KCU's Virtual Vacation to Washington, D.C.

The Library of Congress (LC or LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the national library of the United States and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. The library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; it also maintains a conservation center in Culpeper, Virginia and the National Library Service on Taylor Street NW in Washington, D.C. The library's functions are overseen by the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, and its buildings are maintained by the Architect of the Capitol. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. Its collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages.

Congress moved to Washington, D.C., in 1800 after sitting for 11 years in the temporary national capitals in New York City and Philadelphia. In both cities, members of the U.S. Congress had access to the sizable collections of the New York Society Library and the Library Company of Philadelphia. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s. Most of the original collection had been destroyed by the British in 1814 during the War of 1812, and the library sought to restore its collection in 1815. They bought Thomas Jefferson's entire personal collection of 6,487 books. After a period of slow growth, another fire struck the library in its Capitol chambers in 1851, again destroying a large amount of the collection, including many of Jefferson's books. After the American Civil War, the Library of Congress grew rapidly in both size and importance, which sparked a campaign to purchase replacement copies for volumes that had been burned. The library received the right of transference of all copyrighted works to deposit two copies of books, maps, illustrations, and diagrams printed in the United States. It also began to build its collections, and its development culminated between 1888 and 1894 with the construction of a separate, extensive library building across the street from the Capitol, known as the Jefferson Building. Two adjacent buildings were later added, the Adams Building in the 1930s and the Madison Building in the 1970s.

The library's primary mission is to research inquiries made by members of Congress, carried out through the Congressional Research Service. It also houses and oversees the United States Copyright Office. The library is open to the public.

Visit the Library of Congress website here!

The largest publicly available collection of comic books in the United States is housed in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room. The collection includes U.S. and foreign comic books--over 12,000 titles in all, totaling more than 140,000 issues. Primarily composed of the original print issues, the collection includes color microfiche of selected early comic book titles (such as Superman, More Fun, and Action Comics), bound volumes of comic books submitted by the publishers and special reprints. The collection is most comprehensive from the mid-1940s on; however, many titles date back to the 1930s. For some of the earliest modern comic books (those which began publishing in the 1930s), the collection holdings begin with the early 1940s.

• Most of the collection is composed of single issues of titles, but includes a small collection whose issues have been bound that date back to the 1940s and 1950s. Primarily an English-language collection, the comic book collection includes some translated reissues of Japanese manga (e.g., Akira), a limited number of Spanish language titles published in the United States and Mexico, and a small number of German and French comic books (primarily from the 1960s and 1970s). Included are also adaptations of popular foreign comic books such as Gunsmith Cat as well as translations of popular American comic books into foreign languages (i.e., Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan). A sub collection of Underground Comic Books “recommended for mature readers” published in the 1970s and 1980s contains primarily single issue representations for each title. The division also acquires relevant electronic resources as they become available, such as the Alexander Street Press database, Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels.

• In August, 2011, the Library signed an agreement with the Small Press Expo (SPX), allowing the Library to acquire independent comics and cartoon art not available through copyright deposit. As a result, the Serial and Government Publications Division receives the Ignatz Award nominees in various print categories, as well as other selected comics. The first acquisitions from this agreement arrived shortly after the 2011 SPX festival held in September.

   

• Preservation: The fragile nature of this collection requires special handling and conservation treatment. Since the fall of 2002, the Serial & Government Publications Division has participated in the Library’s Mass Deacidification Program which is intended to save endangered (“at risk”) paper-based material. The collection has received this treatment which neutralizes the acid content to prevent further deterioration and extends the life of the paper

Search the LC Comic Book Collection in the LC catalog here.

Access the Digital Comic Museum here.