Celebrations Today – January 30
Holidays and observances
- Christian Feast Day:
- Aldegonde
- Anthony the Great (Coptic Church)
- Balthild
- Charles I of England (various provinces of the Anglican Communion)
- Hippolytus of Rome
- Hyacintha Mariscotti
- Martina
- Mutien-Marie Wiaux
- Savina
- Three Holy Hierarchs (Eastern Orthodox), and its related observances:
- January 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Day of Azerbaijani customs (Azerbaijan)
- Day of Saudade (Brazil)
- Fred Korematsu Day (California, United States)
- Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi-related observances:
- Martyrs’ Day (India)
- School Day of Non-violence and Peace (Spain)
- Start of the Season for Nonviolence January 30-April 4
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.
- For more information about the Library of Congress and its history, visit the Publications area of the Library’s web site. In particular, see Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress.
Jefferson’s Library,
ca. 1993.
Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress - Today, Thomas Jefferson’s library is one of the Library’s “special collections.” For more information, see Rare Books and Special Collections: An Illustrated Guide. Visit the home page of the Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room, where Thomas Jefferson’s library is currently stored.
- View The act authorizing the purchase of Jefferson’s library in the Statutes at Large January 30, 1815 and Thomas Jefferson’s library : a catalog with the entries in his own order / edited by James Gilreath, Douglas L. Wilson, an online edition of a printed catalog to Thomas Jefferson’s collection that became the nucleus of the Library of Congress.
- Thomas Jefferson arranged his books into three categories: Memory, Reason and Imagination. American Treasures of the Library of Congress, an online exhibition, follows his subject arrangements in organizing its contents, adding a special category for America’s Top Treasures. Among the latter are Jefferson’s original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence.
- Peruse Thomas Jefferson’s correspondence, commonplace books, financial account books, and manuscript writings in the Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606-1827, a collection which consists of approximately 27,000 documents. An essay by Joseph J. Ellis on Thomas Jefferson and a Time Line of Jefferson’s life are part of the special presentation material which accompany this online collection.
- Search the Today in History Archive on the term library for more information related to the Library of Congress and other libraries, including, the Library Company of Philadelphia and the many libraries endowed by Andrew Carnegie.
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