Librarian of Congress James H. Billington: It's a great pleasure to welcome you to the Library [ of Congress ] on this historic occasion, when we will transfer, this evening, the Packard campus in Culpepper, Va., to the architect of the Capitol, for use by the Library [ of Congress ] in the preservation and conservation of our vast audiovisual collections, which is in many ways a mint record [ inaudible ] of America in the 20th century. Previously scattered over four states, millions of sound recordings, moving images, film and video will be brought together in this magnificent 415,000 square foot facility surrounded by 9,000 trees and 200,000 native Virginia planting, Sen. Warner [ laughter ] . So it is rare that we get not only such an extraordinary facility, but also the landscaping that goes with it. And the thanks that we all owe to David Woodley Packard can hardly be put in words. His passion for our nation's film and musical heritage, his vision and expertise in the execution of this project has made an extraordinary gift by the Packard Humanities Institute possible. We are very pleased to have that board at the Institute and many others involved in this enterprise with us tonight. The Congress of the United States approved in 1997 a very unique -- in many ways we hope perhaps even groundbreaking -- kind of partnership between our government and the Packard Humanities Institute to design and build this amazing facility. It represents the largest private gift in the history to the legislative branch of government. Congress also appropriated substantial funding in the intervening years after the original agreement was worked out for the operations, maintenance and equipment. And the acting architect of the Capitol, Steven Ayers, will accept the facility for the Library [ of Congress ] in just a few minutes. To accept this extraordinary gift to the American people, we are expecting to welcome the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and the majority leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, but we are happy that we have with us the chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress, Sen. Dianne Feinstein. This is the oldest joint committee of the Congress, but we also want to recognize and thank other members of the Congress here this evening who've played important roles in making this whole event possible. From the Joint Committee on the Library, the oldest joint committee of the Congress, Sens. Ted Stevens and John Warner with us, Sen. Robert Bennett will be shortly, Rep. Zoe Lofgren is here, Rep. Vern Ehlers and Dan Lundgren shortly will be. The joint -- We want to particularly mention and recognize, I think, Rep. Ehlers and Sen. Stevens, who've served on the Joint Committee [ on the Library of Congress ] since 1988, 1998, and who alternated as chair and vice chair of the Joint Committee [ on the Library of Congress ] and oversaw the approval of many aspects of this, including the naming of the facility as the Packard Campus. We also thank key members of the Appropriations Committee. We welcome the majority leader of the Senate, Sen. Harry Reid. Thank you, sir, for being with us as well. [ applause ] Some key members of the Appropriations Committee who shaped the statute and funded annual appropriations, Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Zach Wamp and several others who have sent greetings that I'll mention later. We deeply appreciate Sen. Warner's early help in the beginning days of this project, and the support of Reps. Eric Cantor, as well as his predecessor Tom Bailey, representing the district in which the facility is located. Rep. Howard Coble for work on the Judiciary Committee in preserving our nation's great heritages, and Sens. Dodd, Landrieu and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who sent special letters of commendation to Mr. Packard and the Packard Humanities Institute. It's now my pleasure to invite the hero of the evening, Mr. David Packard, chairman of the Packard Humanities Institute Board, to offer a few remarks and be the first to sign the documents of commendation -- David Packard. [ applause ] Mr. David Packard: I thought I was speaking after I signed, doesn't matter. Well, speaking for myself at least, I'm really happy that this project is finally over. [ laughter ] We started eight or nine years ago, and a lot of people measure projects by the amount of money you spend. I measure a project by how many years of my life it takes out of me. [ laughter ] And by both measures this was a pretty big project. So I'd like to mention a couple of people who are here, key people on the design team for the project. Our architects, the Smith Group with Hal Davis and with BAR in San Francisco with Earl Wilson; there's two of our key project managers, George Ross and David Clark, who are here somewhere; and I think the DPR, the construction company that built this facility doesn't have anyone here, I guess, but they certainly did it all. When I think about this project, of course I think about all the people who worked on it and all of the