ABSTRACT

Back in the days when Thomas Jefferson's library was up for sale, one of his friends learned it had been offered to the Congress, and the friend was distressed. The three departments serve three audiences: Research Services serves the general public and the scholarly world, the Law Library serves the legal world, and the Congressional Research Service serves the Congress. All of the Library's papers are preserved in some logical order and indexed in an author catalog, but in addition, the staff of the Manuscript Division has prepared some 1,200 detailed, individual "registers." In many respects, the Geography and Map Division is similar to the Manuscript Division. In 1980, a unique and remarkable collection relating to the life and explorations of Sir Francis Drake was given to the Library by the rare-book dealer and bibliophile Hans P. Kraus and his wife, Hanni.