Library of Congress Blog
“Light and liberty go together.”

Last week was one of the busiest (if not the busiest) week I’ve seen since coming to the Library. There was the Library’s presentation of the $1 million Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Study of Humanity. There were a lot of great, new interactive features that came online in the Library of Congress Experience (online and in the Jefferson Building.) There was a meeting of the Library’s private-sector advisory group, the James Madison Council. All of this came in the wake of the opening of the Capitol Visitor Center, which has led to several visitors now entering the Library via the passageway beneath First Street S.E. — a sight that warms my heart every time I see it!

And if that all weren’t enough, our boss, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, got some wonderful recognition in the middle of all of it. Dr. Billington was one of 23 people (and one award made posthumously) to receive the Presidential Citizens Medal, which is the second-highest civilian distinction bestowed by the President behind the Medal of Freedom. (Only about 100 people have received the award since it was established in 1969.)

In comments to staff last week, Dr. Billington was especially gracious in pointing out that the people of the Library of Congress are the ones who help him achieve what he has, in order to make such recognition possible in the first place.

Congrats, Dr. B.!

If you haven’t yet seen the exhibition that David McCullough calls the one “every American ought to see,” you might want to make a trip to the Library within the next few days.

The original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence in Thomas Jefferson’s hand, with edits by John Adams and Ben Franklin, will be cycling out of the “Creating the United States” exhibit Oct. 29. It will be replaced by George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights, a document that influenced Jefferson and the Founding Fathers.

It will likely be your last chance to see the “real deal” for the next several years.  (”Creating the United States” and the rest of the Library of Congress Experience will be available for visitors at least until 2011.)

Even if you can’t make it to DC, there’s a terrific online version of “Creating the United States” that includes an interactive that lets you virtually explore the draft along with several of its antecedent documents.

The Washington Post wrote about the exhibit today here.

USA Today writes about a pair of different map exhibits�one in Chicago, and another that begins Dec. 13 at the Library of Congress. (Full disclosure: In today�s hard-copy version of the newspaper, the story mistakenly referred in a single instance to the exhibit�s being held at the National Archives.)

The famed 1507 Martin Waldseem�ller Map will be part of a larger exhibit opening Dec. 13 called �Exploring the Early Americas,� which will also include a 1516 nautical map by Waldseem�ller called the Carta Marina and other navigational artifacts, among many other other items of art and history. The exhibit will feature objects from the Library�s Jay I. Kislak Collection.

�Exploring the Early Americas� marks a watershed event for the Library of Congress. The exhibition will include high-tech interactive kiosks that will allow visitors to explore our collections in greater depth than ever before, side-by-side with the artifacts themselves.

The exhibition in April 2008 will then become part of an even greater LOC experience for visitors, which �Roll Call� dubs a �technological candy land�(subscription required to view link). That experience will include a state-of-the-art online component that will mesh with and enhance what visitors can see in person.

Tags: history, maps, geography, usa today, newspapers, media, waldseem�ller, martin waldseem�ller

There is so much history around this sprawling place that sometimes a milestone or two worth mentioning will slip beneath the radar.

The Politico reported that yesterday (Nov. 1) was the 110th anniversary of the opening of the Library of Congress�s Thomas Jefferson Building on Capitol Hill (although the �TJB� moniker wouldn�t come until many decades later).

On this day in 1897, the Library of Congress building on First Street and Independence Avenue Northwest opened its doors to the public. Previously, the library had been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the U.S. Capitol.

In 1871, after the library had outgrown its cramped quarters, Ainsworth Spofford (1825-1908), the librarian of Congress, proposed housing the library in a separate building. During Spofford�s tenure, the collection expanded from some 60,000 items to more than 1 million.

Since Spofford�s time, that number has grown to more than 134 million items in essentially every format on which information can be recorded, in roughly 470 languages, and occupying some 615 miles of shelves.

Despite the subsequent addition of the John Adams Building and the James Madison Memorial Building on Capitol Hill, the new Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Va., vast modular storage at Ft. Meade and other facilities, the Thomas Jefferson Building remains our pride and joy, a shining embodiment of old and new, of past, present and future.

Happy belated anniversary, TJB!

(Image of west facade of Thomas Jefferson Building ca. 1900, showing the original gilded dome, from Library of Congress PPOC)

Tags: architecture, buildings, thomas jefferson, thomas jefferson building, capitol hill, washington dc, congress, library of congress, libraries

The front page at LOC.gov will be getting a bit of a facelift in a couple of weeks.� (In fact, the plan is to time it to the 20th anniversary of the Librarian of Congress�s tenure on Sept. 14.)

The changes won�t be radical, but we do hope they will be viewed as improvements.� You can expect to see more content that is also more dynamic, and better organized for the ways people typically use our Web site.

One major addition will be a new email-subscription service, as a supplement to the RSS feeds.� (In fact, at least initially, the email lists to which you can subscribe will essentially mirror the RSS feeds.)

While only a fraction of people on the Web use RSS feeds, something like 100 percent of them use email, and this is just another part of our efforts to get information to people in the way that is most useful to them.� You can get a sense for how the email updates will function by looking at the FBI�s Web site.

