On this blog and in a newspaper Op-ed piece, I have written quite a bit about the journal that John Fell kept in secret while imprisoned by the British during the Revolutionary War.

As you may know, Fell owned a large estate at that time, called Petersfield, which included a pre-expansion Fell House and the Celery Farm.

But Fell also served in the Continental Congress and kept a journal of those proceedings as well.

When you are in Washington, DC, you can view that latter diary at the Library of Congress' Madison Building, not far from the Capitol.

Today I am posting photos of the library's exterior, to give you a feel for the location.

Tomorrow I will print excerpts from the journal itself, which is entitled. "Journal Kept by Judge John Fell while member of Congress for the state of New Jersey, 1778" (the year he was released from prison in NYC).


Engraved on the building's exterior is this quote from James Madison: "Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.