>> as another way to document our country through time, the library of congress has a large collection of journalists papers. >> these are trained observers who sent -- they often write letters to their colleagues about what they have observed. they are very valuable collections for documenting significant events in u.s. history. it corrects the journalists like war is really camacho's syphilis for -- >> journalist like horace greeley, joseph green the -- joseph pulitzer and others. >> we have a pulitzer prize- winning columnist from the " post. -- the "washington post."

she road from lower manhattan -- she wrote from lower manhattan, half-hour from the first attack pipit -- attack. >> other divisions of the library also made efforts to preserve the 9/11 experience. >> we will look for the national events, for example, the 9/11 terrorist attacks. that was a major event in u.s. history, and so we had a conscious, targeted acquisition to go out and gather in, whether it was photographs, fine print, comic or cartoons. grex preserving the past,

especially in times of international conflict takes on a special division of maps. >> maps are important in the ether preparing for conflict or afterwards. >> this is an interesting map of the utah region that was made in probably april and may of 1944. it is a racist, relief map on foam rubber. it was made to be carried. it was used to brief officers, commanders, prior to d day in normandy. you could actually see and feel where the heteros work. uka to the valleys and -- where the hedgerows were. you could actually see the valleys. you could see every building, the fortifications, most of which had been bombed prior to the landing, in contrast to the

omaha rates. only 200 people lost their lives and at the end of the first day we had about 24,000 troops on board. there is a lot massive loss of life on this beach that did not happen and it possibly could have been because it of having materials like this at of time. >> it also included detailed mapping in the pacific theater. this case it was a good dollar beaches in 1944. these are the islands in the okinawa chain. it is labeled a, b, c, d. it chose the profiles of the landing zones. it was done by underwater demolition, the navy underwater demolition teams, this forerunner of the current navy seal.

it was done completely under water. ships were swimming to shore and dirtied the water and it was done about the coral. it was very information -- imports and information. >> i have been to bookstores and have looked at new ridings that have run -- writings that have relished our loss in conflict and have looked at them and some of them i just toss away because they do not have a map. if you do not know where the conflict is, how can you relate? >> they succeeded in attacking the haitians in trenton, but one week later there was the battle of princeton. on december 31st, 1776, the general of the militia sent a young spike into princeton, new

jersey, into the home of princeton university. he said is by to look at the city. the spy returned from the city and provided the information on this map. >> this is the college of new jersey, nassau hall, the first name for princeton university. these little guys are cannons pointing south. these little guys are few pieces, or cannons pointing north. there are also some field pieces pointing west. in other words, the town is heavily defended by cannons. there's also a note here saying 100 men at this bridge. there's a note here that says, just this morning 100 men started erecting earthworks. this is real time information. the spy went in and observed

information and came back and reported it. this map was made and sent to general washington. the most important information about the mouth, however, is this note. essentially, what it says is there is this nice road that leads around the back of town and is undefended. what washington did in attacking princeton, he sent some of his forces against that town, sent the remaining forces around the back of town. the british realized that it was up 1/8 to up their hands and went away. this map was instrumental in 1777. >> and in the manuscript division, the collections include the war's in the documents. >> this project was called

centerboard, the operation centerboard. the atomic bombing of japan. and this peen cable is the answer to the yellow cable through the staff of the army of george c. marshall and the authorization to go ahead with the atomic bombing. grex -- >> the civil rights of this country is preserved, most commonly through the naacp founded in 1909. >> the naacp records are the largest single record acquired by the library and the most heavily used. those collections are enhanced by the personal papers of such prominent activists as their greg marshall, wilkins, robert carter, herbert held, russell

story, character thing guard, rustin, joseph lau, most recently james forman, edward brooke, patricia brooks, just to name a few. >> the civil rights records come from less obvious collections. >> cancel adams, perhaps the most household name of -- adams, perhaps the household name of america, he wrote a letter that said, i have something that shows the camps in the 1940's. would you be interested? we said, thank you, pretty fast. his empathy for the people in the camps, his skill with portraiture, but also a very complicated subject matter. it a picture of people playing softball inside a relocation

camp, it is a wake-up moment, but also a what is going on here? were people unhappy? how was like to continue if your property has been taken from you? how did you keep going and what was flying to happen after the camp? -- what was going to happen after the camp? >> not surprisingly, the library of congress keeps a history of some of the noted people elected to represent their country in both the house and senate. >> they have a special place in the library of congress. we have about 900 collections ranging from the first cut of congress through someone like pat toomey, who served until her death until 2002. >> the bulk of congressional

papers are men, including senator robert taft, with 522,000 items. all the way back to josiah bark that, who served in the continental congress. bartlett, who servedt in the continental congress. but the past for their review can be a long and surprising review. >> we get collections from donors, very often they are stored in attics or basements or even barnes. >> in this room there are delivered and put out on tables or collections.

