WEBVTT 00:01.240 --> 00:04.510 align:start >> From the Library of Congress in Washington DC. 00:04.510 --> 00:17.210 align:start [ Pause ] 00:17.210 --> 00:20.090 align:start >> Good morning to all of you and welcome 00:20.090 --> 00:25.140 align:start to the Dawson class for the year 2010. 00:25.140 --> 00:27.140 align:start We're happy to see all of you. 00:27.140 --> 00:30.340 align:start We started a little early on September 1st 00:30.340 --> 00:32.340 align:start and now we're back for our first full week. 00:32.340 --> 00:36.640 align:start My name is Jim Hughes, I'm the volunteer coordinator and I'm happy 00:36.640 --> 00:41.680 align:start to have all of you here for the very special presentation we're 00:41.680 --> 00:44.200 align:start about to hear. 00:44.200 --> 00:47.910 align:start Through the years, the Library of Congress Dawsons have come 00:47.910 --> 00:52.850 align:start to know John Cole mostly through his books about the library especially, 00:52.850 --> 00:57.430 align:start "On These Walls: Inscriptions and Quotations in the Library 00:57.430 --> 01:01.100 align:start of Congress," first published in 1995. 01:01.100 --> 01:04.950 align:start This revised version with this gorgeous color photographs 01:04.950 --> 01:09.140 align:start by Carol Highsmith was published in 2008. 01:09.140 --> 01:12.120 align:start The blurb in the back of the book managed 01:12.120 --> 01:18.390 align:start to boil John's 44-year career at the Library down to 2 sentences. 01:18.390 --> 01:20.390 align:start [ Laughter ] 01:20.390 --> 01:25.800 align:start >> Here they are, John Y. Cole is founding director of the Center 01:25.800 --> 01:28.400 align:start for the Book in the Library of Congress. 01:28.400 --> 01:33.670 align:start He has published widely about books and libraries in society as well 01:33.670 --> 01:36.690 align:start as about the history of the Library of Congress. 01:36.690 --> 01:40.720 align:start You will get to know John, his books and his love of the library 01:40.720 --> 01:44.010 align:start through this morning's presentation and discussion. 01:44.010 --> 01:46.680 align:start I would just add-- I would like to add a brief word 01:46.680 --> 01:50.130 align:start about his administrative career at the library. 01:50.130 --> 01:53.280 align:start You can ask him more questions about both the history of the library 01:53.280 --> 01:58.180 align:start and his personal involvement during the question and answer period. 01:58.180 --> 02:01.930 align:start The Librarian of Congress, Daniel J. Boorstin who became Librarian 02:01.930 --> 02:06.380 align:start of Congress in 1975 asked John 02:06.380 --> 02:09.790 align:start to chair an important year-long administrative review 02:09.790 --> 02:14.270 align:start of the entire library during the year 1976. 02:14.270 --> 02:19.450 align:start It was called the Task Force on Goals Organization and Planning, 02:19.450 --> 02:23.510 align:start and the creation of the Center for the Book in 1997-- 02:23.510 --> 02:28.210 align:start 1977 was but one of the study's outcomes. 02:28.210 --> 02:30.930 align:start With support from the present Librarian of Congress, 02:30.930 --> 02:35.090 align:start James H. Billington, who took office in 1987 02:35.090 --> 02:39.590 align:start after Dr. Boorstin's retirement, John has expanded the Center of-- 02:39.590 --> 02:44.470 align:start for the Book nationally and internationally, served as co-chair 02:44.470 --> 02:49.360 align:start of the library's bicentennial celebration in the year 2000, 02:49.360 --> 02:53.640 align:start played a key role in the National Book Festival which was created 02:53.640 --> 02:57.960 align:start in 2001 and then instrumental in the development 02:57.960 --> 03:03.220 align:start of the library's new Young Readers Center which opened as part 03:03.220 --> 03:07.120 align:start of the Center for the Book in 2009. 03:07.120 --> 03:10.090 align:start John tells me that the shorthand title 03:10.090 --> 03:13.920 align:start of his presentation this morning is what you should know 03:13.920 --> 03:21.040 align:start about a unique national institution or why LC is great. 03:21.040 --> 03:23.040 align:start [Laughter] Ladies and gentleman, John Cole. 03:23.040 --> 03:25.040 align:start [ Applause ] >> Thank you. 03:27.040 --> 03:29.040 align:start Thank you, Jim. 03:29.040 --> 03:32.370 align:start Yes I'm a cheerleader for the Library of Congress but I want 03:32.370 --> 03:38.030 align:start to tell you why today and would like to have a discussion with you 03:38.030 --> 03:42.410 align:start about some of the characteristics that I am able to define. 03:42.410 --> 03:44.410 align:start We can look at these together, 03:44.410 --> 03:47.040 align:start I hope for a good part of this presentation. 03:47.040 --> 03:49.040 align:start I enjoyed talking to the Dawsons. 03:49.040 --> 03:53.960 align:start I also enjoy talking to the-- each year's professional-- new-- 03:53.960 --> 03:57.490 align:start excuse me, new class of new employees who are coming in 03:57.490 --> 04:01.760 align:start and because I do have a background of the history of the Library 04:01.760 --> 04:05.810 align:start of Congress and also as Jim has said, have been fortunate enough 04:05.810 --> 04:09.850 align:start to be in a position to in essence practice what I preach 04:09.850 --> 04:13.880 align:start as an administrative officer in some of the special projects, 04:13.880 --> 04:20.020 align:start I like to try to convey my conclusions and also to thank you, 04:20.020 --> 04:23.180 align:start the Dawsons and to thank even our brand new employees 04:23.180 --> 04:26.750 align:start for taking an important part in spreading the word 04:26.750 --> 04:30.480 align:start about what is truly a unique institution. 04:30.480 --> 04:33.460 align:start What I have gathered here today is for a first time 04:33.460 --> 04:37.050 align:start for a Dawson's presentation and I've just started doing it with some 04:37.050 --> 04:40.470 align:start of the new employee presentations is the gathering of some 04:40.470 --> 04:43.550 align:start of the publications and some of the posters and some 04:43.550 --> 04:47.470 align:start of the promotional material that I have used through the years 04:47.470 --> 04:49.940 align:start or been involved with and I want to-- 04:49.940 --> 04:55.450 align:start I believe after going through perhaps a very speedy 20-minute 04:55.450 --> 04:59.530 align:start of tracing of the library's history by looking primarily 04:59.530 --> 05:06.550 align:start at its buildings, its locations and its changing mission to stop, 05:06.550 --> 05:10.730 align:start have a question and answer period and then also take you through, 05:10.730 --> 05:12.880 align:start maybe a little later in the hour some 05:12.880 --> 05:15.750 align:start of these publications and tell their stories. 05:15.750 --> 05:19.400 align:start And so what I'm proposing to do is to tell you a bunch of stories-- 05:19.400 --> 05:22.630 align:start most of them pretty much true, alright. 05:22.630 --> 05:27.430 align:start [Laughter] And then to try to answer any of your questions, so this is-- 05:27.430 --> 05:30.900 align:start should be a fun session and I enjoy it each year. 05:30.900 --> 05:36.340 align:start We have to start though at the very beginning and what I have to show 05:36.340 --> 05:39.560 align:start at the very beginning is really what-- how I started. 05:39.560 --> 05:42.340 align:start I began at the Library of Congress actually 05:42.340 --> 05:46.090 align:start in the Congressional Research Service and soon got interested 05:46.090 --> 05:50.110 align:start in the history of the library, and was transferred to what used 05:50.110 --> 05:52.620 align:start to be called the old reference department 05:52.620 --> 05:57.470 align:start because I decided I needed a PhD in American Studies and I've decided 05:57.470 --> 05:59.650 align:start that my topic was gonna be how the Library 05:59.650 --> 06:03.110 align:start of Congress became a national institution, 06:03.110 --> 06:05.950 align:start and this was published-- this is my first book. 06:05.950 --> 06:11.550 align:start It's 1970 and it was published really coming during the period 06:11.550 --> 06:15.560 align:start of my dissertation research and if any of you have done dissertations, 06:15.560 --> 06:18.390 align:start know what you need basically is a chronology, 06:18.390 --> 06:22.180 align:start and so this is a chronology of the Library of Congress-- 06:22.180 --> 06:25.900 align:start a chronological history starting at the beginning and ending 06:25.900 --> 06:31.840 align:start in 1975 before Dr. Boorstin came to the library and before I even knew 06:31.840 --> 06:35.090 align:start that he had planned to create a Center for the Book. 06:35.090 --> 06:41.050 align:start But it is-- in those days was spent time actually of course 06:41.050 --> 06:45.590 align:start with all my citations and I have used it ever since. 06:45.590 --> 06:50.670 align:start We lost this one out of print 25 years ago and we rediscovered it 06:50.670 --> 06:55.200 align:start in one of the library's warehouses a year ago and we now have copies 06:55.200 --> 06:59.660 align:start for sale for only 10 dollars in the LC sale shop. 06:59.660 --> 07:03.330 align:start This is typical of something that you will all learn about the Library 07:03.330 --> 07:06.580 align:start of Congress and in fact I've begun to think of it 07:06.580 --> 07:11.460 align:start as an endearing characteristic, is that we are so big, you really have 07:11.460 --> 07:15.090 align:start to be focused on a topic or a subject in order 07:15.090 --> 07:17.650 align:start to learn what is really here. 07:17.650 --> 07:22.090 align:start Another example which we will come to is the reconstruction 07:22.090 --> 07:25.330 align:start of Jefferson's Library which you all know about-- 07:25.330 --> 07:27.330 align:start or will know about as part 07:27.330 --> 07:31.360 align:start of what your training will be and I'm sure already is. 07:31.360 --> 07:33.750 align:start We didn't know how many of the duplicates 07:33.750 --> 07:37.590 align:start of Jefferson's Library we had on our own shelves 07:37.590 --> 07:41.760 align:start until we really took the bibliography and went after them. 07:41.760 --> 07:46.440 align:start And now when we proudly given the tour of the Jefferson's Library, 07:46.440 --> 07:50.020 align:start we kind of downplay the fact that a number of those-- 07:50.020 --> 07:52.590 align:start there is a euphemism we used in that beautiful catalogue 07:52.590 --> 07:57.290 align:start on which I worked, explaining that, you know, our rich collections, 07:57.290 --> 08:01.990 align:start we manage to find a number of the duplicates which you now see as part 08:01.990 --> 08:04.410 align:start of the reconstructed Jefferson's Library. 08:04.410 --> 08:06.410 align:start It's a fact of life. 08:06.410 --> 08:09.540 align:start We're the largest research library in the world 08:09.540 --> 08:12.810 align:start with around 145 million items. 08:12.810 --> 08:15.150 align:start We have around, I don't know what we're saying, 08:15.150 --> 08:19.370 align:start 39 to 4-- 3900 to 4000 employees. 08:19.370 --> 08:23.870 align:start We're complicated-- the histories of our units are complicated. 08:23.870 --> 08:29.190 align:start But we have a few wonderful things that bring us together and part 08:29.190 --> 08:32.720 align:start of it starts at the very beginning which is outlined here 08:32.720 --> 08:35.010 align:start and in the couple of the other books 08:35.010 --> 08:39.630 align:start and it's really the Jeffersonian heritage and I early 08:39.630 --> 08:43.050 align:start on did a book called Jefferson's Legacy. 