Library of Congress Is Established on April 24, 1800
Congress established its own legislative library on this day in 1800 in a measure signed by President John Adams that covered moving the nation's capital from Philadelphia to Washington.
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The legislation appropriated $5,000 "for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress ... and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them." The Capitol housed the original library until 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the building, destroying all 3,000 volumes. In January 1815, Congress accepted an offer from Thomas Jefferson, the former president, to donate his personal library as a replacement. The lawmakers appropriated $23,950 to buy his 6,487 books. The library grew into a national institution in the 19th century.
Today, the library, spread throughout three main buildings, is home to more than 30 million catalogued books and other print materials in 470 languages, more than 58 million manuscripts and the largest rare book collection in North America, including a Gutenberg Bible, one of only three perfect vellum copies known to exist. There are also more than one million U.S government publications, one million issues of newspapers spanning the past three centuries, 33,000 bound newspaper volumes, 500,000 microfilm reels, more than 6,000 comic book titles, the world's largest collection of legal materials, 4.8 million maps, films, reams of sheet music and 2.7 million sound recordings.
Since 1902, the LC, as it's known, has served as a depository of last resort: U.S. libraries may request certain books and other items through an interlibrary loan from the Library of Congress if these items are not readily available elsewhere. The library is open to the public for academic research for people who obtain a "reader identification card." However, only members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, their staffs and certain other government officials can check out books.