Lib. of Con. before the British burned it down? Like Alexandrias'?

Library of Con. and Alex. have information lost in fires; history altered?

  • Though the fires are tragic history was not altered because there are more libraries

    Votes: 5 26.3%
  • Though the fires are bad history was only tweaked a tiny bit

    Votes: 4 21.1%
  • GIANT BALLS OF FIRE HAVE NO RIPPLES IN THE RIVER OF TIME!

    Votes: 3 15.8%
  • OF COURSE WE LOST SECRET IDEAS IN THE FIRES, YOU FIND OUT BECAUSE I'M SPITTING WHEN I TALK TO YOU!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I find the idea believable and I wonder with you about what might have happened

    Votes: 6 31.6%
  • I think I know what might have happened <- please comment!?

    Votes: 1 5.3%

  • Total voters
    19

Sachyriel

Banned
I was just wondering, after reading some stuff on the internet, would we be able to draw parallels between the fire at the Library of Congress and the Library of Alexandria some ages before. I'm not a librarian or even a real historian, so dumb down your answers for me, because I'm trying to make this simple enough for everyone to understand as well. No offence, just has to be readable by everyone, which is why I ask you humbly.

The Americans had a library with stuff that we don't know today, likely lost after the British burned it. Alexandria had stuff we know was lost, and possibly stuff we never recovered. I know we never recovered someones hand-written graffiti on the bathroom stall (dicks lol), but I mean important stuff. Stuff that would shine new lights on the history we know today. It's close enough that it's possible that it's important today, but the war and fire were long enough ago that those who might tell us about it are dead now. So, we have important lost important historical information, like the Wikileaks server being DDoSed in the War of 1812, but as a parallel, in the future.

I'm bad at explaining, but if you see what I'm suggesting please comment on how important the lost information was in terms of how it would affect today. Wild conjectures are often amazingly awesome, so please, don't be afraid.

And if you don't understand what I'm saying tell me, and we can work it out together.
 
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Anaxagoras

Banned
The Library of Congress pre-1814 was basically a stuffy collection of legal textbooks and records of legislation. There was probably not much in it that was not in Thomas Jefferson's library, which was used to replace it. There is absolutely no comparison whatsoever to the loss of knowledge resulting from the ancient Library of Alexandria.
 
The Library of Congress pre-1814 was basically a stuffy collection of legal textbooks and records of legislation. There was probably not much in it that was not in Thomas Jefferson's library, which was used to replace it. There is absolutely no comparison whatsoever to the loss of knowledge resulting from the ancient Library of Alexandria.
In fact, according to the Library of Congress itself, the library at the time consisted of 740 books and 2 maps ordered from London. So it's exceedingly unlikely that there was anything unique in the original Library.
 

Sachyriel

Banned
In fact, according to the Library of Congress itself, the library at the time consisted of 740 books and 2 maps ordered from London. So it's exceedingly unlikely that there was anything unique in the original Library.

But are there surviving lists of those books, and would it be a reasonable POD for them to be different?
 
Human civilization seems to have advanced, rapidly so, despite the destruction of the Library of Congress. It's like a collection of libraries in a metro area: if a small two-room library in some faceless bedroom community burned down one day, would anyone in the area really notice?
 
The difference between these two scenarios is this: the Library of Alexandria contained in many cases the sole existing copies of texts which were among the most advanced thinking over hundreds of years. The Library of Congress contained texts which were among myriad ideas, likely many were not unique - possibly none were - and I find it unlikely that if any books in there were considered "the forefront of human thinking" then a number of other copies would have been made before the Library was burned down.

In all likelihood the Library of Congress burning down was probably no less of a disaster than, saying a fire destroying part of the New York Public Library or the British Library collection. Yes, it would be a dreadful shame and you could see some ancient books burned, but by the present day and age you can bet that any book in either of those two institutions, no matter how old, has been painstakingly copied to electronic format numerous times over the years, and so no actual knowledge would be lost.
 
Remember that a crucial difference here is that the Library of Congress was founded after the invention of the printing press, so it's far less likely that any book that it contained in 1814 was the sole copy of a particular work. Print vastly increased the number of books in circulation. Today, there might be a few lone surviving copies, but nothing compared with the Library of Alexandria.
 

Sior

Banned
What of importance could be housed in a colonial library that was not better and more comprehensively covered in the libraries in Europe?
 
What of importance could be housed in a colonial library that was not better and more comprehensively covered in the libraries in Europe?

Texts on colonial matters. Government records, private correspondences of leading figures, that kind of thing. Of courese it wasn't, but imagine the loss of the entire Jefferson, Washington or Franklin estates.

Not on an Alexandria scale, but still painful.
 
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