What are Friends Groups?
Friends groups connect donors who have interests in particular subjects or formats with the corresponding Library divisions. Four divisions have established Friends Groups whose members support the activities, programs and initiatives focusing on the specialized subjects or formats in which they are interested. The divisions plan special activities and publications for their Friends who are key supporters. Members of Friends Groups make important contributions which ensure the vitality of Library programs.
The Asian Division Friends Society
The Asian Division Friends Society (ADFS) was founded in 2003 to assist the Asian Division in strengthening its services, enhancing the library's collections, promoting their use, and preserving the knowledge and accomplishments of the people and civilizations of Asia. In an effort to raise public awareness about the Library's collections, ADFS runs a variety of programs, including Library of Congress Asian Literature Club, special tours highlighting LC holdings about specific Asian countries, and public lectures at which the Library's holdings are showcased.
The Philip Lee Phillips Society
The Philip Lee Phillips Society, named for the Library’s first Superintendent of Maps, is an association of map enthusiasts, collectors, and producers as well as geographers, cartographers, and historians who share an interest in supporting and promoting the programs and activities of the Geography and Map Division. Established in 1995, the association assists in developing and preserving the cartographic collections, encourages financial donations, gifts and bequests, makes the vast resources of the world’s largest map collection more widely known, and provides resources for publications, exhibitions, and outreach programs. Benefits of membership include receipt of Phillips Society publications such as Geography and Maps: An Illustrated Guide; the Newsletter; issues of the Occasional Paper Series and map facsimiles; and invitations to special events and exhibition openings, workshops, lectures, and “behind the scenes” tours.
The Archer M. Huntington Society of Friends
The Archer M. Huntington Society of Friends assists the Library of Congress Hispanic Division in promoting the use of the Library’s world-class Luso-Hispanic collections. The society, which is named for the man who founded the Hispanic Division in 1936 as a center for the study of Latin America, Iberia, and the Caribbean, supports two Junior Fellowships per year for recent college graduates. Contributions also support special events to celebrate the culture of the Luso-Hispanic world and to add valuable materials to the collections.
Friends of the Music Division
Friends of the Music Division support concerts, acquisitions, lectures, broadcasts, video documentation, acquisitions, commissioning of new works, educational programming (including workshops and seminars), staff travel for acquisitions or work-related conferences, and any other activities that are related to the building of the Music Division's collections. The group also supports the creation, presentation, and preservation of chamber music at the Library of Congress, including public events with their related entertainment expenses.
