>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. ^M00:00:04 ^M00:00:16 >> Curtis Sandberg: Morning. Morning. Welcome. It's great, okay. Welcome. I'm Dr. Curtis Sandberg and I get to have a couple of minutes here. I'm the Director of the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History at the White House Historical Association and I'm also -- I have this very long job title. I'm also Senior Vice President for Educational Resources at the Association. So it's History, it's the Digital Library, it's sort of all of our content-driven material. We're really delighted -- we've been -- this has been, as you can imagine, you know, we've been working on this forever, so we're really delighted to welcome you all to the summit. It's, as you know, a unique gathering of you and you were presidential leaders, site directors, library directors, educational specialists, area experts. It's a really amazing gathering and I think we're going to have fun in the next few days. So we look forward to connecting with you. You know, we began talking, some of us, in the lobby at the Willard, but we'll keep that going. The idea of this is to create a hub that you meet each other, which you're doing, and you meet us, and that we keep doing this in the future, and it becomes a gathering that, you know, it has real teeth and it emerges into something that's [inaudible] for all of us. Now our group envision, and we -- in planning this, several excursions for attendees, and so we're starting. We're here. And we have our friends at the Library, a number of our friends at the Library have been absolutely instrumental in creating this event, and the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, we talked with her months and months ago, and she was very keen about this. We have Dr. Jane McAuliffe who is the -- there we go. Thank you. So much better. Okay, thanks. And Dr. McAuliffe is the Director of National and International Outreach at the Library. And Jason Yasner -- Jason, you're back there someplace or another? There we go. That's Jason Yasner who has a new job. Jason has been very instrumental as well as the Deputy Director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. And Kimberly McCullough, who a number of you met, who is Library Special Events Coordinator. There are some treats in store for us. We have Cheryl Fox here who's the Resident Curator in the Library's Manuscript Division, and she'll take us around and give us the insider's view of the Library. So I'll close and welcome you again to the Summit. And it's not doing that awful noise anymore which is great. We're with you and being excited about seeing new and exciting things and being part of the behind-the-scenes, so I think, Jane, are you up? So welcome Dr. Jane McAuliffe please. ^M00:02:52 [ Applause ] ^M00:03:01 >> Jane McAuliffe: Well, good morning. As Curtis said, I am Jane McAuliffe. I'm Director of National and International Outreach here at the Library of Congress. That means I manage many of the public-facing activities of the Library. And among my most pleasant responsibilities is welcoming distinguished guests like you to the Library of Congress. How many of you have been here before, have been to the Library of Congress before? Oh, good. Great. Well, whether it's a first or a return trip, I really do hope this morning will be an exciting experience for you. As you likely know, we have a newish Librarian of Congress. Dr. Carla Hayden is just about to begin her third year in that role. And as Librarian, Dr. Hayden has pledged to connect the Library of Congress to people across America. We're doing this by enhancing the visitor experience for those of you who are actually able to come to us here on Capital Hill, but also by enriching digital, digital connectivity across the country and across the world. I know that you have gathered from all over the United States. So I hope that we can find ways to stay connected with you and to help you in the important work that you are doing. So I mentioned I'm head of National and International Outreach. But another hat I wear is as the Librarian's Representative to the White House Historical Association Board of Directors. So I've had a chance to witness close hand the wonderful work that people like Stewart McLaurin, the President of the White House Historical Association, who's with us this morning, and Curtis Sandberg, whom you heard introduce our session this morning. And I have enjoyed seeing collaborations develop between the Association and the Library of Congress in areas as diverse as digital resources, book promotion, and merchandise development. It's really a terrific team, and I know they have devoted every effort to making this Presidential Site Summit the best ever. As I reviewed the final program for this summit over the weekend, I could do nothing but marvel at all that lies in store for you this week. But, of course, the very best event is this kickoff introduction to America's Library. So let's get started on that and welcome Cheryl Fox, the Library of Congress Archive Specialist in our Manuscript Division to the podium. Thanks for being here. ^M00:05:48 [ Applause ] ^M00:05:56 >> Cheryl Fox: Good morning. I'm Cheryl Fox. I am a curator within the Manuscript Division. There are lots and lots and lots of collections in the Manuscript Division, and I'm here to tell you about just one small portion of them which is called the LC Archives which is the collective records of the Library of Congress. And I'm so happy to have an opportunity to talk to you this morning and talk about the Library of Congress and the White House's shared history, some of the collaborations that we had in the