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

It isn’t unusual for docents like Malcolm O’Hagan to find that they have inspired visitors after a tour of the Thomas Jefferson Building. (I have written about such inspiration before.) It is, after all, one of the great buildings at the heart of one of the great institutions of the world.

But what wasn’t expected was that a visitor would be inspired to set his inspiration down in verse.

A man named Bob Bein recently went on such a tour led by Malcolm and was so moved that he wrote the poem “The Library of Congress” in July 2008. We reproduce it here with Bob’s permission, for which we are grateful:

Oh such grandeur at the temple entrance,
symbolic stone figures flank
majestic marble staircases,
statues with torches blaze the path to wisdom,
skylights brighten layers of understanding.

Truly a temple of knowledge,
human gods of arts and sciences look on
thirsty believers eagerly awaiting
meager droplets of passed down lore.
Even higher are images of human aspirations—
Understanding, to lift a curtain of ignorance,
Encouragement, pushing Man closer to perfection.

This is the inside of a brain:
an enormous domed space,
grand art inside the skull,
study desks ringing
the central station,
axon-like conveyor belts speeding
expertise to anxious disciples.

Classic pneumatic tubes
carry nerve impulse notes
demanding diverse media
following searches of endless
brain cell card catalogs and appeals
to new computer circuitry.

Genuflect, and respect
the sum of stored knowledge,
despite how much more will accrete
we will always feel incomplete:
the notion of infinity
includes infinity plus three.

Time was, the most common question we would get at the Library of Congress was, “Where are all the books?” (The answer is here.)

But a new question has begun to rival that query in frequency: “Where is the ‘Book of Secrets’?”

Well, for the next month, at least, you can find it at the Library of Congress’s Thomas Jefferson Building.

The December 2007 movie “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” has been written about here before. The heroes of the smash Walt Disney Pictures sequel came to the real Library of Congress in search of the movie’s title tome, en route to big treasure. The book (as far as even some of us in the government know, at least) is fictitious, but the prop “Book of Secrets” has proven an object of fascination. It is richly detailed and contains calligraphic reproductions of the handwriting of every president from Washington to Clinton, as well as conspiracy-related ephemera of all kinds.

The “Book of Secrets,” along with the prop “John Wilkes Booth’s diary” (a movie version of an actual historical object) are part of a special display at the Library through Sept. 27. The display features not only the props, but also images from scenes shot at the Library, along with a looping video of two bonus features from the movie’s DVD: a behind-the-scenes look at the Library itself, along with the making of the “Book of Secrets” prop.

Just don’t ask us what’s on page 47!

The DVD for “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” isn’t released until Tuesday, May 20, but we here at one of the chief locations in the film managed to get our hands on a copy.

The two-disc collectors’ edition and the Blu-Ray edition include a bonus feature titled “Inside the Library of Congress,” and I have to say that we’re very pleased with the outcome. We were told to expect a piece in the five-minute range; we got one that was nearly nine minutes long.

According to one review of the DVD extras (who knew there were such things?):

The Inside the Library of Congress featurette (8:41, 1.78:1 and 2.40:1, 1080p) is first a love letter to an impressive landmark. We’re given a guided tour of the library’s formidable collections. There are laboratories for preservation and authentication. The body of knowledge is nothing short of remarkable.

The featurette takes viewers on a tour of the Thomas Jefferson Building with sweeping shots that are seldom-seen. The crew shooting the piece last year set up a 28-foot-long “jib arm” to get some stunning views of the Great Hall and the Main Reading Room. (The tourists that day were especially curious about what was going on!)

There are also visits to curatorial and other divisions within the Library, with a focus on the plot of NT2 (such as our Lincoln materials), including Geography and Map, Prints and Photographs, Manuscript, Preservation, and the stacks.

As I often say, we hope it offers millions around the world the opportunity to learn about the “fact behind the fiction.”

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

While we prepare for the last long weekend of the summer � or shop for school supplies � let us pause to remember the historic significance of Labor Day and the men and women who fought for workers� rights.

In 1894, Congress passed legislation making Labor Day � the first Monday in September � a national holiday. This move came just a few weeks after the bloody Pullman Company Strike in Chicago, which resulted in the death of 34 members of the American Railway Union.

Folklorist Archie Green, upon whom the Library recently bestowed a Living Legend medal, has spent a lifetime studying the history and culture of the labor movement. The award was accepted by his son during a two-day symposium devoted to �laborlore.� (More information about the event and the Library�s laborlore collections can be found here.)

Green, who coined the term �laborlore,� is also regarded as the founding father of the Library�s American Folklife Center (AFC). He spent a decade lobbying Congress to establish a center to preserve and present American folklife. His vision became a reality on Jan. 2, 1976, when President Gerald R. Ford signed the bill establishing the AFC.