if they are not born here, there midwifed year and eventually available to the reading public. >> there have been some odd revolvers andred, revival pieces of wedding cake and all kinds of things where people clear out their filing cabinets, closets. >> for example, the papers of air force general bernard, responsible for the development of the intercontinental ballistic missile, or icbm. >> he would note on airplane napkins, and then i guess he needed more paper because he used to airsickness bags to continue his notes. these are the kind of odd things we deal with in the course of processing. >> it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack, not saving

it for what is in your room, but protecting and processing the items to be saved in a library for future generations. >> in these records, newspapers have both a professional and personal side of an individual. yes, there are executive documents, executive orders, at official correspondence, evidence of what they did 9:00 p.m. -- 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and then you have another side of people. >> the papers of roosevelt are an example. in his diaries they look at how a future president deals with immense personal tragedy. >> what happened was his wife had given birth to their daughter, but had died in childbirth. to set the compound the trauma. his mother had been living in their house and she died the same day. he lost both his wife and his

mother on the same day. you see a black? -- a black x and the light has gone out. and then if you turn the pages over, he writes down, killing about three pages, the event that happened on the particular day that produced the back -- black x. indeed, it is well justified. and he goes on to say that for better or worse, his life has been lived out. he had been a romantic and on the emotional side, his wife affected him, but he went on to do great things the individuals are complicated -- great things. it cracks the individuals are complicated who have hoped -- >> the individuals are complicated who have hope and despair in their lives. this is a diary from 1852 and is

one of those diaries where the individual is pouring out in the motion. you start tearing up. he is writing in very small prints and she is saying that for some reason i have found it very hard to restrain the tears today. i would have given almost anything to be alone and undisturbed. i have seldom felt more for and less andmore friend despite all my resolutions and reasons and moral courage and everything else, i grew more and more weary and impatient. i know it is wicked and perhaps felicia, but i cannot help it. there is not a living thing that would be -- that would not be better off without me. i contribute to the happiness of not a single object, and often to the unhappiness of many, and

always smile because i'm never happy. you read this if anything, my . d bartlett in 1852. if she had acted out of these emotions, clearly, she was in depression. she would not have been there to found the red cross and all the good works that organization did. you get an inside look at people when you look at their personal papers. it helps you dispel that stereotypes of people and it really helps you understand someone's motivations and the baggage they brought with them. you just do not get that from the official documents that might be within those pages of

the records. >> we will return to our feature documentary in a moment. for more information on the library of congress, including a brief history, it quits, and other resources, go to c- span.org/libraryofcongress. get your own copy of the library of congress behind the season -- scenes of the world's largest library. order now at c-span.org/store. >> if you want to be informed about what is happening in the world, particularly in the congress in america, it is not so hard. c-span has archives going back to 1987 where you can basically watch anything that happens -- happened in the house or senate

chambers right on the screen. there are sources of information that were unimaginable 20 years ago. >> the cs nvidia library makes it easy to follow washington with instant access -- the c- span video library makes it easy to follow washington with instant access, all share a goal and free. -- all sharable and free. >> and now we return to our feature documentary on the library of congress. >> my favorite part of this building, like i say, it would have to be the reading room. it is just inspiration all around you. >> when i was a graduate student sitting in the waiting room, it was just a wonderful group that promoted learning and

education. just the great space of the reading room. it was a wonderful place to work as a student. whenever you had to do seem to much more important suddenly. >> it makes you look up and then looked down at a coke. -- look down at a book. you can feel the expanse. feel the inspiration. and then look up at that wonderful mural overlooking the senate of the main reading room. >> 160 ft. from floor to the crown of the domed ceiling, where the painting looks down on their readers. >> that figure that is removing the veil of ignorance from the human understanding, that is an american invention. that is not a classical french and -- classical fashion, but is

what we mean is all about. -- what reading is all about. particular design element in the main reading room and as a sideline from the visitors' gallery to the coup plot, you cannot see the mural to the top from the visitors' gallery. your only privileged to see her from the reading room down below engaged in research. you are not privileged to see her as a visitor. >> there are 12 seated figures representing 12 civilizations. america is represented as an engineer with its hand under its chin trying to solve the problem of mechanics. it is no coincidence that the figure resembles abraham lincoln. >> the effect of that mural is to say that we in america, thank

you very much all past civilizations, but basically, the future is ours. ofre looking ahead >> some the light in the room comes through stained-glass windows. but these are no ordinary windows. and mixed european designs, the imprint of america has been stamped. >> there are 48 states, but a number of them were still territory in 1897. and each of the semicircular windows has fields -- seals of the state's finding the seal of the u.s.. -- flanking the seal of the u.s. but you have eight allegorical figures in plaster at the upper level of the region, representing the highs pursuits of the human mind -- art, philosopher, history, law, and

