On These Walls:Inscriptions and Quotations in the
Buildings of the Library of Congress

TABLE OF CONTENTS - Introduction - A Brief History of the Library of Congress
The Thomas Jefferson Building - The John Adams Building - The James Madison Memorial Building
Author's Note and Acknowledgements - Further Reading - Concordance of Images


THE JAMES MADISON MEMORIAL BUILDING

In 1957, Librarian of Congress L. Quincy Mumford initiated studies for a third Library building. Congress appropriated planning funds for that structure, today's James Madison Memorial Building, in 1960, and construction was approved by an act of Congress on October 19, 1965 that authorized an appropriation of $75 million. Excavation and foundation work began in June 1971, and work on the superstructure was completed in 1976. The cornerstone, inscribed with the date 1974, was laid on March 8, 1974. Dedication ceremonies were held on April 24, 1980, and the building actually opened on May 28, 1980.


the Madison 
Building Opened in 1980, the Madison Building is this nation's official memorial to James Madison.



The Madison Building serves both as the Library's third major structure and as this nation's official memorial to James Madison, the "father" of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the fourth president of the United States.

That a major Library of Congress building should also become a memorial to James Madison is fitting, for the institution's debt to him is considerable. In 1783, as a member of the Continental Congress, Madison became the first sponsor of the idea of a library for Congress by proposing a list of books that would be useful to legislators, an effort that preceded by seventeen years the establishment of the Library of Congress. In 1815, Madison was president of the United States and a keen observer when the library of his close personal friend and collaborator, Thomas Jefferson, became the foundation of a renewed Library of Congress. Like Jefferson, he was a man of books and an enlightened statesman who believed the power of knowledge was essential for individual liberty and democratic government.

The Architect of the Capitol was charged with the responsibility for the construction of the the Madison Building under the direction of the Senate and House Building Commissions and the Joint Committee on the Library and in consultation with a committee appointed by the American Institute of Architects. Plans for the Madison Memorial Hall were developed in consultation with the James Madison Memorial Commission. The total authorization for construction eventually was increased to $130,675,000.

Modern in style, the Madison Building was designed by the firm of DeWitt, Poor, and Shelton, Associated Architects. It is one of the three largest public buildings in the Washington, D.C. area (the others are the Pentagon and the F.B.I. Building), and contains 2,100,000 square feet with 1,500,000 feet of assignable space.

Over the main entrance is a four-story relief in bronze, "Falling Books," by Frank Eliscu. Off the entrance hall to the immediate left is the James Madison Memorial Hall, which has eight quotations from Madison on its walls (see below). A heroic statue by Walter K. Hancock in the center portrays Madison as a young man in his thirties, holding in his right hand volume 83 of the Encyclopédie Méthodique, which was published in Paris between 1782 and 1832. At the end of the entrance hall, above the doorways to the Manuscript Reading Room and the Manuscript Division office, are a pair of bronze medallions by Robert Alexander Weinmann. The one on the left shows the profile of Madison and the one on the right depicts Madison at work.


THE INDEPENDENCE AVENUE ENTRANCE


Ten quotations from the writings of James Madison adorn the outside walls of the Madison Building. Two are located on each side of the main entrance on Independence Avenue. On the left side of the main entrance:

KNOWLEDGE WILL FOREVER GOVERN IGNORANCE: AND A PEOPLE WHO MEAN TO BE THEIR OWN GOVERNOURS, MUST ARM THEMSELVES WITH THE POWER WHICH KNOWLEDGE GIVES.

Madison to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822


quotation from James Madison 
about the importance of knowledge This quotation from James Madison about the importance of knowledge is on the exterior wall on the left side of the James Madison Memorial Building entrance.



On the right side of the entrance:

WHAT SPECTACLE CAN BE MORE EDIFYING OR MORE SEASONABLE, THAN THAT OF LIBERTY & LEARNING, EACH LEANING ON THE OTHER FOR THEIR MUTUAL & SUREST SUPPORT?

Madison to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822

(Madison's) eloquent "liberty & learning" statement Like his friend Thomas Jefferson, James Madison was a man of books who believed that the power of knowledge was essential for individual liberty and democratic government. In 1783, as a member of the Continental Congress, Madison proposed a legislative library and drew up a list of more than 300 desirable books. His eloquent "liberty & learning" statement, inscribed on the right side of the Madison Building entrance, is from an August 22, 1822 letter to W.T. Barry.



JAMES MADISON MEMORIAL HALL


The names of the individuals responsible for the planning, legislation, design, and construction of the Madison Building (1960-1980) are inscribed on the wall to the left just inside the building's front doors. Included are members of the Joint Committee on the Library, the Senate Office Building Committee, the House Office Building Committee, the chairman of the James Madison Memorial Commission, Librarians of Congress, Architects of the Capitol, Associate Architects, and Builders.

Eight quotations from James Madison were incised in the teakwood panels of the Memorial Hall by Constantine L. Seferlis. Beginning on the wall on the left just inside the entrance and proceeding to the right around Madison Memorial Hall, the quotations are:

LEARNED INSTITUTIONS OUGHT TO BE FAVORITE OBJECTS WITH EVERY FREE PEOPLE. THEY THROW THAT LIGHT OVER THE PUBLIC MIND WHICH IS THE BEST SECURITY AGAINST CRAFTY & DANGEROUS ENCROACHMENTS ON THE PUBLIC LIBERTY

Madison to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822

THE HAPPY UNION OF THESE STATES IS A WONDER: THEIR CONSTITUTION A MIRACLE: THEIR EXAMPLE THE HOPE OF LIBERTY THOUGHOUT THE WORLD

"Outline Notes," September 1829

THE ESSENCE OF GOVERNMENT IS POWER; AND POWER, LODGED AS IT MUST BE IN HUMAN HANDS, WILL EVER BE LIABLE TO ABUSE

Speech before the Virginia State Constitutional Convention, December 1 1829

EQUAL LAWS PROTECTING EQUAL RIGHTS ARE THE BEST GUARANTEE OF LOYALTY & LOVE OF COUNTRY

Madison to Jacob de la Motta, August, 1820

AS A MAN IS SAID TO HAVE A RIGHT TO HIS PROPERTY, HE MAY BE EQUALLY SAID TO HAVE A PROPERTY IN HIS RIGHTS

National Gazette, March 29, 1792

WAR CONTAINS MUCH FOLLY, AS WELL AS WICKEDNESS, THAT MUCH IS TO BE HOPED FROM THE PROGRESS OF REASON; AND IF ANYTHING IS TO BE HOPED, EVERY THING OUGHT TO BE TRIED

National Gazette, February 2, 1792

THE FREE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT WE HAVE ESTABLISHED IS SO CONGENIAL WITH REASON, WITH COMMON SENSE, AND WITH A UNIVERSAL FEELING THAT IT MUST PRODUCE APPROBATION AND A DESIRE OF IMITATION, AS AVENUES MAY BE FOUND FOR TRUTH TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF NATIONS

Madison to Pierre E. Duponceau, January 23, 1826

THE SAFETY AND HAPPINESS OF SOCIETY ARE THE OBJECTS AT WHICH ALL POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AIM, AND TO WHICH ALL SUCH INSTITUTIONS MUST BE SACRIFICED

Federalist, No. 43, January 1788


TABLE OF CONTENTS - Introduction - A Brief History of the Library of Congress
The Thomas Jefferson Building - The John Adams Building - The James Madison Memorial Building
Author's Note and Acknowledgements - Further Reading - Concordance of Images


Library of Congress
Contact Us ( January 11, 2006 )