people who designed it, but I also think sometimes about why we were in the position to do it. And the reason we could do it is because of the success of the Hewlett-Packard Company. Now, we're not the Hewlett-Packard Company foundation. We don't represent HP in any way, we have nothing to do with HP. I was opposed to almost everything they did in the last five or six years, as you probably know. Nonetheless, the reason that we can do this is because of the achievements of the thousands and tens of thousands of employees at the Hewlett-Packard Company over the years, especially in the first 50 years. And I think that they should really take the most pride in this. I don't think anyone should give me credit for it. Now, when you have a foundation with a lot of money to spend, it's much more difficult than you might imagine to figure out how to do it in a constructive way without unintended consequences. Looking back I always thought that Carnegie had a pretty good idea in making all of those public libraries, and when I thought about what you could do that you might be proud of as a foundation, that would be one of the things that would be easiest for me to feel good about. Nowadays something like that probably wouldn't involve building libraries, it would involve using digital technology to make libraries more accessible. And if you want to do that you need a couple of things. You need the technology, which actually isn't the most difficult part of it. Now technology is just growing on trees, and although people like to boast about it, it's really almost routine to be able to do these amazing things. Of course you need the library that has all the wonderful things that you want access to, and the Library of Congress is the greatest library in the world, so that's the place you go. Then, the last thing that you need, I think -- and this is a very important one -- is a legal framework in which the library can use this technology to preserve the materials and use this technology to give access to the materials in the library. And I know this is a very difficult problem, and I know that the members of Congress who are here have probably spent a lot of time thinking about it, and I know that piracy is a terrible thing and it's really important to stop piracy, and I know that it's great that copyright has been extended for 150 years now, but -- [ laughter ] -- somebody better laugh at that line. But I have confidence that the accumulated wisdom here in the Library of Congress especially, it's very wise. The librarian and all the other people here will sooner or later figure out the right balance between protecting the rights of the people who create this material and allowing people to benefit from the wonderful collection of things that are there. So that's what I have to say. [ applause ] Do I get to sign something now? General Counsel Elizabeth A. Pugh: Just one. Okay. So it's not ours anymore? [ Laughter ] [ R. Michelle Watson, Office of the Chief Operating Officer, notarizes the agreement ] General Counsel Elizabeth A. Pugh: [ To Librarian of Congress James H. Billington ] Now you sign. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington: [ To Acting Architect of the Capitol Steven Ayers ] Here's a pen. Mr. David Packard: Do we get to sit down now? Librarian of Congress James H. Billington: Well I think maybe, okay, we'll get you back up for a picture. We're very grateful that the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has arrived here as well, and we would ask if she, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, and the Joint Committee [ on the Library of Congress ] chair, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, could come forward to sign the acceptance document of this extraordinary facility on behalf of the American people and the Congress of the United States, which has been, incidentally, the greatest patron of the Library in the history of the world. [ applause ] And we would invite them in sequence, if they wish, to say a few remarks with our great gratitude for their support of this institution. We're in the Members Room, and it's a great honor to have all of you here. [ inaudible remark off camera ] [ laughter ] So if you would sign and then say a few words -- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: As my colleagues in the Senate are signing this important document, as speaker of the House, I feel very privileged to accept this magnificent gift from the Packard Humanities Institute and the Packard family on behalf of the American people. It's so appropriate that this all be taking place in the Library of Congress. We're very fortunate to have a very distinguished librarian of Congress who understands the value in every way of this magnificent gift. So on behalf of the American people and by way of the Congress of the United States, I thank you for your generosity and for your imagination. It's so appropriate, as I say, that we're here in this Library of Congress, the library of Thomas Jefferson. Our founders, whom I call "magnificent disrupters," they made change in a