The Library’s resources for research are unsurpassed in the Western Hemisphere; its service as a national library is unexcelled. The printed book collection on June 30, 1938, totaled 5,591,000, surpassed in numbers only by that of the Bibliothèque National in Paris, and increasing at a greater rate than those in any other library. Last year 196,000 volumes were added. [Illustration: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ADDITION] Founded in 1800 by an act appropriating $5,000 for the purchase of “books for the use of both Houses of Congress,” the Library continued, down to the midpoint of its 139 years of history, to be no more than its name implies--a collection for the use of the National Legislature. By 1865 the Library had attained a growth of 82,000 volumes, which was notable among American libraries neither in size nor in service rendered. The collections include the library of Thomas Jefferson (6,760 volumes, the nucleus of the present collections, purchased for $23,950 in 1815), the Peter Force and the Toner collections of American history, the Smithsonian Institution’s unequaled collection of the proceedings of learned societies of the world, the Yudin collection of Russian books (with later additions probably the largest outside of Russia), the collection of John Boyd Thacher (fifteenth-century books, and books on the French Revolution, early Americana, autographs of European notables), the Schiff-Deinard collection of Hebrew literature, and 130,000 Chinese books, understood to be one of the largest and best-organized collections outside the Orient. Most notable among recent accessions is the Vollbehr collection of 3,000 fifteenth-century books (incunabula), for whose purchase Congress appropriated $1,500,000 in July, 1930. The gem of this group is the Gutenberg Bible, one of the three extant perfect copies on vellum of the first great book printed in Europe from movable type (A. D. 1450-1455). [Illustration: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--READING ROOM] Manuscripts relating chiefly to American history are among the Library’s greatest treasures. The reproducing by photography of manuscript materials for American history in foreign archives and libraries, which since 1927 has formed so significant a portion of the division’s work, has added more than 2,000,000 pages to the resources which students of that history can use in Washington without going to Europe. Chief among originals beyond all price are the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States--both added in 1921--the personal papers of President Washington, many Presidents, and other statesmen. The Library is rich in music. This collection numbers over 1,194,000 pieces and volumes, surpassed only in two or three European libraries. An auditorium of 500 seats, given and richly endowed by Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, provides free concerts and lectures.