, and other French The burning of the Library in 1814 was a Revolutionaries, and 3) the cost of the library. critical step in LC's development and, one must The vote was a squeaker: by a margin of 81 to is admit in retrospect, a most effective use of the 71 Jefferson's library of 6,487 volumes was I books: the Library became a modest cause purchased for $23,950. The Library of Congress celebre. The blaze sparked new Congressional had been re-established with vengeance; the interest in the Library and a suggestion from size of the old Library was more than doubled ex-President Jefferson, retired to Monticello and Jefferson's subversive literary and and almost bankrupt, that Congress might be philosophical works helped to expand the scope' interested in purchasing his personal library of the Library into a "most admirable substratum to replace the burned volumes. for a National 4ibrary."Jefferson used the money from the sale to pay off his creditors.

George Watterston, a local writer and poet, was appointed as the third Librarian of Congress by President Madison in 1815, and served as the first Librarian who was not also the Clerk

of the House of Representatives. A few years . earlier, Watterston,had dedicated a poem to Dolly Madison, the President's wife, as follows: "Madam, I have presumed to address this political effusion to you, from the reputation you have acquired of'being desirous to promote the cause of general literature." Local gossips.whisperei that the dedication was responsible for Watterston's appointment, but it ,is more likely that he gained the position because of his reputation as.Washington's leading (albeit only) man-of-letters. How could the author. of The Lawyer, or, Man as He Ought Not .Be, A Tale (1808) or The ChildUFeelin , A Comedy in 5 Acts (1809) biraiiiIt e job?

While the Capitol was being restored, the MOISIL MAIM /,M111111K YR 1110111111TNWILDA Library was housed (and Congress met) in Blodget's Hotel, at 7th and E Sts., N. W. It was from Blodget's that Jefferson's catalogue 4 of his library was issued; ambitiously,it was titled Catalogue ofthe Library of the States (1815). United Jefferson's classification with a few modifications, was to be followed by LC until the end of thecentury. Perhaps inspired bythe catalogue title, Senator Fromentin of in 1817 Louisiana introduceda resolution calling fora separate Library to be built on Delaware building Capitol. Avenue, north of the But the Librarywas not able to shift into its own building for another 80years; in the meantime, it was movedback into the Capitol.

The Library underGeorge Watterston a modest literary became center, where the bookish other members of and Washington society rendez- voused. If Watterstonwas truly a "supercilious dilettante," assome charged, he also productive: was during his 14years as Librarian he published 6 more books. And the Library made progress, as in 1824 when En TIDE . it received thefirst in a long succession of$5,000 annual 4-5..A.for the appropriations purchase of books. A small but fright- ening set-back wasa fire in the Library President AndrewJackson, anxiousto on Gedrge Watterston, replace December 22, 1825,but a bucket brigade the arrogant Whig which Librarian of Congress, who was inclAed Congressmen"who vied with first offered the one another Charles P. Tutt; Mr. job to in their exertionsto save the Library" Tutt turned it extin- preferring an appointment down, however, guished the flameswithin an hour. as U.S. Navy agent at a local newspaper, A verse in Pensacola. perhaps penned by the Jackson's second choicewas John Silva himself, moralized: Librarian Meehan, a local printer, newspaperman,and loyal Democrat, who becameLibrarian in 1829. "The Congress Library Mr. Meehan wasto hold the librarianship has been on fire, 32 years. for But very little damageis sustained; By error only, prudencewe acquire, During most of his 'Tis well experienceis so cheaply administration, gained." Librarian Meehan hadto content with the journalistic snipingsof ex-Librarian Watterston, but Meehan Librarian Watterston remained calm, efficient, was removed from . office in May 1829, and dull.The Law Library not for his poetry butfor was established in his politics. 1832, but LC grewslowly. A ferrent Whig anddiehard In 1836 Congress hadan supporter of Henry Clay, opportunity to buy thefamous Buturlin Watterston never should a 25,000 volume library collection, have expected to remainin office during the of Italian and Latin Democracy of newly- elected classics which' containedhundreds of 15th President Andrew century works, but the Jackson, but he did. When Jackson replaced motion to buy the him collection was permanently by appointing JohnSilva Meehan as tabled by Librarian, Henry Clay, and the ex-Librarian Watterstonindignantly stomped collection was lost;The of the Library taking out 'close personal the Library record friendship and politicalalliance with him. books between Clay and Until his dying. day,he fought to be ex-Librarian Watterston,who reinstated as Librarian. wanted his old jobback, did not the press. go unnoticed in The Buturlin collectionwould have While he waited, been a major addition, George supported himself for in 1836 LCcontained as a journalist, author, a mer 24,000 volumes, and one of the first including about 4,000 in Fren h, 268 in local "boosters" of thecity of Washington; Italian, 29 in Chinese, only 12 in German. and among other activities, hewas a founder and a pillar of the Society and the author of two gushy In 1840,,, Alexandre guidebooks to the city. Vattemare, the famous During the 1840's French ventriloquist two newly-elected Whig and mimic, createda Presi-' reverberation in Congress dents failed to recognizethe wisdom of Wetter- with his plan for the ston's reappointment international exchange as Librarian. In 1850 he be- of documents. Vattemare's came disgruntled and ',Awned concept was retained' Democrat. As final in the exchange systemlater revenge, he let his children established by theSmithsonian Institution in the Library's practice penmanship the Library of Congress, and record books, whichwere not re- but his own planwas turned to LC until after rejected by knowledgeable 's officials who regarded death in 1854. . him merely as anoffensive pest who could his voice. throw S. 5

