INTRODUCTION OF A BILL TO REQUIRE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS TO INSTALL THE D.C. SEAL IN THE MAIN READING ROOM OF THE THOMAS JEFFERSON BUILDING; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 33
(Extensions of Remarks - February 22, 2019)
Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E194-E195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INTRODUCTION OF A BILL TO REQUIRE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS TO INSTALL
THE D.C. SEAL IN THE MAIN READING ROOM OF THE THOMAS JEFFERSON BUILDING
______
HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
of the district of columbia
in the house of representatives
Friday, February 22, 2019
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce a bill to require the
Library of Congress to install the District of Columbia seal in the
Main Reading Room of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of
Congress. The Library is one of the few buildings in the District that
remains open to the public on most holidays. It provides not only D.C.
residents but visitors and researchers from across the nation with
access to incomparable resources. The bill requires the Library to
depict the District's seal on the stained-glass windows in the Main
Reading Room, where the seals of all
[[Page E195]]
the states and territories that existed when the building was
constructed, except for the District, are depicted. D.C.'s seal was
readily available at that time and should have been included. The seals
of Hawaii and Alaska are not included in the display because they were
not states or territories when the building was constructed. The fact
that these two states were not part of the Union at the time of the
creation of the stained-glass windows argues for the inclusion of the
District, which, after all, was in fact the nation's capital at the
time. We are asking that the omission of D.C. be corrected immediately.
This omission was brought to my attention by a District resident, Luis
Landau, a former docent at the Library.
The residents of the District have always had all the obligations of
American citizenship, including paying federal taxes and serving in all
the nation's wars, including the War of 1812, during which the Capitol
building, which then housed the Library of Congress, was burned,
prompting construction of the current Library building with the state
and territory seals. It is, therefore, without question that the
District and its residents should receive equal treatment among the
stained-glass windows that portray the history of the United States.
D.C. residents deserve to have their history and American citizenship
recognized.
There is existing evidence that the seal of the District should have
been depicted. The Members of Congress room in the Jefferson Building,
which is not open to the public, has a painted depiction of the D.C.
seal, along with state seals, on its ceiling. This precedent reinforces
our request to be represented among the stained-glass windows in the
Main Reading Room, which is open to the public. There is no reason why
the D.C. seal cannot be added with the planned restoration of the
stained-glass. The right time to add the seal of the District would be
during the planned restoration.
Congress already includes the District, or has corrected the omission
of the District, when honoring the states. For example, the World War
II Memorial includes a column representing the District, and D.C.'s
Frederick Douglass statue now sits in the Capitol alongside statues
from the 50 states. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2013 requires the armed services to display the District flag
whenever the flags of the states are displayed. Legislation was also
enacted to give D.C. a coin after it was omitted from legislation
creating coins for the 50 states. We also successfully worked with the
U.S. Postal Service to create a D.C. stamp, like the stamps for the 50
states, and worked with the National Park Service to add the D.C. flag
alongside the state flags across from Union Station. It is long overdue
to display the D.C. seal, along with the seals of the states, in the
Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress.
I urge support of this legislation.
____________________