The Library of American Libraries

My daughter and her family and I traveled to DC to see her brother/my son recently. This was my third trip, but I'd never visited the inside the Capitol or the Library of Congress, so after the Capitol tour, we traversed the underground tunnel to the LoC.

When we surfaced at the LoC, we saw that we'd traveled a longer distance underground than we realized.

All these years, I assumed the Library of Congress looked like any other old library with historical-looking wooden shelving, except that the LoC collection housed a gazillion books.

I was shocked to see that it looked more like something out of a castle or church in Europe. Somebody definitely designed it as a temple dedicated to knowledge.

   

And this was just the first room!

Unfortunately, we never saw the stacks, and they allowed us to walk quickly across a balcony overlooking the reading room, but we didn't get to stop and take pictures. 

Some quick facts about the Library of Congress:

• The collection was founded in 1800 and is considered the nation's library
• The Library of Congress is housed in a three-building complex across from the Capitol
• The collection contains almost 100 million items in 460 different languages
• The first LoC's 3,000 volumes burned in 1814 when the British troops invaded Washington and burned the Capitol, where the collection was housed
• Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his library of 6,487 books acquired over fifty years for $23,950, which the Congress eventually accepted
• A fire in 1851 destroyed 2/3 of the collection of 35,000, including many of Jefferson's books. 
• The remainder of Jefferson's books are on display under glass in the LoC
• The LoC was originally created for Congressional use only, but with President Lincoln's appointment of Librarian Ainsworth Spofford, the LoC was opened to the public

Before we visited the Library Gift Shop, we were quickly evacuated out the back of the building after someone (probably a tourist) had left an unattended package at the front of the building.  I don't envy the huge job law enforcement has trying to keep everyone safe in and around all the government buildings and massive museums in DC.

We visited the Library of Congress and other than Jefferson's glass-covered collection, we didn't see one shelf of books, but looking at the aerial photo of the Jefferson Building from the LoC Web site, we barely scratched the surface.