626 THE BUILDING FOR THE LIBEARY OF CONGRESS. 



In 1860 75,000 volumes had been accumulated. By act of April 5, 

 1866, the library collected by the Smithsonian Institution, amounting 

 to about 40,000 volumes, was transferred to the Library of Congress, 

 which thereafter grew rapidly, reaching in 1870, when the national 

 copyright law went into effect, 197,668 volumes and 30,000 pamphlets. 



The operation of the copyright law so increased the rate of growth 

 that the accommodations furnished by the three halls aud two or three 

 adjacent small interior office rooms soon became quite inadequate for 

 shelving the books and performing the work of the Library and copy- 

 right office. 



In his annual report of 1871 the Librarian, Ainsworth E. Spofford, 

 briefly called attention to the need for more space, and in the following 

 year reported on the subject at length, earnestly setting forth the 

 imperative necessity for more room, and even the construction of a 

 special building. At that time the collections amounted to 246,345 

 volumes aud 45,000 pamphlets. The subject was soon taken up by 

 Congress and considered through its committees from that time until, 

 by the act of April 15, 1886, the present site, one-quarter of a mile south 

 of east from the Capitol, was selected, its acquisition by the United 

 States provided for, and the construction of a building authorized. 



During this long period of discussion many schemes for attaining the 

 desired end, including a variety of plans for enlarging and occupying 

 the Capitol aud many different sites in the city of Washington, were 

 considered. Several times did the legislation reach an advanced stage 

 and fail through the pressure of more absorbing interests. Finally the 

 law referred to adopted sketch plans that had been prepared by Messrs. 

 Smithmeyer & Pelz, a firm of Washington architects, but it fixed no 

 limit of cost, nor did it specify the materials of construction or character 

 of execution of the design other than to stipulate that the building 

 should be fireproof. A commission, composed of the Secretary of the 

 Interior, the Librarian of Congress, and the Architect of the Capitol, 

 was designated to conduct the construction of the building. The site, 

 comprising two city squares — nearly 9 acres, within the city building 

 lines and with the included streets — was purchased of the private 

 owners, the ground cleared of some seventy buildings occupying it, 

 and by the summer of 1888 about one-half of the foundation footings 

 for the building were laid. During that year, however, Congress be- 

 came dissatisfied with the progress that had been made and the uncer- 

 tainties involved in the operation of the inadequate original law, and 

 accordingly, on October 2, modified it and lodged the entire control of 

 the work, including the preparation of new plans at a limited cost, in 

 the hands of Brig. Gen. Thomas Lincoln Casey, Chief of Engineers of 

 the United States Army. He immediately placed the writer in local 

 charge. On March 2, 1889, Congress enacted that the building should 

 be erected at a total cost of $6,500,000, including previous expendi- 

 tures, according to a plan that had been prepared and submitted by 

 General Casey, pursuant to the previous act of October 2, 1888. This 



