Evening star., 1899-03-23
Mr.. HERBERT PUTNAM
How He Secured His Appointment as
librarian.
FACTS NOW 1spBRoUGHT TO LIGHT
T--Sr----
Withdrew His First Acceptance
Under Misapprehension.
OFFICE SOUGHT THE MAN
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| ceedings leading to President Mckinley S
| recent appointment for the librarianship of
| Congress have made up a celebrated case:
| indeed, one of the most notable instances in
| all the appointments by the present admin
| istratfon, and certainly a matter of far
/ reaching significance in the history of the
| Congressional Library. In the first pace,
it was presidential appointment without
| a political aspect to a position that has al
| ways been of good deal of personal and
| political concern to politicians at Washing
| ton. In the second place, it denotes a new
| era-practically non-politiCal admnistra-
| tion-for the national library of the United
| States.
| President Mckinley appointed Mr.. Her
| bert Putnam, librarian of the Boston pubic
library, librarian of Congress on the 18th of
| this MONTH to succeed the late John Rus
| sell Young. On the 18th it was publicly an
| nounced that Mr. Putnam had rendered
ms resignation to the board of trustees of
the Boston library and had accepted the
appointment At a special meeting of the
trustees last Tuesday, the 21st, the resigna-
ton was accepted, with expressions of sin
cere, man-to-man affectonate regret that
are not to be recorded here.
MIR. Putnam's Policy.
Right after this announcement there ap-
peared a great mass of newspaper edito-
rails on what Mr.. Putnam proposed to do
with the Library of Congress when he got
at II. Some papers had his work all
mapped out for him. half dozen or more
requested him by telegraph or personal
representatives to send them his policy:
also, from leading New York daily came
tersely written request for his opinion
OF the ten greatest authors, the greatest
book IN the world, the proper kind of lit
eralure Tor children and other profound in
that 1t would be fitting to ask Mr. Putnam,
IN the frst pace, whether he had ever been
inside the Congressional Library, or, at
east east whether he had any policy at all. If
such question had been put to him and
ne had seen fit to say anything for pubica-
tlon he would have intimated no doubt that
ne ne proposed to take up his task at Wash
llssLoh Just as he took up the Guardianship
u me Boston public library; that he would
walt tllI he came to his bridges before he
crossed them; that he would no doubt. sit
a'b;al aI%h ana study the actual conditions in
when ne founds the. institution. and then
apply the best methods of Improvement of
which he would be capable
Inc Cohgressirnal Library has techni-
caiIy. only one Resemblance to the Boston
PUBIC library, and that is in its reference
who knows this very we'll, is going to
Washington without any professional the
ofies or any preconceiyed notions with re-
gard to the management of his new work.
beyond pretty manifest idea that the insti-
tution should hes hapdled essentially IN a
matter-of-faCt. business-like way; that the
work to he done is not only unquestonably
OF great magnitude, but. from d librarians :
point of view, is bound to be peculiar to
itself; and that only after a bread under
standing Of its general scope and its details
can the Opportunity present itself for reor-
eanlzng the library, little by little, so that
| II may be on he way to become the great
est public library in the United States.
Office Sought the Man.
The appointment of Herbert Putnam ap-
pears to be an instance in which a man,
occupying absolutely nun-political posi-
ton and having no political influence worth
talking about, was really :noved-after re-
peated opinions from him that he preferred
TO remain where he was. in the finest po-
sition in his profession in this country.
position of national renown-was not only
moved, but, one might say, forced TO take
an inferior professional position and make
IT greater than the one he would resign.
The campaign for Mr. Putnam. If it can be
called a campaign, without political mean
ing, brought forth from one of the most
prominent men in the country the following
statement, written just after the appoint
ment was announced:
There have been cases where a great ma
tional office sought the man, but never to
my knowledge a case where the office
chased the man all over the lot until il
caught him..
First Suggestion to Mr.. Putnam
Without doubt, the beginning of the
| whole matter was in the summer Of 1897
| Mr.. Putnam went TO Europe In May of
| that year to attend the international con-
| ference of librarians, which was held in
| London, in July. While he was in Rome
| before the conference, he received a letter
| from Representative Quigg of the COM
mittee on Congressional Library, sounding
| bin on his liking for the position of Ii
| hroy Of Ny n,,ifye
| was not in any sense official Of
| fer of the place, but rather an inquiry as
| to Mr. Putnams regard for 1t. Mr.. Put
| nam was surprised at the communication
at first, but later did not regard it in
| serious light because not official; and he
| replied by letter that on account of his very
| cordial relations with the trustees of the
Boston public library, his keen and in
| creasing interest in the Improvement OF the
| institution, together with his insufficient
| kI owledge of the professional condition
| of the Congressional Library and the infiu-
! enCes surrounding it. he could not at that
| time. express any tangible ideas on the
proposition beyond saying that he could
not consider il at ALL
The Presidents Suggestion.
The next feature in the case presented
| Itself in February of this year, that is 1899
exactly two weeks after the death of John
Russell Young, librarian of Congress. On
| Saturday, February 4, President Mckinley
| in the course Of brief interview with Mr.
| William Coolidge Lane, librarian of Har-
! ward University and president of the Amer
| lean Library Association, said that he had
| been very thoughtfully considering the
| matter of appointment of a successor to
| Mr. Young and had come to the belief that
| the man for the place should be a trained
! librarian of large Administrative ability
| who would be competent to make the Lii
brary of Congress national library in the
| broadest possible sense, and who would
! also have, on account of his fitness for the
| great task, the support of libra rians
| throughout the country. Congress and the
| people at large.
| Mr.. Lanes visit to the President came
| about in fine-spirited, perfectly unseltish.
| professional way. John Russell Young died
| on January II. AT once the newspapers be-
! gan to talk about his successor, and the
| whole library field becaTe- more or less in
| terested in the subject. Mr.. Lane. as presi-
| dent of the American Library Association
| talked about the matter naturally with
some officers and members of his oreaniza-
ton, and by January % felt that 1t would
| do no harm if he should write a letter to
| President Mckinley and suggest some
points which. in the judgment of librarians.
should have special weight in an estima te
| of q man for the place. In the course of
| his letter Mr.. Lane said;