A Foundation Document of the Library of Congress, in the Hands of Both President Thomas Jefferson and Explorer Meriwether Lewis

On December 7, 1801, President Thomas Jefferson, a lifelong book lover and collector, called upon Samuel A. Otis, Secretary of the Senate, to report to him on the state of the public library, which was at the time little more than a group of books in a building in Washington, D.C.  Jefferson had great interest in the library used by Congress to conduct its public service, and much desired its growth.  President Adams had signed a law dated April 24, 1800, ordering the “purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.”  Their location would be “a suitable apartment for containing them.”  Jefferson learned that of the $5,000 set aside for buying books, only $2,200 had been used.  The new President intended to formalize the new institution and create what we now know as the Library of Congress.  He wished to change it from a Congressional book collection into a major library.

As a consequence of this report from Otis, Congress formed a joint committee to make arrangements for such a library.  This committee issued a report authored by John Randolph of Roanoke, a cousin of President Jefferson and one of his spokesmen in Congress.  In his “History of the Library of Congress,” William Dawson Johnston wrote that this report was, “one of the most notable documents relating to the early history of the Library… and became the basis… of the act concerning the Library for the use of both Houses of Congress.”  

Under the guidance of President Jefferson, Congress passed a bill that moved the library into the Capitol, set out the rules for care and borrowing of the books, created the position of Librarian of Congress, and appropriated the $2,800 remaining from the allotment in 1800.  This law created the first official recognition of the Library of Congress as we think of it today, and, as the Library of Congress notes on its website, “defined the role and functions of the new institution."  On January 29, 1802, President Jefferson appointed his friend, John Beckley, as the first Librarian of Congress.

The Act of Congress of 1802 called for the creation of a Library Committee, which was chaired by Senator Abraham Baldwin from Georgia.  Its role was foremost to secure books.   On April 14, President Jefferson wrote to Chairman Baldwin, in part, “I have prepared a catalogue for the Library of Congress… I have confined the catalogue to those branches of science which belong to the deliberations of the members as statesmen and in these have omitted those classical books and modern which gentlemen generally have in their private libraries but which can not properly claim a place in a collection made merely the purpose of reference….”  This list of desired books, created by Jefferson himself, probably guided the Library’s purchasing until 1806.  The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, at Princeton University, notes that the list of books was approved by Baldwin’s committee some time between this letter and July 16, 1802. The books were to be purchased in Europe.

On this date, Jefferson himself undertook the task of finalizing the list of books to be purchased – a list he himself had chosen – and actually purchasing them for the Library of Congress. To accomplish these acquisitions, he chose newspaper editor and political ally William Duane, who had offered his services to Secretary of State James Madison.  

On July 16, Jefferson wrote to Duane, “I now inclose you the catalogues of the books which are to be imported for Congress and which you desired to have placed under your procurement….  It is desirable that the books should be received before the meeting of Congress or as soon after as possible.”   With this letter, Jefferson enclosed two lists: one a presidential authorization and list of books to be bought in Paris, and one for those to be bought in London. Duane was to work with Jefferson’s former personal secretary William Short, who had succeeded Jefferson as U.S. Ambassador to France and Jefferson thought was again in that country. In London, Duane would work with George Erving, the U.S. consul there.

These lists were replete with the fruits of Jefferson’s scholarship and knowledge of books.  They were organized by category, and the President noted the number of volumes and respective sizes of the books.  Jefferson wanted books on History, the “Law of Nature and Nations,” law, politics and geography, among other subjects.   Many were in Continental or ancient languages, attesting to his language skills.  These books would form the basis for Jefferson’s vision of what the Library ought to look like.

Though Jefferson’s drafts survive at the Missouri History Museum, until now his actual authorizations and list of books for London and Paris, as mailed to Duane and utilized for the Library of Congress, were thought to be lost.  This document described here is his original authorization and list of books for Paris, just discovered.  

Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis
Anything connecting the President and the man he chose to open the West to the expansion of the nation is as compelling as it is uncommon. For a short period of time before his trip West, explorer Meriwether Lewis was a personal aide to President Jefferson.  Although he occasionally issued invites on behalf of the President, pieces written in his hand for the President and signed by Jefferson are extremely rare; in fact, our research disclosed none having reached the market.  Lewis is known to have written one of Jefferson’s early, formal addresses to Congress, but little if anything else written by Lewis for Jefferson’s signature is known to exist.  Anything at all in Lewis’s hand is uncommon, but finding something on the market in Lewis’s hand and signed by Jefferson may be unique.  That President Jefferson chose his address to Congress and this piece to assign to Meriwether Lewis tells us something about the capacity in which he chose to use the future explorer, and moreover directly associates Lewis with the Library of Congress, a connection not considered previously.

The Document
This is Jefferson’s authorization and list, sent to Duane, containing the books to be purchased for Congress in Paris, in the hand of Meriwether Lewis, with a signed paragraph / authorization at the end by President Jefferson.  Jefferson himself has gone over Lewis’s work after it was done and written in some corrections.  Autograph document signed, 3 pages, Washington, July 19, 1802, being the original list.  For each listing, Lewis has written in the number of volumes.  The list relates the category and then the name of the work.  A later hand, perhaps Duane, has noted the amount paid on the left column.  The volumes range from the philosophical to the historical and legal.  They are a fascinating glimpse into the Library that Jefferson aimed to build, and books with some of these titles remain in the Library of Congress to this day. At the end, Jefferson has added his authorization.  “Mr. Duane is employed to purchase the preceding books in Paris under the control and approbation of William Short esq. who is desired to pay for them out of the monies remitted to him for that purpose…”

Interestingly, unbeknownst to Jefferson, William Short had already left to return to Virginia when the President wrote this.  Instead of William Short, Duane would work with Robert Livingston, the new U.S. Ambassador to France. This document thus connects Jefferson to the man who negotiated the Louisiana Purchase and the man who explored it for the nation.

Provenance: This document was discovered in 2013 in the papers of a prominent colonial, Revolutionary, and Federal era merchant family, and whose members were active patriots, having been retained in the family until we recently acquired it from them. It has never before been offered for sale.  Our gratitude to the Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton, the Missouri History Museum, and the New York Historical Society for their assistance.