John W. Kluge Center
Encyclopedia
The John W. Kluge Center occupies study and meeting spaces within the Library of Congress
' restored Thomas Jefferson Building
. The Center brings together a group of 21 international scholars, the Kluge Scholars' Council
, to stimulate, energize, and distill wisdom from the rich resources of the Library and to interact naturally over a period of time with political Washington. There is great flexibility in the interaction between the scholars and Members of the United States Congress
within the Jefferson Building, where lawmakers find a haven for serious discourse only a short walk from the United States Capitol
.
It is named for its benefactor, John W. Kluge.
WHEREAS, American self-government was created by a very small group of people who were thinkers as well as doers; and among them, Thomas Jefferson asked to be remembered as the founder of an educational institution rather than as President of the United States; and building on Jefferson's own library, the Congress of the United States has built the Library of Congress into the largest collection of knowledge in human history; and
WHEREAS, The Library of Congress is located beside, and is uniquely positioned, and statutorily part of, the world's most important law-making body, and the Library has an opportunity as it enters its third century to reinvigorate the interconnection between thought and action at a high level; and
WHEREAS, The Library has been collecting the world's cultural heritage in the languages of the world and preserving through copyright deposit the mint record of American creativity in almost every media, and its expert staff preserves and makes accessible the nearly 121 million items in its collections, and a growing body of material from the emerging electronic technologies; and
WHEREAS, The United States of America is in an age where power and influence depend far more on knowledge than in the past and where our country's leaders will need to tap the wisdom of mature scholars who will make broad use of the Library's varied resources and whose judgment and objectivity would bring fresh perspectives to the city of government;
WHEREAS, John W. Kluge has shown by his generous benefactions to the Library of Congress an abiding concern with education and the opportunity for people to use knowledge for their own and the institution's and the Nation's benefit;
In consideration whereof, now, therefore, the Library of Congress has established
The John W. Kluge Center
to bring a small number of the world's best thinkers into residence at the Library of Congress. The Center will assemble the finest minds characterized by broad historical or philosophical vision and capable of providing dispassionate wisdom and intelligent mediation of the knowledge in the Library's collections and of the information streaming into the Library via the Internet. They will have the opportunity through residence in the Jefferson Building both to distill wisdom from the rich resources of the Library and to stimulate, through informal conversations and meetings, Members of Congress, their support staffs and the broader public policy community. The Center's Scholars and Fellows will help bridge the divide between knowledge and power.
The Kluge Center will seek to be catalytic rather than bureaucratic and to deepen rather than merely recycle the work of the many other fine institutions and individuals in the Washington, D.C. area who also seek to narrow the gap between thinkers and doers. The Center will encourage its resident scholars to make wide-ranging use of the print and electronic multi-lingual, multi-medial, multi-disciplinary resources of the Library, and to bring their inquiries and rich learning into the intellectual life of the Library, the Congress, and the Nation.
Resident in the Kluge Center will be Senior Distinguished Scholars, occupying the Kluge Chairs, post-doctoral Fellows, and such other appropriate categories as the Librarian may designate. Kluge Scholars will normally be expected to be in residence for a period between six and eighteen months.
There will be five broadly defined Kluge Chairs, the occupants of which will be people of great scholarly accomplishment chosen solely for their intellectual and communicative abilities and free to pursue their own research in the Library's collections. The Kluge Chair-holders will be chosen by the Librarian of Congress in consultation with a distinguished Scholars' Council composed of leading and wide-ranging scholars. The five Chairs are initially described as:
American Law and Governance, focusing on the development of government
in the United States
, using the world's largest Law Library and the finest collection anywhere of manuscripts on the formation of the American Republic
Countries and Cultures of the North, focusing on regions of the northern hemisphere
, taken to include Canada
, Europe
, Russia
and East Asia
, using the immense foreign collections in the specialized reading rooms of the Jefferson Building
Countries and Cultures of the South, focusing on the regions of Africa
, Latin America
, the Middle East
, South
and Southeast Asia
, and the islands of the Pacific including Australia
and New Zealand
, using the immense foreign collections in the specialized reading rooms of the Jefferson Building
Technology and Society, focusing on the impact of fast-changing technology on human societies, using the rapidly growing digital and on-line resources of the Library as well as the massive grey literature of science and technology to use and spread awareness of scientific materials, largely in the reading rooms of the Adams Building
Modern Culture, focusing on modern arts and media and their impact on society, using the Library's comprehensive music, film, television, architecture, literature, multi-media and folklore collections, largely in the reading rooms of the Madison Building
The Kluge Center will welcome and accommodate other distinguished Chairs in the Library of Congress, including three that have already been established:
The Harissios Papamarkou Chair in Education to focus on the Library's role in education, especially at present on the interaction between the new electronic and traditional artifactual knowledge;
The Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations to present both a distinguished annual lecturer in international affairs and an annual Kissinger Scholar who will occupy the Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress;
The Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in American History and Ethics to explore the history of America with special attention to the ethical dimensions of domestic economic, political, and social policies.
