Marilyn's Photos - Jan 5 2026 - Library of Congress

 

The largest library in the world is the Library of Congress, sort of.  It has 178 million items in its catalogued collection.  The British Library has more - it has 200 million items.  The budget of the Library of Congress is $875 million US in 2008 vs the British Library’s 162 million pounds.  The Library of Congress budget is down in 2026 - to $852 million but not bad considering the circumstances of budgets there. The Library of Congress has the only copy of the 1507 Waldseemuller world map - known in the U.S. as America’s birth certificate. It is the first map to label the new continent “America” after explorer Amerigo Vespucci. That map doesn’t distinguish countries - it was the first time that a separate continent was distinguished. The context was originally for the southern landmass rather than the northern landmass of the Americas. Looking at more details in the Wikipedia entry, it wouldn’t be recognizable today as America.  So much has been discovered since 1507, when you think that this is over a quarter of the total land area of the Earth.  Those were exciting times for explorers and discoverers. These are reflections from the stained glass windows in the church that the choir practices in and below that an interpretation of them in a collage.

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