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For More Information
Susan K. Siegel
Director, Major Gifts and
Executive Director, James Madison Council
Voice: (202) 707-1447
E-mail: [email protected]
|| What Is the Madison Council? ||
The Library of Congress preserves and provides access to a rich, diverse and enduring source of knowledge to inform, inspire and engage Americans and rapidly growing international audiences. The James Madison Council, launched in 1990, is comprised of public-minded philanthropists seeking to advance the Library’s efforts to make these riches more accessible and dynamic. As visionaries, champions and ambassadors, the Madison Council is truly a crown jewel of the nation’s library.
The success of hundreds of projects that members have brought to life since the Council’s inception attests to the synergy that results when knowledge, talents, contacts and assets of the private sector are merged with the resources of a greater public institution.
As a member of this unique support group, you can make a significant, tangible difference in our nation’s library.
|| Key Accomplishments ||
- Lead private support for Library signature initiatives since 1990, accounting for 53% of all private funds raised for more than 400 initiatives.
- Foremost donors to a multi-million dollar campaign to provide stipends for a variety of internships and fellowships at the Library, awarded to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students to enable them to experience the integrated analog and digital collections and services of the world's largest, all-inclusive library. Working under the direction of Library curators and specialists in various divisions, Library interns and fellows increase access to the institution’s unparalleled collections and resources. Campaign led by Chairman Emeritus H.F.(Gerry) Lenfest.
- Lead benefactors for a $24 million campaign for a new knowledge center in the magnificent Thomas Jefferson Building.
- Key support for the Library’s efforts to promote reading and literacy, led by Chairman David M. Rubenstein, most notably through the National Book Festival.
- Creation of a major scholarly center and a $1 million prize for the humanities endowed by Madison Council Founding Chairman Emeritus John W. Kluge.
- The acquisitions of hundreds of items to build the national collection, including the famous Waldseemüller Map, the first map to bear the name “America” and an album containing a never-before-seen photograph of Harriet Tubman as a young woman.
- Key sponsorship of dozens of Library exhibitions highlighting its unmatched collections, including Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote; Baseball Americana; Creating the United States; Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture; Library of Congress Bible Collection; and The Civil War in America.
- The re-creation of Thomas Jefferson’s library.
- Sponsorship of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song which celebrates the work of an artist whose career reflects lifetime achievement in promoting song as a vehicle of musical expression and cultural understanding.
- Key support for The World Digital Library (WDL), a Library initiative carried out with the support of UNESCO, and in cooperation with libraries, archives, museums, educational institutions, and international organizations from around the world. The WDL makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from all countries and cultures.
|| Publications ||
- Madison Council Bulletin Spring 2021 (PDF, 1.41 MB)
|| Madison Council Activities ||
|| Exhibitions ||
- Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight For the Vote. June 4, 2019–September 2020.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal. . . . In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object.
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments, 1848
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Library of Congress has launched a landmark exhibition on the women’s suffrage movement. This exhibition tells the compelling story of the largest reform movement in American history – establishing not just women’s voting rights but also a legacy of defending the exercise of free speech, free assembly and the right to dissent for all Americans. The exhibition features the Library’s unsurpassed documentary record of the suffrage campaign from its early roots in the abolition and temperance campaigns through its final victory. Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote is made possible by The Library of Congress James Madison Council with additional support from 1st Financial Bank USA, Democracy Fund, AARP, Council member Thomas V. Girardi, HISTORY®, Barbara Lee Family Foundation Fund at the Boston Foundation, and Council members Roger and Julie Baskes. Southwest Gallery, Thomas Jefferson Building. - Art in Action: Herblock and Fellow Artists Respond to Their Times. Through August 27, 2019.
This exhibition was inspired by original drawings created for distribution in newspapers by Herbert L. Block (1909–2001), who won three Pulitzer Prizes and became known simply as "Herblock." During Herblock's seventy-two-year career, he created incisive editorial cartoons about life-changing events, controversial issues, and public figures. Art in Action thematically pairs Herblock's political cartoons with artists' prints, drawings, and posters. These juxtapositions underscore how various artists across time and place can be kindred spirits in expressing concerns about the world they inhabit.
All works in this exhibition are from the Prints and Photographs Division collections at the Library of Congress. The generous support of the Herb Block Foundation has made possible an ongoing series of triennial exhibitions based on the Library's extensive archive of Herblock's work. Graphic Arts Galleries, Ground Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building. - Exploring the Early Americas. Ongoing exhibition, opened December 12, 2007. Features selections from the more than 3,000 rare maps, documents, paintings, prints, and artifacts that make up the Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress. It provides insight into indigenous cultures, the drama of the encounters between Native Americans and European explorers and settlers, and the pivotal changes caused by the meeting of the American and European worlds. The exhibition includes two extraordinary maps by Martin Waldseemüller created in 1507 and 1516, which depict a world enlarged by the presence of the Western Hemisphere. The Jay I. Kislak Collection and exhibition were made possible by Madison Council member Jay I. Kislak (1922-2018) and the Jay and Jean Kislak Foundation. Northwest Gallery, Thomas Jefferson Building.
