Thomas Jefferson played many important roles in our nation's early history: third president of the United States, author and signer of our Declaration of Independence, and prime minister to France. This list of who this patriot represented is by far not complete. Among his many accomplishments, Jefferson saved the Library of Congress' collection of books that burned to the ground in 1814 by the British.
Among Jefferson's numerous passions, collecting and reading books was one of the most important. This certainly rings true since he owned the largest collection of books in the United States. Throughout his life, books were important to Jefferson's education and well-being. Although he didn't travel much, Jefferson acquired a broad knowledge of the contemporary and ancient worlds with his books. This cannot be said of his contemporaries whose knowledge had mostly been obtained through personal experience.
Jefferson started collecting books at an early age. He lost almost his entire collection to a fire in 1770 that burned down his first house in Shadwell, Virginia. Two years later, after he built and opened his new home, known as Monticello, in Virginia, he had already collected a staggering number of books in such a short time.
During the War of 1812, British forces entered Washington, D.C. and burned down many important buildings. The Capitol building which housed the 3,000-volume collection of books in the Library of Congress was particularly heartbreaking for Jefferson. In 1815, he sold 6,500 volumes of his 10,000 volume collection of books from his bookshelves at Monticello. The Library offered the rare collection for almost $24,000, which would be today's equivalent of roughly a billion dollars. The total number of books Jefferson sold was twice as many the Library owned before the fire. Before transferring the books from Monticello to Washington, Jefferson arranged and numbered every book which kept them in order for the 118-mile journey between the two historic sites.
The packing and shipping of part of Jefferson's library had been loaded on ten full wagons for transfer from Monticello to Washington D.C. After the exchange was completed, Jefferson wrote a letter to newspaper publisher, Samuel H. Smith on May 8th, 1815 commenting that "an interesting treasure is added to your city, now become the depository of unquestionably the choicest collection of books in the US, and I hope it will not be without some general effect on the literature of our country."
Included with the books, the Library holds approximately 27,000 papers, written by Jefferson himself. The Library of Congress Manuscript Division consists of the largest collection of original Jefferson documents in the world. The "Thomas Jefferson Papers" website contains 83,000-page images, including correspondence, memoranda, notes, drafts of documents, and more. Also available is a rare set of volumes documenting the early history of Virginia from 1606-1737, which were part of Jefferson's personal library.
Thomas Jefferson became an integral part of rebuilding the Library of Congress by selling twice as many volumes of books before the British burned it in 1814. Today, the Library of Congress boasts owning one of the largest book collections in the world thanks to this patriot and bibliophile's dedication.
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