08:43.050 --> 08:46.300 align:start A short-- a brief history of the Library of Congress 08:46.300 --> 08:51.240 align:start and let me give you the briefest of that story if you do not have it. 08:51.240 --> 08:55.710 align:start The library was really created from Philadelphia when Congress, 08:55.710 --> 08:58.410 align:start which had always used books in-- when it was in New York 09:00.410 --> 09:02.860 align:start and in Philadelphia have appropriated 5000 dollars 09:02.860 --> 09:06.630 align:start for the library-- for books for the Congress 09:06.630 --> 09:10.150 align:start and our first home was the New Capitol Building 09:10.150 --> 09:13.830 align:start because we we're actually in the Capitol Building 09:13.830 --> 09:16.150 align:start as Washington DC got created. 09:16.150 --> 09:22.810 align:start So, we really preceded any other cultural institution and as we brag 09:22.810 --> 09:26.310 align:start about the Library of Congress and talk to tourists about it, you know, 09:26.310 --> 09:28.580 align:start we do-- part of our pattern now is 09:28.580 --> 09:33.130 align:start that we are the largest federal cultural institution in Washington 09:33.130 --> 09:38.740 align:start and it's hard to beat that because we we're created in 1800 legally. 09:38.740 --> 09:42.160 align:start We really started functioning more when the first books arrived 09:42.160 --> 09:46.800 align:start in the Capitol in 1801 and the joint committee on the library 09:46.800 --> 09:51.410 align:start which is indeed the oldest joint committee on Congress-- 09:51.410 --> 09:55.350 align:start of Congress got started in 1802. 09:55.350 --> 09:59.180 align:start Now, a lot of that part of the history is documented 09:59.180 --> 10:02.040 align:start in a book I was fortunate enough to work on for many, many years. 10:02.040 --> 10:06.000 align:start >> And it's the encyclopedia of the Library of Congress, 10:06.000 --> 10:11.820 align:start but it even now is outdated, it came out in 2004 but one of-- 10:11.820 --> 10:16.170 align:start it has about a dozen essays about the Library of Congress 10:16.170 --> 10:19.790 align:start and then alphabetical histories of functions 10:19.790 --> 10:24.390 align:start and of administrative units and there are reference copies all 10:24.390 --> 10:26.390 align:start over the Library of Congress. Right now, it's out of print 10:28.560 --> 10:31.300 align:start and I'm not sure what the new edition will be 10:31.300 --> 10:33.300 align:start if there will be a new edition. That's another subject. 10:35.300 --> 10:37.360 align:start But one of the little coos I had was to talk 10:37.360 --> 10:41.120 align:start to the Senate Historical Office to do-- 10:41.120 --> 10:44.700 align:start into doing the very first listing of all the members 10:44.700 --> 10:47.490 align:start of the joint committee on the library from the beginning. 10:47.490 --> 10:49.970 align:start And so that is in the back. 10:49.970 --> 10:53.830 align:start Just so the rest of you can see this, this is the poster-- 10:53.830 --> 10:58.060 align:start we use to sell this when it came out in 2004. 10:58.060 --> 11:00.060 align:start It's the only other presenta-- 11:00.060 --> 11:04.470 align:start general presentation about the library that I've been able to make 11:04.470 --> 11:07.720 align:start to the staff as a whole until today 11:07.720 --> 11:12.330 align:start when we are actually taking a look together at some of the resources 11:12.330 --> 11:16.560 align:start that we've used in developing the library's history. 11:16.560 --> 11:21.030 align:start We were proud of the encyclopedia because it had a color section 11:21.030 --> 11:25.100 align:start which is now far superseded by actually the color photos 11:25.100 --> 11:29.790 align:start by Carol Highsmith which are in the new edition of "On These Walls," 11:29.790 --> 11:33.340 align:start but there still is a very handsome color section 11:33.340 --> 11:37.130 align:start that begins this particular book and just so you get a sense of-- 11:37.130 --> 11:42.300 align:start these are the essays on different subjects and then we start with A 11:42.300 --> 11:46.930 align:start and we march right through acquisitions to zebras. 11:46.930 --> 11:49.760 align:start Not quite to zebras but to other units. 11:49.760 --> 11:52.200 align:start And one of the advantages of this is 11:52.200 --> 11:55.730 align:start that about 50 different library employees worked on it 11:55.730 --> 11:57.830 align:start and they were the specialists of their divisions. 11:57.830 --> 12:00.630 align:start And so the music division provided the history 12:00.630 --> 12:03.510 align:start of the music division and collections. 12:03.510 --> 12:08.370 align:start That is another wonderful aspect of the Library of Congress by the way, 12:08.370 --> 12:10.800 align:start the specialists who are here. 12:10.800 --> 12:14.270 align:start We are unique in several ways as I'm indicating. 12:14.270 --> 12:18.170 align:start One, I really should point out is the fact we're a legislative branch. 12:18.170 --> 12:21.200 align:start Congress created us but we're unique 12:21.200 --> 12:24.780 align:start because the president appoints the Librarian of Congress 12:24.780 --> 12:27.210 align:start and that has led to one of our-- 12:27.210 --> 12:32.290 align:start not really troubles but some of the discrepancies and some of the pushes 12:32.290 --> 12:34.360 align:start and pulls in our history. 12:34.360 --> 12:38.100 align:start But a second unique feature that I love is the specialists 12:38.100 --> 12:42.120 align:start that have developed, you know, to care for the collections. 12:42.120 --> 12:45.710 align:start All of which is a function of the copyright law 12:45.710 --> 12:48.470 align:start that I'm getting ahead of my story. We're now still back in the Capitol. 12:50.840 --> 12:54.020 align:start We're still looking at books coming from England 12:54.020 --> 12:57.970 align:start as the first Library of Congress collection. 12:57.970 --> 13:00.920 align:start The reason the collection was so important of course was 13:00.920 --> 13:03.750 align:start that books were really the internet of the day. 13:03.750 --> 13:07.050 align:start Congress had to have information and books 13:07.050 --> 13:09.450 align:start and pamphlets were the way you got information. 13:09.450 --> 13:13.770 align:start And the little library in the Capitol grew during the same years 13:13.770 --> 13:18.600 align:start when Thomas Jefferson was the president of 1801 to 1809 13:18.600 --> 13:21.250 align:start and we all know part of the outcome of this story 13:21.250 --> 13:24.160 align:start that is the Jefferson was a great book lover 13:24.160 --> 13:26.160 align:start and he nurtured that little library. He recommended items for it. 13:28.240 --> 13:33.310 align:start He left office but he actually also named the first 2 Librarians 13:33.310 --> 13:39.130 align:start of Congress were really Jefferson's clerk, John Beckley and then-- 13:39.130 --> 13:44.120 align:start I'm gonna think of it in just a second, but of course, 13:44.120 --> 13:46.850 align:start I will have to look at one of my books in a second. 13:46.850 --> 13:49.440 align:start But in any rate, the first full time Librarian 13:49.440 --> 13:52.940 align:start of Congress was George Watterston in 1815. 13:52.940 --> 13:55.510 align:start So Jefferson had this great interest. 13:55.510 --> 13:58.050 align:start Well, the British destroyed the Library of Congress 13:58.050 --> 14:02.750 align:start when they invaded Washington DC in 1814 and Jefferson 14:02.750 --> 14:05.990 align:start by then was retired to Monticello and he 14:05.990 --> 14:10.410 align:start of course was greatly dismayed but he had an idea and that was 14:10.410 --> 14:14.850 align:start as the owner of the greatest private library in our country at the time 14:14.850 --> 14:18.120 align:start and someone who knew the value of books to Congress 14:18.120 --> 14:21.540 align:start and to our government, because of course the president had been 14:21.540 --> 14:25.470 align:start involved from the beginning in the library, he offered to sell 14:25.470 --> 14:29.670 align:start at cost his wonderful library back to the Congress 14:29.670 --> 14:32.880 align:start to recommence the Library of Congress, 14:32.880 --> 14:36.090 align:start you know to keep that ball rolling. 14:36.090 --> 14:39.440 align:start He had to sell it because basically he was broke 14:39.440 --> 14:44.520 align:start and his creditors were asking for the money and his proposition was 14:44.520 --> 14:51.270 align:start that his roughly 6400 volumes-- 6500 volumes would come to the Library 14:51.270 --> 14:57.600 align:start of Congress for about 4 dollars a volume and around 25, 26,000 dollars 14:57.600 --> 15:00.700 align:start in those dollars-- in those days. 15:00.700 --> 15:04.240 align:start This is all in a lot of our brochures, too so you'll see that 15:04.240 --> 15:08.410 align:start and I'll tell you where to find all of these as we move on. 15:08.410 --> 15:14.410 align:start And Congress only did this by-- approved it by a vote of 10 15:14.410 --> 15:18.040 align:start and it wasn't-- in the end, there were some people who'd-- 15:18.040 --> 15:20.640 align:start said, you know, why do we need Jefferson's Library? 15:20.640 --> 15:24.320 align:start It has books and all of these subjects that Congress doesn't need. 15:24.320 --> 15:28.330 align:start And to the contrary, Jefferson argued all these subjects needed 15:28.330 --> 15:31.700 align:start to be-- the Congress needed to know about fine arts and geography 15:31.700 --> 15:35.900 align:start and science and music-- Jefferson himself being violinist, 15:35.900 --> 15:38.360 align:start because there was no subject to which a member 15:38.360 --> 15:41.570 align:start of Congress may not have occasion to refer 15:41.570 --> 15:44.200 align:start which is a very flattering thing to say to Congress. 15:44.200 --> 15:47.710 align:start [Laughter] But it's also basically true. 15:47.710 --> 15:54.340 align:start And Congress agreed to do this, to take on this comprehensive library. 15:54.340 --> 15:57.270 align:start The second part of Jefferson's idea 15:57.270 --> 16:00.540 align:start which really didn't transpire at the library. 16:00.540 --> 16:04.630 align:start We couldn't really bring it off until after the Civil War was, well, 16:04.630 --> 16:08.410 align:start members of Congress-- well you need these books and all 16:08.410 --> 16:11.550 align:start of these subjects in order to govern this growing country that's kinda 16:11.550 --> 16:13.550 align:start stuck on the eastern seaboard, 16:13.550 --> 16:16.110 align:start the people of America need these books too. 16:16.110 --> 16:21.310 align:start You need to share this legislative library with the American people 16:21.310 --> 16:25.430 align:start and in principle, Congress agreed. 16:25.430 --> 16:28.850 align:start But, in practice, it didn't happen for a couple 16:28.850 --> 16:31.130 align:start until after the Civil War. 16:31.130 --> 16:35.280 align:start And I will explain that story as we kind of move through the morning. 16:35.280 --> 16:38.800 align:start But first, I've gotta get us out of the US Capitol. 16:38.800 --> 16:42.680 align:start We were in the Capitol with Jefferson's Library, 16:42.680 --> 16:48.270 align:start fire was the great threat to all libraries in the 19th century 16:48.270 --> 16:50.270 align:start and the Library of Congress had it share. 