Ainsworth Rand Spofford

Ainsworth Rand Spofford (born September 12, 1825 in Gilmanton , Belknap County , New Hampshire , † August 11, 1908 in Washington, DC ) was the sixth director of the Library of Congress . He was in office from 1864 to 1897.

Life

Because of his poor health, he had to drop out of Amherst College . So at the age of 19 he went to Cincinnati , Ohio , where he worked as a bookseller, publisher, and journalist. In 1859 he became editor-in-chief of the Cincinnati Commercial . He was politically active in the Republican Party . In 1856 he was a delegate to the first Republican National Convention , on which John C. Frémont was nominated as a candidate for president.

In 1861 he accepted the post of Assistant Director of the Library of Congress, John Gould Stephenson in Washington . After his resignation in 1864, US President Abraham Lincoln appointed Spofford as Stephenson's successor. He subsequently made a significant contribution to the expansion of the library from a congressional resource to a national institution. During his tenure, the library was expanded from around 60,000 to over a million exhibits. He was also instrumental in the move of the library from the convention reading room in the Capitol to its own building, today's Thomas Jefferson Building , in 1897.

Spofford stepped aside in favor of a younger, John Russell Young , and returned to his old post as assistant library director, which he held until his death.

Works

A Book for All Readers (3rd edition 1909)
Library of Selected Literature (10 volumes, 1888)
American Almanac (1878-89)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Spofford, Ainsworth Rand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Head of the Library of Congress
DATE OF BIRTH	September 12, 1825
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gilmanton , New Hampshire
DATE OF DEATH	August 11, 1908
Place of death	Washington, DC