Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-06

Pines controversies Of material for confer-
ences in Washington, such as the recent Radio
congress ! + {
T 1NDER John T. vance, r., the J new Library
is engaged IN getting together an in
Ventory OF the law reports and session laws
OF all the States and the completion of a set
Of briefs and records Of the Supreme Court.
only one complete fila Of which exists today
that OF the clerk of the Supreme Court itself.
But 1t Is curious fact that, while we
IN the Congressional Library the greatest
collection OF NRuSsian material outside OF
Russia, we are short Of much American ma
terial. Mr.. Vance is now seeking early Amer
icapa,s which could be acquired in large
measure for all the Nation If iegaiists would
but leave their collections to the Library in
stead Of their own local bar associations.
A. living example Of the living value Of pure
and obscure scholarship TO which the Library
Is contributing came across my view the other
day.
A Californian who is devoting his entire
time to research in old Spanish and Spanish
American books turned up in search of early
Latin opinions upon tangled points in the law
OF community property 1t is live iss,je to
him, for 1t involves his share in an estate of
several million dollars, and there is no Anieri-
can precedent to determine it, Here he found
many clues in conference with Putnams spe-
cialists.
Though its work cannot ALWAYS be i'm
med1ately practical no one knows so well as
those who are research scholars and especially
research scholars in the field of American
history. how alive this librarv-un.versitv Is
today.
In that series OF quiet little rooms; each
with MS name on the door, they sit, these
students from straight round the world And
each, as ne works, may be conscious that in
this very building, ready for consultation at
any time upon the sources at hand is another
scholar conversant. not only with that field
but also with the resources the library, has 70
offer 60 ...s
For Putnam had realized in creating .his
hbrary-un4verSity, that many q, man 1etires
from active life in @ busting community lust
1T an age when he is richest, in Knowledge
ana experience and also just at an age when
the comparative quiet Of Washington holds its
greatest charm. At an age, too. when an
"honorarum" Gas he terms it,, rather than n
Iull salary, Is sufficient to form an attraction
Thinking this up in that strangely delicate
mtultlve way OF his, Putnam was able to per.
suade such men as Senior Don Riano the for
mer Ambassador Of Spain to our Government.
TO become "conSutant in HSpanc literature:
Mr.. Mark A. DeWolfe Howe, formerly of the
Atlantic Monthly, to be consutant in English
literature; the distinguished scholar Harold
N. Fowler, to be consultant in classical htera-
lure; Ernest Richardson to be consutant in
photography and research, Henry Eldredge
Bourne to be consultant in European history;
VICTOR S. Clark to be conSultant in economics
and to get part of the time of Alfred Church
Lane and w A. Hammond in science and phil
osophy, respectively and DR.. Albert F. Zahn
the celebrated physicist, to head the work
In aeronautical research
These with no lectures" and no ~exaux~
compose his faculty.
Among them Herbert Putnam drifts like q
smiling shadow so unobStrusiveIy that YOU
would never guess that he has been for ali
these years the creator and the moving spirit
of it all
For he is not without some of, those Quaint
ways traditional to scholars His distaste for
motors, for example, his fondneSs for carving
green bag full of books early every morn
ing from his dwelling in the Cosmos Club to
MS Office in the library, his way of getting I'M
In the middle of the night to. read are famous
in washington 49,.
Executive. he is called, and justly. Yet his
executlVeness grows gracefully subtly, out Of
an unWhlmgnesS to wound, gentle as "itris
hrm. No wonder he can find and keep n
true poet Mr.. William Slade, to head: so un-
poetical a thing as division of bbliogFaphy
No wonder such a man keep;a fine COM
poser, Mr.. Percy Atherton, to spend much of
his time dealing with the fiat pages of mu-
sociology" 1885,. -. -. =.
Standing one day looking out where the new
building IS rising to house the wonderful Folger
collection of Shakespeariana he remarked to q
friend: :,
II never worked with my hands, Ferjaaus
that is why. love. TO watch builders at work"
49,. Another great library building is projected
for the near future. 1t is necessary to tha ex-
pansiOn of. the work Putnam has inauelIrated
But 1t will be, though part of. his plan no
hitting monument to him. His real memorial
VIII be In the future continuance of his work
Tor American and international scholarship:
his only fitting memorial will bel thing which