Inside the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress

Photographs, Washington, DC	April, 2007
Blog Post, Raleigh, NC	April 7, 2020

The Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress is beautiful from any viewpoint. I’m beginning with this aerial view taken by Carol Highsmith. This picture may help locate the interior images I’ll show below. The Great Hall is in the rectangular portion of the building beyond the entrance on the first floor. The Main Reading Room is beneath the dome. The hallways run the length of the walls along the inner courtyards which are partially visible to the left and right of the of the Great Hall and in front of the domed Reading Room.

Image by Carol Highsmith for the Library of Congress. (Cropped)
Available from the Library of Congress at https://lccn.loc.gov/2007684215

I worked at the Library for 12 years. I passed the back of the building everyday as I walked to my office in the Adams building. In the spring, this was my view.

Occasionally, my job would take me inside the Jefferson Building. I could get lost – sometimes on purpose! As I learned to love the building I got permission to use a tripod and take interior photographs. This is not a tour, there is no simple path through the building. This is just the wanderings of guy with his camera.

I often walked into the Great Hall from the entrance on the first floor. I stood transfixed, enjoying the ceiling, the marble columns, the colors …

The Library was built in the 1890’s. The Italian Renaissance exterior and the splendor of the interior were styled to rival the finest European architecture of the time.

Below the central arch of the Great Hall are the stairs to the Visitor Gallery overlooking the main reading room. Every image, every decorative motif has meaning. There are books devoted to helping you understand each detail of the Library’s interior.

For myself, the experience outweighs the details. You need a reader’s card (available on the first floor of the Madison Building) to enter the main reading room, but the overview from the Visitor Gallery is breathtaking.

This is the place to study! When I was in library school the stacks and various reading rooms were open. What an amazing treat to spread out and wait while the staff fetched my books!

Sitting, realizing all those who sat here before me, gave me a sense of history, making it real.

Gazing up at the dome always meant losing my place on the page.

The District of Columbia is underlain with tunnels. Not just the Metro tunnels, but pedestrian tunnels too. I used this one to go between the Jefferson, Adams, and Madison Buildings. Books from the Library’s collection destined for the Capitol also moved through this tunnel. The conveyor belt in the ceiling box on the right of this tunnel was high tech in the 1890’s when the building was built!

These beautiful hallways lead to all the Very Important Places! (Use the stairs flanking the Great Hall or the elevators flanking the Gutenberg Bible to move between floors.) The Thomas Jefferson Library Exhibition, where the bookcases and books replicate those in Jefferson’s original home library, is on the second floor the Jefferson Building.

The Librarian’s Office and various meeting rooms are on the first floor of the Jefferson Building. The Members Reading Room where senators and representatives may work and read is there too.

The Coolidge Auditorium and various exhibit spaces are located on the ground floor.

The Rare Book Reading Room and several other specialized reading rooms are on the second floor, while the American Folklife Center Reading Room and the Library Shop are on the ground floor.

Incredible spaces like the Waldseemuller Maps Exhibit showing the map that named America is on the second floor. I always “needed” a long time to find these spaces!

Try to figure out a path from one place to another without distractions!

Of course, then you have to figure out a route to get back to the tunnel or to the Great Hall!

So much of American history and life is available in this building – if you have a guide or a map to find it all! Guided tours start on the ground floor while the Information Desk is by the Main Entrance on the first floor.

The two lights in the Great Hall were the first electric lights in government buildings – again, high tech in the 1890’s! From here I could find my way back to my office. Outside on a nice day, through the tunnel on cold or rainy days.

If you get the chance, visit! Take the tour. If you are under “stay at home” declarations, visit https://www.loc.gov/ for access to a wide variety of materials. As far as I know, Carol Highsmith’s wonderful photographs of the Jefferson Building are only available as individual items catalogued here:

https://www.loc.gov/collections/carol-m-highsmith/?fa=subject:library+of+congress+thomas+jefferson+building+%28washington,+d.c.%29

Enjoy as I did!