In 1848 the British Museum had the uerld's President Lincoln replaced Librarian Meehan. largest collection of books relating to in 1861 with Dr. John G. Stephenson, an Indiana America, and by mid-century the library of the physician who preferred to spend more time on newly-established Smithsonian Institution was the battlefields than in the Library. Librarian more important than the Library of Congress Stepheason's interest in the Union cause was more as a library and as a center of bibliographic than patriotic; he was involved in financial spec- activity. Charles Coffin Jewett, the ulations which included the Library's accounts, Smithsonian librarian, had grand plans to make and a Congressional resolution in 1873 finally re- the Smithsonian the national library. He was stored to the Library's London book agent the making fine progress until Joseph Henry, the $1,480 of which he had been "unjustly defrauded" Smithsonian's first Secretary, altered Jewett's by Stephenson during the war. But Dr. Stephenson plans by firing him. hod "retired" from the Library in 1864, and as the Civil War came to a close, so did the lean years In 1851 Librarian Meehan endured his of the Library of Congress. library fire, as had Librarian: Magruder and Watterston before him. Unfortunately, it was a serious one, destroying 35,000 of the 55,000 volumes in LC, including about 2/3 of Jefferson's library. Congress acquitted the p Librarian of any blame, however, and made generous appropriations for new Library quarters ititit and for replenishing the book collection. On August 23, 1853, the new fireproof Library room, constructed of iron and stone and boasting elaborate iron grillwork throughout, was opened to the public. The press reported that Librarian Meehan greeted visitors with his "well-known BORDERING ON GREATNESS cordiality and bonhomie."Sir Charles Lyell, the famous British scientist, visited the room with President Pierce (Franklin S.) and pronounced it "the most beautiful room in the world." Ainsworth Spofford, the energetic Librarian of Congress from 1864 to 1897, had no time to Until the Civil War years, the selection of waste with bores and knew how to get rid of them. books for the Library was performed by the He wrote: "The bore is commonly one who, having Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library and little or nothing to do, inflicts himself upon it was a cautious selection by cautious gentlemen. the busy persons of his acquaintance, and In the 1850's, as the sectional schism between especially upon the ones whom he credits with north and south deepened, Library Committee knowing the most--the librarians.Receive him chairman Senator James A. Pearce tried to calm courteously, but keep on steadily at the work Congress and the nation by carefully excluding you are doing when he enters. If you are skill- from the Library all books which might inflame ful, you can easily do two things at once, for sectional feelings. For this reason, Senator example, answer your idler friend or your bore, Pearce reportedly refused to allow LC to place and revise title-cards, or mark a catalogue, a subscription to the newly-established Atlantic or collate a book, or look up a quotation, or Monthly in 1857. write a letter, at the same time.Never lose your good humor, never say that your time is valuable, or that you are very busy; never hint at his going away; but never quit your work, answer questions cheerfully, and keep on, allowing nothing to take your eyes off your business. By and by he will take the hint, if not wholly pachydermatous, and go away of his own accord. By pursuing this course I have saved infite time, and got rid of infinite bores, by one and the same process."

Spofford came to Washington from Cincinnati where he had been a bookseller, abolitionist, /pamphleteer, and newspaper editor. He accepted the job 6f Assistant Librarian in 1861, and 'President appointed him Librarian on December 31, 1864.The ambitious Spofford never viewed. LC as anything but the national library, and immediately set to work making the Library fit his vision. In 1865 the Library's rooms in the Capitol LC's first spice race had were expanded, and in 1866 the 40,000 begun in 1871, volume when the Librarian first Smithsonian deposit came toLC; in 1867 LC's pointed out the need for a separate Library building. As the flow of system of international exchangeswas established and the famous Peter Force copyright deposits into thecramped rooms in the collection of Americana Capitol continued, so did was purchased, with a little help from Spofford's pleas for Spofford's space. Funds to construct a Cincinnati. friends; in 1870 new building were Spofford's behind- finally appropriated in 1886 the-scenes advocacy bro':ght, through and the magnificent the Copy- structure, "the lvgesti costliest, right Law of 1870, two copiesof all copyrighted and safest" works to the Library. library building it. the world,was occupied in In five years, LC's col- 1897--26 years after Spofford first lection had become "national" inscope and the proposed it. largest in the U.S.

