The law creating the Library of Congress, approved by president John Adams on April 24, 1800, called for the Library's collection to be housed in a "suitable apartment" in the Capitol building.
The Thomas Jefferson Building shortly after opening; construction engineer Bernard R. Green (1843-1914) played a major role in the construction of the Jefferson Building from 1888 until its completion in 1897 — even designing its bookstacks — then served as superintendent of the Library building and grounds until his death.
Thus began what has become a two-century struggle for space to accommodate what Dr. Billington described in his testimony before Congress on Jan. 27, 2000, as "the largest and most inclusive library in human history."
In the beginning there was the U.S. Capitol building — however it was not much of a building, for in 1800 only its north wing had been completed. From 1802 to 1805, the small library was in a room that the House of Representatives had previously occupied. Then it was moved to various places in the Capitol (documented in William Dawson Johnston's History of the Library of Congress 1800-1864) until Aug. 24, 1814, when the British burned and destroyed the Capitol, including the Library.
Left, the Library's room in the Capitol in 1832, drawn by Andrew Jackson Davis. This room opened in 1824, was destroyed by fire in 1851 and reopened in 1853.; right, the U.S. Capitol in 1839, drawn by August Kollner. The Library of Congress was located in the Capitol's center portico from 1824 until the Jefferson Building opened in 1897.
The purchase of Jefferson's library in 1815 to "reconstitute" the Library of Congress promised better days ahead, but not immediately. Finally, on Aug. 17, 1824, after four years in temporary quarters at Blodget's Hotel at Seventh and E Streets N.W., and nearly six years wedged into the attic story of the Capitol's north wing, a grand new Library of Congress room opened in the Capitol's west center, overlooking the Mall. Designed by Architect of the Capitol Charles Bulfinch, it was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide. On Dec. 22, 1825, a fire started by a candle left burning in the gallery was controlled before it could cause serious damage. Fireproofing was investigated but found too costly. The Library's law collection was separated into a separate "apartment" in 1832.
On Christmas Eve, 1851, the Library suffered a disastrous fire. Approximately two-thirds of its 55,000 volumes were destroyed by the flames, including two-thirds of Jefferson's private library. A faulty chimney flue was the culprit. Architect of the Capitol Thomas U. Walter, with congressional approval, presented a plan to repair and enlarge the Library using fireproof materials. The elegantly restored "iron" room, which was encircled by galleries and filled the entire west central front of the Capitol, was opened to congressional and popular acclaim on Aug. 23, 1853.
In 1865 Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1864-1897), the Library's first great expansionist, obtained approval for adding two new fireproof wings. He soon filled them, however, and then the copyright law of 1870, whose passage he had supported, was responsible for flooding the shelves with two copies of all copyrighted items. Spofford turned to Congress for help, noting in his 1875 annual report that the Library was out of shelf space and if Congress did not soon approve his request for a separate building, its Librarian would be "in the unhappy position of presiding over the greatest chaos in America."
Spofford's great achievement, today's Thomas Jefferson Building, did not open until 1897. The struggle for its completion and its ultimate success brought the Library of Congress public attention and a new public role. It was known at the time as both the "National Temple of the Arts" and the "Book Palace of the American People." For many years it was the largest library building in the world. However it was not nearly big enough for Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam (1899-1939), the institution's second major expansionist. With support from Congress, Putnam added new services (mostly to libraries) and collections from around the world. Three of the Jefferson's Building's four interior courtyards were quickly filled: the east courtyards became bookstacks in 1910 (southeast) and 1927 (northeast), and the northwest courtyard became the home of the Coolidge Auditorium (1925), a small reflecting pool (1928), and the Whittall Pavilion (1939). The east side of the Jefferson Building was extended in the early 1930s, providing, in 1934, new quarters for the Rare Book Room and the National Union Catalog.
Left, construction on the extension of the Jefferson Building's east side, from 1933. The new Annex, today's Adams Building, would soon be built across Second Street and adjacent to the Folger Shakespeare Library; right, despite the addition of the Adams Building, overcrowding continued in the Jefferson Building, as seen in this photo from the 1970s. With office space creeping out into the second level of the Great Hall, the need for a third building was more evident each year.
At Putnam's urging, in 1928 Congress authorized purchase of land directly east of the Jefferson Building for the construction of an Annex Building (now called the John Adams Building). The simple classical structure was intended, essentially, as a functional and efficient bookstack "encircled with work spaces." Its construction, supported by appropriations in 1930 and 1935, was delayed because of the Depression. The doors were opened to the public on Jan. 3, 1939.
In 1957, Librarian of Congress L. Quincy Mumford (1954-1974) initiated studies for a third major Library building. In 1960 Congress appropriated planning funds for the structure, today's James Madison Memorial Building. Construction of the huge, functional structure was authorized in 1965 and began in 1971. The move into the building started in 1980 and was completed in 1982. The enormous Madison Building supplanted its sister Jefferson Building as the largest library building in the world when it opened. It relieved terribly crowded conditions in the Jefferson and Adams buildings. It also made possible, through the office of the Architect of the Capitol (which is responsible for the Library's buildings and grounds), for the renovation of both the earlier buildings, as there was finally enough space to rearrange holdings and offices so that those buildings could be restored. Congress made the initial appropriation for this purpose in 1984 and completion was celebrated in 1997 when the Library marked the Jefferson Building's centennial.
Workers look out at the Jefferson Building from a floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, under construction in 1974. The building was dedicated in 1980, completing the Library's presence on Capitol Hill.
Librarian Mumford also extended the Library internationally. Through Public Law 480 (1958) and Title II-C of the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Library established its first formal overseas offices: New Delhi and Cairo (1961) and London (1966). Today the Library has six overseas acquisitions and cataloging offices.
In recent decades, finding space to accommodate the Library's enormous collections (119 million items, out of which approximately 19 million are books) and their expansion (currently 10,000 items are added each working day) has become an increasingly complicated and vexing issue. Because additional Library of Congress buildings on Capitol Hill are out of the question, the emphasis has been on off-site collection storage facilities, particularly in Landover and Suitland, Md., and, for motion pictures, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. In 1999, however, the Library announced plans for two new, long-term locations for the storage and servicing of selected collections: Fort Meade, Md., and Culpeper, Va.
The Adams Building nears completion in 1938. The Jefferson Building can be seen at right.
On Nov. 5, 1999, Dr. Billington and Architect of the Capitol Alan Hantman broke ground for construction of a complex of 13 Library of Congress storage facilities that will be built at Fort Meade during the next 50 years. About 20 miles north of Capitol Hill, the 100-acre Fort Meade site will provide a cool, safe environment for paper-based collections, especially books and pamphlets, but also selected serials, maps, manuscripts, music and prints.
In 1997 Congress authorized the Architect of the Capitol to acquire, on behalf of the Library of Congress, a well-equipped facility in Culpeper for development into the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. After renovation, the complex will provide more than 141,000 square feet to catalog and conserve the Library's motion picture, radio, television, video and recorded sound collections. Architectural design will be completed in spring 2000, with construction scheduled to be completed between 2003 and 2005.