16:50.270 --> 16:54.310 align:start Not only did the British burned the Capitol, but in 1825, 16:54.310 --> 17:00.340 align:start there was a fire that did no damage but in 1851, a chimney flue broke 17:00.340 --> 17:05.960 align:start or leaked and flames got in and two thirds of the Library of Congress 17:05.960 --> 17:07.960 align:start in the Capitol was destroyed. 17:07.960 --> 17:11.410 align:start Fifty five thousand volumes were lost including two thirds 17:11.410 --> 17:14.090 align:start of Jefferson's 6500 volumes. 17:14.090 --> 17:17.980 align:start So we were down to between 2000 and 2500. 17:17.980 --> 17:22.400 align:start But, the Congress stepped up to the back actually and agreed-- 17:22.400 --> 17:24.400 align:start and they didn't have to do this 17:24.400 --> 17:26.710 align:start because this was a very difficult period for the Library 17:26.710 --> 17:28.940 align:start of Congress in the 1850s. 17:28.940 --> 17:34.530 align:start They agreed to restore the funding to rebuild the Library of Congress 17:34.530 --> 17:37.750 align:start and put it in the first iron-proof room in the Capitol. 17:37.750 --> 17:42.410 align:start So there was a very important kind of architectural step 17:42.410 --> 17:48.130 align:start that moved us ahead and there was an intention of Congress to move ahead. 17:48.130 --> 17:50.530 align:start However, Congress in those days was-- 17:50.530 --> 17:53.650 align:start it was Congress was dominating not the library side, 17:53.650 --> 17:58.350 align:start not anything like the National Library side and there was a chair 17:58.350 --> 18:01.640 align:start of the library committee who really ran the Library of Congress 18:01.640 --> 18:06.280 align:start from the 1840s until 1862 and he was a senator 18:06.280 --> 18:08.660 align:start from Maryland named, James Pearce. 18:08.660 --> 18:13.220 align:start A knowledgeable man, very well educated, love the classics, 18:13.220 --> 18:17.040 align:start but he also was a-- basically a confederate sympathizer 18:17.040 --> 18:22.080 align:start as most many Maryland people were and he saw no national role 18:22.080 --> 18:24.080 align:start for the Library of Congress. 18:24.080 --> 18:27.380 align:start He rejected the second part of what Jefferson had wanted 18:27.380 --> 18:31.410 align:start and kept the Library of Congress small and really did things 18:31.410 --> 18:33.410 align:start like control the subscriptions, 18:33.410 --> 18:37.490 align:start so some of the inflammatory items weren't really purchased. 18:37.490 --> 18:42.050 align:start And so-- and in fact, he favored moving the National Library 18:42.050 --> 18:46.090 align:start to the Smithsonian which had been created in 1846. 18:46.090 --> 18:49.990 align:start But you see, now I'm telling you chronologically, we were 1800. 18:49.990 --> 18:52.650 align:start Smithsonian is 1846. 18:52.650 --> 18:55.620 align:start Our other major sister cultural institutions, 18:55.620 --> 18:59.090 align:start I mean the other biggie of course is the National Archives 18:59.090 --> 19:02.690 align:start which really wasn't created until 1935. 19:02.690 --> 19:05.240 align:start So as our story proceeds, you'll see the Library 19:05.240 --> 19:09.400 align:start of Congress grabbing some of the archival functions that the arch-- 19:09.400 --> 19:12.910 align:start later would go back to the archive. 19:12.910 --> 19:16.650 align:start But it came fairly close to losing the National Library function 19:16.650 --> 19:20.160 align:start in the 1840s and '50s except a man named, 19:20.160 --> 19:22.750 align:start Joseph Henry who was a great scientist, 19:22.750 --> 19:26.030 align:start the head of the Smithsonian saw what was happening 19:26.030 --> 19:29.020 align:start and Congress didn't know which way to turn with the Smithsonian 19:29.020 --> 19:31.390 align:start or really with the Library of Congress 19:31.390 --> 19:35.470 align:start but Joseph Henry knew he wanted Smithsonian to be science 19:35.470 --> 19:39.890 align:start and he fired the librarian name-- whose name was Charles Coffin Jewett 19:39.890 --> 19:41.890 align:start who wanted the Library of Congress-- 19:41.890 --> 19:44.480 align:start I mean the Smithsonian to be the National Library. 19:44.480 --> 19:48.550 align:start And Joseph Henry himself pointed up to the Capitol and said, "Some day, 19:48.550 --> 19:50.550 align:start it's got to be the Library of Congress 19:50.550 --> 19:52.550 align:start because it's got the building. It's got the national stature. 19:54.550 --> 19:56.550 align:start It doesn't have the people yet." And that that was quite true. 19:58.550 --> 20:00.760 align:start In the 1850s, we had a staff of 5 20:00.760 --> 20:04.530 align:start and by the time a man named Ainsworth Rand Spofford became a 20:04.530 --> 20:07.040 align:start Librarian of Congress, a newspaper man from Cincinnati, we had 7. 20:07.040 --> 20:13.640 align:start >> But Spofford, he was the man who recognized the national potential 20:13.640 --> 20:17.180 align:start of the library and centralized copyright 20:17.180 --> 20:20.330 align:start at the Library of Congress in 1870. 20:20.330 --> 20:23.140 align:start And his question was, "How do I build a national library 20:23.140 --> 20:26.110 align:start with not much money," and his answer was, "I know, 20:26.110 --> 20:28.510 align:start I'll do it like they did in England and in France 20:28.510 --> 20:31.430 align:start and I centralize copyright so the Library 20:31.430 --> 20:37.410 align:start of Congress gets 2 free copies of all books, prints, maps, 20:37.410 --> 20:41.400 align:start anything that needs to be preserved by an author in order 20:41.400 --> 20:46.370 align:start to retain the intellectual property rights to it." 20:46.370 --> 20:48.950 align:start And Spofford said, "That's what' we will do. 20:48.950 --> 20:50.950 align:start That's what our national library will be. 20:50.950 --> 20:54.530 align:start It will be a great national accumulation of knowledge 20:54.530 --> 20:57.060 align:start that the American people can rely on." 20:57.060 --> 20:59.140 align:start And Spofford paraphrased Jefferson. 20:59.140 --> 21:02.120 align:start He took Jefferson's argument about the need-- 21:02.120 --> 21:06.840 align:start every great nation has a great library that it can turn 21:06.840 --> 21:10.970 align:start to as it grows and that library needs to be comprehensive 21:10.970 --> 21:14.240 align:start and needs to be open to all. 21:14.240 --> 21:17.570 align:start So, the 2 Jeffersonian principles that really have come 21:17.570 --> 21:21.740 align:start through are comprehensiveness of knowledge and today, 21:21.740 --> 21:26.120 align:start the Library of Congress with our great collections is really what we 21:26.120 --> 21:28.390 align:start call a multimedia encyclopedia. 21:28.390 --> 21:33.890 align:start That's what Dr. Boorstin used to call it who was my boss in 1975, 21:33.890 --> 21:35.890 align:start the one who created the center. 21:35.890 --> 21:38.770 align:start And he took great pride in the fact that we had-- 21:38.770 --> 21:42.640 align:start we we're a multimedia encyclopedia because when you think about it, 21:42.640 --> 21:46.360 align:start the copyright office and the copyright laws, you know, 21:46.360 --> 21:49.020 align:start cover all kinds of different formats and media. 21:49.020 --> 21:52.620 align:start And to this day copyright is, you know, 21:52.620 --> 21:57.260 align:start I think is still a very important part of our acquisitions policy. 21:57.260 --> 21:59.800 align:start But now of course we've moved in to the electronic age 21:59.800 --> 22:02.670 align:start and not only are we copyrighting all kinds of items 22:02.670 --> 22:05.280 align:start that Spofford had never heard of, 22:05.280 --> 22:09.080 align:start but of course we're copyrighting born digital things and getting-- 22:09.080 --> 22:12.230 align:start and so we've moved into this other world but the basis 22:12.230 --> 22:17.100 align:start of it is the copyright office being part of the Library of Congress, 22:17.100 --> 22:20.210 align:start that also is another unique feature. That doesn't happen. 22:22.210 --> 22:25.680 align:start Not only are there very few if any, I can only think of one, 22:25.680 --> 22:31.400 align:start other so-called national library that also is a parliamentary library 22:31.400 --> 22:35.860 align:start but copyright also is an executive branch activity. 22:35.860 --> 22:39.980 align:start And in the Library of Congress in my day, there was an effort in fact 22:39.980 --> 22:43.850 align:start to move copyright out and tie it back to the patent office function 22:43.850 --> 22:47.570 align:start from whence it sort of came in a general kind of way. 22:47.570 --> 22:51.750 align:start And the library didn't want to do that and then in the end, 22:51.750 --> 22:54.780 align:start neither did the publishers and neither did the copyright-- 22:54.780 --> 22:58.550 align:start people who were happy with what the copyright was. 22:58.550 --> 23:01.690 align:start Now, copyright is a very difficult thing to administer 23:01.690 --> 23:05.030 align:start and it's controversial but by and large because the Library 23:05.030 --> 23:09.840 align:start of Congress is basically both legislative and also 23:09.840 --> 23:11.880 align:start in a sense an executive branch with-- 23:11.880 --> 23:15.820 align:start it has this executive functions, we are nonpartisan. 23:15.820 --> 23:20.400 align:start The Librarian of Congress from the beginning has been appointed 23:20.400 --> 23:22.400 align:start by the president. 23:22.400 --> 23:28.360 align:start Congress didn't even catch on until 1897when suddenly, this building-- 23:28.360 --> 23:31.740 align:start and this is a brochure I have for all of you about an essay I wrote 23:31.740 --> 23:34.100 align:start about the importance of the building. 23:34.100 --> 23:36.440 align:start When this building suddenly appeared, it will do-- 23:36.440 --> 23:39.730 align:start well I think we'll talk more about the construction a little later. 23:39.730 --> 23:42.700 align:start And so what have we here? 23:42.700 --> 23:47.220 align:start It looks Mr. Spofford, the librarian claims this is a national library. 23:47.220 --> 23:49.220 align:start What is a national library? 23:49.220 --> 23:52.250 align:start I know, let's have hearings and let's bring in some librarians 23:52.250 --> 23:55.360 align:start to tell us what-- if this really is a national library. 23:55.360 --> 23:59.170 align:start Well, it turns out Spofford had come pretty close 23:59.170 --> 24:01.660 align:start to making this into a national library. 24:01.660 --> 24:06.210 align:start He hadn't quite done a couple of things but in the end, 24:06.210 --> 24:09.790 align:start the building itself of course make such a strong statement 24:09.790 --> 24:13.780 align:start about cultural institution than it is a cultural monument. 24:13.780 --> 24:18.580 align:start The librarians criticism-- criticism of the time was that Spofford, 24:18.580 --> 24:22.510 align:start A had not thought of things internationally yet, 24:22.510 --> 24:26.010 align:start but he really didn't have a chance, but that's true. 24:26.010 --> 24:29.180 align:start And secondly, that he wasn't reaching out to other libraries 24:29.180 --> 24:33.600 align:start and their definition of a national library would be a library 24:33.600 --> 24:37.870 align:start that reached out and did technical services, centralized cataloguing, 24:37.870 --> 24:40.890 align:start centralized acquisitions to other libraries. 24:40.890 --> 24:43.860 align:start In other words, we were missing a leadership role 24:43.860 --> 24:45.920 align:start in the library community. 24:45.920 --> 24:50.650 align:start But basically, these other elements were there. 