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Pictorial materials are found in many units of the Library of Congress. The Prints & Photographs Division, alone, holds more than 15 million items, including photographs, prints, drawings and architectural and engineering designs; more than 1 million of the items are available in digital form.
The Library was founded in 1800, making it the oldest federal cultural institution in the nation. On August 24, 1814, British troops burned the Capitol building (where the Library was housed) and destroyed the Library's core collection of 3,000 volumes. On January 30, 1815, Congress approved the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library ...
The Library of Congress welcomes researchers to its reading rooms and research centers. Appointments are optional , but encouraged to serve you best, ensure collection material is accessible during your visit and optimize your time at the Library.
Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. photographer Carol Highsmith, 2007, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress. This Mosaic was designed by Elihu Vedder and crafted by artisans using ancient Roman techniques. It features Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and defensive war.
The Library of Congress has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and a large number of cartographic materials in other formats, including over 19,000 cds/dvds.
These sets are just a small sample of the Library's digital collections that are free to use and reuse. The digital collections comprise millions of items including books, newspapers, manuscripts, prints and photos, maps, musical scores, films, sound recordings and more. Whenever possible, each collection has its own rights statement which ...
Having weathered two world wars, expanded its collections and constructed a second building, the Library of Congress approached the 1960s on firm footing. Challenges lay ahead, however, for a new global era of growth was underway. In response, the Library gradually took on a new international role. Hallmarks of the period were a continuation of ...