Congressmen, authors, and otherprominent figures frequently reliedon Spofford for reference help, and many anecdoteswere told about his remarkablememory. The best-known story was told by General LewWallace, who asked Spofford's help in locatingbackground material for his novel Ben Hur.Finding nothing suitable in LC, Spofforddirected Wallace to a volume in the HarvardLibrary, citing the correct room, shelf number,and location ("sixth from the southend.") Spofford's memory was put to another test in the1896 hearings held by the LibraryCommittee on the "condition" of LC just priorto the move into the new building. His testimony fills 103 printed pages and touches on virtuallyevery aspect of the Library's history andoperations. One of the other librarians testifyingabout the role of the national library was Between 1864 and 1897 the bookcollection grew from the Boston Public Library,a future from 80,000 to over 800,000volumes and the staff Librarian of Congress. in the Capitol rooms from 7to 42 employees. When the new building opened in 1897,the weary 72-year-old Mr. Spofford stepped downas Librarian, with help from President McKinley;LC needed a full-time administrator, notan old-fashioned bibliographer and bookman. But Spofford's work was done: while getting rid of bores, he provided the collections and the buildingfor a national library.

Spofford's prodigious bibliographicmemory was rivaled only by,his absentmindednessand innocence in business matters. In 1895 Treasury Department auditors were shockedat his virtually non-existent bookkeeping habits,and they reported a 530,000 shortage in his copyrightaccounts. But in 1897 the mysterywas solved and Spofford vindicated:about $30,000 in uncashedmoney orders, checks, and cash was foundstuffed in books and desk drawers whenthe old Library and its contents were transferredinto the new building. For over 20 years Spofford had habitually loft incoming copyrightfee pay- ments in the books which were piled ingrowing heaps throughout LC or in variousdesk draweri, instead of turning the paymentsinto the Treasury Department; Congress responded almost immediately. In 1873 it appointed a Commission to select a plan and location for the building and appropriated 55,000 for this purpose.A competition for the best architectural plan, based on Spofford's general specifications, drew 27 entries, the first prize of $1,500 being awarded to the firm of Smithmeyer & Pelz of Washington for their Italian Renaissance design. Smithmeyer & Pelz had also submitted designs in French Renaissance, German Renaissance, Romanesque, ana Gothic styles. Another entry was dubbed "Gothic Byzantine."

This contest, however, only marked the begin- ning of a "running competition" between archi- tects and indecisive lawmakers which would last 13 years. In 1875, for example, the Joint Com- mittee on the Library ordered that plans bepre- STRUGGLE FOR A STRUCTURE I pared for a Gothic-style building, th- 1873com- petition notwithstanding.

The problem of a site for the new building In 1887 Senator Justin S. Morrill of Vermont was at least as unsettled and controversial as complained to Secretary of the Interior. L.Q.C. that of its design. Librarian Spofford, perhaps Lamar about delays in the construction of the foreseeing the handwriting on the wall, warned new Library of Congress building: "I really had in his 1875 annual report that Congressional hoped to see the building completed withinmy neglect and indecisiveness would "soon place lifetime, but I fear now that I shall never see its Librarian in the unhappy predicament of it done."Morrill did live to see the new build- presiding over the greatest chaos in America." ing, but the fear he expressed was shared by In addition to the site east of the Capitol which almost everyone involved in the struggle for the was finally selected, Judiciary Square, the Botan- Library building, which began in 1871 and did ical Gardens, and the Mall were seriously consid- not end until the Library moved from the Capitol ered and vigorously advocated as possible sites. into its new building in 1897. In the intervening Proposed architectural designs fluctuated accord- quarter of a century, librarians, Congressmen, ing to both the site currently in favor and the architects and engineers, scholars, and the personal tastes of the Congressmen then in office. general-public contested the building's design, Accordingly, between 1876 and 1881, new designs location, methods and materials'of construction, were prepared in three styles - French Renaiss- and -.most importantly - its very purpose. It ance, Romanesque, and German Renaissance. was necessary to surmount acrimonious charges and countercharges, hundreds of minor disputes, The Botanical Gardens site was rejected as endless bureaucratic snarls, at least one fist- too spongy in 1877. In 1878 the extension of the fight, numerous legislative delays and postpone- east front of the Capitol, in lieu of a separate ments,.and two formal Congressional investiga- building, was rejected by a specially-appointed tions before the $7 million building became a Commission, which instead recommended a building harciartifict. Once it did, the Library of at Judiciary Square. But Senator Morrill strong- Congress was permanently and unalterably enshrined ly advocated the east plaza location, so yet as America's national library. another Commission, this one of three architects, was appointed in 1880.The architects reached Librarian Ainsworth Spofford first suggested the same conclusions as the 1878 Commission, and a separate Library building in 1871; the next their recommendations suffered the same fate. year his annual report featured an "extended In 1880, landscape architect Frederick Law plea" for such a structure. Because the Olmsted wrote a letter to the Nation which Copyright Law of 1870 triggered the steady flow expressed a prevalent feeling;-Ii7lelt further of copyright deposits into the Library's 1inK." postponement of the Library building was rooms in the Capitol, Spofford complained .t "tantamount to an order abolishing the Library of was impossible "to make the present unfit and in- Congress for most practical purpcses, and adequate. apartments subserve the needs of a great substituting for it . . . a warehouse for the national library." He admitted the Library was "comparatively an unfit place for studenti." In his report he outlined plans for the proposed building, suggestingsa central reading room and separate departments for copyright, maps, fine arts, and periodicals._ 8 storage in bulk ofa great, idle, mass of printed paper." heterogeneous Because of its inaction on the Library building, the 46th Congress labeled a "do-nothing was Tribune. Congress" by the NewYork

