John Young Cole

The history of The Library of Congress shouldn't be dull. The three different ways of presenting text just made it confusingly dull. Worst, it does not address how the library has been useful to Congress. It obliquely indicates that members of Congress made use of it, but there is no mention of its particular contribution in a legislative context.

The story of Ezra Pound being selected for the first Bollingen Prize is priceless, however.

''The Library announces that its Fellow in American Letters have awarded the first Bollingen Prize in Poetry to Ezra Pound for his book The Pisan Cantos. The Fellows take cognizance of the public knowledge that Pound is under indictment for treason and committed to an institution for the insane, stating that they "are aware that objections may be made to awarding a prize to a man situated as is Mr. Pound." On August 19, the Joint Library Committee recommends that the Library "cancel all arrangements for the giving of prizes and making of awards." Librarian Evans announces the Library's immediate compliance.''

Also note, that while a couple of Librarians of Congress were replaced with changes in the party of the President, there was not a specified term until Carla Hayden, the first woman as well as the first African American to hold the post was appointed. Typical.… (mais)

Ah, I forgot I never closed this one out. My LJ review as follows (the online version is here, if anyone's interested in seeing it in context).

Like its subject, this title takes on several roles at once. Handsome, slightly oversize, with high production values and lavish photographs and illustrations, it could be taken for a coffee-table book. But this would do it a disservice, as Library of Congress historian Cole has compiled a thorough overview of the library’s history, with an exhaustive time line ranging from President John Adams’s 1800 act to appropriate $5,000 “for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress” to the 2016 swearing in of current Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, accompanied by well-written essays. The chronology offers detailed accounting of the institution’s construction, collection building, division development, staff, outreach, cataloging and computing innovations, and ever-expanding mission. The essays zero in on subjects and events such as the library’s role after John F. Kennedy’s assassination (providing emergency historical reference for presidential funerals and keeping its restrooms open all night for mourners), or a portrait of pioneering African American bibliographer Daniel Murray, who became a member of the library staff at 19 in 1871.… (mais)