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• Collection: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey

• Title: Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E Street, Southeast, Washington, District of Columbia, DC
• Other Title: Washington Parish Burial Ground
• Creator(s): Historic American Landscapes Survey, creator
• Date Created/Published: Documentation compiled after 2000
• Medium: Photo(s): 35
  Data Page(s): 112
  Photo Caption Page(s): 4
• Reproduction Number: ---
• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html)
  
• Call Number: HALS DC-1
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
• Notes:
  • Latrobe Cenotaphs in Congressional Cemetery previously documented as HABS DC-424.
  • Significance: Washington Parish Burial Ground was created in 1807 by a private corporation of citizens, intent on creating a cemetery in the tradition of churchyard burial grounds, and at the same time acting in the name of the public good of the federal district's inhabitants. Another layer of the site's history relates to its rapidly developed ties to the federal government. Congressmen were routinely buried here and monuments erected for them after a design by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Surveyor of Public Works for the nation's capital. The government regularly gave funds to this cemetery, which came to be known as the National Burying Ground or more commonly the Congressional Cemetery. These close ties between the cemetery and the federal city were reiterated by the landscape. The cemetery was connected by a graded and graveled direct route to the Capitol, and much of its grounds occupied by federally owned plots. While it ostensibly offered the civic service of burial to all residents of the capital, this cemetery was founded by an elite group who consciously created an upper-class environment within its bounds. The landscape echoed the strata of Washington society, with the wealthy buying strategically located family plots, and individual burial sites relegated to the site's outer edges. Indigents, African-Americans and 'infidels' were given grave sites outside the cemetery's walls. The landscape of Congressional Cemetery still reflects the form of these social structures. Through its congressional monuments, physical link to the Capitol, and socially-stratified organization, the cemetery's landscape of death gave form to the nineteenth century social and moral order of the nation's capital. The landscape of Congressional Cemetery also reflects the nation's progression of cemetery development. It retains traces of its original burial-ground form, the urban grid over which the cemetery was laid out, and the picturesque influence of the rural cemetery movement. Its site, now surrounded by the urban fabric of Capitol Hill, gradually slopes down toward the banks of the Anacostia River, combining urban and rural vistas throughout just as it melds urban and rural cemetery models. The final addition of land to the cemetery bears the mark of the lawn cemetery movement, bringing the form of the cemetery into the fashions of the later nineteenth century. While the placement of the burials in Congressional Cemetery echoes the society of Washington, DC, its landscape bears the marks of the nation's developing standards of cemetery design. Truly the project of many local minds, and a highly original fusion of vernacular tradition with the individual goals of a group of educated and powerful men, this cemetery holds a unique place in the history of cemetery design and within the development of the urban landscape of the nation's capital.
  • Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N7
  • Survey number: HALS DC-1
  • National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 69000292
• Subjects:
  • cemeteries
  • cenotaphs
• Place:
  • District of Columbia -- District of Columbia -- Washington
• Latitude/Longitude: 38.882699, -76.979014
• Collections:
  • Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey
• Part of: Historic American Landscapes Survey (Library of Congress)
• Bookmark This Record:
     https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/dc1018/

The Library of Congress generally does not own rights to material in its collections and, therefore, cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material. For further rights information, see "Rights Information" below and the Rights and Restrictions Information page ( https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/rights.html ).

• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
• Reproduction Number: ---
• Call Number: HALS DC-1
• Medium: Photo(s): 35
  Data Page(s): 112
  Photo Caption Page(s): 4

If Digital Images Are Displaying

You can download online images yourself. Alternatively, you can purchase copies of various types through Library of Congress Duplication Services.

HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).

• Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
• Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
• If possible, include a printout of the photograph.
• Drawings--All drawings are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
• Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
• If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
• Data Pages
• Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

In the rare case that a digital image for HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is not displaying online, select images for reproduction through one of these methods:

• Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
• P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
• Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
• You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
• Make note of the Call Number listed above.
• Look at the Medium field above. If it lists more than one item:
• The entire group can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.
• All the items in a particular medium (e.g., all drawings, all photographs) can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.

• Call Number: HALS DC-1
• Medium: Photo(s): 35
  Data Page(s): 112
  Photo Caption Page(s): 4

Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.

1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

   • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.

     As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)

   • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.

2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

   • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.

   • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.

3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.