Where is the library of congress located
The Library of Congress Is Your Library
from the Library of Congress in
Washington DC
the Library of Congress was established
by an act of Congress in 1800 when our
nation's capital was moved from
Philadelphia to Washington DC in August
of 1814 the Capitol building which
housed the library was burned by British
troops during the war of 1812 and the
library's core collection of 3,000
volumes was lost
within a month Thomas Jefferson offered
his personal library as a replacement
Congress accepted and paid nearly 24,000
dollars for six thousand four hundred
eighty seven books which more than
doubled the size of the original
collection the library's collections
have continued to grow librarian of
Congress
Ainsworth ran Spofford promoted the
passage of the copyright law of 1870
which required all copyright applicants
to send the library to copies of their
work the library is still the home of
the US Copyright Office and the majority
of items in the Library of Congress's
collections are received through the
copyright registration process in 1873
plans began for a new building in 1886
the plans were approved and what is now
called the Thomas Jefferson Building
opened in November 1897 the library now
occupies three buildings on Capitol Hill
the original building now called the
Jefferson building the John Adams
building built in 1938 and the James
Madison Memorial Building which was
completed in 1981 the Library of
Congress is the largest federal cultural
institution it houses more than 150
million items more than 36 million of
these are catalogued books and other
printed materials representing more than
470 languages many people think that the
library contains mostly books and it
does have many books however the library
also houses vast collections of other
items such as maps sheet music
photographs and prints sound recordings
motion pictures and manuscripts the
manuscripts total nearly 70 million and
include original copies of some of the
greatest handwritten treasures of
American history and culture among these
are Thomas Jefferson's original rough
draft of the Declaration of Independence
George Washington's first inaugural
address and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg
Address the library has more than 20
reading rooms 850 miles of bookshelves
three million recordings and six million
pieces of sheet music the collections
are constantly growing the library
receives about 15,000 items a day and
about 12,000 items are added to the
collections each day that's more than
two million items a year items not
selected for the collections or other
internal purposes are used in the
library's national and international
exchange programs when its doors open to
the public in 1897 the Library of
Congress represented an unparalleled
national achievement the largest
costliest and safest library in the
world
it's elaborately decorated interior
embellished by works of art from nearly
50 American painters and sculptors link
the United States to classical
traditions of learning and
simultaneously flexed American cultural
and technological muscle this view of
the Great Hall is from the second floor
South Corridor and shows the elaborate
ceiling and floor designs this is a view
of the main reading room in the Thomas
Jefferson Building anyone 16 or older
and with a photo ID can register as a
reader and access materials from the
Library of Congress on site the Library
of Congress is grand and inspiring but
you don't have to go there to search the
treasures of the institution the
library's website offers millions of
digitized items all for free and without
registration
this has been a presentation of the
Library of Congress visit us at loc.gov