then on the balance tried -- ballast lower down you have bronze statues, two in each day. -- each bay. ♪ but they relate to the female figure of above in a triangle. if you see two bronze statues next to each other on the same level, they do not relate to each other. they relate to the females it -- female figure beside them. for instance, art is flanked below by michelangelo and one

side representing architecture, painting and sculpture, and beethoven on the other representing music. the other great feature in the room a lot of people miss because it is at the entrance is the great clock by john flanagan. it is not just to tell you what time it is. it is to advise you to be mindful of your time and use it well and that we are all here only for a certain time frame. as my grandfather would say, make hay while the sun shines. >> the theme of american art meets with american history is also prevalent on the outside of

the building. >> the crown on the top of the dome over the main reading room is a great golden flames. we call it the torch of knowledge. sometimes it is the latin word. it is the symbol of the active mind and you see images of actively burning flames through the library, which might seem odd for an institution that had two disastrous fires in 1841 and eight -- in 1845 and 1851. but it is not about destructive fire, but creative fire, and it is to inspire. when you enter the building when you are supposed to, as the architects and designers and sculptors plant, by going of the great exterior staircase, you

experience the design of the three archways that represent art, science, and literature that you go through. but i think the most beautiful thing, and especially if the light is right, are the bronze doors. they represent the great evolutions in the transition of human knowledge. you have the transition of speech. if you have right team. and you have -- you have right and you have printing. and we have had a fourth revolution and people say that we need the electronic doorway because that has happened. and winning a circular -- and we have a circular sculpture above the doorway. mother and child, that is where learning begins, and more mothers need.

all around them are people of native america. tried. oseph's driv that, i think, is the first positive representation of native americans on the federal building. >> it was established -- and greeting visitors at the curve is the neptune fountain. >> here you have neptune, the great sea god, surrounded by his court and these sea animals and beasties. ♪ washington is miserable in the

summertime and fountains are a great relief. this is sort of like our fountain, if you will, and drawn from many sources. 20t also, maybe it's symbolizing 20 -- symbolizing trenty. >> the neptune fountain is almost one-third the length of the entire building. make your way around, some unusual carved faces. these heads as the keystones of around the principle floor of the whole way of around the building. they were developed by a fellow named otis mason and they represent the races of the world.

>> there are a total of 33 technological -- ethnological heads. >> they can be represented that specifically and it would be appropriate to do so, but it would be frowned upon today promptly. >> there are aspects in the architecture reminiscent of european masterpieces. >> the figures in the circular windows in the west front of the jefferson building probably are inspired by the paris architects. you have a similar windows with the busts of composers, musicians. when they came to do the library of congress they adopted that motif, except here we have authors instead of composers.

in front you have benjamin franklin, who is of course perfectly fitted as an author, publisher. also, his prime place comes from his contribution as well as statesmen and scientists. >> the other riders are ralph waldo emerson, washington irving, a german writer, thomas betting tim mccauley, a british writer. an american novelist, nathaniel hawthorne, who publish the scarlet letter in 1950. and sir walter scott, the scottish writer whose works included ivan hel, robin -- rob roy, and the lady of the lake.

-- ivan hel, rob roy, and the lady of the lake. >> standing in front of the building in the evening, you can see the bus back late from the great hall -- busts backlit from the great hall. as a well as the washington monument serving as the backdrop. >> congress has always needed information. when they were in philadelphia and new york, there were libraries. they had a wonderful collection. when they got to washington, d.c., there were battlefields. there were no libraries.

what they had to do was create a library. the actual creation came in a bill signed by president john adams. he found a place in the northwest corner of the capitol building. >> they build the rotunda, they built the library of congress along the west front of the capital between dissent and the house chambers. for many years, the west front of the capital was the library of congress. >> by 1814, the library of congress held about 3000 volumes. most of which court destroyed. british troops marched on maryland avenue and they burn down the capitol building.

>> thomas jefferson read about it and the newspaper. he offered to sell the library -- to sell to the library his own book collection. >> it turned out that he needed the money at the time. he was a very eclectic collector. he believed that you had to study philosophy, foreign languages, he had a huge number of books that were poetry and english literature. >> it was very flattering to congress. if you were going to govern this new country, and you need to have books on all subjects. >> that created some controversy in the house of representatives. should we have books in four languages? is this what we should be spending the money on? >> part of it was opposition to jefferson himself. part of it was personal. there were some people who just would not vote for it because it

came from jefferson. >> in the end, the house voted 71-61 to buy his library. 6487 volumes or just under $24,000. >> in 1870, congress did the single best thing ever did for the library of congress when it passed the newly expanded copyright act. it was a requirement dead every new book -- that every new book needed to be copyrighted. if you look at the statistics, the library of confident grow enormously starting in the 1870's. they still have the same amount of space. books just stacked up. >> by 1872, the library of congress had 246,000 volumes. no work to keep them. all attempts to get the library of building of its own failed.

