Meet Kurt Maier, Senior Cataloger, History and Literature Cataloging Division, Library of Congress.

Kurt Maier, Senior Cataloger and longtime docent at the Library of Congress, shares a personal perspective on the Library's historic buildings and collections.

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About the Library: Welcome from the Office of the Librarian

Information about the Library's history, mission, and priorities, as well as links to annual reports and answers to frequently asked questions.

Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress by John Y. Cole

Historical highlights in the development of the Library's mission, collections, and buildings since it was established in 1800.

Library of Congress: Exhibitions

Online versions of Library of Congress exhibitions, including:

• American Treasures of the Library of Congress
  A permanent exhibition of the rarest, most interesting or significant items relating to America's past, drawn from every corner of the world's largest library.
• Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture
  Selected materials from Freud collections in various divisions.
• Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation
• Thomas Jefferson
  Explores the written legacy of Thomas Jefferson--founding father, farmer, architect, inventor, slaveholder, book collector, scholar, diplomat, and the third president of the United States.

Library of Congress: Research Centers

Links of each of the Library of Congress's research centers, including those mentioned in this presentation:

• The Manuscript Reading Room
• The Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room

On these Walls: Inscriptions and Quotations from the Buildings in the Library of Congress

The three imposing buildings of the Library of Congress--the Thomas Jefferson Building, the John Adams Building, and the James Madison Memorial Building--are remarkable but very different public spaces and public works of art. The inscriptions and quotations on the walls and ceilings of each building express the Library's ambitious mission of collecting and sharing the wisdom of all civilizations.

The Thomas Jefferson Building: A Virtual Tour of the Library of Congress

An online tour of some of the special features of the Library's historic Thomas Jefferson Building.

Visiting the Library of Congress

Information on visiting the Library of Congress in person.

Print Sources

Ainsworth Rand Spofford, 1825-1908: A Memorial Meeting at the Library of Congress. New York: Webster Press, 1909.

Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, Library of Congress, 1866- .

Ashley, Frederick W. "The Library of Congress." Typescript. Ashley Papers, Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
Also available on microfilm.

Bishop, William Warner. The Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1914.

Bishop, William Warner and Andrew Keogh, eds. Essays Offered to Herbert Putnam by his Colleagues and Friends on His Thirtieth Anniversary as Librarian of Congress, 5 April 1929. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929; reprint, Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1967.

Blashfield, Edwin Howland. The Works of Edwin Howland Blashfield, with an Introduction by Royal Cortissoz. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1937.

Cole, John Y. Ainsworth Rand Spofford: Bookman and Librarian. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1975.

------. For Congress and the Nation: A Chronological History of the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979.

------. Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1993.

Cole, John Y. and Henry Hope Reed, eds. The Library of Congress: The Art and Architecture of the Thomas Jefferson Building. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997.

The Gazette. Library of Congress. A Weekly Newspaper for the Library Staff, 1990.

Goodrum, Charles A.Treasures of the Library of Congress. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1991.

Goodrum, Charles A. and Helen W. Dalrymple. Guide to the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1982.

Hilker, Helen-Anne. Ten First Street, Southeast: Congress Builds a Library, 1886-1897. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1980.

Johnston, William Dawson. History of the Library of Congress. Vol. 1, 1800-1864. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904. [No further vols. published.]

Librarians of Congress, 1802-1974. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1977.

The Library of Congress: A Documentary History. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Information Service, 1987. [Microfilm of Library documents, Annual Reports, guides to collections and inventories]

Library of Congress Information Bulletin, 1942- .

Mearns, David C. The Story Up to Now, 1800-1946. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1947; reprint, Boston: Gregg Press, 1972. Also printed separately, 1947.

Melville, Annette, comp. Special Collections in the Library of Congress: A Selective Guide. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1991.

Nelson, Josephus, and Judith Farley. Full Circle: Ninety Years of Service in the Main Reading Room. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1991.

Pierson, Harriet Wheeler. Rosemary: Reminiscences of the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C., 1943.

Quarterly Journal of Accessions of the Library of Congress. 1943-1963. Succeeded by Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, 1964-1983.

Rosenberg, Jane Aiken. The Nation&'s Great Library: Herbert Putnam and the Library of Congress, 1899-1939. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993.

Salamanca, Lucy. Fortress of Freedom: The Story of the Library of Congress. Philadelphia: J. Lippincott, 1942.

Small, Herbert, comp. Handbook of the New Library of Congress. Boston: Curtis & Cameron, 1901; reprinted, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1980.

Manuscript Sources on the History of the Library of Congress

Library of Congress Archives. Manuscript Division. This collection contains the richest source of Library history. There are some 2.25 million items housed in 5,200 boxes. Much of the material is available on 261 microfilm reels.