The Kluge Center will also accommodate at any given time up to a dozen Fellows, pursuing particularly at the post-doctoral level resident research usually for periods from five to ten months. Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural topics of a kind normally not encouraged in specialized departmental settings will be welcome. The selection of a diverse group of Fellows will be by competition in the human sciences, with some emphasis upon the five broadly defined categories of the Kluge Chairs as set out above. Kluge post-doctoral Fellows will have an opportunity to discuss their research with the Kluge Scholars and to explore possibilities for intellectual collaboration. Applicants for Kluge postdoctoral Fellows will be required to provide a statement of research, an indication of the ways in which a variety of Library of Congress collections will be used for the proposed research, a curriculum vitae, and three letters of reference from those who know the applicant and are able to evaluate the proposed research.
From time to time by invitation, a few Distinguished Visiting Scholars, may also be asked to spend shorter periods of time at the Kluge Center pursuing special research projects.
The Kluge Center will also accommodate as space is available other resident Scholars and Fellows working in the Library's collections.
The Kluge Center will be responsible for awarding the John W. Kluge Prize in the Human Sciences
.
This article incorporates text from the Library of Congress website http://www.loc.gov/about/welcome/bio/graphy.html which is a product of the US Government and in the public domain
.
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
' restored Thomas Jefferson Building
Thomas Jefferson Building
The oldest of the three United States Library of Congress buildings, the Thomas Jefferson Building was built between 1890 and 1897. It is known for its classicizing facade and elaborately decorated interior. John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J...
. The Center brings together a group of 21 international scholars, the Kluge Scholars' Council
Kluge Scholars' Council
The Kluge Scholars' Council is a body of twenty-one distinguished international scholars, convened by the Librarian of Congress to advise on matters related to the John W. Kluge Center and the Kluge Prize...
, to stimulate, energize, and distill wisdom from the rich resources of the Library and to interact naturally over a period of time with political Washington. There is great flexibility in the interaction between the scholars and Members of the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
within the Jefferson Building, where lawmakers find a haven for serious discourse only a short walk from the United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
.
It is named for its benefactor, John W. Kluge.
Charter
PreambleWHEREAS, American self-government was created by a very small group of people who were thinkers as well as doers; and among them, Thomas Jefferson asked to be remembered as the founder of an educational institution rather than as President of the United States; and building on Jefferson's own library, the Congress of the United States has built the Library of Congress into the largest collection of knowledge in human history; and
WHEREAS, The Library of Congress is located beside, and is uniquely positioned, and statutorily part of, the world's most important law-making body, and the Library has an opportunity as it enters its third century to reinvigorate the interconnection between thought and action at a high level; and
WHEREAS, The Library has been collecting the world's cultural heritage in the languages of the world and preserving through copyright deposit the mint record of American creativity in almost every media, and its expert staff preserves and makes accessible the nearly 121 million items in its collections, and a growing body of material from the emerging electronic technologies; and
WHEREAS, The United States of America is in an age where power and influence depend far more on knowledge than in the past and where our country's leaders will need to tap the wisdom of mature scholars who will make broad use of the Library's varied resources and whose judgment and objectivity would bring fresh perspectives to the city of government;
WHEREAS, John W. Kluge has shown by his generous benefactions to the Library of Congress an abiding concern with education and the opportunity for people to use knowledge for their own and the institution's and the Nation's benefit;
In consideration whereof, now, therefore, the Library of Congress has established
The John W. Kluge Center
to bring a small number of the world's best thinkers into residence at the Library of Congress. The Center will assemble the finest minds characterized by broad historical or philosophical vision and capable of providing dispassionate wisdom and intelligent mediation of the knowledge in the Library's collections and of the information streaming into the Library via the Internet. They will have the opportunity through residence in the Jefferson Building both to distill wisdom from the rich resources of the Library and to stimulate, through informal conversations and meetings, Members of Congress, their support staffs and the broader public policy community. The Center's Scholars and Fellows will help bridge the divide between knowledge and power.