it may have been begun country's desire to outshine europe, it finally tipped the scales. after the civil war, a lot of americans went abroad. they have a certain national pride that they've brought back. they wanted a building that showed the american commitment to education and to college. when they came back, they were attuned to building a brand new structure. >> the congressional debate began. it brings people together from very different backgrounds will look at things very differently.

they work as unlike as any two people serving. he had been an anti-slavery man and then a republican. he had been a copperhead during the war. they did not go together, but they served on the committee on the library. they both believe that he needed to have a proper library. they carried their colleagues along with them. >> in 1886, president grover cleveland signed a bill authorizing the building. construction began the following year. the architect was thomas lincoln casey of the u.s. army corps of engineers. >> he is famous in washington

for getting us out of two architectural masses. -- messes. one was the old executive office building. the more famous achievement was completing the washington doc -- washington monument. >> general casey was also successful with the library of congress. as shown here in these photos taken by the nephew of mathew brady. >> the outside of the building

was completed in 1893. general casey brought in his son, edward, to design the interior. >> they had this idea of adding these american decorators until the building was practically finished. >> they started assembling the teams of artists, painters, sculptors. it is all pretty much done between night -- 1892 and 1897. part of the reason they were able to do that is a lot of these artists are coming off of it working in chicago where they had to create this amazing city from plaster and whatever. they learned how to tree august -- triage in terms of creating these remarkable combinations

of sculptures and architecture. >> the building was open to the public in the early 1890's 7. in the end, it consisted of 400,000 cubic feet of granite, 3,000 tons of iron steel, and 70,000 barrels of cement. >> one of the things that appeal to congress was general casey out-europed europe. as one of the key emblems of his reign. and what it could accomplish and how important the arts were. and what happens with the jefferson building of the library of congress is that it becomes an emblem of what we can do. we are players on the world's cultural scene. when they were finally given the

choice in the middle 18 '8080s, congress went for the $6 million version. >> we are standing in the entrance to the exhibition which features the reconstruction of thomas jefferson's personal book collection. the collection that he sold to the united states government in 1815. this is a very famous collection in colonial america. after his presidency, it was quite common for people to travel to his collection. it was by far the largest collection in north america. 6000 volumes, it was a sight to behold. this is the 18th century. although there are american imprints, we are not swimming in

publications. it really takes somebody of jefferson's bill -- ilk, the opportunity to be in france and europe and to bring materials back that made this so large. he designed the library that would allow him to sit on the center of the circle. organized into 44 different chapters and subjects, built around the notion that he had pulled from the enlightenment of memory, reason, and imagination. these are perfect examples of this approach to education. this is a collective work of passages in latin that has been broken apart by a bookbinder and interweaved with a spanish translation of the same mark. and then rebound. he created for himself his own bilingual text to teach himself spanish. further down as we move through , the ford history -- for jefferson, history was engines.

-- history was engines. -- ancient. ending with chapter 44, dictionaries. his politics section is crowded with american authors, including himself. the entire campaign prior to the revolution was there. much of the discussion about constitution with madison and adams is present as well. >> his library is part of the collection, which encompasses both books and objects spanning thousands of years. >> it is one of are prized possessions. for europe, it is the first piece. >> during the depression, congress paid on million dollars to purchase a variety of 15 century items, including the

gutenberg bible. >> it was a moment when we have moved away from the medieval world and moved toward the renaissance. >> it is one of the first items that greets visitors and the jefferson building. >> another famous bible is the one that president lincoln used in his inauguration. >> lincoln was on his way of moving to washington. >> president obama used this bible for his 2009 swearing in. >> there have been other request for bibles. there was a very famous event a few years ago and which the first modern day muslim member of congress asked to use the koran from thomas jefferson's collection for a ceremony. >> including the contents of

his pockets on the 90 was assassinated. >> the only currency you was carrying was a $5 confederate bill, a couple of pairs of glasses, a small wallets that contained numerous news clippings. it is a moment in his life that it's captured. he had been further south of washington. did he carry it with them to remind him of the struggle? all of these questions. it also marks a moment of his assassination. much in the way that his life marks the sort of moment of his presidency and america is moving forward.

a life mask -- he had developed a technique that made it more comfortable to sit under a and allow the process to speed up. >> the rare books collection contains many literary items, including collections of walt whitman and henry david thoreau. >> walt whitman mets with henry david thoreau once. their meeting had been arranged for them in brooklyn by mutual friends. thoreau is on details of discovering a work of his own. >> then they went for a walk. >> this is, rated -- this is commemorated in these two books.

