Adolf Cluss, American Communist and Washington DC architect extraordinaire, thinks the Library of Congress is great, and it's better than the Smithsonian Institute. He's sorry it's closed after a December 1851 fire.
Die Kongressbibliothek, wo man Bücher geliehen bekommen konnte durch Rekommendation von Abgeordnete, ist abgebrannt, d.h die einzige sie noch bestehend, diejenige in Smithsonian Institut ist blos für Rentiers offen, d.h. in den regelmäß. Arbeitsstunde von 9-3 Uhr. Ausgeliehen wird gar nichts. Dies Anstalt wurde trotzdem von dem Engländer Smithson mit einem fond von 500,000 dollars dotirt zu den Zweck: Ausbreitung von nützlichen Wissen unter den Menschen.
"The Library of Congress, where one can borrow books with the recommendation of a representative, has burned down, so that the only [library] that still exists is the one in the Smithsonian Institute, which is open only for rentiers, that is, during the regular working hours of 9-3. They do not loan out books at all. This institution is nonetheless funded with 500,000 dollars by the Englishman Smithson for the purpose: Spreading useful knowledge among people."
Adolf Cluss, Washington, DC, to Joseph Weydemeyer, New York City, March 17, 1852, Joseph Weydemeyer Papers, IISG.
So great, in fact, that Weydemeyer, the publisher of Marx's 18th Brumaire, tried to donate books to the library. They were rejected as damaged by a congressional committee, but Cluss suspected that the "sheepheaded" democratic majority had political reservations and radical republican William H. Seward did not intervene as promised.
ReplyDeleteSee: 1. Adolf Cluss to Joseph Weydemeyer, June 13, 1852, Joseph Weydemeyer Papers, IISG.