Today in History

History & Celebrations Today – January 30

Celebrations Today – January 30

Holidays and observances

Celebrations Today – USA: January 30

National Croissant Day
National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day – Last Monday of January
National Escape Day
National Inane Answering Message Day
National School Day of Non-violence and Peace
National Yodel for Your Neighbors Day

Today in US History: January 30

Jefferson’s Library

“…there is, in fact, no subject to which a Member of Congress may not have occasion to refer.”Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Samuel H. Smith,
September 21, 1814, Jefferson Papers
American Treasures of the Library of Congress


James Madison,
fourth president of the United States,
Pendleton’s Lithography,
circa 1828.
By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present

On January 30, 1815, President James Madison approved an act of Congress appropriating $23,950 to purchase Thomas Jefferson’s library of 6,487 volumes.


Thomas Jefferson,
third president of the United States,
Pendleton’s Lithography,
circa 1828.
By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present

After capturing Washington, D.C. in 1814, the British burned the U.S. Capitol, destroying the Library of Congress and its 3,000-volume collection. Thomas Jefferson, in retirement at Monticello, offered to sell his personal library to the Library Committee of Congress in order to rebuild the collection of the Congressional Library.


Letter from Thomas Jefferson to George Watterston (1783-1854),
Memory Section of
American Treasures of the Library of Congress

Jefferson’s library not only included over twice the number of volumes as had been destroyed, it expanded the scope of the library beyond its previous topics—law, economics, and history—to include a wide variety of subjects in several languages.

Anticipating the objection that his collection might be too comprehensive, he argued, “I do not know that it contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to exclude from their collection; there is, in fact, no subject to which a Member of Congress may not have occasion to refer.”

The Library of Congress, established on April 24, 1800, celebrated its bicentennial during the months from June 1999 through December 2000. The Library’s Bicentennial Commemoration launched a number of new Library initiatives including Local Legacies, a project which documented phenomena that helped to define various U.S. communities at the turn of the Millennium.

Today in History – January 30-External Links

Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia

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