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Jefferson: Man Who Couldn't Live Without Books
November 10, 2005
Douglas L. Wilson co-director, Lincoln Studies, Knox College

Douglas L. Wilson describes Thomas Jefferson's library, the book lover who created it, and the intriguing history of its creation.

Thomas Jefferson was born bookish. By the time he was five, he had read all the books in his father's library, and into old age, he was possessed of what he called "a canine appetite for reading." To support this ravenous appetite, he put together one of the largest and possibly the finest of American libraries in its day. As the collection that ultimately became the foundation of the Library of Congress, it remains a subject of interest, although many of the original books were destroyed by the Great Fire of 1851.

Culture & Identity | History | Literature & Philosophy
Biographies | Books | History | President | Thomas Jefferson | United States | Architecture | Libraries & Museums
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Boston Athenaeum
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