The evening times., 1899-12-04
A YEARS WORK REVIEWED
What Has Been Accomplished at
the Library Of Congress.
The Annual Report of Librarian Put-
nam Submitted to the President
Million hooks and Pamphlets Are
ON the Shclves-The Estimates.

Of the Senate, pro tempore, for the fiscal
year ended June 80, 1899, and also his es-
Inmates for the ensuing year to be submit
ted to the Secretary of the Treasury.
The report shows that $100. .325.17 was
expended for salaries; s14,9a9.97 for the
purchase OF books; s2,4sS.ss for the pur-
chase of law books; $2.499.s2 for the pur-
chase OF periodicals; $500 for the ex-
change of public documents; $4,000 for
contingent expenses; s24.96s.58 for print
| ing and binding. and s36.03O97 for salaries
in the copyright division. The total ap-
propriated WAS sI91 ,125, and the amount
| expended S1s4 ,s2439, leaving a balance ON
| hand of Sc 300.61.
| The receipts from the copyright office
| for the year amount to S5S, ,267, and its ex-
| penses to s40,272.3S. The balance on hand
in this department is $17ss4.62. In detail,
the amounts disbursed are given as fol-
| lows:
| Buildings and Grounds-Fcr care and
| maintenance. SCI, 1886; fuel, lights, etc.,
| $4,000; furniture. $4,000. Total, s106,-
395.
books and Pamphlets.
| The report says: THE total OF books
| and pamphlets on September 80, 1898, was
?32, ,os4. This included all duplicates tex
| cept those in the copyright offics) and the
| entire Smithsonian deposit. Adding 10
| these the accessions of 24.ys2 copies since
| September 80. 1898, We shall have the total
| on June 30. 1899 as 957 .O56 books and PAM
phlets. The material actually received in
the Library during the fiscal year includes
considerable amount not aecessioned but
set aside for exchange. By gift, for in
stance there was received total OF LAS
books and pamphlets.
Observation-Disclosures the period Septem-
ber I 1898 to June 80. 1899. the additions
| to the manuscript department have COM
prised 1 ,S66 manuscripts. OF these. 10
| bound volumes and 1.6S2 unbound manu-
scripts have been acquired by purchase.
and ia unbound manuscripts and one vol
| ume of typwritten transcripts have been
acquired by gift The expenditures in pur-
chase have amounted to but $30l.6l. The
number of manuscripts in the department
| is about 2s,500. OF these only 7,340 have
| thus far been catalosued and only 1,5Gi
| have been calendared.
Mans and Charts-The accession since
| the last annual report may be stated as
| fellows: Sheet maps 1853, aliases 125,
| pocket maps s, total 1856. Accepting the
| total number of pieces in the collection on
| July /. 1898, as 50.195. it would. on June
80. 1899, stand as 52,1s1.
Works in Preparation.
The following bibliographies are in
preparation: photography of works re-
lating to the construction, care, classiii-
cation and cataloguing of maps; list OF
II APPS in the Library of Congress relating
to the Revolutionary War and a list of
those relating to the city of Boston. The
larger list of the maps relating to America.
in books now forms a document OF 1.s0"
typwritten pages. which will later be Of
fered for publication under authority CT
Congress-.
Music-According TO the report Of the
superintendent of the department the num-
Der of pieces now in the department. in
cluding duplicates. is by actual count.
eI1. .i65. or this number 1908 represent
accessi0ns for the calendar year 1888, and
$3.50 lcceSsions from January l, to June
20 1899 All are separate compositions,
with the exception of 675. which are bound
and appear among the general accessions
as reported by the catalogue department.
Prints-The increase in the collection
during the past fiscal year has been l0,9l5
prints. The total number of prints in the
collection is now stated as 7oS23. OF the
aecessions from copyright. about three
fourths were photographs.
The gifts consisted largely of photo
graphs OF Cuba and the Cubans. and Of in
cidents of the Spanish American War.
Over one hundred of these were received
from Mr.. Z. c. Rost, of New York city. j
Mr.. Rost was also the donor of 179 engrav- |
ings and of Is etchings Chiefly vignettesD |
published by the National and American I
Bank Note Company. The purchases have .
been insignificant.
In the Interest of the Blind.
Reading Room for the Blind-This has |
hoA day O tn A
m. From October to July. there has teen
on each afternoon. except Wednesdays.
readings: aud on every Wednesday. a mus
ical recital. The readers and musicians
are volunteers. The interest in the room
is indicated by the fact that it has been
visited during the year by LOCO persons.
of whom. 7.025 have attended the readings
and recitals. 1t is true, that of this large
number. cnly Ss5 were "unseeing."
Pefodicals-The number Of bound vol
umes of periodicals and newspapers in the
Library at the close of the fiscal year Is
reported as 30, $3.50.
papers. 1,230 periodicals. This brings the
collection of files OF newspapers to total
Of 1925. and of periodicals to 30 092. An
nusls, transactions, and proceedings are
not Intentionally included in the enumef-
alton
The serials newspapers. magazines,
etc.D now currently received
comprise 3,6il.
During the last half of the fiscal year
n record was kept of the use by readers Of
and periodicals. The total
number called for was 4S,125.
Reading -room-The main reading room
was open 3o6 days, from July 1, to Septem-
Der 80. from a. m. to p. m: from Octo-
Der to June 80. from . a. m. to 10 p. m.
except that on few Saturdays during
July and August of 1885 it was closed at
noon. The total number of readers re-
corded was 1sl.e70 The highest number
If readers in one day was S62, on February
|, 1899; the smallest IL, on September 9.
1898 "a half holiday. The number of books
md periodicals supplied was 291 ,662. The
highest number issued in one day was
..0i1. the lowest 81; the average number
,090, of which 622 represent the issue be-
ween a. m. and p. H. :!
CatalOgue-According to the report of
The chief of the department there las
been catalogued 1866 bound volumes and
1903 pamphlets. (These have also been
classified according to the old classifica-
ion.
A special photography of timely i'm
1ortance is now ready for the press. 1t is
/ List of Books and of Articles in Period
Gals. Relating to the Nicaragua and Other
Canals and Railway Routes,
the Suez." 1t has been in pro-
'ison jr., of the reading room force, dur
ng the past two years. Typewriter cop
es have been struck off for the use OF the
w. o..