DC -- Library of Congress -- Exhibit: Thomas Jefferson’s Library:
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- Description of Pictures: Thomas Jefferson’s Library
“I cannot live without books.” Thomas Jefferson, June 10, 1815
Throughout his life, books were vital to Thomas Jefferson’s education and well being. His books provided Jefferson with a broader knowledge of the contemporary and ancient worlds than many of his contemporaries had obtained through personal experience.
Jefferson’s library, which developed through several stages, was always critically important to him. When his family home, Shadwell, burned in 1770, Jefferson deeply lamented the loss of his books. In the midst of the American Revolution and while he was United States minister to France in the 1780s, Jefferson acquired thousands of books for his library at Monticello. By 1814, when the British burned the Capitol and with it the Congressional Library, Thomas Jefferson had acquired the largest personal collection of books in the United States.
Short of funds and wanting to see the library re-established, Jefferson offered to sell his personal library to Congress as a replacement for the collection destroyed by the British. After some controversy, Congress purchased his library for $23,950 in 1815. Although a second fire on Christmas Eve of 1851 destroyed nearly two thirds of the 6,487 volumes Congress had purchased from Jefferson, the Jefferson books remain the core from which the present collections of the Library of Congress―the world’s largest library―developed.
In this reconstruction of Jefferson’s library, the books have been arranged in an order that Jefferson described as “sometimes analytical, sometimes chronological, and sometimes a combination of both.” Jefferson followed a modified version of the organization of knowledge created by British philosopher Francis Bacon (1561–1626). The books were divided into categories of “Memory,” “Reason,” and “Imagination”—which Jefferson interpreted as “History,” “Philosophy,” and “Fine Arts”—and further divided into forty-four “chapters.” Included in this re-creation are 2,000 volumes from the original Jefferson Collection—survivors of fire and time. An additional 3,000 or so volumes—editions that match those lost in the fire at the Capitol in 1851—come from other collections in the Library of Congress. Other missing works have been acquired through gifts. Several hundred volumes have been purchased since 2000. These acquisitions were made possible by the generosity of Jerry and Gene Jones.
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- LOCTJL_141220_18.JPG: The Books:
Four categories of books are distinguished in this reconstruction of Jefferson's library.
Green Ribbon:
Books that were part of Jefferson's original library are marked with a green ribbon.
Gold Ribbon:
Books that have recently been purchased to reconstitute Jefferson's library are marked with a gold ribbon.
No Ribbon:
Books that are identical to books owned by Jefferson and which were located in the Library of Congress collections have no ribbon.
Book Box:
Books that are missing from the library are marked with a book box. On the spine of each box is the author and title of the missing book. The Library of Congress is continuing to search worldwide for these missing books and will be adding them to this display as they are acquired.
- LOCTJL_141220_23.JPG: Thomas Jefferson's Library
"I cannot live without books." Thomas Jefferson, June 10, 1815
Throughout his life, books were vital to Thomas Jefferson's education and well being. His books provided Jefferson with a broader knowledge of the contemporary and ancient worlds than many of his contemporaries had obtained through personal experience.
Jefferson's library, which developed through several stages, was always critically important to him. When his family home, Shadwell, burned in 1770, Jefferson deeply lamented the loss of his books. In the midst of the American Revolution and while he was United States minister to France in the 1780s, Jefferson acquired thousands of books for his library at Monticello. By 1814, when the British burned the Capitol and with it the Congressional Library, Thomas Jefferson had acquired the largest personal collection of books in the United States.
Short of funds and wanting to see the library re-established, Jefferson offered to sell his personal library to Congress as a replacement for the collection destroyed by the British. After some controversy, Congress purchased his library for $23,950 in 1815. Although a second fire on Christmas Eve of 1851 destroyed nearly two thirds of the 6,487 volumes Congress had purchased from Jefferson, the Jefferson books remain the core from which the present collections of the Library of Congress -- the world's largest library -- developed.
In this reconstruction of Jefferson's library, the books have been arranged in an order that Jefferson described as "sometimes analytical, sometimes chronological, and sometimes a combination of both." Jefferson followed a modified version of the organization of knowledge created by British philosopher Francis Bacon (1561–1626). The books were divided into categories of "Memory," "Reason," and "Imagination" -- which Jefferson interpreted as "History," "Philosophy," and "Fine Arts" -- and further divided into forty-four "chapters." Included in this re-creation are 2,000 volumes from the original Jefferson Collection -- survivors of fire and time. An additional 3,000 or so volumes -- editions that match those lost in the fire at the Capitol in 1851 -- come from other collections in the Library of Congress. Other missing works have been acquired through gifts. Several hundred volumes have been purchased since 2000.
The reconstruction of Thomas Jefferson's Library was made possible by the generosity of Jerry and Gene Jones.
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