you find in walt whitman's copy about his signature a brief note that says, imad -- i met him in brooklyn on such a such a day. he seemed in good health and talked about the book that he was doing. i gave him a copy of my "leaves of grass." >> he was searching the collection to prepare some items for exhibition. >> i found this second edition of walt whitman. i thought, that is really terrific. henry david thoreau's handwriting. it is still a very important -- when i turned around and noticed a book sitting in the middle of the walt whitman collection.

i said, what is this? i discovered this very grandiose signature and this package and it took a minute for me to realize that sitting across from each other and the shells of the library of congress were actual books that had exchanged hands between them. they had been facing each other all these years. they had gone off into separate collections and they both came back to the library of congress and they were there just waiting to meet each other again. >> what was that moment of discovery like? >> to be honest, i've started to cry. it is a recognition of time thad important moment of american poetry. every time i walked into this the balts, i am reminded of time -- vault, i am reminded of time and a period of great

struggle. standing right here, next to from the 13th and 14th centuries. logs, copies, every book popular in the 19th century about abraham lincoln. on this side, books that are famous for their bindings. there are a million stories. sometimes very poetic, sometimes very sad, but sometimes very mundane. is there. the third reich collection came to the library at the end of world war ii. it was an allied commission did it on the responsibility of dealing with materials that had been captured by the nazis. the objective was to return to rightful owners of those

materials which had been stolen. books that were clearly part of hitler's own world came to the library of congress. i wanted us to look at it for many reasons. this sort of pervasiveness of the movement. it had gone to the point where it had been translated into this very large text. another is to keep the connection to another's library and to understand what is really being documented. by those that surrounded him. by those who were managing his administration. >> the care of this and all the collections and the library is the work of the preservation division. the collection, the most valuable asset of a library. they are also very fragile.

we have a very large conservation tradition here. as well as a division devoted to binding. >> we have a responsibility of creating an environment that is safe for books that are hundreds of years old. we also have a responsibility to save materials that are in danger. >> occasionally, we have to do intervention. we have to go and and do an operation on a collection. our conservation division is sort of like a book hospital. >> we are trying to stabilize the material so that we do not have a problem that is going to grow. we might see it as a triage area and a hospital. if something is what, before we can do anything to it, one of

our techniques is to use a freezer. we can stop time said that if something is wet, mold cannot grow. >> besides freezing, there is also backing. -- vaccuuming. >> they can be housed in folders and boxes and safely returned. >> one of the type of intervention of treatments that we often have to do that always amazes people is washing the document. how can you possibly wash a document? this is a page from one of george washington's childhood educational exercise books. what you see us doing is using an enzyme solution to remove the paper and the adhesive that were applied to its in 1898.

it is important that we did this because while those materials were a good quality when they were applied, time has not been kind to them. >> we are going to give the enzymes a few minutes to do their jobs on top of this. this is water, but there is no water coming into contact with the manuscript at this time. >> the ensign has done its work. -- enzyme done its work. we're shifting over to change

all polyester whipping which supports the documents. on andoing to put it bent it is into the washroom. -- an event it is into the washroom. this is draining away the last few drops before she places the page. it would be removed and drained briefly and placed between a fresh polyester web. >> much more sophisticated means are being developed to allow scientists to look much closer at the library's rare items. and find out more about them.

>> this is a plate inside an environmental microscope. the doors opened and it is a microscope that uses electrons. to make images. unlike a light microscope, this can go up to 100,000 times magnification. we can see tiny particles of king -- of ink. can take all of these images, all of this chemical information, without doing any damage to the object. >> these technologies have extraordinary opportunities for us. the offer as extraordinary opportunities to investigate materials that we have never been able to before. >> the director oversees one special group of materials. that is the group that is called the library's talk treasures. -- top treasures. we have a vault.

we currently have a process under way to look at these treasures more closely. we are using some of the latest imaging technologies. to see if we can find unique identifiers on these special collections. in doing this process, it is really been an active discovery for us. normally, when you photograph something, you illuminate it with as much light as possible. >> we are seeing things beyond what you can see when you looked at something in normal lighting. things that are hitting from as -- that are hidden from us in normal lighting. >> we actually found there was a thumb and free thinkers right

for you would full-page. -- three fingers right where you what turned the page. >> there are no records of its actual fingerprints. >> we should be able to take dna and tartu state, we know that it was -- and start to say, we know that it was lincoln. >> they use the same technology on it. >> and looking at the manuscript, we saw an area that was slightly blurred. looking at more desperate looking at this more closely, our scientists began to speculate that what looked like a small edge under the word citizen might actually be a word in and of itself that jefferson chose to obliterates while the ink was still wet.

