Of the two rooms leading from this corridor--the Northwest Gallery
and the Northwest Pavilion--the first is decorated in a cheerful
spring-like green ornamented with garlands, and the Pavilion in a
deep Pompeiian red with medallions containing figures of dancing
girls, by Mr. R. L. Dodge, and conventional ornaments adapted from
Pompeiian designs. In the six window bays, also, is the series of the
signs of the zodiac, designed by Mr. Thompson.
The various galleries and pavilions on this floor, excepting, of
course, the Congressional Reading Rooms, are designed to accommodate
the clerical and cataloguing work of the Library and the Copyright
Department, or to furnish room for special collections of books.
There is every reason to hope that in time many valuable private
libraries throughout the country will find their permanent home in
some one of these apartments, given or bequeathed by their owners to
the Nation, and preserved for all time in convenient, well lighted
and fireproof rooms as a memorial to the liberality of their donors.
Already one such collection has been received, presented several
years ago to the Library by the late Dr. J. M. Toner of Washington.
It is kept by itself in the Northeast Pavilion. The most remarkable
feature is its Washington letters, gathered either in the original or
in copies, during a period of many years.