The Library of Congress Introduction and picture

Then The Library was established by the Congress in the year 1800. They authorized $5,000 for buying books. The collection began with 152 books shipped from England in 1801. During the War of 1812, most of the books were destroyed. So Congress purchased Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of 6000 books.

Now The Jefferson Building The John Adams Building The James Madison Building

Jefferson’s Library is just one room.

Main Hall

Main Desk

Librarian’s Office

Librarian’s Office

Member of Congress Room

LOC Treasures The Gutenburg bible

First globes produced in America.

Early school books

Posters and other artifacts

Various statistics The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 134 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 32 million books and other printed materials, 2.8 million recordings, 12.5 million photographs, 5.3 million maps, 5.5 million music items and 59.5 million manuscripts.

Size of the Collection The Library receives some 22,000 items each working day and adds approximately 10,000 items to the collections daily.

Ceiling of the main reading room.