Introduction

51. Family and Education are the major themes in this richly decorated corridor, located behind the north staircase on the first floor of the Great Hall. The corridor is dominated by paintings by Charles Sprague Pearce. The largest, The Family, is at the east end. Smaller paintings along the north side depict Religion, Labor, Study, Recreation, and Rest. The surnames of distinguished men of education from throughout the world are inscribed in the ceiling.

The Library’s struggles in the nineteenth century—for identity, space, and funds—were rewarded with a grand, new building. The twentieth century would see that magnificent structure welcome new staff, diverse collections, and a steady stream of patrons. Much of this progress was shaped by Herbert Putnam, who was appointed Librarian of Congress in 1899, just as the country entered the Progressive Era.

An experienced librarian, Putnam came to his post with a comprehensive plan for the Library of Congress as the national library, which he presented to President Theodore Roosevelt. He explained how the Library could become a bureau of information for the entire country, efficiently serving other libraries and promoting research. The president supported Putnam’s efforts for the next several years, beginning with a 1903 executive order that transferred the records of the Continental Congress and the personal papers of many of the founding fathers to the Library to be “preserved and made accessible.”

With President Roosevelt’s endorsement, a vote of confidence through an increased budget from Congress, and the space provided by the new building, Putnam pursued his plan with what others described as “energetic nationalism.” The result, between 1901 and 1928, was a series of new national library services, research publications and catalogs, cultural functions, and new offices. The most important development was the approval by Congress in 1925 of the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board, enabling the Library to accept private gifts or bequests for the benefit of the institution, its collections, or its services. Some of the fruits of this ruling were a series of chamber music concerts in an auditorium built for that purpose, the commissioning of new musical works, and the creation of the Archive of American Folk Song.

The Progressive Era saw the rise in academic disciplines and the scientific application of knowledge. This climate gave rise to a new legislative reference service at the Library of Congress. Specialized library units for legislative research were established in several states, notably Wisconsin, in the early 1900s. Wisconsin Senator Robert M. LaFollette promoted this idea, and a separate Legislative Reference Service with specialists in diverse fields was created in the Library of Congress in 1914. By 1915, the Librarian reported that the new service was receiving a wide range of questions regarding conservation, immigration, railroad securities, federal aid for road construction, and campaign contributions.

The Library played important roles during times of war and peace in the early part of the century. In 1917, the American Library Association asked Putnam to become the general director of its Library War Service, which supplied books and other reading matter to American troops training or engaged in the fighting in World War I. He immediately accepted, feeling this was a duty of the Library of Congress to American libraries and librarians. He was equally committed to the Library’s role as a protector of democracy. When President Harding transferred the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution from the State Department to the Library in 1921, Putnam was honored to display and protect the founding documents.

The Library’s symbolic role as a repository and promoter of the American democratic tradition also was of special appeal to Putnam’s successor, Archibald MacLeish, who served as Librarian of Congress during most of World War II. MacLeish relished the Library’s role as the custodian of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution and helped plan the shipment in late 1940 of these two documents and other Library treasures to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for safekeeping during the war. He also helped the ever-expanding Library move into its second building, and brought in government-sponsored art collections from agencies such as the Works Progress Administration.

Luther Evans, who became Librarian in 1954, helped usher the Library from the post–World War II era toward the information age. Again, the Library needed to adapt to the times while preserving its treasures, acquiring new collections, and providing knowledge and information to researchers and scholars. The challenge was how to embrace technology and growth without losing its greatest asset—the printed book—and unsettling its most important and longtime patron: the United States Congress.

52. The Court of Neptune Fountain in front of the Jefferson Building was the creation of sculptor Roland Hinton Perry. It was completed in 1898 and immediately introduced classical culture as the structure’s basic theme. At the time it was celebrated as the most lavishly ornamental fountain in the country. The colossal figure of Neptune, the Roman god of the seas, presides over an infusion of other bronze, allegorical inhabitants of the oceans. The fountain was restored during the 1986–94 renovation and restoration of the Jefferson and Adams Buildings.

1898

January – Newly hired catalogers J.C.M. Hanson and Charles Martel begin reclassifying the Library’s collections according to a new classification scheme.

February – The Court of Neptune Fountain by Roland Hinton Perry, located in front of the new Library building, is completed.

February 16 – Librarian John Russell Young invites diplomatic representatives throughout the world to send research materials that “would add to the sum of human knowledge” to the new national library. Approving the text of the message, Assistant Librarian Spofford reminds the Librarian: “I fought to bring us oceans of books and rivers of information.”