with respect to letting on what the words might be. patriots? we were fortunate enough to have a tour by the madison council. we will often ask, what do you think this might be? one of the participants said, she thought it looked like the word subjects. that was one of those moments where a chill went through all this because it seemed so right and so logical. this was the moment that jefferson might have changed his mind. we were no longer subjects, we were citizens. just speculating was not good enough.

by doing continued elaborate examinations, i think we finally have nailed it. as it turns out, this entire section is not even in the finals version of the declaration of independence. >> library of call congress -- the library of congress is using new technology to learn about the past. to get as much of its content digitized and online. >> it has nearly 50 million items and we have about one and a quarter million items online already. >> less than 10% of the total. what's the hardest part of digitalization is not getting carried away. we have taken a very practical approach. we are not a high-end graphic arts house. i know that press to its people at times.

we are using the digitizing to try to get as many pictures as possible on line. >> the online catalog includes descriptions about all the collections. you may find a lot of group descriptions four sets of photographs. you know they exist, but you might not be able to see them on line. >> to see the originals, you would have to travel to washington. even if you do, not all the collections are open to the public. for example, we agreed to restrict access to papers for a very good reasons. there is a long history of people destroying things. >> we do not want put ourselves in a position of determining who should or should not see a collection. we are a public institution.

we hope to have these materials as successful as possible. >> can you give me of an example? >> his papers are restricted until five years after his death. those a become available in 2015. we have henry kissinger's papers here. they have the same kind of restriction. >> they would be ones that most people -- there is probably some kind of restriction. it is not the entire collection. >> research libraries are often stereotyped as vaults. the fort knox of knowledge.

we keep the books, but you are not supposed to touch them. same with the photographs. as soon as you are a librarian, exactly the opposite is true. the whole purpose for keeping and preserving is to get the information back out to people. to encourage research, to encourage exploration of the past. the best example is the fact that the library decided to archive twitter. we were laughed at for asking to do so. this very message -- that the of expressing our opinion, if we can have that for people to look back at and understand, what people care about or thought about, i think it will be very helpful to the future. it is not just about costs pulling stuff in and holding it close, it needs to be used by people. it is a working collection. it is not just us and giving its

back. it is the rate is that people bring out there asking their questions. someone will come and study are photographs and they will write a book. many more people -- new ideas are bubbling up to the surface. >> we are the world's largest library, but we're also the home to the extraordinary objects that have come to us through the great generosity of collectors and for donors and to the government and have accumulated debt of come to rest two presidents. our goal is to make sense of them and to make them available. make sure that the stories daylight's the people learned to work with them, to gain new and different inside. the american people are very fortunate that they have this as part of their heritage. it is made available to anybody who comes to the reading room. you sit at the table and you can

experience this. it is access to information that makes democracy. >> the feature documentary will be aired later this evening at midnight. for more information on the library of congress, including a brief history, go to c-span.org. you can watch this and any of our other original documentaries online. go to c-span.org/librar yofcongress. for $14.95.n copy

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a discussion on the state of the national parks. this is about 25 minutes. "washington journal" continues. host: john jarvis is the national park's director. starting his term of service back in 1976. and is here to talk to us about the state of america's national parks. back in april, when they were going through budget cuts, there was a budget cut with the national parks and a threat of government shut down. there was a concern about the impact on the national parks. bring us up to speed on what the current budget situation is with regard to national parks. guest: basically what happened leading up to the potential shut down, there was a concern about that time of year.

spring when the parks were preparing for the ramp-up for the visitation. there was a fear the parks would be shut down. fortunately, we avoided that and in the final fiscal 2011 budget that was passed by congress and signed by the president, ultimately the park service did fairly well. there was a clear recognition by the appropriations leadership on that side that the parks are important to the american public and the economy. host: there's a headline in the july 4th edition of "u.s.a. today", the parks are less accessible this fourth of july. some states are still struggling and some of the parks had to be closed. guest: they are talking about the state park system. they are struggling as each of states are trying to reconcile

in this new competence their re-evaluating the value shall we say of the state park system. i would argue our state park system are an incredible asset to the country. they provide opportunities for recreation and local tourism across this country. the national and state park systems are closely linked. i think it's really too bad that we see the state park system under such diress across the country. host: we are talking to jon jarvis about the state of national parks. get involved in the information. number numbers on the bottom of the screen.