24:50.650 --> 24:54.310 align:start The trick for Spofford was two-fold, 24:54.310 --> 24:58.050 align:start one was to convince Congress to build the building. 24:58.050 --> 25:02.470 align:start He centralized copyright in 19-- 1870. 25:02.470 --> 25:07.390 align:start He said in 1871 said, "Alright Congress, we're gonna be flooded. 25:07.390 --> 25:09.390 align:start We gotta have a building." 25:09.390 --> 25:13.870 align:start He only had at that time maybe 12 employees but with-- 25:13.870 --> 25:19.650 align:start once copyright came, he got-- eventually got up to 24 employees 25:19.650 --> 25:23.320 align:start at the turn of the century but half of them were working on-- 25:23.320 --> 25:25.340 align:start before the building was occupied, 25:25.340 --> 25:28.210 align:start but half of them were working on copyright. 25:28.210 --> 25:32.060 align:start But his bigger challenge was in the Jeffersonian sense 25:32.060 --> 25:36.710 align:start of convincing Congress that this should be the national institution 25:36.710 --> 25:39.690 align:start and that the building when it was built was gonna be 25:39.690 --> 25:44.090 align:start of such monumental proportions that it hardly could be anything but, 25:44.090 --> 25:46.480 align:start you know, something pretty significant. 25:46.480 --> 25:50.430 align:start And the story that's told in this brochure is Spofford's story 25:50.430 --> 25:55.010 align:start of both copyright and getting the building built which is-- 25:55.010 --> 25:57.620 align:start was called the "Struggle for the Structure" of which I've called 25:57.620 --> 25:59.800 align:start in several other articles. 25:59.800 --> 26:04.430 align:start But what significant about that is once the building was built, 26:04.430 --> 26:09.190 align:start one of the 2 librarians who testified at the hearings 26:09.190 --> 26:12.320 align:start from outside saying Spofford did great except 26:12.320 --> 26:15.930 align:start for these 2 things was Herbert Putnam. 26:15.930 --> 26:19.070 align:start And he was from the Putnam Publishing family 26:19.070 --> 26:25.080 align:start and he was President McKinley's nominee to become the Librarian 26:25.080 --> 26:28.550 align:start of Congress from-- in 1899. 26:28.550 --> 26:33.540 align:start And it was Putnam who stayed for 40 years at the Library of Congress, 26:33.540 --> 26:37.250 align:start the longest term and what he did was he completed the job 26:37.250 --> 26:39.880 align:start that Spofford really didn't have a chance to complete. 26:39.880 --> 26:42.940 align:start He started services to libraries 26:42.940 --> 26:46.150 align:start and he went international in a very daring way. 26:46.150 --> 26:50.030 align:start I mean in the 1905, he sent a Library of Congress employee 26:50.030 --> 26:54.650 align:start to Russia, to Siberia to look a t a collection that's Putnam felt 26:54.650 --> 26:57.290 align:start that was something we should purchase as the basis 26:57.290 --> 26:59.290 align:start for our Russian collection. 26:59.290 --> 27:02.500 align:start The same decade, he did the same thing for China, you know, 27:02.500 --> 27:07.280 align:start for the Middle East and he just had a very international point of view. 27:07.280 --> 27:09.690 align:start But at the same time, he was doing-- 27:09.690 --> 27:13.410 align:start started centralized cataloguing at the Library of Congress. 27:13.410 --> 27:17.890 align:start With those little 3 by 5 cards, he-- Putnam, I'm talking about now. 27:17.890 --> 27:21.850 align:start So the 2 librarians that I'm talking mostly about now would-- 27:21.850 --> 27:26.790 align:start one would be Ainsworth Rand Spofford and he was the librarian who came 27:26.790 --> 27:29.030 align:start to the library during the Civil War. 27:29.030 --> 27:33.680 align:start He got Lincoln to name him Librarian of Congress in 1864 27:33.680 --> 27:36.800 align:start and he centralized copyright and built the Jefferson Building. 27:36.800 --> 27:39.550 align:start It was terribly overcrowded in the Capitol 27:39.550 --> 27:43.570 align:start but eventually everything was moved into the Jefferson Building. 27:43.570 --> 27:45.570 align:start I have a picture to show you. 27:45.570 --> 27:47.680 align:start I have marked in one of my books but I'm gonna finish. 27:47.680 --> 27:51.470 align:start So then the 2nd one is Herbert Putnam. 27:51.470 --> 27:55.780 align:start And it was during the hearings on this building 27:55.780 --> 27:59.360 align:start that the Congress realized it had never given itself the power 27:59.360 --> 28:01.880 align:start to confirm the president's choice as librarian. 28:01.880 --> 28:03.880 align:start It's hard to believe. 28:03.880 --> 28:06.950 align:start So, during the 19th century sometimes a new president came in 28:06.950 --> 28:09.100 align:start and out went the librarian. 28:09.100 --> 28:14.540 align:start And that protection, if you wanna call it that, was added to the sort 28:14.540 --> 28:18.910 align:start of the structure of the Library of Congress in 1897. 28:18.910 --> 28:25.100 align:start And the first librarian that McKinley appointed and was confirmed 28:25.100 --> 28:28.370 align:start by Congress was a journalist named, John Russell Young 28:28.370 --> 28:30.990 align:start who did a great job but we can't worry too much about him. 28:30.990 --> 28:32.990 align:start There are limited timeframe. 28:32.990 --> 28:35.110 align:start He is in all the books, because he died 28:35.110 --> 28:37.150 align:start after a year and a half in office. 28:37.150 --> 28:42.480 align:start And it was Putnam who came in as the 2nd appointment from McKinley 28:42.480 --> 28:45.340 align:start and really kinda finished this job. 28:45.340 --> 28:50.550 align:start And so what Putnam did was to redefine the constituencies 28:50.550 --> 28:53.280 align:start that the Library of Congress had. 28:53.280 --> 28:56.370 align:start We started of course with the president which brought 28:56.370 --> 28:59.090 align:start in the executive branch and early on, 28:59.090 --> 29:02.090 align:start executive branch people were authorized to use 29:02.090 --> 29:05.180 align:start that little library in the Capitol. 29:05.180 --> 29:09.690 align:start When the-- after the fire in the Capitol, the big iron room was built 29:09.690 --> 29:12.090 align:start and we have pictures of that 29:12.090 --> 29:14.970 align:start and we'll do a little picture session in a few minutes. 29:14.970 --> 29:19.290 align:start That was read across the Capitol looking down on the mall. 29:19.290 --> 29:23.090 align:start It was the best place for tourists to look at the mall. 29:23.090 --> 29:25.660 align:start So what happened was people naturally and the members 29:25.660 --> 29:29.270 align:start of the public came in and looked at through the Library of Congress 29:29.270 --> 29:32.330 align:start and look in the mall and as we do now. 29:32.330 --> 29:37.200 align:start So we are-- already then were serving Congress by virtue 29:37.200 --> 29:39.200 align:start of being the Library of Congress, 29:39.200 --> 29:41.950 align:start the executive by the president making the appointment, 29:41.950 --> 29:47.900 align:start the public by using the Library of Congress over there in the Capitol. 29:47.900 --> 29:49.900 align:start Copyright came in. 29:49.900 --> 29:53.720 align:start We started serving publishers in the creative community. 29:53.720 --> 29:57.020 align:start We had not gotten yet and I'm missing one 29:57.020 --> 29:59.020 align:start of our major constituencies. 29:59.020 --> 30:01.020 align:start I'm gonna mention this before the Young Readers Center. 30:03.020 --> 30:06.620 align:start >> But at any rate, we were slowly building it and then finally, 30:06.620 --> 30:11.010 align:start you know, Putnam built the International Constituency and we-- 30:11.010 --> 30:13.510 align:start oh then, excuse me, I forgot. One little thing in Spofford. 30:15.850 --> 30:18.650 align:start Spofford in addition to centralizing cataloguing-- 30:18.650 --> 30:21.980 align:start I mean to centralizing copyright persuaded Congress 30:21.980 --> 30:24.390 align:start to give the library 100,000 dollars 30:24.390 --> 30:28.110 align:start for the Peter Force Library incunabula. 30:28.110 --> 30:32.830 align:start This was early books and also there were valuable maps there, 30:32.830 --> 30:35.580 align:start so he was starting on the scholarly community 30:35.580 --> 30:38.470 align:start and Spofford brought his friend, George Bancroft 30:38.470 --> 30:42.160 align:start who was an American historian in to not only to write letters 30:42.160 --> 30:44.980 align:start of endorsement to Congress for 100,000 dollars 30:44.980 --> 30:49.310 align:start which was quite something in 19-- 1867 to buy that library, 30:49.310 --> 30:54.630 align:start but also to help scholars know that they were welcome 30:54.630 --> 30:56.630 align:start at the Library of Congress. Still a problem we have. 30:58.630 --> 31:00.630 align:start We'll talk about that in the question and answer period. 31:00.630 --> 31:04.390 align:start Because of our name, Library of Congress, and the tension 31:04.390 --> 31:07.460 align:start that is sort of the natural one that I hope you can see a building 31:07.460 --> 31:11.730 align:start where starting with Congress, we're adding kinda not to enthusiastically 31:11.730 --> 31:14.240 align:start at the beginning the American public, 31:14.240 --> 31:16.800 align:start and of course international intentions 31:16.800 --> 31:19.540 align:start and now the internet has made us international. 31:19.540 --> 31:25.070 align:start So in fact, we have fulfilled, you know, this Jeffersonian idea of-- 31:25.070 --> 31:28.420 align:start it's just taken a lot longer than Jefferson thought it would. 31:28.420 --> 31:34.140 align:start But nonetheless, you know, we are unique in that sense. 31:34.140 --> 31:39.790 align:start Just to-- I'm gonna try to concentrate on getting us 31:39.790 --> 31:42.440 align:start up to the present and then stopping and then I'm gonna go through 31:42.440 --> 31:45.940 align:start and show you some photos of some of the things I've talked about. 31:45.940 --> 31:47.940 align:start The other significant thing is 31:47.940 --> 31:52.870 align:start that after Spofford then actually brought together these 2 functions. 31:52.870 --> 31:55.600 align:start He said, "Okay, we're gonna do the Jeffersonian thing. 31:55.600 --> 31:59.240 align:start We're gonna tie the national role to the legislative role. 31:59.240 --> 32:01.250 align:start We're gonna do both." 32:01.250 --> 32:03.250 align:start Congress hasn't always agreed with that. 32:03.250 --> 32:05.980 align:start There's been kind of an up and down in attention just like there was 32:05.980 --> 32:08.140 align:start with Mr. Pearce back in the 19th century. 32:08.140 --> 32:12.590 align:start But basically, every Librarian of Congress has bought this idea. 32:12.590 --> 32:17.240 align:start Everyone since Spofford and that includes the ones who follow Putnam 32:17.240 --> 32:20.980 align:start who were Archibald MacLeish who was the Librarian of Congress, 32:20.980 --> 32:26.060 align:start the writer from 1939 to 1944 while he was working 32:26.060 --> 32:31.710 align:start as a speech writer actually for Archibald MacLeish. 32:31.710 --> 32:37.790 align:start He not only took this as a natural assumption, this bringing together 32:37.790 --> 32:42.510 align:start of the people's library with the legislative library, 32:42.510 --> 32:47.280 align:start but he was a war time librarian and really revved it up and talked 32:47.280 --> 32:50.160 align:start about the Library of Congress as a fortress of freedom. 32:50.160 --> 32:52.230 align:start Hey, there's an audio visual. 