Any one can read or study in the Library, but only Congressmen, members of the Supreme Court or their families, or the President's family, are permitted to take books from the building. No pen-and-ink work is allowed in the Library, for fear of stains.
In the basement, one room is set apart for the blind, where they may read for themselves, and almost every afternoon they have a concert, or some noted author reads from his own writings, or some distinguished speaker lectures before a most appreciative audience of blind people.
ONE OF THE BRONZE DOORS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL
LIBRARY
The present Librarian is Mr. Herbert Putnam, of Boston. The most interesting personality in the building is Mr. Ainsworth R. Spofford, who was the Librarian from 1864 to 1897.[[7]] He was appointed during Mr. Lincoln's administration. He is a walking encyclopedia.
[7]. Mr. Spofford died at Holdness, Mass., August 11, 1908.
I once asked him for the names of a few books on anthropology. He poured out such a stream of titles and authors that I was obliged to call for quarter. He then wrote me out a list of fifteen titles and authors, taking only a minute or two for the whole matter. He seems conversant with every subject. His memory concerning books is simply phenomenal.
In the Library is a perfect copy of Eliot's Indian Bible, published in Cambridge in 1661, the last copy of which brought $1,000. Here, too, may be found the works of Cotton and Increase Mather (1671 to 1735), and leading journals, all publications of our country from 1735 to 1800. Bound volumes of many of them can also be found here. The first edition of the Mormon Bible, published in 1830, and printed at Palmyra, New York; Archbishop Cramer's version of the Bible, 1553; Martin Luther's Bible; and the Catholic version of the New Testament, 1582, are among the rare volumes in the Library.
An extract from a copy of the Washington Post of 1897 well describes the official test of the device for sending books to and from the Capitol:
An official test of the device for transporting books between the Capitol and the new Congressional Library was made yesterday afternoon. Mr. John Russell Young, the Librarian; Chief Assistant Librarian Spofford, and Superintendent Bernard R. Green assembled in the small receiving-room, just off Statuary Hall, about 2 o'clock. Mr. Young had prepared for the test a list of books known only to himself until they were ordered from the Library.