you can also get in touch by e-mail and twitter. there's the commemoration of bull run. these do not happen on national parks. guest: beginning this last april, we began the 150th commemoration of the events leading up to and through the entire civil war, so the first battle of bull run was the first major battle in the civil war and occurred just 26 miles south of here. a little west of washington d.c. and so on thursday of this past week, we had a commemoration in virginia, me and a variety of

folks that really talked in detail about the transformative effect of the civil war on this country. this was a battle that no one thought would be more than a skirmish. people took their picnic baskets down to watch a shot little fight. turned out they were 5000 casualties. this was a seminole moment in the course of history and leading up to civil rights in this country. we do not allow these re-enactments on the park land. in this case. there was a re-en actment that

took place on an adjacent farm. hos host:. we will have coverage of the 150th commemoration of bull run on c-span running until 4 o'clock this afternoon. it will include a live call-in program. that takes place again live on c-span three from 11 to four. if you want more information about bull run, can you find out that nps.gov.na. brooklyn, new york, you're live on "washington journal". caller: thank you for taking my call. i am 80 years of age. i worked my lifetime to work for the park, the tax and everybody else. but we got one problem. if we take the guys that was in

the bush administration for eight years and let them take back the money for medicare. host: james, we're going to leave it there. we're talking about the parks service today. we're going to pittsburgh. caller: hi, thanks for taking my call. having visited several of the national parks, what expectation is there for revenue from some of the private concessions that i see within or adjacent to the parks to utilize and help with the funding short falls we have for our national parks? guest: that's a great question, vicki, we have about 80 private vector that provide lodging, food service, guide services and those things at the national park. all of the renew generated by that is aggregated and we get

some of that coming back to us. we are in the negotiations to increase the franchise fees. this is about a billion dollar business. we gather about $200 million from those private concessioners that operate in the national parks. it's a contributor to the maintenance backlog and the other challenges we have. host: new orleans, you're on the line. eustice you're on. caller: i would like to invite you here to louisiana. i would like for you to come down and examine and help us here in louisiana. that's my statement. guest: we have staff down in the louisiana area to hook you up with.

there are challenges across the country with our national park system and particularly our state park system. we're there to help. host: chico, california, wanda is on our line for democrats. go ahead, wanda. caller: yeah, here in northern california, we have a problem with people growing marijuana and start fires when there's approaching law enforcement. i want to know what's being done about that. the citizens are afraid to go into the forest. guest: wanda, i am very aware with that. particularly in california and the sierras, with these marijuana gardens. we are working cooperatively

with drug enforcement agency. the california police and multi-agencies to focus on these marijuana gardens and go in and knock them down immediately upon their discovery. we're doing aviation patrol. night patrol on the highways. it's a challenge. i suggest these are occurring in non-public areas. they tend to go into the back country. i would not worry about your own safety in terms of national parks. they are not interested in having contact with you because they don't want to be caught. they are diverting streams, using pesticides and killing

wildlife. we are working to curtail this activity. host: we have this piece from abc news go.com. visitors to parks can carry guns. they are visiting it's a sharp change to previous laws that restrict guns in the national parks requiring them to be locked or stored. like the previous caller is concerned about drug dealers and various activities going on in the park and feel like their safety is threatened and it's in accordance with local and state law, they can carry a gun into the park. guest: that's exactly right. for many decades, guns were illegal in our parks.

congress changed that through a rider on the telecommunications bill, which was signed by the president allowed the carrying of both concealed and unconcealed firearms in our parks. let me say we have worked cooperatively with the firearms' community and the advocates and have not had significant incidents. they cannot carry their guns into the federal buildings where we have employees. host: back to the phones, meril, wisconsin. caller: good morning. for the past several years, my wife and i bought an r.v. and go to wisconsin, south dakota and take advantage of the parks. we go to yellowstone and the teton mountains and in montana

in the beautiful glacier park and the theodore roosevelt parks. they have been the best times in our life. the staff is wonderful and the parks are beautiful. my question is, i know there was an oil spill in the yellowstone river, has that affected any of the parks out there? guest: first of all, i would like to know if you would pick me up next time you take that trip. the oil spill was 150 miles down stream from yellowstone. there was no impacts to the national parks system. host: our next call, steve for republicans. while we take your question, we'd like to take a look at the 10 most-visited national parks. go ahead, steve. caller: good morning, how are

you doing? we do have great parks. glacier national park in montana is just super. the question i have. i have been doing a lot of research. what do you know about agenda 21. that's about it. i would suggest to everybody listening to this program. agenda 21. it's a u.n. mandate that's going to affect our parks. guest: i am not familiar what agenda 21 is. host: well, if any of the viewers are familiar with agenda 21, call in and let us know. next call from ft. bragg, california. wayne. go ahead. caller: yeah, i have been a

logger for 45 years, i see they're going to send out timber in yosemite because of a fire hazard and they can't see the waterfalls or whatever. they spent three years to study this and i can imagine the amount of money they spent just to do that. and that takes money out of parks system. so, i think they got to cut down some of these regulations. host: jon jarvis. guest: we are doing limited removal vegetation for fire protection in yosemite. we have wild lands urban interface where private lands

are adjacent to parks. we have to do fuel control and do it carefully. that requires compliance with our regulations. these are national assets and are available for everyone in the country. we have to do careful planning. host: jon jarvis is our guest for the next 25 minutes. mary is our next caller. caller: good morning. i am calling because it was reported how the state of arizona was begging the state of parks to do something because the drug cartel had taken over vast amounts of park land on the border, 80 miles in to the united states. the federal government was refusing to send in forces.

