Message:21336 In: TODAY.WW
From: KF5JRVDate: Fri, 24 Apr 26 08:04:00 Z
Newsgroups: TODAY.WW
Subject: Today in History - Apr 24
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President John Adams approves legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Co
ngress,” thus establishing the Library of Congress. The first books, ordered from London, arrived in 1801 and were stored in
the U.S. Capitol, the library’s first home. The first library catalog, dated April 1802, listed 964 volumes and nine maps. Tw
elve years later, the British army invaded the city of Washington and burned the Capitol, including the then 3,000-volume Libra
ry of Congress.
Former president Thomas Jefferson, who advocated the expansion of the library during his two terms in office, responded to the
loss by selling his personal library, the largest and finest in the country, to Congress to “recommence” the library. The p
urchase of Jefferson’s 6,487 volumes was approved in the next year, and a professional librarian, George Watterston, was hire
d to replace the House clerks in the administration of the library. In 1851, a second major fire at the library destroyed about
two-thirds of its 55,000 volumes, including two-thirds of the Thomas Jefferson library. Congress responded quickly and generou
sly to the disaster, and within a few years a majority of the lost books were replaced.
After the Civil War, the collection was greatly expanded, and by the 20th century the Library of Congress had become the de fac
to national library of the United States and one of the largest in the world. Today, the collection, housed in three enormous b
uildings in Washington, contains more than 17 million books, as well as millions of maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audi
o and video recordings, prints, drawings and digital materials.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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