By JOHN Y. COLE
The story behind the publication of “On These Walls; Inscriptions and Quotations of the Library of Congress” is nearly as compelling as the book itself (see page 184 in this issue).
First published by the Library’s Center for the Book in 1995, the book focuses most of its attention on the Library’s first new space after it was removed from the U.S. Capitol—the Thomas Jefferson Building—a glorious 1897 structure that opened during a crucial juncture in the nation’s history. (The Library’s John Adams and James Madison Buildings joined the Jefferson Building on Capitol Hill in 1939 and 1980, respectively.)
The Jefferson building was an optimistic and powerful symbol of the culture and self-confidence of a nation that had survived a civil war, gone on to celebrate its centennial and was about to emerge newly revived in the 20th century. A contemporary guidebook boasted that “America is justly proud of this palatial monument to its National sympathy and appreciation of Literature, Science and Art. … It is a fitting temple for the great thoughts of generations past, present and to be.”
As this writer concluded in “The Thomas Jefferson Building: Book Palace of the American People,” a brochure written to accompany an exhibition marking the structure’s centennial in 1997, “with ample space for growth, an expanded staff and support from a well-pleased Congress, the Library of Congress could soon undertake the services expected of a truly national library.”
The building’s glorious and colorful architecture, sculpture and paintings “out-Europed Europe” in the American public eye and stimulated, during the first decade of the 20th century, the institution’s acceptance as the country’s unofficial national library. The inscriptions, names and quotations on the Jefferson’s Building’s walls and ceilings were the key intellectual link between the sculptured Torch of Learning atop the dome and the Library’s implicit educational role. The generous use of the names of writers and quotations from their books in the iconography of the Jefferson Building truly expressed the Library’s essential mission and creative spirit.
The building is so rich in inscriptions and iconography that one might assume that no justification would be required for publishing a guide to them. Yet before the 1995 edition of “On These Walls,” the only publication that documented the Jefferson’s decoration was Emily L’Oiseau’s “A Complete Collection of the Quotations and Inscriptions in the Library of Congress,” a 47-page pamphlet, published in 1930 in its 11th and last edition. This work only covered the Jefferson building, while the 1995 edition of “On These Walls” included—for the first time in a single Library of Congress publication—the inscriptions and quotations in all three Library buildings.
The early edition of “On These Walls” had few color and many black-and-white photographs. The recent donation to the Library of Carol M. Highsmith’s glorious color photographs (see Information Bulletin, December 2007) made it possible to merge the inscriptions and iconography of the Library’s buildings with images that do justice to their beauty. The result is the 2008 edition of “On These Walls,” published by the Library in cooperation with Scala Publishers in London.
The new edition is selective in its inclusion of inscriptions and quotations, while the 1995 edition mentions all of the major inscriptions and quotations. While wide-ranging in scope, the new volume includes only a representative selection of the impressive array of words that embellish the iconography of the Library’s buildings.
The comprehensive 1995 edition is available on the Library’s Web site at www.loc.gov/loc/walls/. Plans are under way to add Highsmith’s color photographs to the site and to update the online text. In the future, this “complete” version of “On These Walls” may be linked with “Jefferson’s Legacy,” a 1993 publication about the Library’s history, available online at www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/.
Highsmith’s photographs of the Library have also been incorporated into the Art and Architecture section of the new Library of Congress Experience). This multimedia presentation allows visitors to the Library or its Web site to explore the Jefferson building.
The 2008 edition of “On These Walls” is the latest in what are certain to be additional publications that document this extraordinary institution as it evolves and grows in its third century.
John Y. Cole, the founding director of the Center for the Book, is also recognized as the Library’s unofficial historian.