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| Library of Congress Exhibitions | |
|---|---|
| Name | Library of Congress Exhibitions |
| Caption | Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. |
| Established | 1897 |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Type | Exhibition program |
Library of Congress Exhibitions provides curated displays that interpret the holdings of the Library of Congress through thematic presentations connected to American history, literature, cartography, music, and law. The exhibitions program draws on collections associated with figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and Susan B. Anthony and institutions including the National Archives, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, and the National Museum of American History. It engages audiences with material related to events like the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the World War II era while collaborating with partners such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Neiman Foundation, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
The exhibitions program has roots in the 19th-century collection-building activities of librarians such as Ainsworth Rand Spofford and collectors like James Madison and John Adams, evolving alongside landmark buildings like the Thomas Jefferson Building and responding to legislative actions including the Copyright Act of 1790 and the Library of Congress Building Act. Over the 20th century the program developed through initiatives tied to events such as the World's Columbian Exposition, the New Deal, and the postwar expansion under Librarians like Herbert Putnam and Archibald MacLeish, and engaged in partnerships with cultural producers involved in the Works Progress Administration and the Civil Rights Movement. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries exhibitions incorporated digital technologies introduced by collaborations with institutions such as Microsoft, Google Arts & Culture, and the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program.
The program presents permanent, rotating, traveling, and virtual exhibitions with thematic focus areas including American Revolution, Native American history, Presidential history, American literature, Cartography of the United States, and Music of the United States. It administers special initiatives such as traveling exhibitions in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, heritage displays linked to anniversaries of the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Treaty of Paris (1783), and collaborative projects with archives like the National Archives and Records Administration and museums like the Library of Congress Veterans History Project affiliates. Programs often intersect with awards and prizes such as the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the MacArthur Fellowship, and the National Medal of Arts to highlight notable creators.
Notable long-running displays have highlighted figures and works including Thomas Jefferson’s library, Abraham Lincoln’s papers, the Gutenberg Bible, the Wright brothers materials, and collections tied to Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, and Toni Morrison. Rotating thematic exhibitions have focused on subjects like Women’s suffrage in the United States featuring Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jazz with figures such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and Civil Rights Movement artifacts associated with Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.. Traveling exhibitions drawn from these installations circulate to partners including the New-York Historical Society, the Chicago History Museum, the Library and Archives Canada, and the American Philosophical Society.
The program’s digital platform has launched online exhibitions that showcase digitized items such as the Preamble to the Constitution, maps by Mercator, sheet music by Stephen Foster, and manuscripts by Edgar Allan Poe, enabling access for researchers at institutions like the Digital Public Library of America, the HathiTrust Digital Library, and the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Digital initiatives include virtual tours linked to the Google Cultural Institute, born-digital collection management aligned with the Dublin Core and the PREMIS standards, and collaborative digitization projects with universities such as Harvard University, Yale University, and Columbia University.
Exhibitions draw on major collections such as the Archive of American Folk Song, the Congressional Papers of Presidents, the Music Division collection, the Map Collection, the Rare Book and Special Collections, and the American Folklife Center. Featured objects include manuscripts by George Washington, letters of Susan B. Anthony, cartographic holdings related to Lewis and Clark Expedition, photographs by Mathew Brady, musical manuscripts by George Gershwin, and printed works like The Federalist Papers. Collections also encompass oral histories from the Veterans History Project, sheet music from Tin Pan Alley, and legal documents anchored to cases like Marbury v. Madison.
Curators follow standards practiced by institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, and university archives at University of Virginia and Princeton University, employing provenance research, conservation techniques consistent with the American Institute for Conservation, and cataloging protocols like MARC and Library of Congress Subject Headings. Collaborative curatorship extends to projects with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and international partners such as the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Educational programming complements exhibitions with school curricula aligned to standards used by the Department of Education, teacher resources created with organizations like the National Council for the Social Studies, family programs in partnership with the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street, lectures featuring scholars from Harvard University, Columbia University, and Stanford University, and live performances by ensembles associated with the Kennedy Center. Outreach includes traveling exhibition loans to regional museums such as the Newseum and community engagement with cultural organizations like the National Council of Teachers of English and the Association of American Publishers.