A search on the term �labor� on the Library�s Web site will uncover a wealth of materials in all formats about the labor movement in the United States. From Lewis Hine�s (1874-1940) stirring photographs documenting child labor and a teachers� lesson plan for studying this subject, to a Thomas Edison film (ca. 1904) of a Labor Day parade in Massachusetts or a webcast of the Library�s women�s studies specialist discussing �Rosie the Riveter: Real Women Workers in World War II,� the Library�s collections allow researchers, educators and students to study this broad topic from many different angles.

(The image in this post, �Labor,� is a mural in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress; photo by Carol Highsmith, who recently donated hundreds of photos of the TJB to the Library. Thanks to Audrey Fischer with help researching and writing this post.)

Tags: labor day, labor, workers, holiday, holidays, summer, library, libraries, library of congress

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

A rare opportunity surfaced the other day to go on a tour of the dome of the Thomas Jefferson Building, so � as you might imagine � I leapt on it in a heartbeat.

Not only did it offer a unique vantage on Washington, D.C., (especially the Capitol across First Street, along with the Capitol Visitor Center), but it put me so close the TJB�s iconic golden torch that I almost felt I could reach out and touch it. (The flag was at half-staff in memory of that late Sen. Craig Thomas.)

Enjoy the view, as seen through my digital camera, after the jump. Caption information can be found in mouse-over.

Tags: photos, washington dc, washington, capitol, capitol hill, photographs

The �Swamp� blog of the Chicago Tribune�s Washington, D.C., bureau reports on the favored tourist destinations of Rep. Peter Roskam:

In keeping with Roskam�s fiscally conservative credentials (and, to be fair, the general spirit of tourist attractions in Washington), everything on the list is free to enter. Among the highlights, with Roskam�s commentary:

No. 3, The Library of Congress: �The beauty of the Great Hall will take your breath away and rivals anything you�ve seen in Europe.�

He�s right.� But only number three?!� (Just kidding.)� Well, one of the top two spots is apparently his own House office, so that�s not bad at all.

But then there�s No. 7:

National Archives: �Did you see National Treasure with Nicholas Cage? This is the scene of the �crime�.

Ironically, come December, the congressman might want to put a similar footnote on the Library�s entry about that movie�s sequel!

Tags: peter roskam, congress, illinois, chicago, chicago tribune, news, media, dc, washington dc, tourism, tourists

Speaking of “great halls,” I was just over in our very own Great Hall and thought that I would post a quick pic that I took. Such a gorgeous building — even a novice shutterbug like me can’t mess it up.

You wouldn’t necessarily know it from this shot, but the place is teeming with visitors right now — just the way we like it! I bought a few items at the Retail Sales Shop and even had to wait in line at the cash register, but they opened two more registers quite quickly.

I can’t imagine that the clerks there know who I am, so I’m sure that means there is good customer service to be had even when bloggers aren’t lurking about!

Tags: photos, washington dc, tourism, thomas jefferson building, library of congress, great hall

John McArdle of Roll Call today writes the first story I have seen on the appropriations bill that is taking shape in the Legislative Branch subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.� (The link is here, but is subscription-only.)

According to the article, the bill �is expected to increase overall legislative branch spending by $251 million to $4.02 billion.�

McArdle focuses on two potential amendments as the spending bill moves forward in committee:

The first � expected to be offered by Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois � would reverse the de-funding of the Open World Leadership Center ($14.4 million) which, as the article points out, �operates out of the Library of Congress but is funded separately from the LOC.�� Open World brings officials from the former Soviet Union to the United States under exchanges to expose them to American democratic institutions.

The second, to be offered by Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee, would change the name of the �Great Hall� in the under-construction Capitol Visitors Center (CVC).� From the article:

Since early in the appropriations cycle, Wamp has argued that naming the CVC space the Great Hall is not only confusing but also does a disservice to the older, much venerated space in the LOC�s Thomas Jefferson Building.

�The Great Hall of the Library of Congress has this unbelievable history,� Wamp said. �There are people in this city that can tell you every fresco on the ceiling and what it means. � And here [at the CVC] somebody in their arrogance named this hall the Great Hall. It is a huge mistake left unfixed as we move forward.�

(Committee Chair Debbie) Wasserman Schultz has said that a renaming effort likely will not be approved mostly because of the fact that $250,000 already has been spent on ordering signs for the CVC Great Hall.

Rep. Wasserman Schultz stated that the funding priorities in the bill are those that meet the �life-safety and security test�:

�Unfortunately [the Open World program] is one of those things that was in the �it would be nice to have� category as opposed to the �gotta have� category,� Wasserman Schultz said of the decision to cut the program�s funding this year.

Tags: congress, capitol, u.s. capitol, house of representatives, capitol visitors center, cvc, roll call, library of congress, zach wamp, ray lahood, debbie wasserman schultz