In 1881 President Chester A. Arthurasked for actionon the Library building question in his annualmessage to Congress. the major advocates Thus encouraged, of the separatebuilding, Senator Morrill,Senator Voorhees, tient but slowly and the pa- submerging Librarian hoped for the best. Spofford,

But 1882 was not a good year. First, the most hare-brained schemeof all surfaced. STRUGGLE FOR A was proposed that the It STRUCTURE II dome of the Capitolbe lift- ed 50 feet tosecure the additional by the Library. space needed Serious debate ensuedbefore the plan was squashed. Then the Library vacillating as ever, Committee, asked the architectsto pre- On April 15, 1886,after a repetitious, pare a revised version often absurd 14-year of the 1875 Gothicdesign. struggle, Congress finally And William Frederick authorized the construction Poole, with thesupport of of a separate the American Library building for the cas by calling for Association, joined thefra- Library of Congresson the east a more functional and plaza facing theCapitol. tarian design than the utili- It was to be of monumental "showplace" Italian Renaissancedesign, as originally design favored by planned architect John L. by Smithmeyer4 Pelz, and John L. the architectural Smithmeyer, Smithmeyer was profession, and most appointed architect and Congressmen. placed in charge of construction.Congress appropriated appointed a three-man $500,000 and During this exhaustive Commission, consistingof debate, Spofford the Secretary ofthe Interior, the and his friendsin Congress Architect of were continually the Capitol, and theLibrarian of Congress, forced to defend their carry out the Act. to concept of LC as a The Commission chosethe national library, in exact site for the addition to threading building, preferringthe through the disputes south side of East over the building'sstyle, Capitol Street, then site. and design. by a string of houses occupied John Shaw Billings,Librarian known as Carroll of the Surgeon-General's Legal action Row. Library, called forthe was necessary to dislodgeseveral decentralization of thenational library into reluctant homeowners,but the site separate national libraries was finally of medicine, law, secured for $585,000,and the buildings astronomy, natural histlry, torn and physics, down during the winterof 1886-1887. chemistry, awl mechanics. Six work- Representative Holman men were injured whenthe north wall of of Indiana, the Row fell unexpectedly, Carroll . principal Congressionalfoe of but Library officials a separate building, refused to view the felt LC should remainsolely incident as anomen. a legislative librarrmitha book collection not exceeding 200f20. volumes, and thatany addi- Excavation began in the tional books or materials summer of 1887, but. should be distributed progress was slow asconflicts arose between systematically to the Smithmeyer and Commission states of the union. members.When it came to important details, the Act of 1886was vague, at best. While authorizing the The great day arrivedon April 15, 1886, failed to fix building, it when Congress authorized a limit on itt cost,or set a the purchase of the completion date, mor did east plaza building site it include speci- and the erection ofa fications for construction building accordingto the Italian Renaissance materials. design submitted bySmithmeyer G Pelz. In 1887, Senator Un- Morrill, a strong advocate characteristically, SenatorMorrill, Senator of the building, Voorhees, and Librarian complained thatconstruction Spofford embraced each progress was so slow, he did not think he would other - momentarily butjoyfully - when the live to see the Senate vote was announced. building completed. Shortly Phase one of the thereafter, a struggle was over. controversy over the quality cement to be used almost of brolght work to a complete hilt. In early 1883Senator .Vest called for an investigation, complainingthat all he could seewas a "magnificent fence around a big hole."A New York newspaper chided, "To besure that this big hole be stolen, four shall not watchmen are employedto keep their vigilant eyes always upon it . . . 9 if matters go on as they stand, the great- In the midst of this hassle, portrait grandchild of the youngest married couple in painter A. B. Heaton announced the completion of the District will not live to see the building a "historical group portrait"of the 18 men, completed." Obviously the Commission members mostly Congressmen, whose "wisdom and idealism" did not have the experience, knowledge, or had made the new Library building possible. time to properly oversee the construction, so in Senators Morrill and Voorhees were featured, March 1888 Bernard R. Green, engineer, graduate 1along with Librarian Spofford and architect of Harvard, and assistant to General T. L. Casey Smithmeyer. A single member of the Joint in the completion of the Washington Monument and Library Committee, Representative William G. construction of the Executive Office Building, Stahlnecker of N.Y., was absent from the was hired as Supe7intendent of Construction. portrait, the artist noted, "as he demanded a Smithmeyer remained as the architect. central position which could not be accorded to a new and young member of the House." Stahlnecker achieved a central place in another Library matter, however. In September 1888, a special Congressional inquiry investigated charges chat he had improperly tried to HE eight circular staircases which con-influence Smithmeyer to use marblefrom a quarry nect the reading room with the book- in New York in which Stahlnecker's father was a stack and extend irom ground floor to major stockholder. He was exonerated. Even- top tier of stack in the-library, were built by . tually most of the marble for the building came The L SCHREIBER4 SONS CO. from New Hampshire. Iron Works, Cincinnati, Ohio Another milestone was reached on October 2, 1888, when Congress abolished the Commission and These stairs are modem of construction and placed the Chief of Army Engineers, General finish for this class of work, and by maintaining Thomas Lincoln Casey, of Washington Monument and the same general goad standard of workmanship Executive Office Building fame, in charge of the throughout its extensive establishment, TliE L. design and construction of the building. has attainedaprestige SCHREINER & Sous Co. Another $500,000 was appropriated, and General second to none in the country. Casey was instructed to prepare plans for a building not exceeding $4 million in its total cost. Architect Smithmeyer was fired but Casey kept Paul J. Pelz, Smithmeyer's former partner, who had helped in the preparation of the original plans. Casey shrewdly had Pelz prepare On May 29, 1888 Congress began the inves- two plans for the consideration of Congress, tigation into "what contracts had been made" and each based on the original April 15, 1886, the "cause of the delay in the progress of the Italian Renaissance design: a $4,000,000 plan, work."Smithmeyer's cement problem was rehashed as instructed, and a $6,000,000 plan which and Richard G. Bright, "ex- sergeant -at -arms of retained the full dimensions of the building. the Senate, and counsel for the contractors whose cement was rejected . . . testified that he did In January 1889, the House investigating not regard Mr. Smithmeyer as either honest or committee filed its report. In conceding that capable." The foundations of the building were Congress must bear "some share of the blame for laid during the summer of 1888, and the old this unsuccessful attempt to construct a controversy over the architectural design Library building," it strongly urged the resurfaced, with the Philadelphia Press labeling adoption of the $4,000,000 plan. However, the Smithmeyer's design "a botch," and calling for Library's friends in the Senate again prevailed, a new competition to be judged by a jury of aided by General Casey's persuasive performance, architects and librarians. and on March 2,_1889, Congress adopted the $6,000,000 plan. The Washington Star noted the In the House of Representatives, the occasion with a one line editorial": "Hurrah building continued to meet stubborn resistance. for the six million dollar Congressional Library Representative Holuan insisted that the Supreme building!" Court chambers be placed in the Library building, especially if it wee to cost as much as $7 million, as Superintendent Green had testified. HE Hardware of the Library c: Congress Build- Fearful of the $7 million expenditure, in ing is for the most part of pain bronze largely

