Ralph J. Bunche Library to begin a collection of laws of the states, and $25 for the purchase of foreign gazettes and subscriptions to American newspapers that would be sent to American representatives overseas. In that same year, the Library also became, by law, the office of record to receive laws, public documents, and copyrights. During the War of 1812, the invading British burned the Capital, the White House, and other government buildings including that which housed the State Department and its library on August 24, 1814. While Dolley Madison famously saved the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington hanging in the White House,
Admiral Cockburn (1814 ship) Admiral Cockburn (1814 ship) Admiral Cockburn was a ship launched in New York in 1808 or Philadelphia in 1809. The British captured the American ship in 1814 and she was sold as a prize. Corney & Co. purchased and renamed her; originally she served as a London-based transport. In 1829 she became a whaler in the South Seas. She was wrecked at Muizenberg Beach, False Bay, Cape of Good Hope, in July 1839 while returning to London from her third whaling voyage. On 28 January 1819, "Admiral Cockburn", J. Briggs, master, sailed for Bombay under a license from the British