John Silva Meehan

John Silva Meehan

John Silva Meehan (born February 6, 1790 in New York City , † April 24, 1863 in Washington, DC ) was the fourth librarian in the Library of Congress in the United States . He held office from 1829 to 1861.

Meehan was a printer and publicist, with the Democratic Party , he was appointed Librarian of Congress by President Andrew Jackson . He replaced his predecessor George Watterston , a member of the Whig Party , which Jackson opposed to this post .

Meehan's execution of his office was conservative, and he and his supporters in Congress advocated limiting the size of the library. Many of the duties of a librarian have been delegated to other government agencies. When a fire in 1851 destroyed 35,000 volumes, including two-thirds of the inventory originally provided by President Thomas Jefferson , Congress provided funding for a restoration, which was only used to replace lost volumes, and not for the expansion of the library. Meehan himself made a smaller collection of magazines available for reading by Congress members, from which later librarians developed a separate department for magazines.

Meehan served nine different presidents during the term of office. Despite objections from Congress, President Abraham Lincoln replaced Meehan with a Republican Party supporter , John Gould Stephenson .

Web links

• John Silva Meehan in the database of Find a Grave (English)