June 12 – Librarian Young writes in his diary: “I am trying to build the library far into the future, to make it a true library of research.”

July 7 – President McKinley approves a joint resolution authorizing the Librarian of Congress to accept the Gardiner Greene Hubbard collection of European and American prints, one of the finest private collections in the United States. A 1912 bequest from Hubbard’s widow, Gertrude M. Hubbard, supports the future growth of the collection.

53. The new building immediately began to attract gifts to the Library’s collection. In 1898, Mrs. Gardiner Greene Hubbard donated an extraordinary collection of 2,700 European and American prints. One was Albrecht Dürer’s The Expulsion from Paradise, or The Fall of Man.

July 8 – Thousands of visitors come to view the building when it is illuminated at night on an experimental basis. The new Library is the first public building in Washington planned and constructed to take full advantage of new technologies available through the use of electricity.

August 18 – Librarian Young alerts the staff to a new development: since “the Government has taken possession of Manila under circumstances that look to its permanent retention,” he asks that additional books about the Philippines be purchased immediately.

October 1 – Already open at 9 a.m., six days a week, the Library extends its closing hour to 10 p.m.

December 12 – Librarian Young points out, in his second annual report, that the bibliographic bulletins issued during the past year about Cuba and Hawaii were printed “in the belief that Congress might value the information presented.” Moreover, while the Library, through its collections, should be “American in the highest sense,” he feels there is no reason why it should not “seek out and gather in the learning and piety of every age.”

54. More than 800 tons of books, pamphlets, maps, manuscripts, pieces of music, and other materials were moved from the Library and its 16 storage rooms throughout the US Capitol to the new building. These copyright deposits would be sorted, counted, and classified before being added to the collections.

1899

January 8 – Herbert Friedenwald, superintendent of the Manuscripts Department, departs for Puerto Rico for the purpose of collecting “rare manuscripts, books, and maps pertaining to that Island.”

January 17 – Librarian Young succumbs to a lingering illness and dies. The next day Spofford becomes Acting Librarian of Congress.

March 13 – During the congressional recess, President McKinley appoints Herbert Putnam, librarian of the Boston Public Library, to be Librarian of Congress.

55. Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam at his desk in the early years of his 40-year administration, which extended from 1899 to 1939. Under his “responsible eye“ (his expression), the Library of Congress expanded and flourished into a national institution that served Congress, other libraries, scholars, and the general public. He also began development of the Library’s international collections.

56. At the turn of the new century, local teachers brought their curious students to see the Library, its exhibits, and collections. In the Main Reading Room, Librarian Putnam maintained a watchful eye.

April 5 – Herbert Putnam takes the oath of office as the eighth Librarian of Congress. The Library has a book collection of approximately 900,000 volumes, a staff of 134, and an appropriation in fiscal year 1898 of $280,000. Bernard Green, the superintendent of building and grounds, has a staff of 99.

October 10 – Putnam submits his estimated budget for the next fiscal year. He asks for five new departments of work, an increase in staff from 134 to 230, and a substantial increase in the allotment for collections. He notes that the entire collection must be reclassified and includes funds to purchase an electric automobile to replace the Library’s one wagon and two horses.

December 6 – President McKinley sends the Senate the nomination of Herbert Putnam as Librarian of Congress, “to which he was appointed during the last recess of Congress.” The Senate confirms the nomination, without debate, on December 12.

57. This 1898 view of the new Library building encompasses the dome on top of the Main Reading Room, including the Torch of Learning at its apex, all coated in 1893 with 23-carat gold leaf; a partial view of several of the portrait busts of famous authors across the building’s front portico; and visitors viewing the Court of Neptune Fountain on the right. Beyond the fountain and across Independence Avenue on the far right are buildings that were replaced when the Library’s Madison Building was constructed between 1975 and 1980.

1900

January – The Library publishes the Preliminary List of Books and Pamphlets by Negro Authors for the Paris Exposition and Library of Congress. Its compiler is Daniel Murray, an African American who was hired as an assistant librarian by Librarian of Congress Spofford in 1871.

April 7 – Librarian Putnam informs Melvil Dewey that if there had been any way he could have justified the use of the Dewey Decimal Classification system for the Library of Congress, he would have done so. However, the arguments against using it at the Library seemed “insuperable,” in particular its need for an expansive system suitable for a large research library. In November 1953, the Library and the Lake Placid Club Foundation, holder of the copyright for the Dewey Decimal Classification, agree that the Library will prepare the next edition, the 16th, of the Classification. To perform the work, the Library establishes a Dewey Classification Office in November 1958.