August 1888 the House Appropriations Committee made to order from government specifications. . eliminated from its pending bill the funds Both the locks and hardware were furnished by A local THE VALE & TOWNE NIAN1.11'7.ZTURING COMPANYof necessary to continue construction. 84.86 Chambers Street, New York City; works at newspaper attacked the Committee in an editorial Stamford, Conn. titled "Abolish This Band of Incompetents and Obstructionists." .0t 9 10 Construction resumed and in May of 1890 in the spring of1889, Congress passed favoring the laying a resolution of,the cornerstone'"with suitable Masonic ceremonies,"Unfortunately, the resolutionwas tabled, and 1890, it became on August 28, necessary to lay the without ceremony cornerstone "to avoid seriousdelay in construction."Placed on the of the building, northeast corner the stone contained newspapers pnd public local the building's documents relatingto fitful legislative Work then proceeded history. rapidly, andphotographs documenting thestructure's rise every ten days. were taken A NEW AND MONUMENTAL BEGINNING In 1892, when the building had reached half of its full height, GeneralCasey fired architect Pelz and "I grieve by day hired Edward PearceCasey, and night.that his son, "to Peking," wrote Librarian I am not in prepare the drawings for of Congress John the Young to a friend Russell interior architectureand scheme of about a year after The superstructure decoration." McKinley had appointed President was completed in 1894,the Young as Librarian. interior sculpture journalist, diplomat, A and mural paintingstwo years and author of Aroundthe later and finallyafter a 26-year World With GeneralGrant (in two volumes, new national library struggle, the Young had served 1S79), opened its doors as U.S. Ambassador to an 1882 to 1885, and to China from admiring publicon November 1, 1897. obviously was not job of Librarian finding the entirely suited tohis taste.