past, and, of course, looking forward to many more in the future. So the close ties between the White House and the Library of Congress started before this city was occupied as the Federal City because they had to make arrangements to move here and, of course, there were not resources like Philadelphia's Library Company in the Federal City at that time. And so President Adams provided, in an act of 1800, for $5000 and a suitable apartment within the Capitol for the Library of Congress. And there was a compromise that had to be forged to reach that consensus. And the other part of it is that they decided that the President would be in charge of nominating or appointing, I should say, the Librarian of Congress. And so it remains. And so this unique close connection between the Library and the White House was established at that point. So we all are aware that Pierre L'Enfant's plan provided for the Capitol and the White House to be connected by Pennsylvania Avenue, as you see here, but separate, to indicate their separate status as branches of the Federal Government and, of course, we also know that the Capitol in this time period housed the Library of Congress as well as the Supreme Court. ^M00:07:56 ^M00:08:02 So the U.S. Capitol, such as it was back in the early days, was just part of the wing, part of one wing was there. And the first two Librarians of Congress were simultaneously clerks of the House of Representatives. So they didn't really see it as a full-time job at that point, to be Librarian of Congress. And, as you know, the White House was similarly in the process of being built. But by the time they reached the point of development of the Capitol where both wings were built, along came the American Revolution Part II, so to speak, when the British burned the Capitol and the White House. The Library of Congress collection was completely destroyed. Some things were managed to be evacuated from the White House. But, anyway, the buildings were gone. This was bad news. But then, also, oddly enough, very good news for the Library of Congress because Thomas Jefferson was available to offer his private library for sale to the Library of Congress. And -- well, it's Congress, I should say. And this became the center, the hear, of the Library of Congress collection which it remains to this day. And it permanently changed the Library of Congress as an entity because it went from being simply a reference collection for the use of Congress to a real library. In fact, an outstanding library that had materials in many different languages. It had bibles and religious tracts in addition to law books. It had history as well as music and architecture. And the very simple but wonderful arrangement by memory, reason, and imagination allowed the Library, or even, in fact, suggested to the Library to develop in all directions, not just simply, you know, for Congress, but for a comprehensive, universal collection. ^M00:10:13 There was another fire, however. And this one even really worse than the first one to my mind because it destroyed two-thirds of President Jefferson's Library. This is a piece from the newspaper which was telegraphed -- reports from telegraphs from the Capitol City that the Library had burned and that President Fillmore, the Mayor, Speaker of the House, and numerous members in offices of Congress were early on the ground rendering all the aid in their power. So this is an example of one very direct way that the White House helped the Library was by trying to save the collection. Most of it was destroyed, however. And President Fillmore, in addition to helping us fight the fire, approved $5000 to -- for clean-up, $10,000 to replace the books, and then an annual appropriation to repair the deficiencies caused by the destruction of the Library. So the happy result was that the Library got its own space within the Capitol, much larger space. This illustration is called -- I called it The Iron Room because it was, in fact, the largest iron room, a room made of iron, in the world. And, of course, it was the -- the Architect was Thomas E. Walter. It was 91 feet in length, 34 feet wide, 38 feet high. And a visitor to the Library, British Scientist Sir Charles Lyle, wrote that it was the most beautiful room in the world. Maybe he was just trying to say something friendly. I'm not sure. And in this time period, also, there was still deliberation over where the National Library should be. Should it be with the Smithsonian or should it be with the Congressional Library? And at that time the matter was settled. And certainly it looks the part, doesn't it? And there are, as you see, spectators and tourists in addition to readers and lots of things going on, cultural activities, that would come to be associated with the Library of Congress. And getting back to President Fillmore just for one moment. I would be remiss if I did not note that he as the President, and First Lady Fillmore, who are credited with establishing the first White House Library. It was not that Presidents prior to that time didn't have books in the White House. They certainly did. But this was an official collection which, oddly enough, wound up coming back to the Library of Congress as a special collection. I'm not going to get into all of that, but there's a wonderful book called, ^IT The First White House Library ^NO, and Catherine, Cath, Catherine, I believe, Parisian has written a wonderful, wonderful book listing the books that were in the Library and its history. So back to the bookish presidents. Our founders were men of means who had great libraries. Later presidents also were very interested in reading. And some presidents like Garfield