The Kluge Center will seek to be catalytic rather than bureaucratic and to deepen rather than merely recycle the work of the many other fine institutions and individuals in the Washington, D.C. area who also seek to narrow the gap between thinkers and doers. The Center will encourage its resident scholars to make wide-ranging use of the print and electronic multi-lingual, multi-medial, multi-disciplinary resources of the Library, and to bring their inquiries and rich learning into the intellectual life of the Library, the Congress, and the Nation.
Resident in the Kluge Center will be Senior Distinguished Scholars, occupying the Kluge Chairs, post-doctoral Fellows, and such other appropriate categories as the Librarian may designate. Kluge Scholars will normally be expected to be in residence for a period between six and eighteen months.
There will be five broadly defined Kluge Chairs, the occupants of which will be people of great scholarly accomplishment chosen solely for their intellectual and communicative abilities and free to pursue their own research in the Library's collections. The Kluge Chair-holders will be chosen by the Librarian of Congress in consultation with a distinguished Scholars' Council composed of leading and wide-ranging scholars. The five Chairs are initially described as:
American Law and Governance, focusing on the development of government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, using the world's largest Law Library and the finest collection anywhere of manuscripts on the formation of the American Republic
Countries and Cultures of the North, focusing on regions of the northern hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
, taken to include Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
, using the immense foreign collections in the specialized reading rooms of the Jefferson Building
Countries and Cultures of the South, focusing on the regions of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, South
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, and the islands of the Pacific including Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, using the immense foreign collections in the specialized reading rooms of the Jefferson Building
Technology and Society, focusing on the impact of fast-changing technology on human societies, using the rapidly growing digital and on-line resources of the Library as well as the massive grey literature of science and technology to use and spread awareness of scientific materials, largely in the reading rooms of the Adams Building
Modern Culture, focusing on modern arts and media and their impact on society, using the Library's comprehensive music, film, television, architecture, literature, multi-media and folklore collections, largely in the reading rooms of the Madison Building
The Kluge Center will welcome and accommodate other distinguished Chairs in the Library of Congress, including three that have already been established:
The Harissios Papamarkou Chair in Education to focus on the Library's role in education, especially at present on the interaction between the new electronic and traditional artifactual knowledge;
The Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations to present both a distinguished annual lecturer in international affairs and an annual Kissinger Scholar who will occupy the Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress;
The Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in American History and Ethics to explore the history of America with special attention to the ethical dimensions of domestic economic, political, and social policies.
The Kluge Center will also accommodate at any given time up to a dozen Fellows, pursuing particularly at the post-doctoral level resident research usually for periods from five to ten months. Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural topics of a kind normally not encouraged in specialized departmental settings will be welcome. The selection of a diverse group of Fellows will be by competition in the human sciences, with some emphasis upon the five broadly defined categories of the Kluge Chairs as set out above. Kluge post-doctoral Fellows will have an opportunity to discuss their research with the Kluge Scholars and to explore possibilities for intellectual collaboration. Applicants for Kluge postdoctoral Fellows will be required to provide a statement of research, an indication of the ways in which a variety of Library of Congress collections will be used for the proposed research, a curriculum vitae, and three letters of reference from those who know the applicant and are able to evaluate the proposed research.
From time to time by invitation, a few Distinguished Visiting Scholars, may also be asked to spend shorter periods of time at the Kluge Center pursuing special research projects.
The Kluge Center will also accommodate as space is available other resident Scholars and Fellows working in the Library's collections.
The Kluge Center will be responsible for awarding the John W. Kluge Prize in the Human Sciences
Kluge Prize
The John W. Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity is awarded for lifetime achievement in the humanistic and social sciences to celebrate the importance of the Intellectual Arts for the public interest.-Overview:...
.
This article incorporates text from the Library of Congress website http://www.loc.gov/about/welcome/bio/graphy.html which is a product of the US Government and in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.