32:52.230 --> 32:55.970 align:start This is a book about the history of the Library of Congress 32:55.970 --> 32:59.010 align:start by a woman who worked in CRS. 32:59.010 --> 33:03.030 align:start And it was built-- it was written in 1946-- 33:03.030 --> 33:06.230 align:start '42, I'm sorry published by Lippincott, you know, 33:06.230 --> 33:08.480 align:start just as the US had entered the war. 33:08.480 --> 33:12.480 align:start But the image that it was shown, of course and the idea behind it was 33:12.480 --> 33:17.140 align:start that we were protecting America's freedoms and in a real way 33:17.140 --> 33:20.350 align:start that was true, because way back in the 1920s-- 33:20.350 --> 33:24.070 align:start and this is Mr. Putnam building this constituency again, 33:24.070 --> 33:28.380 align:start he went to the state department where he had special connections 33:28.380 --> 33:32.780 align:start and persuaded them to loan the Declaration of Independence 33:32.780 --> 33:36.610 align:start and the Constitution to the Library of Congress for display 33:36.610 --> 33:46.860 align:start in the Great Hall and was on display from 1923 until 1952 when we ended 33:46.860 --> 33:48.980 align:start up giving it to the National Archives 33:48.980 --> 33:51.810 align:start which hadn't been created until '35. 33:51.810 --> 33:53.810 align:start But as you know the difference between-- 33:53.810 --> 33:56.950 align:start the basic difference between the institutions is the archives is 33:56.950 --> 34:00.010 align:start where our-- the documents of our government are kept and there's-- 34:00.010 --> 34:03.170 align:start no one could really argue that the 2 basic documents 34:03.170 --> 34:06.060 align:start of our government were not the Declaration 34:06.060 --> 34:08.060 align:start of Independence and the Constitution. 34:08.060 --> 34:11.090 align:start So the library reluctantly gave those up. 34:11.090 --> 34:16.190 align:start In fact, the Librarian of Congress at that time was Luther Evans. 34:16.190 --> 34:18.190 align:start He followed MacLeish [inaudible]. MacLeish was '39 to '44. 34:21.580 --> 34:27.840 align:start Evans was '45-- 1945 to 1953 and left in 1953 34:27.840 --> 34:30.920 align:start to become the first secretary general of UNESCO. 34:30.920 --> 34:33.940 align:start So you get that international thing back in. 34:33.940 --> 34:37.720 align:start But Evans actually, and we've had a little bit 34:37.720 --> 34:41.460 align:start of an oral history interview with him talking about it, was so worried 34:41.460 --> 34:45.550 align:start about the Library of Congress' senior staff didn't wanna give 34:45.550 --> 34:48.630 align:start up the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. 34:48.630 --> 34:51.960 align:start They felt, "We had them and we librarians were that way. 34:51.960 --> 34:54.440 align:start We are archivist were that way and darn 34:54.440 --> 34:56.440 align:start if we were ever gonna give them up." 34:56.440 --> 34:58.440 align:start And there are a couple of articles that I've written 34:58.440 --> 35:00.440 align:start and other people have written about this. 35:00.440 --> 35:05.280 align:start So Evans in the end asked the joint committee on the library 35:05.280 --> 35:09.220 align:start which basically is an advisory committee to the library 35:09.220 --> 35:13.490 align:start to order him to give the Declaration and the Constitution 35:13.490 --> 35:16.520 align:start up to the archives and the order was issued, I think the-- 35:16.520 --> 35:20.170 align:start probably the only direct order the joint library committee has ever 35:20.170 --> 35:24.610 align:start issued, and it happened in 1952. 35:24.610 --> 35:31.600 align:start The Librarian of Congress from '53, Evans then left and in 1953, 35:31.600 --> 35:36.240 align:start a man named L. Quincy Mumford for whom our Mumford Room was opened-- 35:36.240 --> 35:40.370 align:start was named was from the Cleveland Public Library. 35:40.370 --> 35:43.250 align:start And he was the only Librarian 35:43.250 --> 35:46.010 align:start of Congress who's ever had a professional degree. 35:46.010 --> 35:49.550 align:start And in my case, even though I am a professional librarian, 35:49.550 --> 35:53.350 align:start I do not think it's a necessary requirement but it doesn't hurt. 35:53.350 --> 35:57.620 align:start And so that was another kind of constituency but the library grew 35:57.620 --> 36:03.240 align:start on both the legislative and the national sides under Mr. Mumford 36:03.240 --> 36:05.590 align:start because of a huge infusion of depart-- 36:05.590 --> 36:08.460 align:start of educational funds in the '70s. 36:08.460 --> 36:11.720 align:start And that's when we created our overseas offices. 36:11.720 --> 36:14.380 align:start But the seeds of the overseas offices 36:14.380 --> 36:18.190 align:start and our international role are in our collections. 36:18.190 --> 36:23.740 align:start In fact, its' fair to say I think the functions of the Library 36:23.740 --> 36:26.770 align:start of Congress-- really they do grow out of the collections. 36:26.770 --> 36:30.690 align:start And because the collections from the beginning are so broad 36:30.690 --> 36:32.690 align:start and so international and-- you know, 36:32.690 --> 36:36.670 align:start our statistic is I don't know what it is, but 470 languages. 36:36.670 --> 36:40.860 align:start Some of you-- Jim has to patter down, I mean what we say. 36:40.860 --> 36:45.590 align:start But it's because we have those collections, we have the units-- 36:45.590 --> 36:49.410 align:start the area studies units and that's why we have the specialists 36:49.410 --> 36:51.410 align:start that I am so fond of. 36:51.410 --> 36:54.120 align:start You don't have many people who have the wonderful specialties we have 36:54.120 --> 36:56.120 align:start in the Library of Congress. 36:56.120 --> 36:59.060 align:start And in that sense, it's because Congress bought 36:59.060 --> 37:04.100 align:start that Jefferson Library all those years ago and we now, of course, 37:04.100 --> 37:06.770 align:start honor it by not only it's reconstruction 37:06.770 --> 37:10.960 align:start through the bicentennial but we honor it when Dr. Billington 37:10.960 --> 37:15.170 align:start who is our present Librarian of Congress goes to Congress every year 37:15.170 --> 37:17.170 align:start to get our funding and we're 37:17.170 --> 37:22.870 align:start up to 640 million maybe a year from appropriated funds. 37:22.870 --> 37:24.870 align:start We are careful. 37:24.870 --> 37:27.950 align:start We want congress to stay to be our major supporter. 37:27.950 --> 37:32.230 align:start We do not want everything to be funded by the private sector at all. 37:32.230 --> 37:34.230 align:start We want it in a very controlled way 37:34.230 --> 37:36.930 align:start and we have a Madison Council that helps us. 37:36.930 --> 37:38.930 align:start But it helps us in direct-- 37:38.930 --> 37:41.350 align:start carefully directed ways by the library. 37:41.350 --> 37:44.900 align:start But Dr. Billington as did Dr. Boorstin before him, 37:44.900 --> 37:48.540 align:start when they go to Congress say, you know, what else to say, 37:48.540 --> 37:51.940 align:start say why do you getting all these materials from all over the world? 37:51.940 --> 37:54.500 align:start There is no subject to which a member 37:54.500 --> 37:57.400 align:start of Congress may not have occasion to refer. 37:57.400 --> 38:01.810 align:start And that is a bedrock kind of mission and statement, you know, 38:01.810 --> 38:03.810 align:start for the Library of Congress. And it is a valid one. 38:05.810 --> 38:10.260 align:start Its-but the key is, you know, to try to convince Congress 38:10.260 --> 38:12.890 align:start and to keep working especially in a period 38:12.890 --> 38:16.630 align:start of restrained budgets right now, you know, to keep our eye 38:16.630 --> 38:22.990 align:start on this larger comprehensive unique role of the Library of Congress. 38:22.990 --> 38:26.400 align:start Dr.-- Mr. Mumford retired 38:26.400 --> 38:31.170 align:start in 1954 even though the library grew tremendously under him. 38:31.170 --> 38:36.090 align:start I remember this because that was back when I was kind of doing more 38:36.090 --> 38:38.530 align:start for the library as a historian and I did one 38:38.530 --> 38:42.980 align:start of the little retirement brochures for Dr.-- Mr. 38:42.980 --> 38:46.530 align:start Mumford. You know, how do you say what's happened in the last 20 years 38:46.530 --> 38:49.600 align:start and I never forget saying that our appropriation went 38:49.600 --> 38:52.430 align:start from 9 million to 90 million. 38:52.430 --> 38:57.290 align:start Now, that doesn't sound like much but that was 1954 to '74 38:57.290 --> 39:00.950 align:start and I just said today, it's 640 million. 39:00.950 --> 39:05.040 align:start But the collections grew and that I was able to come to conclusions 39:05.040 --> 39:08.120 align:start that what happened in those days is what still happens 39:08.120 --> 39:10.120 align:start in the general way. 39:10.120 --> 39:12.430 align:start The legislative side which is really handled 39:12.430 --> 39:14.430 align:start by the Congressional Research Service here, 39:14.430 --> 39:18.370 align:start in my day it was the Legislative Reference Service, 39:18.370 --> 39:23.630 align:start grows and has this essentially important nonpartisan function 39:23.630 --> 39:26.500 align:start which actually leads to another unique feature 39:26.500 --> 39:28.500 align:start of the Library of Congress. We truly are nonpartisan. 39:30.500 --> 39:34.010 align:start While the Librarian of Congress is appointed by a political-- 39:34.010 --> 39:37.660 align:start by the president, you know, we are not the kind of agency 39:37.660 --> 39:40.420 align:start that has a job change at the upper levels 39:40.420 --> 39:42.750 align:start when a new administration comes in. It doesn't happen. 39:44.750 --> 39:47.130 align:start There is an integrity and in the early days, 39:47.130 --> 39:50.740 align:start a separate civil service system was built for the library 39:50.740 --> 39:54.320 align:start with its separate retirement programs that has gotten closer 39:54.320 --> 39:57.880 align:start to the government programs but it still has-- 39:57.880 --> 40:01.640 align:start the library still has this integrity and this reputation 40:01.640 --> 40:05.450 align:start as an absolutely nonpartisan agency. 40:05.450 --> 40:10.570 align:start >> And we must be because of CRS, because they do work for republicans 40:10.570 --> 40:13.390 align:start and they do work for democrats. 40:13.390 --> 40:17.870 align:start They are very, very-- we are very, very careful as an institution 40:17.870 --> 40:23.010 align:start to retain that good reputation and we've done so. 40:23.010 --> 40:25.010 align:start I've seen changes in that. 40:25.010 --> 40:28.580 align:start I've seen Dr. Billington being more willing to let members 40:28.580 --> 40:31.380 align:start of Congress make use of our wonderful Jefferson Building 40:31.380 --> 40:34.260 align:start but it's done in an absolutely nonpartisan way. 40:34.260 --> 40:37.970 align:start If the republicans rent it for something or take it 40:37.970 --> 40:40.200 align:start or use it, the democrats do. 40:40.200 --> 40:45.550 align:start So it's that nonpartisan right down the middle of the road integrity 40:45.550 --> 40:47.550 align:start of the library that it's another-- 40:47.550 --> 40:51.400 align:start one of the Spofford characteristics carried through Putnam. 40:51.400 --> 40:54.580 align:start I can't say that was a Jeffersonian characteristic actually. 