This small, curated display tells the story of the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building, including the early planning and design of the building, initiated and guided by Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Spofford’s vision of the Library as the national library.
After 1815, when Congress purchased the former president’s library, the Library emulated Jefferson’s wide-ranging collecting strategy and began to grow exponentially. By 1872, Spofford alerted the U.S. Congress that the Library of Congress required a new, state-of-the-art building to accommodate its burgeoning collection. Spofford proposed building specifications and design features including a round reading room—to accentuate the universality of the Library’s collection.
The display features items and reproductions from the Manuscript and Prints and Photographs Divisions.
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