Article January 8, 1903 Issue

The Library of Congress and its Treasures

Smith D. Frye

The Advance

In the vernacular of social and official life the Library of Congress is always spoken of as the Congressional Library; and so it is generally known by the plain people. There is now before the joint committee on the Library a proposition to change the name by act of congress to the National Library. It is fair to presume that this change will be made some day, because the vast and valuable library is no longer the Library of Congress exclusively. It is a public library, open day and night, and Sunday afternoons, for the benefit of all who may desire to occupy places in the reading room and order books. A semi-official publication announces: "It is, in effect, the library of the whole American people, directly serving the interests of the entire country." In his later years Thomas Jefferson always referred to it as "The Library of the United States."

The room which was occupied by the Library in the Capitol building had shelf space for 350,000 books. When the removal was made to the new building there were 700,000 books, 250,000 pamphlets, 500,000 sheets of music, 25,000 maps, and 26,000 engravings. The mass of material was so jumbled up that it was well-nigh impossible for the librarian or his assistants to lay their hands upon any specific volume within a reasonable time for ready reference. The veteran librarian, somehow, kept the approximate locality of the books in his memory. To have them catalogued was absolutely impossible, except as to their actual existence. The library now contains more than a million volumes of books, exclusive of all other material.

In 1872 Librarian Spofford began the agitation for appropriations for the rental, lease, or erectior, of a suitable building. He was fourteen years engaged in that agitation before an act of Congress permitted the laying of the corner-stone for the present palace of iiterature. A description of this architectural conception cannot be given in limited space. It stands pre-eminent over all public buildings, and is, without doubt or qualification, the most beautiful building in the world. not even excepting Taj Mahal, the famous building of beauty in India.

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