they posted signs telling citizens to stay out of national parks because their lives would be in risk. nothing has been done about it. i would appreciate hearing since our government is doing so much for our. why is this being allowed to happen and nothing done about it. i will hang up and listen to your experience. host: jon jarvis. guest: thank you. that is a very complicated issue. your speaking about organ pipe national park and the cabeza wildlife refuge. it has been a portal for drug activity. illegal activity across the border. we are working very, very closely with homeland security,

border patrol, the national park service to curtail. we have all kinds of surveillance systems in place. a rapid response system. regular patrols. we are taking this on. there are concerns and continue to be from the environmental impact from these groups as well as security. so, and we want to be able to still provide quality experiences there for the public that go down to that incredible part of desert. there's no question there are tough challenges. i would say we have a great working relationship on the border with the border patrol, the homeland security and national park land service. >> do park rangers carry weapons? guest: absolutely. caller: i love c-span.

i live close to washington d.c. and call myself a democrat, but when somebody asks me who are you going to vote for in the next election, i said that's a tough call because i have friends on both sides of the aisle. host: mary, what are your questions about parks? caller: i am a photographer, a girl on a horse silhouette in the battlefield. before i took the picture, i asked my lord, jesus or whoever to give me a picture of the

horses that died if the battlefield. and black and white, i thought my god, i got a winner here. it helped to make me, what i'm trying to do is back up the people who helped us get this law passed in 1992 and 1995. called the wild horse bureau. i helped the lady known as wild horsan horsany -- horse annie. host: mary, we're going to leave it there. talk to us about public law 92

and 95. guest: it's not something we're participating in. the wild horses that exist there has nothing to do with the parks system host: you're on "washington journal" with jon jarvis. caller: our parks that are a national index as compared to the great indian nations, how can i relate the size wise and attractiveness and beauty wise. and would you shed a little bit of light on this. how accommodating are the indian nations? guest: well we have a great relationship with native americans in managing lands that are immediately adjacent, for

example, the navaho and other indian nations are present. they are developing their own heritage programs for the public. they are a very diverse resources in the area. it's a growing area of opportunity for tribes to promote the public use and experiences on the reservations. so we are working cooperatively. like the bad lands in redwoods and other tribes to promote their areas. host: we have about 18 minutes left in this edition of the "washington journal". we are going to new berlin, new york, john on our independent line. caller: yeah, it's john.

i was concerned about the franchises you spoke about in the national parks. my concern is how does a franchisee get selected? if it's a billion dollar operation and the parks department gets $200 million. that leaves $800 million to franchisees. under any circumstances my concern is how are they chosen? what pressure is put on the franchisees and the difficulty in the strength of the franchisee. if you have yourself, any opinion of the carrying of handguns. that's secondary. i'm more concerned about the money we're not getting from the sale of popcorn and corn on the

cob. host: tom, you got us hungry. guest: thanks, tom. we're asking our concessioners to carry more healthier products than hot dogs. the concession contracts are awarded through open competition. we ask for a request for proposal and put out for bid. we look at a variety of things. not just how much they will pay in terms of franchise fees, but the quality of the experience. the ability to manage within national parks are often within historic structures. we have these old structures in the grand canyon that need to be cared for. they aren't exactly your typical hotels. they are all kinds of challenges. $1 billion is the gross, they

are putting a lot of the resources back into the building. in terms of revenue to look at from a formula standpoint, it's not just what we retain. we are going through a new round of competition with the contracts and resulting in a significant increase in the franchise fee. it does not go to the federal treasury. gets back to us to improve the public's experience and the resources. host: we have a tweet from save the republics. national parks used to hire our four-year college students. do you still do this or hire from the hb visa? guest: last year, we were 12,000 plus young people in this country. almost, i mean, we are not

hiring through the hb visa program. some of our concessioners are hiring that. in terms of federal government, when we hire thousands of seasonals to work in the parks, they are all american citizens. host: are they assigned based on where they come from and keep them within the region where they are from? it seems like if you go to new york, you're more likely to here a park ranger with an eastern c accent. guest: if you go to death valley, you might hear a new york accent from one of our seasonals. it's exciting to get out and work in these remote national

>> tomorrow on ""washington journal," david walker. the decision to overturn the ban on gay men and a man serving openly in the military. reporter looks at spending and overspending at the pentagon. "washington journal" live at 7:00 on c-span. >> you are watching c-span, bringing you politics and public affairs. every morning, it is "washington journal." weekdays, want live coverage of the u.s. house. supreme court arguments. on the weekends, you can see our signature interview programs. signature interview programs.