There will be additional changes and enhancements to the Web site � with a particular emphasis on new ways to delve into and explore the collections � as we prepare a new, interactive experience for visitors online and on-site, launching in spring 2008.

Within the next several days, I expect we also will be talking about a couple of new features on the Web site that will be aimed at younger audiences, both of which have a focus on reading and lifelong literacy.

Tags: library of congress, libraries, websites, internet, technology

A partial image of page 1 of the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, with a gradient fade applied

A couple of notes about recent TV appearances, and then an on-topic digression (which is after the jump).

First of all, as previously mentioned, Dr. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, was the guest July 1 on C-SPAN�s �Q&A� program. The program is now available to view online.

And second, if you were watching ABC on Tuesday morning (July 3), you might have seen Dr. Billington live on �Good Morning America.� On the day before Independence Day, the Library gave GMA and its viewers a rare look at some of our unique documents related to the founding of our nation.

The interview can be read about and seen in its entirety here (upper-right corner).

GMA had intended to discuss five pieces, but time constraints didn�t quite allow for fulsome discussion.

The first to be showcased was one of our �top treasures,� Thomas Jefferson�s rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. We like to say this document is more interesting than the final version with the 56 signature most people are used to because you can see the process that went into crafting it. (Did you know that the Declaration almost included a strong condemnation of slavery? It�s interesting to think how history might have been different if the reference hadn�t been edited out.) I�m told that�s only the second time in the last five years that the document has been brought out to display, but read on to learn about the next opportunity.

The second document was George Mason�s Virginia Declaration of Rights�drafted just one month before Jefferson wrote the Declaration�which strongly influenced both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution�s Bill of Rights.

The third document Dr. Billington showed was an enclosure sent by John Hancock, president of the 2nd Continental Congress, to George Washington. It urged that General Washington read the Declaration aloud to the troops.

The fourth item, which was referenced fleetingly as time was running out on the GMA segment, was the so-called �Dunlap Broadside,� which was the printed copy of the Declaration that was sent on July 6 to Washington himself.

And the fifth and final item, which didn�t get much screen time, was a notable print from the Library�s collections. Made contemporaneously (sometime in the 1770s), it shows the destruction of a statue of King George III on Broadway in what is now Lower Manhattan after American troops had heard the Declaration of Independence. (The tail of George�s horse is apparently on display in the New York Historical Museum.)

The GMA piece gave the Library a great opportunity to mention our new experience for visitors that will be opening in the spring of 2008. One of the new exhibits, �Creating the U.S.,� will feature documents such as the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, while cutting-edge technology will let visitors manipulate the documents virtually and see how they were influenced by �antecedent� documents.

It�s going to be quite an upgrade to our existing experience for visitors and, as always, you can watch this space for updates as the project moves forward. But for now, you can read this preview (PDF, 6.36MB), reprinted from our in-house newsletter, the Gazette.

Tags: independence day, fourth of july, july 4, july 4th, declaration of independence, history, thomas jefferson, thomas jefferson building, library of congress

The Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress, from the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog

Members of the American Library Association � at least 20,000 strong (from what I�m told) � will be descending on Washington, D.C., starting later this week for their Annual Conference and Exhibition. While the bulk of the activities will be at the Convention Center, the Library of Congress will be doing its best to roll out the red carpet too.

This is the first time in several years that ALA has held its annual conference in D.C., so we hope to welcome our librarian friends in style � and substance.

First, we are hosting a whole passel of open houses for members with ALA credentials on Friday afternoon, June 22. A complete schedule can be found on this handy PDF flyer. (Feel free to pass it along to any ALA members you know!) In addition, the magnificent Main Reading Room will be kept open Friday for an additional two hours for ALA members (until 7 p.m.)

On Monday, June 25, at 4 p.m. in the Library�s Coolidge Auditorium, ALA members and LOC staff are invited to attend a conversation between Librarian of Congress James Billington and Brian Lamb of C-SPAN on issues of importance to libraries.

Library of Congress staff will be conducting several tours and programs, as well.

And finally, Library staff will be staging a full schedule of programming at the LOC�s booth (#1741) at the Convention Center.

If I might put in a �plug,� from Saturday through Tuesday, I will be taking the noon-hour shift (joined by my colleague John Sayers) to give presentations on three major Library activities and initiatives: the upcoming 2007 National Book Festival, the Library�s new Lifelong Literacy public-service campaign (in conjunction with the Ad Council), and a top-notch, technologically advanced and interactive visitors experience that will open next spring at the LOC. If you stop by booth #1741, be sure to say hi!

All of this information and more can be found on LOC�s ALA microsite at this link.

Tags: ala, american library association, library, libraries, librarian, librarians, washington dc, convention, literacy, reading, books, book festivals, national book festival, ad council, psas, public service announcements

This morning I attended the spring business meeting of the James Madison Council, the Library�s private-sector advisory body, created in 1990 by Librarian of Congress James Billington.

