main College Building, completed in 1877, at a cost of approximately $125,000.

South of the College Building, and structurally_connected with it, is the Chapel, facing Florida Ave. Diagonally opposite the chapel and facing it, is a notable statuegroup in bronze, representing Dr. Thomas H. Gallaudet of Hartford teaching his little friend, Alice Coggswell, to form the letter A. Daniel C. French, sculptor. The statue was the gift of the Deaf of the United States, erected in 1889.

The pedestal is inscribed: "The Deaf People of the United States, in grateful remembrance of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, mark the centennial of his Birth with this Memorial, 1887"; "Erected by contributions from every State, Territory and District of the United States."

The Institute grounds were laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted. The architect of the main building, chapel, etc., was F. C. Withers, of New York.

WASHINGTON SOUTHEAST

I. The Library of Congress

**The Congressional Library (Pl. III-F5) on the square bounded by 1st, East Capitol, 2d and B Sts., S. E., with its entrance diagonally opposite that of the Capitol, is a rectangular structure on the Italian Renaissance order of architecture, measuring 470 ft. N. to S. by 340 ft. E. to W. It consists of a basement and two upper stories, relieved by four corner partitions, and two central pavilions, on the W. and E. façades respectively. From the centre of the rectangle rises an octagonal rotunda reinforced by massive buttresses and surmounted by a copper dome, the panels of which, between the green ribs, are overlaid with 22-carat gold. The dome culminates in a lantern crowned with a gilded torch, symbolizing the emitting flame of knowledge. The building occupies 334 acres of its 10-acre cite, and contains approximately 10 acres of floor space (430,255 sq. ft.). It was erected under Act of Congress at a cost of $6,925,700, including cost of land ($585,000).

It was begun in 1886 from plans by J. J. Smithmeyer and Paul Pelz, subsequently modified by Edward P. Casey. In 1888 General T. L. Casey, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A., was placed in charge, with Bernard R. Green as superintendent and engineer. The building was completed in Feb., 1897, and opened in November.

Hours. The Library is open to the public from 9 a. m. to 10 p.m. daily; Sundays and holidays, from 2 to 10 p.m.; closed on Christmas and Fourth of July.

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History. The Library of Congress was established by the "Act to make provision for the removal and accomodation of the Government of the United States," approved April 24, 1800, which carried with it an appropriation of $5000 for the purchase of books. In Jan., 1802 John Beckley was appointed first Librarian of Congress, the Library then numbering "212 folios, 164 quartos, 581 octavos, 7 duodecimos, and 9 maps. During the War of 1812 this modest collection was destroyed. It had been housed in a wooden passageway where the Rotunda now stands; and when the Capitol was burned by order of Admiral Cockburn, the books were used as kindling for the North Wing. Upon learning of the disaster Thomas Jefferson, then living in retirement at Monticello, offered to the Government his own private library of 6700 volumes at cost price ($23,700), an offer which was accepted by Congress. Twice again the Library suffered from fire: on Dec. 22, 1825, and much more seriously on Dec. 24, 1851, when

more than half the books, including two-thirds of the Jefferson collection were destroyed. In 1864 Ainsworth Rand Spofford was appointed Librarian, and under his direction the Library showed an amazing growth, increasing in 33 years from about 70,000 volumes to 787,715 vols. This was in large measure due to the passage, in 1870, of an amended copyright law placing the entire department in the hands of the Librarian of Congress, and requiring that two copies of every copyrighted book must be deposited in the Library of Congress to perfect copyright. Since 1897 the collection has more than doubled, and is now in the neighborhood of three million printed books and pamphlets and nearly two million other items. The present Librarian is Dr. Herbert Putnam, appointed 1899.