very important way. They were pioneers in a very special way, and so has been the Packard family. Whether it's been to change the economy of our country through innovation, whether it is to preserve the beautiful environment, which is our heritage, through their philanthropy -- Susan is here, I know -- and whether it is their support of education, in this case of the arts and learning in our country, so I thank you very much for being who you are, making the change in our country for the better that you have made, and helping to memorialize it in this magnificent audiovisual gift. I can't wait to go to Culpepper, Va., to see it when it is all in place. I'm so pleased that from the House we have Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren here and Congressman Vern Ehlers. Any other members who are here? They're going to have to go vote, but in any event once again it is an honor to receive this gift, especially in the company of Sen. Feinstein and [ Senate ] Majority Leader Reid. Thank you all very much. [ applause ] Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: Dr. Billington, Mr. Packard, my staff wrote a very nice briefing paper for me, and I read it on the way over; 90 miles of tunnels to store things in, magnificent place, and it reminded me, going back a long time, as a little boy of Searchlight. Once in a while, not very often, once in a while, maybe every month or two, someone would come from Las Vegas to Searchlight to show us a movie. Now, the movies in those days -- sometimes if we were lucky it'd be a two-reeler where they would hook things up and we would see movies; Gene Autry and people like that. But I can remember technically how they did that, and how disappointed I was a few times when something would break on that movie projector, and of course there was no place in Searchlight to fix it and we never got to watch the movie; they never came back again. That happened on a few occasions. Well, technologically we have moved on so, so far from those days in Searchlight, watching one reel and a two-reel movie, to where we are now, that it's very difficult to understand what's changing on a daily basis. And so this great library, which bears our name, the Library of Congress, will now be able to again say that not only do we have all these great books, but digitally, because of you lending your great name and your wealth to this project, we have a public-private partnership that will last forever. Thank you very much. [ applause ] Sen. Dianne Feinstein: Well, I'd like to thank the members of the Senate that are here who have really helped with this gift over time. I know that Sen. Stevens was here and I know that Sen. Warner is here. I just happened onto the scene as the chairman of this committee, but the fact that they have done so much to make this possible, I just want to say thank you. And to the Packard family and to David Packard, I believe this is the largest gift that the federal government has ever received, in that sense it is special. In the sense of perpetuity of audiovisual products, it is also special. It'll be stellar in the world, and I want to thank you for that. But I am deeply troubled by one thing. and I should say you are doing things in California. I mentioned to you -- [ inaudible remark off camera ] Sen. Dianne Feinstein: Oh, you are? Well, good for you. Where will it be? All right, well, we'll talk more about that. But I had a small suggestion. We had an informal conversation earlier and he said, "You know, I have more yet to give." And I thought, "Oh," and all the lights started flashing in my brain, but you have done so much: the Stanford Library, to mention one thing, the help with saving the Wetlands of San Francisco Bay, to mention another, and there are many others. I would just like to say, in the future I think it would be wonderful if you kept it in California. But thank you very much, and thank you ladies and gentlemen for everything. [ applause ] Librarian of Congress James H. Billington: If we could have just a quick picture with the members of the [ unintelligible ] board, David Packard and Steven Ayers and other members of Congress, if we could just assemble here for a very quick picture. I think we should have Mrs. Packard and Arianna, their daughter, too. And let me tell you that after this picture we have a very, very special treat in honor of this event from -- one of the world's great singers and one of the world's great pianists are going to give a very short, but a very powerful musical tribute to the whole occasion, so if we could get them all over here. [ applause ] Two years ago we launched a national tour featuring the songs of America from the Library's collections sung by one of the world's most respected and inspiring operatic singers of immense repertoire and great personal power as a teacher as well as a performer, America's great baritone, Thomas Hampson. The final performance of that tour in 2006 was performed in San Jose's California Theatre, a spectacular Spanish baroque movie palace of the late 1920s that had been restored to its original