Council members received updates on the 2007 National Book Festival (Sept. 29, 2007), the 2007 Junior Fellows program, the World Digital Library and other issues, and also heard from noted presidential historian Michael Beschloss. (And we were treated to a sneak peek at his new book!)

The Council also received an extensive briefing on the Library�s ambitious �New Visitors Experience,� which will launch fully in 2008. As part of that briefing, several of the Library�s curators and staff spoke about individual exhibits and elements of the NVE.

I was particularly fascinated by the presentation of Mark Dimunation, our chief of Rare Books and Special Collections, on the Bibles of the Library of Congress � so much so that I immediately asked for his permission to post his presentation in full, which I share with you now:

At the center of the Library�s Great Hall, two monumental Bibles face each other as if in dialogue: one, the Giant Bible of Mainz, signifies the end of the handwritten book � and the other, the Gutenberg Bible, marks the beginning of the printed book and the explosion of knowledge and creativity it would engender.It took an act of Congress to bring the Gutenberg Bible to the Nation�s Library. In 1926, Dr. Otto Vollbehr, a German industrialist, came to the United States with a collection of more than 3,000 15th century books. His last stop was Washington, and over 100 of these books were exhibited in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress.

Dr. Vollbehr proposed that if a benefactor would buy half the collection, he would donate the other. This caught the interest of the Democratic Congressman from Mississippi, Ross Alexander Collins, who, after an impassioned speech on the floor of Congress, proposed to set aside $1.5 million of public funds to acquire the Vollbehr collection for the Library of Congress � all 3,114 volumes. In June 1930 President Hoover signed it into law.

Of course, at the center of the Collection was the Gutenberg Bible � a stunning, three-volume, perfect copy printed on vellum � the book that today engages every visitor in the Great Hall.

To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Gutenberg Bible, Lessing J Rosenwald, one of the library�s great benefactors, gave to the American people another magnificent Bible � The Giant Bible of Mainz, one of the last great manuscript Bibles of its kind, and one that coincidentally was made in Mainz, Germany in 1452 � that is in the same town at the same time that Gutenberg had commenced printing his Bible.

When we look at how these two grand books are similar and how they are different, we begin to understand just how important Gutenberg�s achievement really was.

Gutenberg, for example, mimicked what he knew as text, so his type font very much resembles the large, gothic handwriting of the Mainz Bible. And yet, it took a typical scribe nearly three years to produce one hand-written copy of the Bible. With the printing press, on the other hand, Gutenberg produced nearly 180 copies in two years. Out of all those copies printed in 1454, less than fifty survive today and only 21 of them are complete This is one reason why the Gutenberg is considered rare.

But the impact of printing with moveable type went far beyond the rapid creation of multiple copies. Johann Gutenberg revolutionized not only the book, but the very nature of communication in Western Europe. Text, once scarce and complicated to produce, now flooded all corners of Europe. Out of this explosion of text emerged the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution.

The impact of the Gutenberg Bible was immediate; Fifty years after Gutenberg printed his Bible, hundreds of presses had emerged. By 1500 there were nearly 20 million books in Western Europe. Of these, the Bible was principal; by the year 1500 there were well over eighty editions of the Bible printed.

The Bible Collection at the Library of Congress offers us an unparalleled opportunity to witness the Bible�s transformation over 500 hundred years. With 1,500 editions of the Bible in over 150 languages, this splendid gathering helps to document the history of ideas, religion, art, printing, and illustration.

I have on display here a few representative books from the Bible Collection. The Geneva Bible which was published in English in Switzerland in 1560 by English Protestants is also known as the �Breeches Bible� because its translation of Genesis had Adam and Eve mask their shame by sewing a pair of pants, or �breeches,� out of fig leaves. In this vein, another translation is commonly referred to as the �Sinner�s Bible� because the typesetter inadvertently omitted the word �not� from the commandment �Thou shall not commit adultery.�

The first complete American Bible might come as a surprise to you. John Eliot (1604-1690) translated the Bible into Algonquin to aid in the propagation of the scriptures. Printed in Cambridge in1663, the Eliot Indian Bible, as it is now known, was the first complete Bible printed in the western hemisphere

And finally, Isaiah Thomas, one of the great American printers, released his Curious Hieroglyphick Bible for children in 1788. Certainly the most ambitious illustrated American book up to its time, the Hieroglyphick Bible contained nearly 500 woodcut images designed to encourage children to read the Scripture � and yet, only four copies of this remarkable piece of early Americana have survived.

Whether it be to understand the history of the text, its production, or its reception over time, the Bible collection at the Library of Congress offers a portal to the history of the book. From ornately illuminated medieval manuscripts through more than 500 years of printing, the Bible has remained a cultural and religious touchstone. With each new rendition, the Bible as a text and as an object, mirrors the art, the imagination, and the faith of its particular moment and evokes for our visitors the centuries-old traditions of the Bible.

You can read more about the Bibles at the Library as part of our recent �Illuminating the Word� online exhibition, which featured the modern-day �St. John�s Bible.�

Tags: bible, religion, gutenberg, library, library of congress, rare books