Since I was a young teen-ager given days to wander the great museums and galleries of the National Mall, I have always felt that there was insufficient attention given to the Library of Congress.
One of the largest libraries in the world, the LOC is the de facto national library for the United Stares’
The Library operates the Copyright Office and administers copyright law – as well as preserving its original purpose of providing the Congressional Research Service.
A short walk from the eastern entrance to the Capitol, and close to the Supreme Court building, this amazing structure reflects the reverence that the Founders of the country held for the continual advancement of knowledge and science.
The ideals of the Enlightenment – that a free and healthy society depends upon continual advancement of knowledge – were embraced by the authors of our nation’s foundational documents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment
Jefferson and Madison both argued that the Congress must have access to the fruits of scholarship and discovery – and the nucleus of the Library of Congress was the personal library of Thomas Jefferson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson
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The Library was established by Congress in 1800 (with the endorsement of President John Adams) and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States.
The splendid building pictured on the postcard was constructed (in the Beaux-Arts and Classical Revival styles) between 1890 and 1897,
The completion of the building represented the culmination of efforts over decades to secure an enduring home for the books and other resource materials that were successively housed in several other places.
This monumental building is an architectural marvel and boasts lavish and intriguing decoration befitting its lofty mission.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress
To a young scholar who can enter freely and also arrange to read from the collection, this is a a secular temple.
This postcard was not mailed, and has no personal story attached to it.
The photograph on the face shows the Library “as seen from the Capitol”.
Published by the B.S. Reynolds Company of Washington, D. C., the postcard was made in the US circa 1920.
On the reverse, a blurb draws attention to the dome and lantern which are adorned with cooper panels and covered in gold leaf.
The gilded finial at the very top represents the “torch of science which is ever-burning”.
This is both a hopeful symbol and a rebuke to our sad times when ignorance and falsehood are championed by many in high places.
