PART TWO

FOR THE NATION

1898-1959

50. This 1901 photograph of the Main Reading Room includes three of the massive semicircular stained-glass windows in which the seals of the states and territories of the Union at the time the building was constructed are reproduced. At the top, in the middle of each of the windows, is the Great Seal of the United States. To the right and the left, following the curve of each window, are the seals of states and territories, three on a side, six in each window. The name of the state or territory is inscribed above each seal, along with the date of the year in which it was admitted to the Union or organized under a territorial form of government. The series begins chronologically in the west window.