October 16, 2011 Library of Congress Quarterly Journal Available in JSTOR

The full archive of the Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress is now accessible electronically through JSTOR, a not-for-profit shared digital library.

Established by Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish (1939-1944), the Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress includes scholarly articles about special collections and new collections acquired by the Library from 1943 through 1983.

In his introduction to the first issue, dated July-September 1943, Librarian MacLeish described the new journal as “a work of cooperative scholarship” aimed primarily at bringing the collections and programs of the Library to the attention of Congress, the government and the American people. American poet and critic Allen Tate served as the Quarterly Journal’s first editor during his tenure as Consultant in Poetry.

MacLeish appointed Robert Penn Warren to be poetry consultant and editor of the Quarterly Journal on July 23, 1944. At the end of Warren’s term in 1945, the editorship transferred to Library of Congress staff, with oversight by the Publishing Office. For 40 years the journal systematically emphasized new acquisitions in all of the Library’s departments. Many of the journal’s descriptions of individual items and collections are unsurpassed. The Quarterly Journal ceased publication in 1983.

Established in 1995, JSTOR (www.jstor.org External) provides access to archival and current issues of more than 1,400 scholarly journals across more than 50 academic disciplines. To date, the service is accessible to more than 7,000 institutions—universities, secondary schools, libraries, museums, government and nonprofit research groups—in more than 150 countries.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov and via interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at myLOC.gov.

Through the Publishing Office, the Library of Congress produces a wide variety of publications that aim to share the institutions collections and activities—and the knowledge of its staff specialists—with scholars, researchers and the general public. For more information, go to www.loc.gov/publish/general/.