The evening times., 1899-07-27

Within the past few months. since Ii
brarian of Congress Putnam assumed the
duties OF his Office. sweeping changes lave
been made in the methods Of conducting
the big institution. Many of the changes
have been made possible by the better ia
cilities afforded by the new building. and
many more are the result of careful end
intelligent study on the part of the new Lii
brarian. In every department the conduct
Of affairs has been reduced to system, and
the new methods are in strong contrast to
those employed when the Library had its
quarters in the Capitol building.
Probably the most striking illustration
Of the changes that have been wrought lies
in the methods of filing the vast collection
of maps belonging to the Library. In all
the maps number between 90, 900 and $4,000
and form the most valuable collection in
the world In the Capitol building the
maps were slowed away in all sorts Of out
of-the-way places, and were practically in
accessible for reference. When the prop
erty of the Library was moved from the
Capitol the maps were collected and placed
in one large room in the new building.
Since that time p. Lee Phillips, the head
of the map department, and his corps OF
assistants have been engaged In cata-
loguing and rearranging the collection, un-
til now nearly all Of the maps can be
secured for reference al moments time.
The work of arranging has not yet been
finished. but when il is every map OF the
90. .e0e will be where il can be referred to
without difficulty.
Mr.. Phillips has put into operation many
of his own ideas relating to the operation
of his department and as a result it is
now in as high a state of efficiency as it is
possible to get IL in the short time in
which he has had to do the work.
One OF the most sweeping changes in
handling the maps has been TO abolish the
practice Of hanging the charts on rollers.
Instead OF this plan, every map is filed
| on tables in manila paper wrappers. the
maps relating 10 each OF the great conti-
mental divisions of the world are arranged
+! in separate sections. and the maps of some
particular section or country of each contt-
! nent are placed in separate files. The col
lection includes al maps OF value that have
been printed.
The maps of the different sections and
] States OF the United States are arranged
! in separate files in chronological order,
! SO that il a chart of a certain date Of any
| one of the States is called for, by going TO
the file of that State IL can be produced
without delay. The maps of the townships
ranged as are also the general maps of the
country and of its outlying possessions.
The department has not yet received its
furniture, as complete arrangements have
not yet been made for properly filing the
maps. One hundred and fifty shelved cases
viii be necessary when all arrangements
have been completed.
new system of cataloguing has salso
been devised by Mr.. Phillips. The name
z,,f, ,t,I I.nI b. l.,
the Congressional Library in which each
can be found are typewriter on a card.
and the cards are kept in cabinet file.
Already about Is 600 cards have been filed.
Under Mr. Phillips direction record COM
piled from the cards has been prepared and
will be published when Congress orders it
done The record comprises 1900 type
written pages. A record is also kept by
which the price and value of any map
published can be determined in moment.
In this way the worth of any map offered
TO the Library can be determined definitely.
A file of enquiries is also kept and any
question asked OF the department the an
swer TO which cannot be readily determin-
ed is investigated and the reply sent by
mail 10 the person desiring the information.
When an international dispute arises in
which the United States is a party or in
which il is interested, Mr.. Phillips pro-
duces the maps bearing upon the question
and has reproductions made for the use
of the Government Maps Of Alaska show
ing the territory now being contended for
by the United States and Canada have
been reproduced from copies in the library
as have maps bearing upon the Venezuelan
difficulty several years ago. The greater
number of the r-aps used by the army and
navy in the recent war with Spain were re-
produced from those in the library.
In the collection are maps of great value,
one of them dating as far back as 1850.
When all the plans OF Mr. Phillips are car
ried out. the arrangement is expected to
be the finest in the world