Fillmore Once Personally Fought A Fire At The Library of Congress

According to legend, Fillmore's father only had three books: a Bible, a hymnal, and an atlas. However, Fillmore developed a passion for reading and started always having a dictionary on him to expand his vocabulary.

One of the interesting facts about Millard Fillmore is the first permanent library in the White House was established by Millard Fillmore and his wife Abigail, who served as the 13th President of the United States (1850–53), a little-known fact. Many of their forerunners carried their personal libraries to the White House, but they quickly took them down when their time there was up.

On December 24, 1851, an unintentional fire in the Library's rooms (which were then located in the U.S. Capitol) burned two-thirds of the library's 55,000 volumes, including 6,487 volumes belonging to Thomas Jefferson. In response to the fire, President Fillmore and a number of members of Congress “gave all the service in their power.” Congress passed an appropriations measure a few weeks later, on Jan. 13, 1852, to pay for the replacement of all the books destroyed in the fire. This measure, which President Fillmore signed into law, guaranteed the Library of Congress' immediate future and was a show of trust in governmental backing for an institution that was at the time facing severe financial difficulties.