About Us > History > 1897 - 1939

History 1897 - 1939

1897

The Library moved from its overcrowded rooms in the Capitol across the east plaza into its spacious new building, and its collections ranked first among American libraries in size and scope. Over 40 percent of its 840,000 volumes and at least 90 percent of its map, music, and graphic arts collections has been acquired through copyright deposit. Important items deposited through copyright included Civil War photographs by Mathew Brady, which are usually considered the first motion pictures.

Among the approximately eight hundred tons of books, pamphlets, maps, manuscripts, prints, pieces of music, and other materials moved into the first Library of Congress building in 1897 were these copyright deposits, photographed as they were waiting to be sorted, counted, and classified.

President William McKinley appointed a new Librarian of Congress to supervise the move from the Capitol and implement the new reorganization. He was John Russell Young, who held office briefly, from July 1, 1897, until his death in January 1899. A journalist and former diplomat, Young was a skilled administrator who worked hard to strengthen both the comprehensiveness of the collections and the scope of the services provided to Congress. He honored Jefferson's influence on the Library, bringing Jefferson's books into a special room and commissioning a report on the Jefferson library that was published in the Library's 1898 annual report.

Young also inaugurated what today is one of the Library's best known national activities, library service for the blind and physically handicapped. In November of 1897 the Library began a program of daily readings for the blind in a special "pavilion for the blind" complete with its own library. In 1913 Congress directed the American Printing House for the Blind to begin depositing embossed books in the Library, and in 1931 a separate appropriation was authorized for providing "books for the use of adult blind residents of the United States."

1899

Herbert Putnam, Young's successor, was appointed by President McKinley and served as Librarian of Congress for forty years, until the autumn of 1939. Asked to characterize the Library as he neared the end of his long career, Putnam penned the phrase "Universal in Scope: National in Service."

If Spofford was the principal collection-builder, Putnam was the Librarian who did the most to extend the Library's use to the American people. He created a systematic program of widespread public use that exists to this day, opening up the collections to scholars, the public, and to other libraries. The first experienced librarian to serve as Librarian of Congress, Putnam established a working partnership between the Library of Congress and the American library movement.

By the end of 1901 the Library of Congress, the first American library to reach one million volumes, had started organizing its enormous collections of recorded knowledge for public service and become the leader among American libraries.

1901

The first volume of a completely new classification scheme, based on the Library's own collections, was published; access to the Library was extended to "scientific investigators and duly qualified individuals" throughout the United States; an interlibrary loan service was inaugurated; and the sale and distribution of Library of Congress printed catalog cards began.

The interlibrary loan system established by Putnam in 1901 was a radical step, for it signaled the institution's transition from a national storehouse of books to a national laboratory or workshop for promoting the use of its collections.

Librarian Putnam's extension of the Library's classification and cataloging schemes to the rest of the nation helped "democratize" knowledge, nationally and internationally, for it established bibliographic standards and encouraged cooperative endeavors among librarians and scholars. This sharing of the Library's "bibliographic apparatus" helped shape and systematize intellectual activity in America and propelled the Library of Congress into a position of leadership among the world's research institutions.

1903

Putnam persuaded his friend and supporter, President Theodore Roosevelt, to issue an executive order that transferred the papers of many of the nations's founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, from the State Department archives to the Library's Manuscript Division. In 1904, the Library began publishing important historical texts from its collections, such as the Journals of the Continental Congress.

1906

Putnam acquired the famous eighty thousand volume private library of Russian literature owned by G. V. Yudin of Siberia, even sending a staff member to Russia to supervise the packing and shipping of the books. The Schatz collection of early opera librettos was purchased from a German collector in 1908. Large and important collections of Hebraica and Chinese and Japanese books also were acquired.

One of three perfect copies of the Gutenberg Bible came to the Library of Congress in 1930, after Congress approved acquisition of the Vollbehr collection of incunabula (items printed between 1450 and 1500). Among the Library's greatest treasures, the Bible represents one of the world's most astonishing technological inventions -- the technique of printing by individual, movable pieces of type.

1914

The Library's foremost function, support for the legislature, was strengthened when the Legislative Reference Service was established as a separate administrative unit. By the second decade of the century, the legislative reference movement reached the national legislature.

1925

The Library of Congress Trust Fund Board Act enabled the institution to accept gifts and bequests from private citizens. This legislation created a new cultural role for the Library.

1928

Legislation to acquire land for a new structure was approved and the Annex Building (today the Adams Building) was authorized in 1930.

1939

Appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, Archibald MacLeish served as Librarian of Congress until the end of 1944, when he became assistant secretary of state.

Thomas Jefferson's concept of liberty and self-government inspired Librarian MacLeish who, in 1941, dedicated the South Reading Room in the Adams Building to the Library's principal founder. MacLeish established a "democracy alcove" in the Main Reading Room, where readers could find "the classic texts of the American tradition," including the Declaration of Independence, the constitution, the Federalist Papers, and other writings of American statesmen.

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