“The Capture of Tenochtitlán” from Exploring The Early Americas Exhibition
Visit the Library of Congress and experience the world’s largest collection of culture and creativity like never before. The Thomas Jefferson Building now features exhibitions and installations that bring the Library’s unparalleled collections to life. Whether you are in Washington, D.C., or at home, let the Library of Congress take you on a unique and personal journey through history. Millions of items are waiting for you—explore, discover, and be inspired.
Visit myLOC.gov to create a personal account and bookmark items of interest.
Hope for America: Performers, Politics and Pop Culture
Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment, Ground Floor
Thomas Jefferson Bldg
Politicians and entertainers have dominated public life in America for much of the twentieth century. Members of both professions have found their worlds increasingly entangled. The exhibition explores some of these entanglements, focusing on the careers of Bob Hope and other entertainers who were involved in the political climate of their times. Explore artifacts that represent an array of viewpoints on the interplay of politics and entertainment in American public life.
The Red Book of Carl G. Jung: Its Origins and Influence
South Gallery, Second Floor
Thomas Jefferson Bldg
Features the preeminent psychoanalyst Carl G. Jung’s famous Red Book, which records the creation of the seminal theories that Jung developed after his 1913 split with Sigmund Freud, and explores its place in Jung’s work through related items from the Library’s collections.
As the Old Sing, So the Young Twitter
Performing Arts Reading Room, 1st Floor
James Madison Bldg
Explores the different realms of flute-playing, from the lively to the serene, and takes an etymological and iconographic journey through the depth and breadth of the Library of Congress collections relating to the flute.
Exploring the Early Americas
Northwest Gallery 2nd Floor
Thomas Jefferson Bldg
Examine indigenous cultures, the drama of the encounters between Native Americans and Europeans, and the resulting changes caused by the meeting of the two worlds, which features selections from the Jay I. Kislak Collection. This exhibit also features Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 map of the world—the first on which the word “America” appears.
Creating the United States
Southwest Gallery 2nd Floor
Thomas Jefferson Bldg
Gain insights into how the nation’s founding documents were forged and the role that imagination and vision played in the unprecedented creative act of forming a self-governing country. Participate in the process and delve into historic drafts of the Declaration of Independence, George Washington’s copy of the Constitution, and John Beckley’s Bill of Rights.
Thomas Jefferson’s Library
Southwest Pavilion 2nd Floor
Thomas Jefferson Bldg
Take a trip through a re-created version of Jefferson’s library, which assembles 6,487 volumes that founded the Library of Congress, and learn how one of America’s greatest thinkers was inspired through the world of books.
Library of Congress Bibles Collection
Great Hall East 1st Floor
Thomas Jefferson Bldg
Explore the significance of two monumental Bibles that face each other in the Library’s Great Hall—the Giant Bible of Mainz and the Gutenberg Bible. Through an interactive presentation, examine pages from these Bibles and learn about sixteen selected Bibles from the Library’s collections.
Here to Stay: The Legacy of George and Ira Gershwin
Ground Floor
Thomas Jefferson Bldg
Experience the glamour and sophistication of the 1920s and 1930s in this permanent tribute to the brothers who helped provide a musical background to the period. The exhibition contains a wealth of materials that provide insight into their careers and personalities, including manuscript and printed music, lyric sheets and librettos, personal and business correspondence, photographs, paintings, and drawings, all from the Gershwin Collection in the Music Division of the Library of Congress, the world's preeminent resource for materials about the Gershwins.
Last Updated: 06/17/2010
