Annual report of the Librarian of Congress (1866–2007)

A fascinating compliation for those who find this sort of thing fascinating.

Beginning in 1866, the Librarian of Congress was charged with submitting an annual report to Congress. These provide a record into the evolution, growth, and operations of the largest print archive the world has ever known.

Details include the physical characteristics of the library itself, finance, staffing, donations, literary events, Copyright Office operations, and the status and change in holdings of the Library itself over time. There are also frequently profiles of various individuals associated with books, publishing, and libraries, e.g., the profile of of Richard Rodgers Bowker in the 1926 report: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019393555&vi...

At least by the 1950s (and possibly earlier), acquisitions are detailed by Library of Congress Classification, giving at least some insight into what growth in published knowledge was occurring at the time.

More recent reports are available at the LoC itself:

https://www.loc.gov/about/reports-and-budgets/annual-reports...

My recommendation would be to dip-and-sample, or go to specific years and/or Librarians of interest.

Hathi's interface isn't the best, but it's serviceable. For full downloads, visit Google Books, otherwise Hathi offers only the currenlty visible page, which is ... only one of many highly annoying aspects of Hathi.

(I've not yet checked to see if LibGen / ZLibrary has this. Archive Org seems to have individual volumes, though not the entire set as a structured collection: https://archive.org/search.php?query=Annual+report+of+the+Li...)