Writing and Printing

Ainsworth Rand Spofford

Ainsworth Rand Spofford (September 12, 1825 – August 11, 1908) was the sixth librarian of Congress. He oversaw the expansion of the Library of Congress (LOC) into a national library and placed it in charge of the national copyright system, allowing it to receive a copy of all works copyrighted in the US. He also oversaw the lengthy construction and move to the Thomas Jefferson Building, allowing the LOC to leave its severely overcrowded space in the United States Capitol. Born to a Presbyterian minister in New Hampshire, he spent much of his childhood on the island of Martha's Vineyard, where he apprenticed for a local bookbinder. He was tutored at home due to poor health. He left the island in 1845, settling in Cincinnati, Ohio, and finding work as a bookstore clerk. He was inspired by the works of transcendentalists and became connected to local radicals and abolitionists, founding the Literary Club of Cincinnati in 1849. He became a business partner of the store, and was able to attract Ralph Waldo Emerson and Theodore Parker as lecturers there. After beginning work as a journalist, he served as a war correspondent in Washington, D.C after the outbreak of the American Civil War. While in Washington, Spofford became acquainted with the librarian of Congress, physician John Gould Stephenson, who was a brother to a fellow Literary Club member. He appointed Spofford as his assistant librarian, who served as the library's de facto director for most of the war. Stephenson resigned in 1864 and Abraham Lincoln appointed Spofford as librarian of Congress in December. He began a rapid expansion plan, tripling the library's shelf space and acquiring major collections. Copyright management, which he pushed for the LOC to take over, occupied much of his tenure. The growing collection acquired through copyright laws led to the library exhausting its shelf space, and Spofford pushed for a new building. Although an architectural plan was selected in 1873, debate on its location and features continued through the 1880s. Construction of the new building began in earnest in the 1890s. Congressional hearings on the reorganization of the LOC were held in conjunction with the move to the new building. The American Library Association saw Spofford as unsuitable for managing the growing national library.

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• ▸HaZvi
• ▸Harvesting at Windsor
• ▸Culture of Israel

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