Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 139, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1912 — THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

>' M —\ O ARRIVE at some understanding ot 111(5 activities of the Library of Congress as an institution, a brief description of the building, which stands as a lasting monument to American genius in arH J chitecture, sculpture and art will be necessary. The grounds* adjoin those of the national Capitol, the outer walls having a frontage on four streets. The building is of the Italian renaissance order of architecture, has three stories covers an area of nearly four a<?res of ground, with four large inner-courts 150 by 75 to 100 feet in size. It is lighted by about 2,000 windows. Its gilded dome, 195 feet high, terminates in a gilded finial representing the ever-burning -torch Of science. 'V/. ' . In front of the main entrance and between the great stone stairways leading to the facade is the great semicircular basin representing the Court of Neptune—the classic god of the sea — whose huge bronze figure forms the center of a group of tritons, sea nymphs, sea horses, seppents and other marine animals and amphibious creatures. This fountain is said to be the most lavishly ornamented creation of its kind in this country. -X -- The exterior of the building is not profusely decorated, but the very simplicity of its classic lines adds to the grandeur of its imposing appearance. The entrance pavilion has. sixteen rounded ' pillars with Corinthian capitals. Four 4 colossal itlantes support the pediment# in which are iculptured American eagles, with supporting figares of children. In the windows are nine great portrait-busts, in granite, of Emerson, Irving, Goethe, Franklin, Macaulay, Hawthorne, Scott, Demosthenes and Dante. The three deep arches of the pavilion terminate in the three massive bronze entrance doors, 14 feet high and 71/„ feet wide, weighing tons each, which are beautiful works of art in themselves in their sculptured

designs in relief, typifying Tradition, Writing and the art 1 of Printing. Beyond, /these doors is the main vestibule, separated from staircase hall by piers of Italian marble, ornamented with pilasters supporting marble arches, overhead being a paneled celling finished in white and gold, Impressively rich and elegant in design. The gilded beams of the ceiling are supported by white and gold con-

soles, In front of each and almost detached .from It stand out the sculptured figures, In pairs, of the goddess Minerva, one of War, ind the other ot Peace. From this vestibule is entered the staircase hall, an apartment unsurpassed in magnificence and artistic beauty by any entrance hall in the world. It is truly “a vision in polished stone,” with its vaulted ceiling 72 feet high, Its sides lined throughout with fine Italian marble, highly polished, while on the sides rise pairs of magnificent marble columns with elaborately carved Corinthian capitals, Through the intervening spaces are seen glimpses of the rich coloring of the mural paintings and the glittering gold of the ceiling decorations of the vaulted arches and galleries of the second Hoot The grand double staircase with white marble balustrades, one on the north and the other on the south side of the hall, has probably no equal in the western hemisphere. The newe| posts, richly decorated with festoons of flowers and leaves, are surmounted by two huge bronze figures of classically draped women holding aloft a cluster of electric lights. The staircases are highly ornamented with miniature marble figures carved in relief representing in emblematic sculpture the various arts and sciences. On, the buttress of the south stairway are the sculptured figures representing„ America and Africa, supporting between them a globe showing these continents, while on the north side a similar group represents Europe and Asia. This spacious and magnificently decorated hall, taken in connection with the grand corridors and the elaborately and artistically embellished' reading room, furnish the finest marble interior in America. From the east corridor a stairway ascends to the balcony of the reading room. On the wall of the landing of this stairway is a beautiful mosaic of Minerva, the goddress of wisdom, by Eilhu Vedder. Entering the visitors’ gallery an excellent view is afforded of this spacious rotunda or main reading room. Its vastness is but dimly appreciable from the bare statement that it is 100 feet in diameter and 125 feet in height, and that the pillars are 40 feet high and the windows 32 feet wide. One of its chief beauties is the harmonious blending rich coloring effected by the dark Tennessee, the red Numldian and the yellow shades of Sienna marbles, accentuated by the old ivory of the stucco ornamentation of the dome. Upon the eight immense piers supporting the dome are placed fertile figures of colossal stature, above each being a quotation relative to the phase of learning or achievement further represented by the 16 bronze statues standing in the gallery, two in each of the great arches which encircle the roan. In these statues Religion is represented by Moses and Saint Paul; Commerce by Columbus and Fulton; History by Herodotus and Gibbon; Art by Michael Angelo and Beethoven; Philosophy by Plato and Bacon; Poetry by Homer and Shakespeare; Law by Solon Kent; Science by Newton and Henry. In the collar of the dome, which is 150 feet In circumference, isa symbolism of the twelve nations and epochs which have contributed to the advance of the world, each represented as a seated figure bearing the emblems suggestive of Its peculiar attribute. Egypt represents Written Records; Judea, Religion; Greece,

Philosophy; Rome, Administration; Islam, Physics; Middle Ages, Modern Languages; Italy, Fine Arts; Germany, Art of Printing: Spain, Discovery; England,