splendor by David W. Packard and the [ unintelligible ] board. Tonight Tom Hampson joins us to celebrate the conveyance of this wonderful Packard Campus and the generosity of the Packard Humanities Institute to the American people, accompanied by the gifted pianist who accompanied him on that tour, the former musical director of the Metropolitan Opera, Craig Gruenberg. So, ladies and gentlemen, Thomas Hampson. Mr. Thomas Hampson: Actually, Mr. Gruenberg is still employed by the Metropolitan Opera [ inaudible ] . He is still my boss and I still have to be nice to him, as the head of the music staff at the Metropolitan Opera, [ laughter ] This is a very intimidating crowd to stand in front of, but it is extremely exhilarating to be in front of some of the most enlightened leadership that our Congress has had in recent history. It's a great honor. And so I thought I would start with these little three songs. Clearly I would want to sing what David would like the best, so we're going to start with that great American, Mozart. [ laughter ] Don Giovanni's serenade [ "Grand Fantaisie sur la serenade et le Minuet de Don Juan" ] , one of the great rascals of all operatic literature. This is a wonderful moment where he really tries to seduce something that makes success in the evening, because there is none. So we have this serenade of Don Giovanni. [ piano ] [ sings in Italian ] [ applause ] Mr. Thomas Hampson: Mozart -- I know that you've got this huge project going on with the Packard Institute; manuscripts of Mozart's operas, which is incredibly exciting. But we're going to move into America -- as Dr. Billington mentioned, we did a couple of years ago, or ended up last year, and we're looking at the next one. Singing those songs, I love the praising of this glorious institution, the greatest public library on the face of the planet, which we kind of dubbed the great shoebox of the American people on the tour, because it is our property and it is our substance. It is the story of who we are, and of course new technologies make the accessibility so exciting, and the foresight from this that you had, Dr. Billington, for this amazing Web site that we have and the services that go to the Congress and of course this public-private mixture is exactly what makes America so great. And after all, all of our greatness that I think is so wonderful. We all know in this country the story of that greatness is in the humanities and the story of the literature and told again and again by the poets and the composers of our country. So we were singing these songs and exposing more and more of different epochs of this country, and one of the really great popular songs of course is one of the great folk ballads of all time set to various arrangements by various composers through time, and in fact comes straight out of Virginia. And as much as I'd like to sing all 17 verses of it, I'm going to only sing three, but it's the great, wonderful ballad, "Shenandoah." And this arrangement is by a contemporary friend of ours who happens to be the librarian of the San Francisco Opera, Steven White. [ piano ] [ sings ] Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you, Away, you rolling river Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you Away, I'm bound away, across the wide Missouri. Oh, Shenandoah, I love your daughter, Away, you rolling river Oh, Shenandoah, I love your daughter Away, I'm bound away, across the wide Missouri. Oh, Shenandoah, I'm bound to leave you, Away, you rolling river Oh, Shenandoah, I'm bound to leave you Away, I'm bound away, across the wide Missouri. [ applause ] Mr. Thomas Hampson: One of the fun things about meeting you and sharing so many conversations -- a few conversations we've had about music is your passion for music and your rather intimidating, staggering knowledge of various composers; a lot of them that I have not sung yet and certainly would like to sing, but a couple that I have and a couple of shared passions, like Cole Porter and especially Jerome Kern. And I know that this is one of our mutual favorite songs, so we will indulge both of us with "All The Things You Are." [ piano ] [ sings ] Time and again I've longed for adventure, Something to make my heart beat the faster. What did I long for? I never really knew. Finding your love I've found my adventure, Touching your hand, my heart beats the faster, All that I want in all of the world is you. You are the promised kiss of springtime That makes the lonely winter seem long. You are the breathless hush of evening That trembles on the brink of a lovely song. You are the angel glow that lights a star, The dearest things I know are what you are. Some day my happy arms will hold you, And some day I'll know that moment divine, When all the things you are, are mine! [ spoken ] Somebody's supposed to dance. [ sings ] You are the angel glow that lights a star, The dearest things I know are what you are. Some day my happy arms will hold you, And some day I'll know that moment divine, When all the things you are, are mine! [ applause ] [ end of transcript ] ?? ?? ?? ??