New-York tribune., 1900-07-15
"VALTFLESS NATTER" "
TIE PRESERVATION IN AMERICAN IL
BRAIuEs OF NEWSPAPERS AND
nTHER EPHEMERAL LIT
ERATURE.

Parliament permitting the trustees Of the Brit
i5h Museum to destroy ''valueless matter" has
attracted much attention on the part OF libra
rians and scholars this side of the Atlantic
It seems likely that the bill VIII not only
'ail If passage but will accomplish the real pur-
pose of the trustees of the Museum in intro
i,Ieing it-that is the securing of a grant from
Parliament sufficient to enlarge the Museum
pudding The collections have been Increasing
50 rlpi,lly that it is now found necessary either
ID weed ont a good deal Of the matter already
collected or to enlarge the building. The Gov
eluinenl steadily refused to favo- any grant for
enlargement until it should first be determined
whether the wedding out process might not be
resorted to. Fortunately for scholars the world
over The Introduction Of the bill in the House
Of Commons Immediately called forth from Brit
sh scholars headed 10y sidney Lee, a protest
that is almost certain to be needed. In his let
ter in The London Times" Mr.. Lee brought out
the fact that it was this very 'valueless ma
teriaT'- provincial ana colonial newspapers,
pamphlets etc.-that had proved of the greatest
value to him in his work Editor Of The Die
tonary If National Biography"
The institution in this country most nearly
corresponding to the British Museum IS, OF
course the library Of Congress. With the mag
nfccnt new building at Washington, the ques-
ton OF limitation Of space is not likely to prove
any restriction to the all-incUsiveness of the
library Everything copyrighted is of course
saved there the library also tries get and bind
at least one newspaper from every state and
Territorial capital, as well from the largest
city Of each State. Pamphlets. of whatever
nature and different editions OF the same work
also preserved.
PRACTICE IN THIS CITY.
OF most Immediate and local interest is the
practice Of the New-York Public Library in re-
gard to the preservation Of the great body or
matter If every sort that comes TO it by pur-
chase gift and exchange. Just now the lmlta-
tions Of space at the Astor Library building
would make conditions very similar to those
which obtain at the British Museum We're 1t
not for the fact that the matter may be collected
with a view to transferring IT to the spacious
quarters Of the new building. whose foundations
are soon to be laid. The policy Of the library,
as recently outlined by Or. Billings To a Trib-
une reporter. shows the institution 10 be very
catholic and one that looks well t. meet the
present ana future needs of scholars.
The principal newspapers of the city are re-
ceved at the library. These bound. and com
Ulete files are preserved So far they in
complete efforts are constantly being made to
supply the gaps. In the case Of a few long
established papers in other parts OF the coun-
try-such, for example The Hartford Cou-
rant and The Albany Argus us'-second hand ana
auction catalogues are constantly bt4ilE Nd''Ii'N
for opportunities to make the library's files
complete The library is constantly receiving
odd numbers Of newspapers from all parts of the
country Thcy are usually marked copies. CON
tanning an important address before some local
historical society other article Of permanent
value. Such papers are always carefully eN-
amiued. and the important article clipped and
preserved II the case of other periodical publ
cations that are received irresuarly, efforts are
Irade TO complete the sequences and N any
case those received tied up and stored away.
The library now takes more than three thou
sand periodicals. regularly, in every printed Ian
guage and on almost every conceivable subject
Or Billings regards this feature of the library
as perhaps its most valuable one. Seven hun
dr,d Of those periodicals, in addition TO the 100
indeXed in Poole read by members Of his
staff, ana the most important articles
promptly iudeXed cards. which at once
inserted in the regular catalogue. All these
periodicals are carefully preserved and most Of
them bound. Some libraries, notably the Con
gressional Library and the NeW-Yor< state Lii
brary, bind in the advertisements issued with
periodicals. Or. Billings recognizes their value
as showing something Of the social history of
the times in which they appeared. but the great
increase in expense which the practice would
involve has decided him not 10 adopt that Gus
tom.
Even with the very large number Of pcriodi-