Temple Of Knowledge OrA Rendezvous For Mashers And Hussies?The 1907 Ejection Of Marines From The

Library Of Congress

Mike UnsworthMSU Libraries

unsworth@msu.edu

OUTLINE• Temple of Knowledge• Need for Security• Rendezvous Point• The Marines • Respect for the Uniform• The Incident • Investigation & Report• Research Problems• Questions

Temple of Knowledge

1870: Copyright Mission Triggers Deluge of Books

1897: Separate Building Opened

”Grand Monument To Civilization, Culture, And American Achievement”

“…there is almost no work, within the vast range of literature and science, which may not at some time prove useful to the legislature of a great nation… in a Republic which rests upon the popular intelligence…a great national collection ...ought to be utilized by a far wider circle of readers.“…prove to of incalculable benefit to the public intelligence…were these rich sources of information thrown freely open during evening hours for the use and reference of all.”

Spofford , Ainsworth Rand, “The Government Library at Washington,” International. Review (1874-1883). Vol. 5 (Nov.1878): 769 .

Democratization of Knowledge:• Evening hours: Begun 1898• Sunday hours: Begun Sep.

1904

• LC averaged 2,000 visitors per day• Watch Force:

o Protect building & grounds; act as a fire watch; on duty 24/7

o 3 shifts: Morning-5, Middle-8, Late-8 o Same powers of arrest as the D.C. Police

Forceo Hired by Superintendent of Grounds &

Building Bernard Green; recommended by congressmen. Expected to return to home district and vote

• “The few watchmen employed are indeed well organized, competent, vigilant, and their presence is indispensable; but beyond this they rarely have to act to maintain orderly behavior and respect for the cleanliness and integrity of the building.” Green (1898)

Not All Visitors Well Behaved‘So avid is the sightseeing populace for souvenirs and so ruthless in its efforts to secure material tokens of its presence at distinguished places, that each spot is vigilantly guarded from vandalism’ “Daisy Fitzhugh Ayres, “At Departure,” Lousiville Courier Journal (July 14, 1907

“Thefts Are Frequent’ “Rare Books Taken,” Washington Post (May 25, 1900)

RENDEZVOUS POINT• ‘The library has repeatedly been made a

place of meeting by individuals of the opposite sexes’ Army and Navy Journal (April 27, 1907): 959

• ‘Regular clearing house for mashers and flirters…Many young girls come here for no other reason than to pick up a flirtation’ “No Place for Flirts,” Washington Post (April 22, 1907)

• Not just LC:– ‘Some of the public buildings of the

city offer a particularly inviting field for them [mashers], and many complaints are heard regarding their offensive attentions to women…’ “Mashers’ in Public Buidlings,” Washington Star (April 20, 1907)

– “Annoyed Girls on the Mall,” Washington Post (Oct. 19, 1902)

Respect for the Uniform• “If they [servicemen] are

not admitted to reputable places of entertainment they will go to such as are disreputable; if the ‘social position’ of virtuous women is affected by being seen in their company, they will associate with vicious women, and the results of this almost enforced debauchery will be deplorable to themselves and to the service.” Secretary of the Navy Charles Bonaparte, Uniform of Enlisted Men of Navy to be Respected (1906) Senate Document No. 145 (59th Congress, 1st Session) Serial 4912

Evening of April 16, 1907

INCIDENT

Investigation:Special Committee of Two

• “No marines are, or ever have been, so far as the board can ascertain, refused admission to or excluded from the library on account of their uniform. On the contrary, marines in uniform almost daily visit the library.” ”Honor Uniform at Library,"

Washington Post, June 16, 1907.

AFTERMATH

Research Problems

QUESTIONS