The Library of Congress is the largest public research library in the world with a collection of over 170 million items including books, manuscripts, audio materials, maps, and moving images. There are seventeen research rooms/centers in the Library of Congress. The collections are very strong in the areas of American history, genealogy, diplomacy, legal history, history of science, women’s history, African American history, and many other fields.
Access to the Library of Congress reading areas requires a Reader Identification Card issued by the library. Appointments are optional, but strongly encouraged. A more in depth description of the collections at the Library of Congress as well as how to begin research, can be found at the Library of Congress Research and Reference Services. An excellent place to look for manuscript collections, such as the Presidential Papers and Papers of Government Officials, are located with the Online Collections of the Manuscript Division.
101 Independence Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20540
General Information: (202) 707-5000
Citation:
The Library of Congress. (n.d.) Library of Congress Collections: Collections Overview. https://www.loc.gov/rr/coll-overview.html