Secret Histories: Conveyor Belt between U.S.Capitol Building and Library of Congress

There's a Hidden Conveyor Belt Under the Capitol That Was Just for Moving Books

Elliot Carter | August 26, 2015

Most people who work in the U.S. Capitol don’t know about the 100-year-old book conveyor tunnel underneath them that used to connect the building to the Library of Congress. It’s long since abandoned, but it’s still down there.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/theres-a-hidden-conveyor-belt-under-the-capitol-that-wa-1726416698

Before the separate library was finished in 1897, books had been kept in the Capitol itself, and members of Congress were accustomed to the convenience of having reference materials right at their fingertips. As the 1901 book 30 Years in Washington (text here) explains, “when Congress is in session, members are constantly drawing books for immediate use in debate and in committee work.”

<more at http://gizmodo.com/theres-a-hidden-conveyor-belt-under-the-capitol-that-wa-1726416698; related links: http://untappedcities.com/2014/07/25/the-underground-city-beneath-the-u-s-capitol-and-library-of-congress/ (The Underground City Beneath the U.S Capitol and Library of Congress. July 25, 2014) and http://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/oca/Books2008-06/thirtyyearsinwas00logan/thirtyyearsinwas00logan_djvu.txt (Thirty Years in Washington)>