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Library News
In July 1776, the Second Continental Congress considered it imperative that the official text of the Declaration of Independence be disseminated as quickly and widely as possible.
Joseph Hansen, whose novels chronicle significant shifts in gay life between 1970 and the early 1990s, is best known for his series featuring the openly and unapologetically gay private investigator Dave Brandstetter.
Partners both in business and in life, Yoch and Council completed more than 250 landscape commissions over a period of roughly four decades—projects that included landmark public gardens and private gardens for Hollywood elites.
Library Collections
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Using the Library
Every year, researchers from over 30 countries make more than 20,000 visits to the Library’s reading rooms, and thousands more make use of the Library’s virtual services and digital collections.
Highlights from the Collections
Programs and Stories
About the Library
- One of the world’s largest collections of British medieval manuscripts, including the 15th-century Ellesmere manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
- One of 12 surviving copies on vellum of the Gutenberg Bible, the jewel of the second-largest collection of incunabula (15th-century printed books) in the United States.
- A leading repository for Americana, including extensive holdings for Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson, and such gems as the original manuscript of Franklin’s autobiography.
- Extensive collections on the American West, including the great 19th-century photographic surveys and original sources about overland migration, industry and transport, and Native Americans.