Library of congress, located in Washington DC, is the world’s library. It was founded in 1800, making
it the oldest federal cultural institution in the nation.
Cool
Statistics:
ΓΌ
Library
of Congress has more than 155.3 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves
- 35 million books and other print materials
- 3.4 million recordings
- 13.6 million photographs
- 5.4 million maps
- 6.5 million pieces of sheet music
- 68 million manuscripts
- Over 470 foreign languages materials
Other Historical Information:
- On August 24, 1814, British troops burned the Capitol building (where the Library was housed) and destroyed the Library's core collection of 3,000 volumes.
- On January 30,1815, Congress approved the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of 6,487 books for $23,950.
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Source:
"Fascinating
Facts." [Online] <http://www.loc.gov/about/facts.html>.