Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-06
MARTHA L. COPLlN
On Philadelphia Llbrary's Public
Documents

documents
THE Free Library of Philadelphia owns
one of the largest and most complete
collections of public documents in this coun-
try according to Miss Martha J.: Coplin'
chief of the Department of Public Docu-
ments. Pending the completion OF the ne"
library building on the Parkway, the depart
ment is temporarily located in the branch
library ut Seventeenth and Spring Garden
streets.
"Our collection at the present time" ;oo sad SAD
Miss Coplin, Consists Of about 4Uo'u"V
documents, officially published by the United
States Government and those Of other conn
tries MS we'll as those Of States of the Union
ard various cities The department Is now
about twenty years old. 1t began with the
efforts Of one person, who gathereH los'.s ,;e
n collection of public documents from uli
forcnt sources, both organizations and IN.
diyidual, and on that basis it has been ouiit
up to its present size.
A Government Repository
''Thc relations Of the department. rX,enu
NIL over the world. We are constantly III
close touch with the great foreign ro.h.rIrn;;
such as Great Britain, France austria hhu
these relations nre not confined TO the Con
tinent of Europe. but extend all over the
world. Japan, for example, sending us
many official documents issued there
"Our department is the official repository
| ~ tho United States Government Tor this
district and to us the Government sehus ;,'
its official publications once moh.n ~. nn
bulk, and they are coming az Gorernment .ne nt IS
tho most prolific distributor of documents III
tho world and the officials are very generous
in seeing that we get oil the COPIES 'nht we
! rrouire in our work. We have had hearty
co.operation from the washington "nN.aIs
as we'll as from Senator Pepper III Inc III" WA
Of special requests.
| .rrbo nrh,;cations in our collection In
| c,rde those OF other countries. other S,ates
| md n number Of the leading cities OF .ne
| n,nr,d Recent municipal material ~ KEPT
| IN the municipal reference division on LOCUST
| street. As many Of the documents are i,'
| foro,on languages, it is necessary Tor some
,ra,'Snrs of the staff 10 have knowledge OF
| these languages in order that the documents
| r,oy ho translated for those persona VINO wlsn
| 70 use them but who are unanle TO r''u
them in the original tongue. we natc s II
great many Dutch documents iSsuru 'rI'H In
| the home capital, from the Du'ch EuS' III
dies and from South Africa.
"Ionv Of the documents in the collection
oro ~ great historical interest and Vaiue'
those of the United States Government date
bac; 70 the Colonial period, and those OF
| What is now Pennsylvania state go PACK
as far as the latter part OF tne sevti'eensu
centnrv the first settlement within the pres
ent limits Of Pennsylvania being made IN
1G42 So the record for the State is pretty
| neorlv as complete as It can be.
"Amona the interesting and rare docu-
menta Of the Federal Government which we
have here are the Colonial documen,s; i the the
frst ccnsrs of the United States, taken in
| tbo veor 100 Our collection OF the docn.
| ,nonts ~ the State of Pennsylvania, as
have soid is very good and, perhaps; next
| 70 that in the State Library NJ Harrispurs
| and that Of the Pennsylvania Eistorichi 90
| .bo ,,oot oom nlpte IN existence.
Constant Care Required
| "Much care is required to see that no I'M
| nortant documents which are issued are
overlooked, and we watch In many places
| for the appearance OF such pamphlets or bull
ietins. we have arrangements with all the
| sources of such documents TO have them sent
to rs of their own initiative, but occasion :
| ol,v there will be n slip somewhere and then
We have to send for the missing one In order
| that our collectioh siu'l pe "s e''hp'''e "'
Viva compile statistics for business
| houses. for banks and many other organiza- :
tons and institutions. The statistics Of
products of all sorts from almost every coun-
| trv in the world including our own, both
a. ' whole and in its component parts, are
ono of the things which are In greatest de-
mnnd, We get about fifteen telephone calls
dny for information from the various docu-
ments and each call may mean from one to
~ our staff, though usually 1t is possible
for us to give the information without keep
ing the inquirer waiting more than a few
besides these calls by telephone. there
ware last year about $500 persons who came
here here personally for information which we
we're able to supply them. a great deal
Of patent work is done here. Instead of
engaging a patent attorney, a large number
l-of. persons interested In getting patent on