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America's Library: The Story of the Library of Congress, 1800-2000 1st Edition

by James Conaway (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0300083088

ISBN-10: 0300083084

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The Library of Congress, considered by many to be the greatest library on earth, holds over 110 million items―books in 450 languages, irreplaceable national documents, priceless art works, and objects of cultural fascination. From a modest collection of 740 books purchased by the Congress in 1800, the Library has grown to house hundreds of miles of bookshelves. Laid end to end, they would stretch from Washington, D.C., to Chicago. This book tells the continuously interesting story of the first two hundred years of the Library of Congress. It is a vast history, filled with an immense cast of characters ranging from presidents, poets, journalists, and congressmen to collectors, artists, curators, and eccentrics.

James Conaway centers this history around the thirteen men who have been appointed by presidents to lead the Library of Congress. The author investigates how the Librarians’ experiences and contributions, as well as the Library’s collections, have reflected political and intellectual developments in the United States. Each Librarian confronted great challenges: the entire Library collection was lost when the British burned the Capitol in 1814; in the 1940s, a backlog of one and a half million objects waited to be catalogued; the gigantic task of replacing the card catalogue with a computerized system was undertaken in the 1980s. Yet each Librarian also enjoyed the excitement of acquiring unique treasures―from Walt Whitman’s walking stick to the papers of the Wright brothers, from the Civil War photographs of Mathew Brady to the archives of Leonard Bernstein. This lively account of the Library of Congress and those who guided its progress over two centuries is the history of an American institution that today is truly a library to the world, serving readers and researchers everywhere.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Founded in 1800 as a resource for lawmakers, the Library of Congress is one of the greatest libraries in existence, with more than 110 million items in holding, including books in 450 different languages, national documents and art works. Conaway (The Smithsonian) investigates the Library's history from the vantage point of the 13 Librarians of Congress, to illustrate how their experiences and contributions have reflected political and intellectual developments in the U.S. Several Librarians of Congress stayed on for decades, dedicating their lives to the institution. The first, John J. Beckley, appointed in 1802 by President Thomas Jefferson, was confronted with an enormous challenge when the original collection was engulfed in flames during the British's burning of the Capitol by the British in 1812. Aimsworth Rand Spofford, appointed by Abraham Lincoln, succeeded in securing copyright deposit at the Library, thus ensuring its place as the national repository. Appointed by William McKinley, Herbert Putnam made the cataloging system available to U.S. libraries, while Archibald MacLeish, appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, established the Library as an important cultural center through his acquisitions and literature programs. The current Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, appointed by Ronald Reagan, has made a good portion of the collection available electronically. This is an engrossing and comprehensive read, as much a history of the people who made the Library of Congress what it is today--a library to the world--as it is a rich chronicle of the magnificent institution. 100 b&w and 12 color illus. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The venerable Library of Congress, source of pride and source of perplexity for America's librarians, has reached its bicentennial. Since its inception in 1800 with the gift to the U.S. of Thomas Jefferson's personal book collection, the library's expansion has paralleled that of the nation it serves. Often opportunistic, driven by political as well as social and educational goals, the Library of Congress has grown on a vast, exuberant scale into the world's premier repository of the printed word. Conaway has chosen to organize his history of this institution around that tiny, hardy band of men and women who have used both political acumen and intellectual vision to build the library's collections and establish those services that make the LC library to both Congress and nation. Richly supplemented with photographs, this history reaches out to touch all who love libraries, not just professional scholars and librarians. Conaway's prose flows smoothly, avoiding jargon and placing the library's history in the context of the nation's development. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; 1st edition (May 1, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300083084
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300083088
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.39 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 1 x 10.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,576,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,027 in Library & Information Science (Books)
- #2,324 in General Library & Information Sciences
- #9,646 in United States History (Books)

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Good Coffee Table Book

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2008

Verified Purchase

This book presents an interesting overview of 200 years of the Library of Congress. "Overview" describes its strengths and its limitations. It does give a sense of the library's place in our nation's historical timeline. It is a worthwhile read along with Presidents: All You Need to Know to see how major events in the Library's history coincide with the tenure of our presidents and major political and economic developments in our history.

It has the strengths of a good coffee table book. It has attractive photographs that provide readers with a feel for the majesty of the Library's architecture and the look and feel of some of its many books and other documents. It can be read in a hit-or-miss fashion, allowing readers to benefit from whatever they have time to read while waiting by the coffee table for a party or dinner date to begin. My favorite "quick nugget" is the anecdote about one of the Librarians of Congress coming across the last contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets hidden away in a safe, lost and forgotten for decades. Fascinating stuff!

The book disappoints by lacking the more detailed historical treatment you would expect to find on the bookshelf next to your host's coffee table--or on the hallowed shelves of the Library itself. Some of the past Librarians merit greater attention, more analysis of their motives and machinations. The actions of Congress and influential donors of collections could be further connected to concurrent historical events.