40:54.580 --> 40:58.990 align:start Spofford was the one who really needed to be nonpartisan in order 40:58.990 --> 41:03.990 align:start to get the votes-- to get both-- to get the building actually. 41:03.990 --> 41:10.480 align:start And then what happened was Mr. Mumford retired and Daniel Boorstin, 41:10.480 --> 41:13.360 align:start historian from University of Chicago 41:13.360 --> 41:17.400 align:start who had been actually a senior historian at the library 41:17.400 --> 41:21.440 align:start at the Smithsonian Museum of National History, 41:21.440 --> 41:27.670 align:start I think it was what it was called in those days, was named by Gerald Ford 41:27.670 --> 41:30.050 align:start to be Librarian of Congress. 41:30.050 --> 41:34.600 align:start And that was the period when Jim mentioned I got involved 41:34.600 --> 41:36.690 align:start in the library as both a historian 41:36.690 --> 41:40.340 align:start and as an administrative person being Dr. Boorstin's head 41:40.340 --> 41:42.970 align:start of his task force which had people from all 41:42.970 --> 41:47.240 align:start over the world actually plus a lot of Library of Congress employees, 41:47.240 --> 41:50.950 align:start out of which came the Center for the Book. 41:50.950 --> 41:52.950 align:start But he-- Dr. 41:52.950 --> 41:55.900 align:start Boorstin decided to retire in 1987 to go back 41:55.900 --> 41:57.900 align:start to writing his big world history. 41:57.900 --> 42:01.230 align:start He'd already written books about the history of the Library of Congress-- 42:01.230 --> 42:03.230 align:start I mean about the United States. 42:03.230 --> 42:07.840 align:start And Dr. Billington who was at the Woodrow Wilson Center, 42:07.840 --> 42:15.670 align:start at the Smithsonian was named by Ronald Reagan in 1987 42:15.670 --> 42:19.540 align:start and Dr. Billington who is also a very strong Librarian 42:19.540 --> 42:25.050 align:start of Congress has been with us since, which does lead me 42:25.050 --> 42:27.840 align:start and I will conclude on this and we'll do a little bit of Q 42:27.840 --> 42:31.840 align:start and A. The other thing the library has been blessed with is, 42:31.840 --> 42:37.780 align:start I would say since Spofford not only librarians who understood the role 42:37.780 --> 42:41.640 align:start that the Library of Congress could play but we're strong enough 42:41.640 --> 42:43.760 align:start in dealing with both Congress 42:43.760 --> 42:47.270 align:start and in developing national constituencies to-- 42:47.270 --> 42:52.200 align:start and in maintaining this nonpartisan neutrality. 42:52.200 --> 42:56.010 align:start And that was not an easy thing for Mr. Putnam to do in the-- 42:56.010 --> 43:00.050 align:start those 30 years because this was when Congress was asserting its role 43:00.050 --> 43:07.630 align:start with his own skills managed to maintain this integrity 43:07.630 --> 43:10.210 align:start that we've been blessed with strong leadership. 43:10.210 --> 43:13.480 align:start And the Librarian of Congress is known at-- 43:13.480 --> 43:16.520 align:start whomever he is and so far it's been all he, 43:16.520 --> 43:18.770 align:start but it will probably won't be for-- 43:18.770 --> 43:20.770 align:start I mean, of course it won't be forever, 43:20.770 --> 43:26.480 align:start but who knows what will happen, has always had a strong reputation 43:26.480 --> 43:30.410 align:start and the Library of Congress has managed to keep a strong reputation 43:30.410 --> 43:35.690 align:start which you are part of course and I know that you will take-- 43:35.690 --> 43:39.590 align:start you do take pride in the library or you wouldn't be here, but I'm hoping 43:39.590 --> 43:42.530 align:start that some of this and in our discussion, 43:42.530 --> 43:45.340 align:start we can talk a little bit more about some of the items that I've hit. 43:45.340 --> 43:47.340 align:start So that ends part 1. Thank you very much. 43:49.340 --> 43:51.340 align:start [ Laughter ] [ Applause ] 43:53.340 --> 43:55.340 align:start >> Archibald MacLeish was really the first librarian 43:55.340 --> 43:57.340 align:start to start honoring Jefferson but he had a good reason 43:57.340 --> 43:59.340 align:start and I don't know-- oh, I did bring it. 43:59.340 --> 44:02.140 align:start This is the Jefferson bicentennial celebrated 44:02.140 --> 44:05.970 align:start at the Library of Congress in 1943. 44:05.970 --> 44:10.980 align:start And it's a catalogue of exhibitions and what-- and by then-- 44:10.980 --> 44:13.800 align:start I didn't even really talked about the other buildings, did I? 44:13.800 --> 44:18.740 align:start Very quickly, the-- this wonderful Jefferson Building of ours 44:18.740 --> 44:23.960 align:start which we'll come back to is opened in 1897, Putnam built an open-- 44:23.960 --> 44:25.960 align:start what was then called the annex building, 44:25.960 --> 44:29.050 align:start today is Adams Building that's built in the '30s, 44:29.050 --> 44:32.040 align:start and opened to the public in 1939. 44:32.040 --> 44:36.500 align:start And so when MacLeish was Librarian of Congress starting in '39 44:36.500 --> 44:40.220 align:start and we got around to '43 which was the centennial-- 44:40.220 --> 44:45.250 align:start bicentennial of Jefferson's birth, how better to honor Jefferson 44:45.250 --> 44:50.000 align:start and his role in the library of congress than a library-wide exhibit 44:50.000 --> 44:53.860 align:start where each of the divisions were asked to display whether they're 44:53.860 --> 44:56.980 align:start in the main building or the annex, you know, what-- 44:56.980 --> 45:00.080 align:start how Jefferson affected their collections and so, 45:00.080 --> 45:02.080 align:start what you had was, you know, 45:02.080 --> 45:04.080 align:start something over in the science division 45:04.080 --> 45:06.350 align:start in the annex building showing Jefferson in science. 45:06.350 --> 45:12.610 align:start Something in music showing Jefferson in music of dimension of violation, 45:12.610 --> 45:15.230 align:start as something prints and photographs Jefferson. 45:15.230 --> 45:18.340 align:start So we really physically made the point 45:18.340 --> 45:20.770 align:start that Jefferson's comprehensiveness. 45:20.770 --> 45:24.240 align:start But then, MacLeish went further and he invited his good friend 45:24.240 --> 45:29.140 align:start who in fact had helped President Roosevelt make the decision 45:29.140 --> 45:33.020 align:start to appoint Archibald MacLeish just 45:33.020 --> 45:37.300 align:start as Felix Frankfurter was the man behind the scenes there 45:37.300 --> 45:40.890 align:start and it turns out, MacLeish invited Justice Frankfurter to come over 45:40.890 --> 45:47.120 align:start and give the opening address, you know, for the Jeffersonian exhibit. 45:47.120 --> 45:53.040 align:start So that Jeffersonian idea has grown and then Dr. Billington, 45:53.040 --> 45:56.460 align:start during the bicentennial, had the notion of the reconstruction 45:56.460 --> 45:58.660 align:start of the library which I've already talked about a little. 45:58.660 --> 46:02.050 align:start But what is unique when you see this is 46:02.050 --> 46:04.530 align:start that that library has been reconstructed 46:04.530 --> 46:08.080 align:start and for the first time, it's in the Jeffersonian order. 46:08.080 --> 46:10.240 align:start I mean Jefferson was, among other things, a librarian. 46:10.240 --> 46:12.240 align:start I mean, he was a cataloger. 46:12.240 --> 46:15.480 align:start He had his own system based on Sir Francis Bacon system. 46:15.480 --> 46:19.860 align:start So, what you see there physically, you know, is really this-- 46:19.860 --> 46:23.200 align:start the heart of the Library of Congress both philosophically in terms 46:23.200 --> 46:26.330 align:start of the range, of the comprehensiveness of collections 46:26.330 --> 46:30.240 align:start and the intention to share them but also the intention to make them 46:30.240 --> 46:33.140 align:start as useful as they could even though the Library 46:33.140 --> 46:37.910 align:start of Congress only kept Jefferson's collection system-- 46:37.910 --> 46:41.960 align:start I mean I did mark something here through the 19th century. 46:41.960 --> 46:45.140 align:start When Jefferson's books arrived at the-- 46:45.140 --> 46:49.810 align:start when George Watterston took them in to what we called Blodgett's Hotel 46:49.810 --> 46:53.910 align:start which was where-- downtown after the fire in 1815, 46:53.910 --> 46:58.580 align:start they came in classification order with Jefferson's catalog 46:58.580 --> 47:02.150 align:start and we just kept expanding Jefferson's system 47:02.150 --> 47:08.200 align:start until the library opened-- reopened in the Jefferson Building. 47:08.200 --> 47:12.180 align:start What happened-- I'll go through this, it gets a little confusing. 47:12.180 --> 47:18.660 align:start Once in the Capitol, Spofford used-- expand Jefferson System and in fact, 47:18.660 --> 47:22.950 align:start here is something I found for the chronology years ago 47:22.950 --> 47:24.990 align:start that I think Spofford might even have done it. 47:24.990 --> 47:28.920 align:start This is the Tree of Knowledge and this shows, you know, 47:28.920 --> 47:33.850 align:start how from this Jeffersonian initial sprouts of the trunks of the tree 47:33.850 --> 47:36.350 align:start which you will see in the classification system 47:36.350 --> 47:39.230 align:start when you visit it, little branches started to grow 47:39.230 --> 47:41.970 align:start and these little branches grew and grew and they got heavier 47:41.970 --> 47:43.970 align:start and heavier and pretty soon, 47:43.970 --> 47:47.330 align:start the whole thing really crushed in the 19th century. 47:47.330 --> 47:50.240 align:start But in a way, it didn't matter because Spofford, 47:50.240 --> 47:56.240 align:start after he centralized copyright, yelled for a new building in 1871, 47:56.240 --> 48:00.590 align:start he didn't get that building authorized until 1886 thanks 48:00.590 --> 48:05.850 align:start to a couple of members of Congress nor did it open in 18-- till 1897. 48:05.850 --> 48:10.980 align:start So, Spofford ran out of space in the Capitol in 1875. 48:10.980 --> 48:13.180 align:start Copyright material was pouring in. 48:13.180 --> 48:20.020 align:start He decided to confiscate rooms throughout the Capitol, and by 1897, 48:20.020 --> 48:24.210 align:start LC material was in 16 different rooms throughout the Capitol. 48:24.210 --> 48:27.060 align:start He'd stopped cataloguing in 1881. 48:27.060 --> 48:30.400 align:start He was just really hanging on to get this new building 48:30.400 --> 48:33.430 align:start which he didn't get authorized until 1886. 48:33.430 --> 48:38.230 align:start So all that maps went in one room, the prints went in one room, 48:38.230 --> 48:41.600 align:start the newspapers went in one room, and by the time 48:41.600 --> 48:46.660 align:start that we were finally ready to move, the Library of Congress 48:46.660 --> 48:51.760 align:start in the Capitol was closed in the summer of 1897 and-- 48:51.760 --> 48:54.830 align:start we don't have photos of this but I've read about it. 48:54.830 --> 48:59.020 align:start Not only they brought horse-drawn carts across 48:59.020 --> 49:04.250 align:start and park them beneath the Capitol and started hauling out the material 49:04.250 --> 49:08.190 align:start and in a couple of cases, they've actually built wooden shoots 49:08.190 --> 49:10.490 align:start that came down and they shoved the material 49:10.490 --> 49:14.690 align:start when the material can take it, you know, into the wagons 49:14.690 --> 49:19.710 align:start and they carted across and they put it on the floor, a good deal of it 49:19.710 --> 49:23.460 align:start of this newly constructed-- this wonderful new Jefferson Building 49:23.460 --> 49:27.560 align:start for sorting because it was just jumbled. 