. Appointed on July1, 1897, Young's act was to appoint first Ainsworth Spofford, served as Librarian who had since 1865, as his Assistant. Chief Miles Pneumatic Young's first responsibilitywas the move of theLibrary from its rooms in the Capitol into overflowing Tube Company, the magnificentnew gold-domed "monumentto learning" Oonn manCOCK togintngl. east plaza. across the Over 800 tons ofLibrary books and BOSTON. other accumulatedmaterials were discovered 'various parts of the in We Installed all the pnetneatictubes in the Capitol and transported Building lay Library of Congress the new building to for a mew in one-horseexpress wagons sage make between the readiesTees Iasi during August,' all Me stacks. September, and Octoberof 1897. The new Library,with 108 employees We sepplie4 a poeumstktebe main, around in the building, rattling *OM liltsame belittles undstatenag so the opened its doors to U. S. QOM4 on the %edema public on November the System. 1, 1897. According to the shows Ss actomPutYlnif rni.Dm III *kWh' Evening Star, the sive nu. first book asked forwas "not-on-shelf; in fact,it was not even in The Aehmunic fgachankal BeekCarriers. Library as its the for canying books batwing thereading publication datewas too recent. room and the book stacks to thisIlWary were especially devised by the treasurernod The new building others of our company. was the wonder of when it opened; Washington many..observers felt its Pomo* Tuba. surpassed that of the grandeur Capitol itself.The local Peguauds IBreskts. citizenry was ecstatic: one Joseph E. Robinson of Washington Mcduakut Cunian. wrote. Librarian Young until I stand before that "not the Judgement Seat do I ever expect of God to see this buildingtrans- cended, with its surging multitude of upturned faces gazing with rapture into the vistasof sublimity." .

Young was quickly brought back to earth when he faced,. the ON UN task of filling the66 new INSININNINININUNNUNNINNNININNI Library positions MN IRON AND STEILSOON STACKS AND MECUMS authorized by Congress,for IN rill. MN he had to selectfrom among 2,872 LIBRARY OP CONGRESS and the patronage applicants, We* maideby I demands of Congress overwhelming. were THE KNEAD & CO It is.to Young'scredit that he IRON WORKS managed.to,fill many ofthe.top-level positions LOMOVMIJA NA in the Library with NOM OOOOOOOO NNINN well-qualified men who mum a emessusessimeessiesss played important roles in the futuredevelopment 11 of LC: Thorvald Solberg was appointed the first Register of Copyrights, J.C. M. Hanson and Charles Martel came to the Catalogue Department, and Philip Lee Phillips became the first Superintendent of the new Hall of Maps and Charts.

Young's choice as Superintendent of the Reading Room was David Hutcheson, a Scotsman who had been with LC since 1874 and served as Spofford's right-hand man in the Old Library. In 1907, in spite of strong protests against his action, Hutcheson insisted on retiring; he pleaded his advancing years and a "premonition of ill health."He lived until 1933.

Librarian Young's tangle with the Anti- Saloon League of America and the WCTU over the question of serving liquor in the Library proba- bly helped send his thoughts back to the advant- ages of the Orient. Wine and beer were discreet- ly sold when the building first opened, but the word quickly spread and Young endured a barrage of continuing protests from temperance groups. For example, the President of the World WCTU informed him "as the wineless dinner table of the well-to-do is perhaps the most salient feature of American society, on behalf of the While Librarian, Young continued to write American home ue urge with earnest devotion that for his old newspaper, the New York Tribune; no intoxicants shall be offered as beverages along with many other journalists ofTET-Ey, he in our National Library." The sales soon were actively "promoted" the Spanish-American War. stopped. On August 18, 1898 , as imperialist - librarian,. alerted his library staff In spite of his many interests outside of to a new development: "now that the Government the Library, Young paid close attention to has taken possession of Manilla under cir- Library matters and put his administrative cumstances that look into its permanent re- talents to good -use. He established separate tention, we need to build up the collections on _departments of copyright, music, maps (the Hall Manilla." of Maps and Charts, where a weather map was posted daily for public viewing), manuscripts, John Russell Young died on January 17, 1899, and prints and photographs (the Department of without returning to China. He was Librarian for Graphic Arts). He used his State Department less than two years, but he began to lay the connections to establish new channels for over- administrative and organizational groundwork seas acquisitions and set up a reading room for necessary for the growth of a truly national the blind. He was also responsible for evening library. He worked hard at his job; in fact the Library during the evening for the first several newspapers even attributed his death to time, beginning October 1, 1898. overwork at the Library.On January 20, 1899, the same newspapers were speculating about his successor at LC.

While Young's brief tenure was, in many ways, a brilliant episode in LC's history, his appointment had been strictly political. Professional librarians clamored to have one of their own named to the nation's top library post. They finally succeeded, but only because the Senate rejected another McKinley choice, Samuel J. Barrows, a "retiring" Congressman. The President finally sas persuaded to appoint probably the most qualified librarian in the Ex Libris P11111,May land, Herbert Putnam of the Boston Public Library (and the publishing family) as the Imektiet, eighth Librarian of'Congress. More accurately perhaps, Putnam was finally persuaded to take the job. 12

44.

