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Archive: December 2025 (2 Posts)

A wide shot of the Library's Main Reading Room, with its raised central desk surrounded by circular rows of desk, each illuminated by a desk lamp.

“A Marvel of Ingenuity” — The Library’s Main Reading Room

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Since 1897 the Library's Main Reading Room has been the dazzling center of the Library's collections. Its circular design was inpsired by the British Museum Library, its art based on the classics of Western civiilization and its mission settled on fulfilling the American ideal of knowledge and education. Today, although much of the Library's collections have spread to other reading rooms and are available online, it is still a vibrant research center and the go-to tourist attraction for visitors.

Posted in: Architecture, Congressional Research Service, LCM, Library Work and Employees, Thomas Jefferson Building

A montage of images from the novels of John Steinbeck, including "The Grapes of Wrath."

Literary Maps: Real Maps for Imaginary Places

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Novelists and storytellers have for centuries sketched maps of their fictional worlds -- or the real world where their fictional characters resided -- as a means of expanding their creations and deepening the sense of a new world for readers. The Library preserves dozens of famous examples, from first editions of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" to William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County.

Posted in: Geography and Map Division, Illustrated Books, LCM, Manuscripts, Maps, Writers