49:27.560 --> 49:32.360 align:start And early on in my research, I found this photo. 49:32.360 --> 49:36.890 align:start This is what the material looked like when it was dumped on the floor 49:36.890 --> 49:38.890 align:start of the Jefferson Building. 49:38.890 --> 49:43.700 align:start Up and down those hallways and you could imagine just to sort it 49:43.700 --> 49:48.470 align:start out because of the multimedia nature of it, you know, it took a couple 49:48.470 --> 49:53.570 align:start of years, and it turns out the second librarian who came 49:53.570 --> 49:56.430 align:start over to testify in addition to Mr. Putnam 49:56.430 --> 49:59.580 align:start at these hearings was Melvil Dewey, 49:59.580 --> 50:03.040 align:start who of course had already created the Dewey Decimal System. 50:03.040 --> 50:08.760 align:start >> And he made a special trip to Washington to lobby his friend, 50:08.760 --> 50:12.790 align:start Mr. Putnam by now Librarian of Congress that the Library 50:12.790 --> 50:15.980 align:start of Congress should use the Dewey Decimal System 50:15.980 --> 50:21.000 align:start and Mr. Putnam just shook his head and basically said to Mr. Dewey, 50:21.000 --> 50:25.020 align:start "Well you're system is so limited and it's so good 50:25.020 --> 50:28.590 align:start for public libraries but we if you could see on the floor"-- 50:28.590 --> 50:31.200 align:start I'm making this up but it's this idea. 50:31.200 --> 50:33.260 align:start You know, "We are a research library, 50:33.260 --> 50:38.890 align:start we are a multimedia encyclopedia and our intention is to be the largest 50:38.890 --> 50:42.220 align:start and most important research library in this country 50:42.220 --> 50:46.720 align:start and we just simply have to create our own classification system." 50:46.720 --> 50:50.230 align:start In fact, it was based on another one, Charles Cutter System 50:50.230 --> 50:52.430 align:start but it was not gonna be the Dewey System. 50:52.430 --> 50:56.040 align:start Now, let me just say a word or two about the Jefferson Building. 50:56.040 --> 50:58.170 align:start This is a book on the art 50:58.170 --> 51:02.600 align:start and architecture which is still in print. 51:02.600 --> 51:06.880 align:start Norton has now-- in its 2nd or 3rd printing and it's a book 51:06.880 --> 51:09.890 align:start of essays about-- and I'm the coeditor 51:09.890 --> 51:14.240 align:start but I helped organize this years ago and it was one 51:14.240 --> 51:19.700 align:start of the first color books where it has essays that relate to the art 51:19.700 --> 51:26.670 align:start and architecture of the building and part of what I'm giving you the copy 51:26.670 --> 51:32.470 align:start of this reprint, "The Jefferson Building: The Book Palace 51:32.470 --> 51:37.980 align:start of American People" was a brochure I wrote for the opening of an exhibit 51:37.980 --> 51:43.600 align:start when the restored Jefferson Building reopened on occasion 51:43.600 --> 51:47.700 align:start of its centennial which was 1997. 51:47.700 --> 51:51.110 align:start I know you-- what happened was I never got to the 3rd building, 51:51.110 --> 51:57.790 align:start the Adams building, formerly the annex opened to the public in 1939, 51:57.790 --> 52:02.190 align:start the building we're in, opened in 1980, it takes the Library 52:02.190 --> 52:05.380 align:start of Congress roughly 25 years to get a building-- 52:05.380 --> 52:09.200 align:start of these 1st 3 buildings from the time it's first proposed 52:09.200 --> 52:13.010 align:start until the time we actually get the building. 52:13.010 --> 52:18.640 align:start But once the Madison building was opened, Dr. Boorstin, 52:18.640 --> 52:23.850 align:start who was my boss at the time, went back to Congress in the end, 52:23.850 --> 52:28.000 align:start got 100 million dollars for the restoration 52:28.000 --> 52:32.080 align:start of the Jefferson Building and part of the-- 52:32.080 --> 52:39.710 align:start so this is my essay which was "Struggle for a Structure" 52:39.710 --> 52:42.490 align:start which tells the story of the construction and you have-- 52:42.490 --> 52:47.200 align:start can probably see a number of the construction sites. 52:47.200 --> 52:53.450 align:start But what you have is another section we put in which is called "Souvenirs 52:53.450 --> 52:57.200 align:start of the Jefferson Building" and that's was the brochure 52:57.200 --> 53:01.410 align:start that end the listing of the exhibit items which you don't have. 53:01.410 --> 53:06.670 align:start But a number of things you will have there would be things 53:06.670 --> 53:10.990 align:start from the postcard collection showing what a big hit the Jefferson 53:10.990 --> 53:13.000 align:start Building was when it opened. 53:13.000 --> 53:18.030 align:start And my argument there is because somehow Congress finally-- 53:18.030 --> 53:21.800 align:start Spofford finally got Congress not only to agree, 53:21.800 --> 53:25.180 align:start but Congress wants to-- gets involved and here are spoons 53:25.180 --> 53:28.270 align:start and scissors with the souvenir of the Jefferson Building 53:28.270 --> 53:31.530 align:start which you'll see are also in your brochure. 53:31.530 --> 53:35.770 align:start The US Army Corps of Engineers was brought in here-- 53:35.770 --> 53:40.230 align:start tea cups with the Jefferson building, and the US Army Corps 53:40.230 --> 53:44.560 align:start of engineers, the 2 key people were Thomas Lincoln Casey 53:44.560 --> 53:47.780 align:start who was the general-- Brigadier general in charge 53:47.780 --> 53:51.180 align:start and his chief engineer, a man named, Bernard Green. 53:51.180 --> 53:54.970 align:start They had just finished completing the Washington Monument. 53:54.970 --> 53:56.970 align:start You remember, for many years, 53:56.970 --> 54:01.730 align:start the Washington Monument was a stab starting at-- from 1848 on. 54:01.730 --> 54:05.570 align:start Well, after the war in the '80s, the United States were starting 54:05.570 --> 54:09.340 align:start to really flex its muscle culturally which the Library 54:09.340 --> 54:12.710 align:start of Congress benefitted from but Casey 54:12.710 --> 54:15.570 align:start and Bernard Green not only topped off-- 54:15.570 --> 54:18.350 align:start to the top that beautiful Washington Monument, 54:18.350 --> 54:21.410 align:start they finished the executive office building next door 54:21.410 --> 54:25.730 align:start which was the war navy building, very plush. 54:25.730 --> 54:32.000 align:start And then Congress ended up in 1886 shortly after the authorization 54:32.000 --> 54:36.380 align:start of the Jefferson Building firing the architects and bringing 54:36.380 --> 54:41.200 align:start in the Army Corps of Engineers, Lincoln and Bernard Green to finish 54:41.200 --> 54:45.420 align:start and because they trusted them, well, it turned out that Bernard and-- 54:45.420 --> 54:50.310 align:start General Casey and Bernard Green were infused with the same nationalism 54:50.310 --> 54:55.630 align:start on behalf of the structure and the growth of our country physically 54:55.630 --> 55:00.210 align:start and culturally as Spofford was-- had that nationalism for the growth 55:00.210 --> 55:04.410 align:start of this national library and they really complemented each other. 55:04.410 --> 55:09.830 align:start So by the time Thomas Lincoln Casey and General-- and Bernard Green, 55:09.830 --> 55:13.080 align:start they chose-- rather than the 4-million dollar plan 55:13.080 --> 55:16.000 align:start for the building, they chose the 6-million dollar plan. 55:16.000 --> 55:19.280 align:start Rather than the small dome, they chose the larger dome. 55:19.280 --> 55:23.710 align:start Rather than leaving the dome where it was, they put it up 100 feet. 55:23.710 --> 55:27.520 align:start They kept getting money from Congress and so they decided 55:27.520 --> 55:33.640 align:start without asking Congress initially to employ 100 American-- 100-- 55:33.640 --> 55:38.090 align:start 20 American architects and 20 American-- architects-- 55:38.090 --> 55:42.030 align:start artists and sculptures to decorate the building and of course part 55:42.030 --> 55:46.010 align:start of the fund of the touring of the Jefferson Building is not only-- 55:46.010 --> 55:50.010 align:start they're coming together of art and architecture and painting 55:50.010 --> 55:52.290 align:start in a public building for the first time, 55:52.290 --> 55:56.860 align:start but doing it with American talent which makes the building 55:56.860 --> 56:01.910 align:start that much more important as sort of a monument to cultural nationalism, 56:01.910 --> 56:05.890 align:start but also it gave Spofford the space he wanted. 56:05.890 --> 56:10.230 align:start So he was happy and the librarians who'd argued endlessly 56:10.230 --> 56:14.690 align:start over the design, finally came together and it turned 56:14.690 --> 56:18.310 align:start out the American public absolutely love the Jefferson Building 56:18.310 --> 56:20.310 align:start when it opened. 56:20.310 --> 56:22.310 align:start It wasn't called Jefferson, we can go through that later 56:22.310 --> 56:26.190 align:start but it became a great tourist attraction and even the Speaker 56:26.190 --> 56:28.190 align:start of the House of Representatives, 56:28.190 --> 56:31.150 align:start Joseph Canon said it was the grandest building he'd ever seen. 56:31.150 --> 56:35.310 align:start So suddenly, the Library of Congress arrived on the scene 56:35.310 --> 56:39.180 align:start with congressional support, public support, professional support, 56:39.180 --> 56:44.510 align:start and one of the jobs of the Librarians of Congress then, 56:44.510 --> 56:46.520 align:start especially Mr. Putnam was to translate 56:46.520 --> 56:51.150 align:start that into financial support which as I said with Teddy Roosevelt, 56:51.150 --> 56:55.300 align:start Putnam helped to d. But if it hadn't been for the building 56:55.300 --> 56:59.620 align:start and now this was-- so I mentioned, if it hadn't been for the building, 56:59.620 --> 57:02.930 align:start I don't think-- and then the space and I showed the space problem. 57:02.930 --> 57:07.300 align:start We wouldn't be where we are now but once that building was there, 57:07.300 --> 57:12.040 align:start you know, the momentum has picked up and we're out of space entirely 57:12.040 --> 57:16.140 align:start on Capitol Hill but I think some of you know about our storage up at 57:16.140 --> 57:20.820 align:start For Meade, Maryland where this-- Congress has given us money, we're-- 57:20.820 --> 57:24.740 align:start and we're trying to get additional money to build these modules 57:24.740 --> 57:28.530 align:start which hold millions of books and now, other kinds of materials 57:28.530 --> 57:34.660 align:start for offsite storage and the grandest one of all is Culpeper which is 57:34.660 --> 57:38.050 align:start where in the couple of years ago, you know, we open 57:38.050 --> 57:40.750 align:start and I'm sure you're learning about that as part of the process, 57:40.750 --> 57:45.200 align:start this wonderful conservation motion picture broadcasting recorded sound 57:45.200 --> 57:48.450 align:start not only storage area but reading room, 57:48.450 --> 57:52.180 align:start motion picture theatre and conservation center. 