The Library Reborn from Ashes

In 1814, British troops set fire to the Capitol and destroy the Library of Congress. To rebuild it, Thomas Jefferson sells his own collection the following year—nearly 6,500 volumes, the richest in America.

The original library, modest in size, went up in smoke with the Capitol during the War of 1812. Jefferson, retired to Monticello, offered Congress his personal library, the fruit of fifty years of purchases across Europe and embracing all domains of knowledge. In 1814, British troops set fire to the Capitol and destroy the Library of Congress.

The offer sparked debate: some deemed the collection too vast, too philosophical, too foreign. Jefferson replied that there was no subject to which a member of Congress might not need to refer. The purchase, in 1815, established the institution's universal vocation. To rebuild it, Thomas Jefferson sells his own collection the following year—nearly 6,500 volumes, the richest in America.

A second fire, in 1851, would destroy part of these books. But the principle remained, and in 1897 the library moved into the sumptuous Thomas Jefferson Building. It is today the world's largest library by number of documents.