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KF5JRV > TODAY 24.12.18 14:29l 37 Lines 1900 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 27733_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Dec 24
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<GB7CIP<AB0AF<KF5JRV
Sent: 181224/1221Z 27733@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.17
A devastating fire at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.,
destroys about two-thirds of its 55,000 volumes, including most of
Thomas Jefferson’s personal library, sold to the institution in 1815.
The Library of Congress was established in 1800, when President John
Adams approved legislation that appropriated $5,000 to purchase “such
books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.ö The first books,
ordered from London, arrived in 1801 and were stored in the U.S.
Capitol, the library’s first home. The first library catalog, dated
April 1802, listed 964 volumes and nine maps. Twelve years later, the
British army invaded the city of Washington and burned the Capitol,
including the 3,000-volume Library of Congress.
Former president Thomas Jefferson, who advocated the expansion of the
library during his two terms in office, responded to the loss by selling
his personal library, the largest and finest in the country, to Congress
to “recommenceö the library. The purchase of Jefferson’s 6,487 volumes
was approved in the next year, and a professional librarian, George
Watterston, was hired to replace the House clerks in the administration
of the library. In 1851, a second major fire at the library destroyed
about two-thirds of its books. Congress responded quickly and generously
to the disaster, and within a few years a majority of the lost books
were replaced.
After the Civil War, the collection was greatly expanded, and by the
20th century the Library of Congress had become the de facto national
library of the United States and one of the largest in the world. Today,
the collection, housed in three enormous buildings in Washington,
contains more than 17 million books, as well as millions of maps,
manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints, and
drawings.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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