Episode 2 of 3
First books and housing in the Capitol
- When
- November 1800
- Where
- United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.
Books ordered from London formed a collection of 740 books and three maps, housed in the Capitol when Congress arrived in November 1800.
Books were ordered from London, forming a collection of 740 books and three maps. When Congress moved to Washington in November 1800, this small congressional library was housed in the new United States Capitol. The founding made the Library of Congress the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States.
Sources
- Library of Congress Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-23
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.