wrote in 1873 -- he was working on a speech in his home at Cleveland, Ohio, and he said, "Every day I miss Spofford and our great Library of Congress." Or, for example, when President Roosevelt abruptly became President of the United States, he wrote to Mr. Putnam, "As I leave, to put it mildly, a sedentary life for the moment, I would greatly like some books that would suit my queer taste. I do not supposed there are any -- I do not suppose there are any" -- excuse me one second here -- "there are any histories of any articles upon the Early Mediterranean races. That man Lindsay, who wrote about Prehistoric Greece, has not put out a second volume, has he? Has a second volume of Oman's ^IT Art of War ^NO appeared? If so, send me both or either. If not, then a good translation of Meevor [assumed spelling] and Mommsen," who were both historians of Ancient Rome, "or the best history of Modern Mesopotamia. Is there a good history of Poland," he wonders. And so you can see his eclectic tastes there's this really close relationship. The relationship predates his presidency. When he was Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt would come here to join the Librarian and other invited guests in the Attic, which is where the cafeteria was at that time, to join Librarian of Congress Putnam's round table as sort of a gathering of intellectuals, visiting dignitaries, diplomats, what have you, and a few chosen staff members. Not all of them, certainly. And if you look into the Librarian's ceremonial office, just down the hall, you'll see the round table, which is there on display. So there were lots of reasons for presidents to love the Library of Congress. And here you see T.R. again. Another guest at the round table was H.G. Wells. He was lamenting being in the United States and not enjoying it at all. And he visited the Library in 1906 and wrote, "I found at last a little group of men who could talk. It was like a small raft upon a limitless sea. I lunched with them at their round table. And afterwards Mr. Putnam showed me the Rotunda." And just to point out the obvious there, again. Once the Library occupied this building, it became even that much more of a tourist attraction and people could look into the Reading Room, they could look at the beautiful works of art. Now not all the people in the White House who used the Library of Congress were presidents. Members of the family frequently borrowed books. And so in -- as the archives, there are registers of borrowers. And one of them is when Lincoln was a member of the House of Representatives, and you see his page of books that he borrowed, and it includes these kind of spicy romance novels in there [laughter], and you think, well, my goodness, is he reading this before or after he's reading the Articles of War? It turns out those were borrowed by Mary Lincoln, as people determined later. But the members of the family could certainly borrow books. And this extraordinary photograph -- I could not resist putting it in here somewhere. As you see, it's a Granafolo [sic] which is an early machine for playing records that amplifies sound without the use of the great big trumpet that you see with the Victrola. And, anyway, they were often made to look like furniture, and hers looks just like a piano, which I think is kind of hilarious. And there she is with the disc that she's playing. She didn't just play music on her Granafolo, she also played music on the piano. Unfortunately, she did not always return the music that she borrowed from the Library of Congress, and I know this because the Chief of the Music Division wrote to Library of Congress Putnam that they'd asked her several times to return these things, and she still had not done it. And I guess they -- he wanted the Librarian to handle this somewhat sticky situation. First Lady Lou Henry Hoover -- I'm sure some of you will be familiar with her reputation as a scholar and as a person who studied many languages, Mandarin as well as Latin and the Romance Languages. And she had had a delivery of her so-called Agricola's. In other words, ^IT Incunabula ^NO by George Agricola, aka George Bower, that was first published in 1556. And she assured the Librarian that 20 years ago, when she was working with these early volumes, she would have been able to decide that herself in a few minutes. But it has been so long since she has read German script, particularly German manuscript, that it would take her a very long time to do it now. She is therefore imposing on you and Mr. Martel. She's referring to the Chief Classifier at the Library of Congress, Charles Martel, who was born in Switzerland and came to the United States and became an excellent classifier, but also retained his immense knowledge of German language and literature, and was able to provide her with the information that she needed on the ^IT Agricola's ^NO as she called them. Now, everybody knows Eleanor Roosevelt had a separate career and identify prior to becoming First Lady. She wrote the "My Day" column from 1935 to 1962. She had her own radio program called ^IT Mrs. Roosevelt's Own Radio Program ^NO. And she wrote a column, a monthly column, in the ^IT Ladies Home Journal ^NO beginning in 1941, if you ask me. And, of course, she travelled around everywhere and spoke to everybody who asked her to. So she frequently consulted with the Library. She would forward letters she had received in Braille to the Library so that they could be translated. ^M00:20:00 And she would ask sometimes for help in remembering where a certain quotation came from. She had this in her mind. Maybe she wanted to write it in a column or give it in a speech, but who wrote this quote? And