An aristocrat with a bristlingred mustache and a comparable temper, Putnamexercised near- dictatorial powers, demanding andreceiving generous support from Congress.Confident and imaginative, he was the idealperson to carry forward the national library plans of Spofford' BACON SLICING and Young, and to addnumerous innovations of his own. LC positively boomed under hislead- ership. Almost immediately he initiated the national services--classification,sale of During its first century, LC categorized printed catalog cards, interlibrary loan--one knowledge according to the 44 chaptersin would expect from a national library. LC's Thomas Jefferson's classificationscheme, which appropriation soared, the papers of theFound- arrived intact with his library in 1815. ing Fathers were transferred from theState Jefferson's chapters were basedon the system Department; andthe enterprisingLibrari.n of knowledge set forth by FrancisBacon, who somehow obtained unparalleled privatecoL1ec- used three human intellectual "faculties"as tions from Russia and Japan. By 1907, onade- the foundation of his system.According to cede after occupying its new building,LC not Bacon, Knowl was divided into threeparts: only was a "full-service" national library, History (Memory), Philosophy (Reason), and it also was recognized asone of the leading Poetry (Imagination). libraries of the world. In 1815, when Librarian of Congress George Watterston published The Catalogue of the Library of the United States- which was based on nfle7sFrEolorMITnd classifiedarrangement - 'nobody liked it. Watterston, as librarians are wont to do, tampered a bit with the original classification outline:Congress complained, and so did Jefferson. But the basic chapters of knowledge remainod, and in spite of innumerable squeezings, rational expansions, and illogical modifications, Jefferson's view of knowledgewas accepted by the Library of Congress until the 20th century.

Subdivisions were added as new books, sub- jects, and LC catalogs appeared.- 'In 1830Canals achieved a new and,eeparate,status, and Roads and Rail-Roadsarrieed. So did Smelting. The same year Sporting was first recognized by LC and the need for Ventilitingarsing'couldno longer be ignored. Michigan Was admitted in 1840. Electro=Magnetic TeIegraphlirst appeared in 1849, and Photogriphymade:tbeSeen0 in the 1861 catalog, the last.Of tlife:dastified book :catalogs publishetkbY:theLibiarjr.::,In that catalog Librarian-nfr.ongiess:John S. Meehan displayed a personal trait When he reduced the numberoTchaptersbased upon Imagination, and the totalnumber ofchapters shrunk froi 44 to 40. 13

The Library's 1864catalog was arranged alphabetically, reflecting theviews of its compiler, Assistant LibrarianAinsworth Spofford.Distrusting all classification schemes, Spofford preferredary "convenient arrangement" which would enablehim to serve books to Congressmen quickly.A. Librarian he used the Jeffersonian system for the 35 years he was in office, but he appliedthesystem loosely and subjectively andused his own rather curious notation scheme.

Spofford objected toclose classification ("You cannot teara book to pieces to satisfy logical classification")and felt that detailed notation was a wasted effort: "No sooner does some sapient librarian, withthe sublime confi- dence of conviction,get his classification house of cards constructedin his mind, and stands in rapt admiration beforeit, when there comes along some wise man of the east, anddemolishes the fair edifice at a blow,while the architect stands by with a'melancholy smile, and sees all his household gods lying shiveredaround him."

Jefferson's scheme was againexpanded to its original 44 chapters, groupedby Spofford into ten major subjects in thefollowing order: History, Science and Technology,Religion, Law, lbviously the maintenance Political and Social Sciences, of this system ina Arts, Literature, library overflowing with Bibliography, Language, and books was impossible, Polygraphy. As the especially without a shelf-list new books poured into the Library or individual at the rate of book numbers. In 1897, when the over 15,000 a year, thousandsof new subject new building and geographic subdivisions was occupied, everyone agreedthat Accumulated were added. For Knowledge within LC needed example, Massage, Ping Pong, to be divided up Cold Storage, according to a new system. Cosmetics, Servants, SubmarineTelegraphy, and Bullfighting appeared, andRoads and Railroads were separated. Over 750,000 volumesneeded recataloging Landscape Gardeningwent from and reclassification. Fine Arts to Agriculture. Librarian Herbert Putnam assigned the responsibility for developing a new classification scheme The notation scheme used to two men:James by Spofford was a Christian Meinich Hanson, confusing fractional combination who came to LC from of Jefferson the University of Wisconsin, class and Library ofCongress shelf number, and Charles Martel, formerly of the NewberryLibrary. the shelves having beenapportioned among the Contrary to subjects in tha classification Spofford's view, they arguedthat the diversity scheme, then assigned a number. and immense size of theLibrary's collections But the Libraryran out of made close classification shelf space in 1875, imperative, and Putnam some 22 years before thenew agreed. building was occupied, and Hanson and Martel decidedto develop books representing new /subjects an entirely new system,one based on the special had to br crammedonto shelves already occupied by other subjects, character of LC's collectionsand the conditions or - more likely- of their use, with "no piled on the floor "near"the proper location. direct deference" to the possible use of thesystem by other libraries. Systems of knowledge andsubject fields were ruthlessly juggled to fitLC's needs. Four major divisions were established:General Works (Class A), Humanities and.Social Sciences (B-P), Natural Science. and Technology(Q-8), and Bibliography and Library. Science (Z).Their sequence was determined. by the of the Library-Seiiice purpose to Congress.Appro- priatelY, American'Historywasthe first subject reclassified; and the-Schedule 1901. was published in LC!S own collections hadreplaced Bacon as the ultimate Arbitrator Of.Knowledge in the national library.: ypri;

4r, 14 LC AND ITS COLLECTIONS 1846 (Aug. 10) New law entitlei,LC to A CHRONOLOGY, one 1800-1907 copy of all U.S. copyrighted materials books, main, music, and prints. 1800 (April 24) LC established. 1851 Fire destroys 35,000 of the 55,000 volumes in LC, including 2/3 of 1801First shipment of books arrives .Jefferson's books. (740 volumes purchased fromEngland) 1802 (Jan. 29) John Beckley appointedas first Librarian of Congress.