My appetite for Library lore was whetted by this offering, but not sated. If you have a similar yearning for more history after reading this book, I highly recommend moving on to Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress: For Congress, The Nation & The World . This book is a particularly good second course if your tastes extend to a detailed description of the current Library, its collections, administrative organization, and staff of experts. Enjoy!

13 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great price and in really good condition.

A Good Basic History

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2019

This book’s subtitle serves as a very accurate summary of its contents, for this volume provides both a celebration of the bicentennial of the Library of Congress and a straightforward, chronological account of the major people and events in its history. James Conaway here traces the Library’s development through two hundred years in 210 pages, divided into eight chapters – each covering a specific chronological period which is included in the chapter’s title. It also has the Library of Congress’s endorsement, as evidenced by the fact that the Library served as a publisher of the book – in association with Yale University Press – and that the current Librarian of Congress at the time, James Billington, provided an Introduction. This is a book aimed at a popular audience, and this is reflected in its presentation. It is attractively printed on glossy paper, with abundant illustrations (both black and white and color) appearing on almost every page. These illustrations are largely (although not exclusively) photographs, and include representations of major persons and events in the Library’s history as well as significant items from the Library’s extensive collections. There are also several attractive photographs of the stunning architecture and decoration of the main Library of Congress building in Washington D.C. The book includes a brief bibliography – consisting almost entirely of secondary sources and articles by recent Librarians of Congress – as well as an index.

An alternative title for this book could be The Library of Congress and How It Grew. The major, underlying theme of Conaway’s narrative is that of relentless expansion, as he traces the development of the Library of Congress from its origins as a modest collection of books to serve the research needs of members of Congress to the contemporary Library with its massive collection of materials on every conceivable subject and in all types of media. The history of the Library of Congress is one that includes many interesting and dramatic events – including the rebuilding of the collection after its decimation in several fires during the nineteenth century (both accidental and courtesy of the British burning of the Capitol in 1814) – and Conaway presents it well in an engaging and highly readable narrative. His background in journalism – the biographical note on the book’s dust jacket indicates that he is a former editor of Harper’s whose writing has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, and National Geographic - is visible in his writing style, which presents an engaging and entertaining narrative. The result is a tightly-written and interesting account for a popular audience, which follows the thread of the narrative without wandering into extraneous material. Conaway presents the history through the prism of personalities, specifically the various men who have served as Librarians of Congress. Alongside the theme of growth and expansion, there is a focus on how the personalities and visions for the Library’s mission of the various Librarians of Congress shaped its direction and development. There is also a strong undercurrent of politics throughout. Since the Librarian of Congress has from the beginning held the office as an appointee of the President, who must also work extensively with Congress as the source of the Library’s funding, the interactions of the Library and its Librarians with the other institutions of government is a major one. This relationship has not always been smooth, and Conaway recounts the various debates and conflicts. Conaway weaves together these themes of expansion, personalities, and politics to create an account that focuses more on breadth than depth. Although this is not a work of original research, and does not bring any new insights to the material, it does provide a readable summary of the institution’s history.

In spite of its strengths, America’s Library also has its weaknesses. It is at its best when focusing narrowly on the specific theme of the development of the Library of Congress, but is much shakier when navigating the broader historical background. Given the fact that the bibliography is almost exclusively composed of secondary sources, it is not surprising that Conaway’s presentation of the broader history of the times is at times shallow. This is particularly evident in his discussion of the various debates over the role of the Library of Congress that have taken place periodically, especially in its early years. Although its status as America’s “national library” and a treasure trove of all types of material is now well established, this was not a foreordained conclusion. There was no obvious reason why a collection that was originally intended as a limited resource primarily for the use of members of Congress should expand to the extent that it did – eventually becoming a major institution in its own right – and this expansion was not without controversy. Unfortunately, Conaway makes no effort to understand the reasons why those who opposed various expansions to the Library of Congress did so, and he offers no explanation of their position other than anti-intellectualism. His focus on personalities is also detrimental in this respect. Conaway clearly admires the various men who have held the office of Librarian of Congress, particularly those who had the most expansive vision of the Library’s mission and collections. However, he is too inclined to take the assessments (sometimes amounting to allegations) that various Librarians of Congress (and others, such as Thomas Jefferson, who also promoted an ambitious vision for the Library of Congress) made about those who disagreed with them – failing to take into account that, as parties to the disputes themselves, they are hardly objective sources. The idea that there could be more than one legitimate vision for the Library of Congress and that men of goodwill could disagree on the subject is one for which this book has no time. The narrative of the forces of knowledge opposed to the forces of ignorance admits of no nuance. Although we may be glad that the Library of Congress developed into the institution that it did, it is not necessary to reduce those who had different ideas to a caricature.

Another reservation about the book is technical rather than thematic. Although Conaway usually identifies within the text the source of a quotation, he does not provide complete citations. This makes it difficult to trace a particular quote back to its ultimate source, particularly in the case of various historical figures whom Conaway is presumably quoting from unnamed secondary sources.

Yet, in spite of some flaws, Conaway has produced a readable, basic history of the Library of Congress that can serve as a good introduction for popular audiences, who will undoubtedly enjoy the engaging writing and abundant illustrations.

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