Books, Maps, and Politics: A Cultural History of the Library of Congress, 1783-1861 (review)

To paraphrase the ancient sage, of the making of books about the Library of Congress, there is no end. Although many such volumes have been exhaustively descriptive, lavishly illustrated, anniversary-inspired celebratory works, comparatively few have examined the institution in its socioeconomic, political, and cultural contexts. Ostrowski has breathed life and context into a narrative that brings his subject into the heart of American history—and, more broadly, American studies—as well as the smaller, but robust and related, sub-disciplines of library history and book history.

In six substantive chapters, in addition to a succinct introduction and conclusion, the author traces the personalities, prevailing attitudes, scholarly and literary moods, and national ambitions that shaped the degree of support and the direction that Congressional leaders gave the Library. A thorough scholar, Ostrowski has mined the primary manuscript and printed archival sources, contemporary periodical literature, and the widest spectrum of secondary literature—material that others have missed in their exclusive focus on providing institutional chronicles. Whether he is discussing the various librarians and their roles or Congressional committee members, he provides carefully argued and plausible explanations for important decisions regarding collection emphases and financial support. These reasons frequently enhance commonly accepted notions.

Several themes recur throughout the monograph, including the status of the Library in relationship to other libraries in the capital and the nation, the vision of influential members of Congress about the Library, and the qualities that individual librarians brought to the institution. The conflicting ideological directions of early republican vision, Whig mentality, Jacksonian democracy, and the tensions of the pre-Civil War years all reveal forces that shaped the Library. The tenure of Librarian John Meehan (1829–1861), the longest of those under study, was a period of limited scope and function compared to the practices of those who came before and after him. His term also witnessed the struggle for definition that engulfed the Smithsonian Institution and its library in relation to the Library of Congress. A national library befitted a new nation, but the Smithsonian library, as Charles Coffin Jewett envisioned it, would not be it if Joseph Henry were to have his way, and he did. Neither did James Alfred Pearce, Congressional Joint Library Committee member and Smithsonian regent, allow the Library of Congress to move toward that status. In fact, the evolving goals that Pearce, a Southerner, had for these libraries were critical for both institutions. Only with the end of the Civil War and the appointment of Ainsworth R. Spofford did changes begin to occur.

Two examples demonstrate the multidisciplinary approach employed by the author. An illuminating analysis of four Library catalogs that appeared in this period portrays the changing collection's strength and balance of subjects. A study of accession and circulation records indicates the actual use made of the Library during the 1840s and 1850s. These examples represent a wedding of methodologies fruitfully employed by other scholars.

This study is a challenging example, showing that the history of libraries is not antiquarianism but a fertile field for testing cultural hypotheses or themes that are multidisciplinary in nature. It is a model well worth studying and emulating.