1807 (NOV. 7) Paiiick Magruder appointed !Jur Librarian of Congress.

1814bC (in Capitol building). burnedby British; all 3,000 volumes lost.

1815 (Jan. 30) Jefferson's 6,487-volume library acquired for $23,950, expanding 111 LC's scope beyond that ofa legislative library.

1815 (March 21) George Watterston appointed Librarian of Congress.

1857 (Jan. 28) Responsibility for inter- 1818LC movesfrom temporary quarters in Blodget's Hotel batik-into the Capitol... national exchanib transferred from LC to State Department and for distribution of public documents from LC 1825Fire in LC, but minimal damage to its to Interior Department. collection of 14,000 volumes. Annual appropriation for purchase of books 1861 (May 24) John G. Stephenson appointed reaches $5,000. Librarian of Congress. 1829 (May 28) John S. Meehanappointed 1864 Librarian of Congress. One-volume alphabetical author catalog of LC's collections published.

1832. Law Library establishedwith a separate 1864 (Dec. 31) Ainsworth R. Spofford book appropriation. appointed Librarian of Congress. 1834 (June 19) LC authorized to exchange U.S. 1865 (March 3)Copyright law reinstated;

government documents for other . LC to receive one copy of all deposits. publications. 1865 First appropriation speCifically 1836 Congress rejects purchase of renowned for the acquisition of newspapers. 25,090-volume of Count Buturlin of Florence (e $50,000). 1866 (April 5) The 40,000-volume library of the Smithsonian Institution, 1840 (July 20) LC authorized to exchange its excep- tionally strong in scientific publications, duplicates and to participate in inter- is transferred to LC. , national exchanges.' 1866 Annual appropriation for the purchase of books reaches $8,000.

1867 (March 2) LC authorized to receive public documents from foreign nations through Smithsonian aXchangaprogram.

1867 (March 2YOuichase of 8100,000 of Peter ForCes.parsonal library,' the foundation of It's collectfont of early Americana.

1867 LC becomes largest library in U.S. 15 1897 (Nov. 1) LC moves into its new building. Separate "departments" established foi cataloging, copyrIght,.arts, the Main Reading Room, manuscripts, periodicals, maps, music, and law. A reading room for the blind is also organized.

1898 Order Division is established.First use of American diplomats to obtain materials for LC.

1899(April S) Herbert Putnam takes office as the eighth Librarian of Congress.

1899 Annual appropriation for the increase of 1869 Subject catalog to LC's collections the Library reaches $21,000. published (two volumes). 1900 Organization of the bibliography, docu- 1869 LC receives gift of 933 volumes from the ments, and Smithsonian Divisions. Emperor of China. 1901 First table in the new LC classification 1870 (July 8) U.S. copyright activities scheme published.Beginning of inter- centralized at LC, which will receive library loan and sale of printed catalog two copies of all deposits plus those cards.Annual appropriation for acqui- sent to other offices before 1870; sitions reaches $60,000. beginning of the dramatic expansion of LC's book, map, music, and graphic arts 1961 LC becomes first American library to collections. contain one million volumes.

1871 Separate building for LC first advocated 1903. (March 9) Presidential executive order by the Librarian. transfers the records and papers of the Continental Congress and the papers of 1878-1880 Publication of the last LC book Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, catalog; alphabetical by author, Hamilton, and Franklin from the State but only two volumes published Department to LC. ("A-Cragin"). 1906 First substantial acquisition of Japanese 1882 (May 19) Gift of 43,000-volume library of books (over 9,000 volume!.) Joseph M. Toner, the first sizable gift received from a private citizen. 1906 Yudin collection of over 80,000 volumes relating to Russia and Siberia acquired. 1883 Rochambeau papers and maps purchased for $20,000. 1907LC receives its first phonograph record (cylinder recording of the voice of 1886 (March 16) Brussels Conventions establish Kaiser Wilhelm II). procedures for receipt by LC of foreign official documents through exchange.

1886 (April 15) Congress authorizes the construction of a separate LC building.

1891 (March 3) International copyright law brings foreign works to LC.

1894 First motion pictures (paper prints) deposited in LC.

1896Congress holds hearings concerning the reorganization and expansion of LC..

1897 (Feb. 19) Reorganization of LC enacted into law.

1897 (July 1) John Russell Young appointed Librarian of Congress.

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