Library of Congress Takes my Breath Away

Ann St. Martin Stout
LEAVES ARE FREE
At the age of four-and-a-half, our youngest got her library card at Newport’s Richards Free Library. The requirement was that she must be able to print her first and last name legibly. Years later, when we looked at the signing card, we realized the librarian had been very generous and kind. Of course, it helped that they already knew her name.

When each of her siblings came home that day, they congratulated her, told her how awesome it was and a few remembered the day they got their own library card.

All this came flooding back to mind when this same daughter, now away at college, sent a photo to the family chat with the caption, “got my Library of Congress card today”. Again, several siblings replied with positive comments.

Later, in a private message, she said, “There are so many books here I don’t know how to conduct myself. I don’t even know where to look.” She settled on a book about folk music.

Two weeks later, during family weekend, her dad and I got our Library of Congress cards, too.

We filled out a brief online application, which required us to agree to a statement which began, “I acknowledge that the use of the Library of Congress Reading Rooms, collections, and facilities is a privilege extended to the public by the Congress of the United States.”

This was followed by a paragraph on copyright, then closed with this statement: “The Library asks that researchers approach the materials in our collections with respect of the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here.”

I heartily “clicked” my agreement. We waited in line for twenty minutes, surrounded by marble floors, high ceilings and fine wood walls, to eventually answer a few more questions, present a photo ID and have a photo taken. I was handed a laminated card that gave me access to this unfathomable collection of human knowledge, which began as a resource for members of Congress in 1800, then was reestablished after the burning of the Capitol in the War of 1812.

My first minutes in the Reading Room were spent in awe, craning my neck to see the decor on the high walls surrounding the dome. Statues, quotes inscribed on the walls and what surely must be miles of bookshelves, all intermingled with lighted desks for individual use.

Julia and I sat with a large book of artists’ signatures and monograms. We browsed each letter until we found an artist whose name we recognized, then started with the next letter. Some signatures were flourished and fancy, others nearly unreadable. We joked that it would certainly be a book useful to an art forger but more likely would be used by an art historian or by an antique art dealer.

On the way out, we saw a Gutenberg Bible in a climate-controlled case, located in the Great Hall. It is one of the few surviving copies printed on vellum. This interested me as I am a hobby letterpress printer, using the technology of movable lead type, invented by Gutenberg, approximately 570 years ago.

The Library of Congress is housed in three buildings within Washington DC and two more archivally-advanced buildings outside the city. It holds information documented in every form imaginable, including LPs, 8-track tapes, books of vellum, parchment and other surfaces, manuscripts, maps, braille, comics and more. Archival preservation and cataloguing are continually being done by the more than three thousand permanent staff members. Approximately 470 languages are represented in the collection.

Much of the collection is being digitized so a lot can be found online at www.loc.gov. I searched “Greek Americans” and was treated to page after page of historic images.

Soon after coming home, we watched Modern Marvels “The Real National Treasure,” unfolding the workings of the Library of Congress. When planning our next trip, a solid chunk of time will be set aside for further discovery of the Jefferson, Adams and Madison buildings of the Library of Congress. Stay tuned!