A01=Carl Ostrowski
Author_Carl Ostrowski
book circulation in government
bureaucratic research practices
Capitol intellectual community
Category=GLM
Category=NHTB
civic culture in the republic
congressional engagement with literature
congressional reading habits
cultural development in the capital
development of public cultural policy
early American art appreciation
early American knowledge systems
early American scholarly pursuits
early foreign policy reference texts
eighteenth-century print culture
enlightenment-era information ideals
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
evolution of government libraries
expansion of national literary identity
federal cultural institutions
federal information infrastructure
federal support f
formation of national archives
formation of national collections
foundational library catalogs
geography and historical resources
growth of institutional libraries
history of American book collecting
history of printed catalogs
history of reading in America
intellectual life in Washington
intersections of politics and literature
knowledge production in the republic
law and political reference materials
legislative information needs
leisure reading among officials
literary richness of antebellum America
national library history
nineteenth-century literary networks
origins of federal cultural stewardship
public discourse in the early republic
relationship between government and arts
scholarly access to rare materials
shaping national intellectual heritage
social spaces within government buildings
subject acquisition patterns
territorial dispute documentation
Product details
- ISBN 9781558497801
- Weight: 420g
- Dimensions: 152 x 228mm
- Publication Date: 02 Mar 2010
- Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Delving into the origins and development of the Library of Congress, this volume ranges from the first attempt to establish a national legislative library in 1783 to the advent of the Civil War. Carl Ostrowski shows how the growing and changing Library was influenced by -- and in turn affected -- major intellectual, social, historical, and political trends that occupied the sphere of public discourse in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century America.
The author explores the relationship between the Library and the period's expanding print culture. He identifies the books that legislators required to be placed in the Library and establishes how these volumes were used. His analysis of the earliest printed catalogs of the Library reveals that law, politics, economics, geography, and history were the subjects most assiduously collected. These books provided government officials with practical guidance in domestic legislation and foreign affairs, including disputes with European powers over territorial boundaries.
Ostrowski also discusses a number of secondary functions of the Library, one of which was to provide reading material for the entertainment and instruction of government officials and their families. As a result, the richness of America's burgeoning literary culture from the 1830s to the 1860s was amply represented on the Library's shelves. For those with access to its Capitol rooms, the Library served an important social function, providing a space for interaction and the display and appreciation of American works of art.
Ostrowski skillfully demonstrates that the history of the Library of Congress offers a lens through which we can view changing American attitudes toward books, literature, and the relationship between the federal government and the world of arts and letters.
The author explores the relationship between the Library and the period's expanding print culture. He identifies the books that legislators required to be placed in the Library and establishes how these volumes were used. His analysis of the earliest printed catalogs of the Library reveals that law, politics, economics, geography, and history were the subjects most assiduously collected. These books provided government officials with practical guidance in domestic legislation and foreign affairs, including disputes with European powers over territorial boundaries.
Ostrowski also discusses a number of secondary functions of the Library, one of which was to provide reading material for the entertainment and instruction of government officials and their families. As a result, the richness of America's burgeoning literary culture from the 1830s to the 1860s was amply represented on the Library's shelves. For those with access to its Capitol rooms, the Library served an important social function, providing a space for interaction and the display and appreciation of American works of art.
Ostrowski skillfully demonstrates that the history of the Library of Congress offers a lens through which we can view changing American attitudes toward books, literature, and the relationship between the federal government and the world of arts and letters.
