October 30, 2000 Thomas Jefferson Exhibition Extended to Nov. 16

The Library's major Bicentennial exhibition on Thomas Jefferson -- founding father, farmer, architect, inventor, slaveholder, book collector, scholar, diplomat, third president of the United States and father of the Library of Congress -- has been extended through Nov. 16. It is on view in the Northwest Gallery and Pavilion of the Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday.

A highlight of the exhibition is Jefferson's library -- the 6,487 books that he sold to Congress in 1815 to replace the volumes that were burned in the U.S. Capitol during the War of 1812. Never before on public view, the library will remain open to visitors in the Northwest Pavilion of the Jefferson Building through the summer of 2001. Plans are under way for a permanent display of these volumes from Jefferson's library, the seed from which the current Library of Congress grew.

Throughout this Bicentennial year, spurred by a generous gift by Jerry and Gene Jones as a "Gift to the Nation," the Library of Congress has been reassembling original editions that were in Jefferson's library when he sold it to Congress. Many of those books were lost in an 1851 fire in the Capitol, but, thanks to generous donors, the library is now more than 90 percent complete.