Resources. In addition to purchase of books (for which there is an annual appropriation of $98,000), accessions are made by gift, by copyright, by receipt of U. S. Government documents, by international exchange with foreign governments and by additions to the Smithsonian deposit. The Library is rich in special collections, acquired since 1897. The Manuscript Collection is of first importance including the Papers of fourteen Presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Van Buren, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Pierce, Johnson, Cleveland, Roosevelt and Taft); of American Statesmen and politicians such as: Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, Alexander Hamilton, John M. Clayton, Salmon P. Chase, John J. Crittenden, Edwin M. Stanton and John Sherman; military papers, including the Pickett papers and those of Gen. George B. McClellan and Gen. W. T. Sherman; and naval papers, including those of Edward Preble, John Rodgers, David Porter and John Paul Jones. There are over 400 volumes of papers of the Continental Congress, papers from the files of the House of Representatives; Colonial documentary history; Records of the Virginia Company; Spanish papers of New Mexico and Florida, Philippine and Guam documents and upwards of 100,000 folios of transcripts of documents relating to American colonial history. Among printed books should be mentioned the Weber Library (Sanskrit literature, 4020 vols.), including pamphlets; Hattala Library (Slavic, 1500 vols.); the Yudin Library (Russian, 80,000 vols.); the John Boyd Thacher collection of Incunabula (deposited); and the Deinard collection of Hebraica (10,000 titles), gift of Mr. Jacob H. Schiff. The music collection is the most extensive in the western hemisphere. The prints include the Gardner G. Hubbard collection; the Garrett collection (19,113 prints; on deposit) and the George Lothrop Bradley collection (1980 engravings).

a. General Description and Approaches

This Library Building, admittedly one of the most artistic structures in America, both within and without, offers the double interest of being, first, the home of America's great National Library, already one of the great libraries of the world; and secondly, a treasure-house of the best contemporary American art in the departments of sculpture and mural paintings. From the central rotunda radiate the bookstacks, dividing the interior of the rectangle into four courts, those on the E. side measuring 150 x 100 ft., and those on the W. 150 x 75 ft. It may interest the visitor to note that the main life of the library, as a depository and circulating medium for books, is practically confined to the central reading-room and the book-stacks, and that all the corridors and

pavilions of the enclosing rectangle might be swept away without seriously incommoding the practical book service of the library.

Exterior Decorations. The main or western façade naturally claims the visitor's chief attention, although a part of the scheme of sculptures extends around all four sides. The material of the exterior is of Concord (N. H.) granite; the buttresses and visible walls of the octagonal rotunda are of gray Maryland granite. The basement story is constructed of rough or "rock-faced" blocks; the first or main story is more finely dressed and the monotony of the heavy stone work relieved by having the blocks of the pavilion corners dressed with vermiculations or "wormings.' The granite of the second story is smoothly dressed.

The Central Pavilion, with the sweeping approach of its double staircase, and the ordinance of eight pairs of Ionic columns on the second elevation, forms the main external architectural feature. The steps of the main entrance are of Troy (N. H.) granite. They rise on N. and S. from the street level mecting half-way up in a central landing, the flags of which are red Missouri granite. The W. retaining wall of this central landing forms the background of Roland Hinton Perry's

*Neptune Fountain.

This fountain, directly on the line of the street, is the first object which grips the visitor's attention. In the wall behind the semi-circular basin are three niches; the central one is occcupied by a colossal bronze figure (12 ft. high) of Neptune, God of the Sea; the other two by sea-nymphs joyously bestriding plunging sea-horses. Neptune's Realm is further symbolized by the presence of a bronze sea-serpent and numerous bull-frogs and Florida turtles.

The Dolphins, carved in relief at either side of the niches, are by Albert Weinert.

Before ascending the stairs the visitor should make an outside circuit of the library, in order to study its most important external sculptural feature, the *ETHNOLOGICAL HEADS carved upon the keystones of the thirty-three arched windows in the main story of the four corner and E. and W. central pavilions. These heads were modeled, some by William Boyd, and others by Henry J. Ellicott, with the assistance of Prof. Otis T. Mason of the Department of Ethnology in the National Museum. Their chief interest lies in the pains taken to make them accurate, and all the necessary data were provided by the resources of the Smithsonian Institution. Many