Literature; France, Emancipation; and America, Science. In the crown of the great lantern of the dome Is painted The Human Understanding, an allegorical figure of a woman floating among the clouds and attended by- two children genii. The artistic mural decoration of the Interior is upon a magnificent scale and the paintings in each of the many pavilions, corridors and galleries are so numerous that no attempt can be made in this article to give a description of them. Every artistic design has purpose and meaning in every stroke of the artist’s brush, in every curve and line wrought by the sculptor’s chisel. The completed building stands today as the highest expression of American art, the greatest monument yet erected to American genius. The eight acres of floor space contained in the building are utilised as follows: On the ground floor are the copyright office, reading room' for the blind, superintendent’s and disbursing office, bookbinding department, printing department, music rooms, mail room, lockers, etc. The first floor contains the main reading room, the librarian’s room, periodical reading room, senators’ reading room, representatives’ reading" room, map and chart rooms, administration rooms. The second floor is taken up with the galleries, pavilions and rooms filled with exhibits of rare engravings, manuscripts, prints, rare books, first editions, portraits of the presidents and other celebrated personages. The attic floor contains a kitchen and restaurant, rooms for print repairs, manuscript repairs, photography documents and copyright storage. In 1814 the library, consisting of about 3,000 volumes, was burned by the British troops. Congress made a fresh atari by pnrchmilng the Thomas Jefferson library of about 7,000 volumes, which grew until in 1851 it had about 55,000 volumes. Another fire then destroyed all but 20,000 of these. The country had grown so much in wealth by this time, however, that this was but a temporary check, and the library quarters in the Capitol were prompts restored and many of the books which destroyed were replaced. In 1867 the Peter Force collection of Americana, consisting of about 60,000 articles, was purchased for >llO,000, and the acquisition in the same year of the library of the Smithsonian institution, consisting of 40,000 volumes, brought the total up to over 200,000 volumes. The copyright law .of 1846 required the deposit of one copy of each 1 book copyrighted In the library, and an act was passed In 1870 which placed the registration of copyrights undo* the care of the librarian of congress, and required the deposit of two copies of each bpok or article copyrighted, thus assuring the acquisition of books published in the United States. . The rapid progress of the library dates from 1864, when Dr. A. R. Spofford was appointed librarian. His tireless energy*and unflagging zeal increased the acquisitions until in 1897, the date of his retirement, it bad grown to more than 1,000,000 books and pamphlets, and the necessity for more spacious quarters had been realized for some years. In 1886 the construction ot a new building was authorised and eleven years later this was completed at a cost of 86347,000, on a site bought for 8585,000. Thia is the present home of the third largest library in the world. That the cost of

this magnificent building was kept down to such a comparatively reasonable figure is explained by the fact that many of the artists and sculptors, in a spirit of patribtic loyalty, gave their genius and their art free of cost to the nation. It is said that twice the sum expended could not duplicate the building under ordinary circumstances. As to the. practical features of the institution, its capacity, facilities for serving the public, and its various activities, only a brief outline can be given. Including the main reading room, the room for periodicals, the senators* and representatives reading rooms, and the special reservations in the alcoves and galleries, the library can comfortably accommodate 1,000 readers at any one time. The main reading room, which contains the issue desk, has seating capacity and desks for 200 readers and 60 tables in the alcoves and galleries, which are assigned to scholars making extended investigations. The issue desk is connected with the stacks, the Capitol/ Smithsonian division and librarian's office by pneumatic tubes, while electric book carriers connect the desk with the stacks and with the Capitol. When a book is called for at the desk the slip Is sent by a pneumatic tube to the clerk in the proper stack. He places the book into a receptacle, from which it is taken by one of the brass book I*baskets, 1 *baskets, eighteen of which are mounted on an endless double chain forming the book carrier, which travels continually between the stacks and the issue desk. The basket carries the book down to the reading room and automatically, deposits it into a cushioned box at the central desk, whence it. is taken out by the attendant and delivered to the desk selected by the reader. The books can also be returned to the stacks in the same manner. If a member of congress desires a book delivered to him In the Capitol, the pneumatic tube carries the slip malting the request to the issue desk and another electric book carrier conveys the book through an underground tunnel over a quarter of a - mile in length and delivers it to the waiting statesman in about three minutes. The book stacks, which radiate from the main reading room, consist of a series of castiron frames, supporting tiers and shelves to a height of nine and ten Stories to the roof, the largest stack being 65 feet high. The shelves, of cold-rolled steel, are polished smooth, and since the addi tlon of the last stack have a capacity of about 3,000,000 volumes. The ultimate capacity, when other stacks arp added, will be over 4,000,000 volumes—a row of books whicbwould extend ovpr 100 miles. According to the report of Mr. Herbert Putnam, the librarian, just submitted to congress, the contents of the library.at present are: Books ; 1,891,729 Maps and charts*tpieces) ..... 128,568 .Music (volumes and pieces) 557,010 Manuscripts (a numerical statement not seasible). The library proper is strongest in bibliogra-, phy, public documents (especially those of forelgn governments), Americana, economics, political science, public law and legislation, genealogy and newspapers. Through the Smithsonian institution extensive files of transactions of foreign learned societies are received. By virtue of the copyright law it has received the most complete collection in existence of the products of the American press. American local history and biography are represented with unusual fullness. The Yudin collection of some 80,000 volumes of Russian works, purchased in 1907, is particularly valuable for the history ot Russia and Siberia A collection ot

Japanese books (9,000 volumes) was 'bought in 1907, and in 1908 the Hult-feldt-Kaas collection of Scandinavian literature of about 5,000 volumes. Orientalia is further represented by the

Weber library of Sanskrit literature (3,018 volumes, 1,002 pamphlets). The library has bought recently large numbers of the manumenta of European history, and is rapidly growing in the sciences, pure and applied. The administrative officers of the library are the librarian, chief assistant librarian, Chief clerk and secretary. The superintendent of the building and grounds, with his aids, has entire charge of the maintenance of the building and makes all disbursements for the library. -• • V——-r —*-r~ - —... The library force, consisting of about 500 persons, is organized into divisions, each with a chief and assistants. The followinlg constitute the principal divisions: Mail and delivery, order, printing office and bindery, catalogue, card distribution, bibliography, periodicals, documents, manuscripts, maps and charts, prints, law library and copyright office.