57:52.180 --> 57:55.130 align:start Technical laboratories and people don't think of the Library 57:55.130 --> 57:58.270 align:start of Congress as a place with great technical capabilities 57:58.270 --> 58:02.840 align:start but we have some-- especially in the preservation and conservation area, 58:02.840 --> 58:08.370 align:start you know, some absolutely wonderful scientists, some of 'em are now 58:08.370 --> 58:12.720 align:start down at Culpeper but that's Library of Congress South, 58:12.720 --> 58:17.140 align:start but that way was paved actually by the momentum 58:17.140 --> 58:20.650 align:start of the Jefferson Building. 58:20.650 --> 58:24.570 align:start And that is the book that we-- Jim mentioned at the very beginning, 58:24.570 --> 58:27.640 align:start the first edition of "On These Walls" was meant 58:27.640 --> 58:31.530 align:start as a companion to Jefferson's legacy. 58:31.530 --> 58:35.990 align:start But it turned out, the-- it was-- while it was the 2nd book, 58:35.990 --> 58:39.400 align:start this was '93, this was '95. 58:39.400 --> 58:43.710 align:start In 19-- 2008, we did this wonderful Carol Highsmith 58:43.710 --> 58:48.660 align:start with color photos book which is based on my text 58:48.660 --> 58:53.080 align:start but is a condensed text I'm afraid because this is commercial 58:53.080 --> 58:55.080 align:start and it is sold in the shops. 58:55.080 --> 58:57.390 align:start I wish we had one for everybody but we don't 58:57.390 --> 59:00.700 align:start but it's still being reprinted, I think again. 59:00.700 --> 59:05.640 align:start But it does-- it isn't as comprehensive as this 59:05.640 --> 59:09.910 align:start but this is online and as is the index and as is all the information, 59:09.910 --> 59:14.770 align:start so one of these days, we'll take the color photos from Carol Highsmith 59:14.770 --> 59:18.790 align:start and put them online to replace the black and white photos. 59:18.790 --> 59:22.460 align:start But this has become-- there are also in this book a brief-- 59:22.460 --> 59:26.320 align:start very brief history of the Library of Congress and some of the things 59:26.320 --> 59:30.510 align:start that I've been talking about and we need to move towards the close. 59:30.510 --> 59:34.380 align:start Let me just give you a couple of other things about the guidebooks 59:34.380 --> 59:38.190 align:start because you're in the guidebook business. 59:38.190 --> 59:43.900 align:start This is the 1st edition of Herbert Small's "Handbook of the Library 59:43.900 --> 59:49.150 align:start of Congress" which was published when we opened in 1897. 59:49.150 --> 59:52.860 align:start He-- Small was a Boston newspaper man who also did one of-- 59:52.860 --> 59:55.160 align:start a handbook for the new Boston Public Library 59:55.160 --> 59:57.440 align:start which opened at about the same time. But it's unique because it has-- 59:59.800 --> 01:00:03.480 align:start it's compiled by Herbert Small with essays on the Architecture, 01:00:03.480 --> 01:00:08.190 align:start Sculpture, and Painting by Charles Caffin and on "The Function 01:00:08.190 --> 01:00:11.470 align:start of a National Library" by Ainsworth Rand Spofford. 01:00:11.470 --> 01:00:15.120 align:start >> And Small actually interviewed some of the artists 01:00:15.120 --> 01:00:18.930 align:start and so the descriptions in here while he doesn't quote them by name, 01:00:18.930 --> 01:00:22.520 align:start these are really pretty authentic descriptions. 01:00:22.520 --> 01:00:26.370 align:start We reprinted Small several times. 01:00:26.370 --> 01:00:30.380 align:start The Library of Congress Professional Association, this is-- 01:00:30.380 --> 01:00:34.110 align:start has reprinted it but unfortunately, we and I'm part 01:00:34.110 --> 01:00:38.080 align:start of this association ended up reprinting the later edition 01:00:38.080 --> 01:00:42.060 align:start which didn't have the 2 essays and the essays of course are important 01:00:42.060 --> 01:00:45.240 align:start because those are firsthand kind of accounts. 01:00:45.240 --> 01:00:48.710 align:start We did, however, reprint in this-- 01:00:48.710 --> 01:00:54.390 align:start we put in color illustrations for Small's handbook, so if you come 01:00:54.390 --> 01:00:57.710 align:start across this or use this, you're back to the initial-- 01:00:57.710 --> 01:01:00.940 align:start this is the art and architecture, the Norton book 01:01:00.940 --> 01:01:06.690 align:start of the Norton description plus some of these additional essays 01:01:06.690 --> 01:01:09.670 align:start by scholars on the paintings 01:01:09.670 --> 01:01:13.590 align:start and the sculpture work plus the souvenir stuff plus my essay 01:01:13.590 --> 01:01:16.440 align:start on structure and how Spofford brought 01:01:16.440 --> 01:01:19.540 align:start of what's Spofford brought off in order to get the building. 01:01:19.540 --> 01:01:24.860 align:start This is an ancient volume when the-- this is-- 01:01:24.860 --> 01:01:27.700 align:start remember, I told you the story of Congresses-- what have we here? 01:01:27.700 --> 01:01:29.700 align:start Let's have hearings. 01:01:29.700 --> 01:01:32.490 align:start Here are the hearings and they were published in this wonderful 01:01:32.490 --> 01:01:35.420 align:start and original binding of a lot of these extra copies 01:01:35.420 --> 01:01:39.590 align:start that people keep sending me because they know I'm gonna be interested. 01:01:39.590 --> 01:01:45.670 align:start And the hearings are actually 300-pages long and part 01:01:45.670 --> 01:01:51.180 align:start of it is transcribed with Mr. Spofford walking members of Congress 01:01:51.180 --> 01:01:53.180 align:start through the Jefferson Building-- 01:01:53.180 --> 01:01:55.520 align:start well, it became the Jefferson Building saying what he planned 01:01:55.520 --> 01:01:59.750 align:start to put where and they actually quote him and they have this. 01:01:59.750 --> 01:02:02.920 align:start So you really get a great way of, you know, how-- 01:02:02.920 --> 01:02:05.150 align:start what he planned and then what actually happened 01:02:05.150 --> 01:02:09.160 align:start which sometimes was true and sometimes didn't 01:02:09.160 --> 01:02:12.310 align:start but to show you what they were thinking of. 01:02:12.310 --> 01:02:14.810 align:start There are charts in the back-- [ Pause ] 01:02:18.340 --> 01:02:22.320 align:start >> Compared-- and this is a little fragile but it's been restored, 01:02:22.320 --> 01:02:28.700 align:start comparing comparative tables so far as details that [inaudible] permit, 01:02:28.700 --> 01:02:34.980 align:start a proposed force and expenditure in the Library of Congress-- 01:02:34.980 --> 01:02:42.680 align:start let's see if I can do this, as compared with similar services 01:02:42.680 --> 01:02:48.430 align:start in the National Library of France, the Royal Library of Russia 01:02:48.430 --> 01:02:50.430 align:start and the Boston Public Library. The British museum isn't in there. 01:02:52.430 --> 01:02:55.760 align:start So you can see we're feeling the computation a little bit. 01:02:55.760 --> 01:03:00.130 align:start And so-- you know, in that sense the library is part 01:03:00.130 --> 01:03:02.130 align:start of the political process. 01:03:02.130 --> 01:03:05.840 align:start 1950, the Library of Congress and its work. 01:03:05.840 --> 01:03:09.460 align:start So this would be something that library published a selection 01:03:09.460 --> 01:03:17.530 align:start of pictures with descriptive text and what I love about this is you-- 01:03:17.530 --> 01:03:23.030 align:start I'll just pull one out so-- here would be different reading rooms 01:03:23.030 --> 01:03:29.220 align:start at different times but here would be Slavica [phonetic], we call it, 01:03:29.220 --> 01:03:31.510 align:start the largest collection of Russian books outside 01:03:31.510 --> 01:03:38.360 align:start of Russia approximately 25-- 265,000 volumes and pamphlets is available 01:03:38.360 --> 01:03:43.240 align:start for using the Slavic literature, alcove, annex building, 5th floor. 01:03:43.240 --> 01:03:45.240 align:start Then it talks about the Yudin Collection 01:03:45.240 --> 01:03:47.280 align:start and that's the very collection I mentioned 01:03:47.280 --> 01:03:51.520 align:start and here is our Slavic specialist under a photo of Mr. Yudin, 01:03:51.520 --> 01:03:53.520 align:start you know examining in the collection. 01:03:53.520 --> 01:04:01.190 align:start At the occasion of the bicentennial, the 150th anniversary, we did-- 01:04:01.190 --> 01:04:03.190 align:start and I've always enjoyed this. 01:04:03.190 --> 01:04:07.320 align:start This is a little hardbound-- it was the sesquicentennial, 175th, 01:04:07.320 --> 01:04:11.380 align:start 1950 and so this was an exhibit that-- 01:04:11.380 --> 01:04:15.060 align:start about the library's history which is the last time we really ever done an 01:04:15.060 --> 01:04:18.310 align:start exhibit about our history and this was the exhibit catalogue 01:04:18.310 --> 01:04:24.060 align:start but this shows Archibald MacLeish, as Librarian of congress 01:04:24.060 --> 01:04:26.860 align:start for the first time meeting with-- 01:04:26.860 --> 01:04:29.720 align:start well I shouldn't say first photo we've shown of him, 01:04:29.720 --> 01:04:33.550 align:start he's with his colleagues, Davin Mearns who was the Chief 01:04:33.550 --> 01:04:37.420 align:start of the Manuscript Division for many years and a historian of the Library 01:04:37.420 --> 01:04:42.200 align:start of Congress whom I met early on and helped influenced my interest. 01:04:42.200 --> 01:04:44.380 align:start A man named, Verner Clapp 01:04:44.380 --> 01:04:48.170 align:start who was the chief assistant librarian for many years. 01:04:48.170 --> 01:04:53.030 align:start Mr. Clapp was a contender for the position of Librarian of Congress 01:04:53.030 --> 01:04:57.670 align:start in 1954 but it went instead to Mr. Mumford 01:04:57.670 --> 01:05:02.130 align:start and Mr. Clapp left the library in a couple of years later, 01:05:02.130 --> 01:05:06.390 align:start but not out of peak, it was to, in fact help be the first president 01:05:06.390 --> 01:05:10.420 align:start of something called the Council on Library Resources which turned 01:05:10.420 --> 01:05:16.420 align:start out to be a privately Ford Foundation grant operation 01:05:16.420 --> 01:05:19.560 align:start and Mr. Clapp knew enough about the Library of Congress to know 01:05:19.560 --> 01:05:23.940 align:start that the best way to influence and to develop funding for projects was 01:05:23.940 --> 01:05:26.440 align:start that it come from outside. 01:05:26.440 --> 01:05:31.720 align:start And so the Council on Library Resources really started funding 01:05:31.720 --> 01:05:34.510 align:start and experimental funding for the Library of Congress 01:05:34.510 --> 01:05:36.570 align:start which the government-- we couldn't do. 01:05:36.570 --> 01:05:40.060 align:start And cataloguing and publication which we've talked about earlier, 01:05:40.060 --> 01:05:42.860 align:start early preservation funding, all came 01:05:42.860 --> 01:05:46.060 align:start from the Council on Library Resources. 01:05:46.060 --> 01:05:50.990 align:start And finally, let's see, this is the book that we did 01:05:50.990 --> 01:05:53.340 align:start as our bicentennial history. 01:05:53.340 --> 01:05:57.570 align:start And it's by James Conaway and I highly recommend it 01:05:57.570 --> 01:06:02.270 align:start and I believe it's still for sale in the shop, if I'm correct. 01:06:02.270 --> 01:06:04.270 align:start Thank you very much. [ Applause ] 01:06:06.270 --> 01:06:11.650 align:start >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. 01:06:11.650 --> 01:06:14.150 align:start Visit us at loc.gov. [ Silence ]