some of them the Library could answer. Others -- maybe she made them up. Who knows? The next Librarian of Congress I'm going to talk about was a friend and worked with the Roosevelts prior to their coming to the Library. His name was Archibald McLeish. And he had come to know the Roosevelts during the campaign for the White House. He was at that time writing for ^IT Fortune Magazine ^NO and had already received a Pulitzer Prize, one of three. He was just here a short time. A librarian/historian prior to my time, called his tenure here at the Library, the brush of a comet. It was brief and spectacular, and you could see him here. This is a clip, a Berryman cartoon, of course, and he's working for the opposite facts and figures while he's Librarian of Congress and he's shooting cannonballs, I guess, at Fort Truman. And so he was a known person, not a shy, retiring librarian, but a real public figure in his own right. And he accomplished so much in such a short time at the Library. He oversaw the reorganization of the Administration and founded the Library of Congress "Quarterly Journal of Acquisitions," as well as the "Information Bulletin," which is still in publication. He really helped the Library to gain a war footing. He was an ardent defender of democracy and thought that libraries should be the arsenal for democracy. And here you see him with Lord Lothian accepting the deposit, temporary deposit, of a copy of the ^IT Magna Carta ^NO. Part of what he did in war, preparation for war, was to send the ^IT Magna Carta ^NO and the ^IT Declaration of Independence ^NO and ^IT The Constitution ^NO to offsite storage, Fort Knox. And those were returned in 1945. Also there were 29 truckloads of so-called irreplaceable material. So they did this great big 10,000 hours of Library staff volunteer time to assess the collections, conserve them, list them, box them, send them off-site to Dennison University Ohio, and in Virginia the VMI, Washington and Lee College and the University of Virginia, excuse med. And this is a cartoon marking the return of these documents. And there you see MacLeish. "Easy, boys. And watch those doors" over ^IT The Declaration ^No. And be sure the glass is good and clean ^NO." And you see ^IT The Declaration ^NO returning, and ^IT The Constitution ^NO. And the caption is, "May they never have to be hidden or kept in the dark ever again." And so you see the Library's connection to winning the war and re-establishing ourselves. And certainly Archibald MacLeish was very involved in that. He wrote radio scripts. He wrote -- gave presentations. He wrote articles for various publications on democracy and things. And so he was a very influential person in the time period. And here you see another one, the Return of ^IT The Declaration of Independence ^NO. This and the other illustrations are from our Prints and Photographs Collection. I just really admire that image. And, of course, it was used on the cover of ^IT The New Yorker Magazine ^NO. I hesitate -- this is kind of a joke, but there was a point in time in which ^IT The Declaration of Independence ^NO was stolen. You see, Dr. VonMorgue had hypnotized Little Abner with his Z-Ray and influenced him to buy a fake copy of ^IT The Declaration of Independence ^NO and to pick up a rock and to enter the Great Hall, smash the case, replace it with the fake, and make off with it. Now, of course, he returned it and everything was fine after that. I just thought, this is in 1938. So it gives you the idea of how well known these documents in The Shrine in the Library of Congress were at the time. So I want to focus a little bit of attention on some more recent collaborations having to do with literacy. And beginning with Barbara Bush, she was already a champion for literacy and causes related prior to coming to the White House. But her first -- she took her first meeting in the White House with the Librarian of Congress and the -- now the Library's Historian, John Cole. Then he was the Director for the Center for the Book. And within a month, as he tells me, she was reading to children in the Great Hall. So this was really a natural collaboration, but something that had not been done before. And it wound up into -- resulting in a number of programs to further reading and the cause of reading and literacy beginning with the Year of the Young Reader. And, as you know, this coming Saturday is the Book Festival. This is probably the most successful collaboration the White House and the Library of Congress have had because First Lady Laura Bush brought the Book Festival concept to the Library of Congress. It began in 2001 until 2014. The Book Festival was held on the Mall. Now it's in the nice and cool Walter E. Washington Convention Center supported by numerous public benefactors, foundations, and corporations. And in 2016, John Cole, who I mentioned, was recognized by the Bush Foundation as a champion of literacy. He has worked here at the Library for 50 years. He was the Founding Director of the Library Center for the Book, and founded programs for readers of all ages, including Letters About Literature, Books and Beyond Authors Series, the Ambassador for Young People's Literature, and recently opened the Library's Young Readers Center. And so I'm just recognizing him and his valuable contribution to us as a library, the collaboration with the White House, and looking forward to many more fruitful collaborations in the future. If anybody has any questions, I'd be happy to try to answer. Skimmed over that pretty quickly. ^M00:27:09 ^M00:27:13 Okay. Thank you very much. ^M00:27:14 [ Applause ] ^M00:27:20 >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.