Evening star., 1932-12-12
Putnam's Annual Report
Lists 4,477,431 Volumes
in Collections.
GAIN EVERY "a HOURS
AVERAGES sos BOOKS
Three and Half Miles of Shelving
Filled by Annual Increase-Mil-
lions of Other Papers Filed.

Inc Library Oh congress Is NOW ILlS
largest library in the world.
Although library statistics are diff
cult to compare, according to the an
nual report of Librarian Herbert Put
nam, study of the most recent figures
leaves little doubt of this. The book
collections, he says, now number
4 4,477, ,431, exclusive of millions of maps,
manuscripts, musical compositions and
engravingS.
The only rival, 1t is stated in the
report, is the great public library at
Leningrad where a total of 4,832, ,948
separate items are recorded, but, says
Mr.. Putnam. If the contents of the
Congressional Library were reported in
the same way the total would be well
over seven millions, to say nothing OF
millions of manuscripts.
The incoming books and pamphlets
reached the total of 1874 during the
year, a figure exceeded only twice in
the 1872 years of the ibrary's history.
Every "a hours through the year sos
books were added to the collection. At
the estimated average rate of 10 books
to the foot, three and a half miles of
shelving are required, merely for this
annual increment to the collection. All
books now in the library require "a
miles of shelving
Some exceptionally valuable acces-
sions in the field of American history
are reported by Mr.. Putnam. Among
these are the lost letters of Andrew
Jackson. "Old Hickory" Mr.. Putnam
relates, preserved his papers with great
care that posterity might have fair
view of his life and work. Toward the
close of his life he engaged Amos Ken
dali of Washington to write his biog-
rayNhu opA turned tn him of
these papers. Kendall never finished
the book. Jackson instructed him,
when 1t appeared the project was lag
ging, to turn over the papers to Francis
P. Blair, who would finish the job.
For some reason Kendall never COM
piled with these instructions. Upon his
death, it long has been supposed, the
papers passed to his daughter and were
destroyed in the burning of a Washing
ton warehouse about go years ago.
During the last year, however, more
than 1900 Jackson letters and docu-
ments came to light, which, it is GER
tain, constituted the missing collection.
These were acquired by the Library.
The letters are of special value because
of the light they throw on the earlier
years of JackSonS life. They deal es-
pecially with the New Orleans cam
paign.
Another significant accession consists
of the papers of Gen. Jubal A. Early.
After the Civil War the Confederate
general turned over the great bulk of
his papers to firm of publishers who
were compiling War OF the Rebellion
Record" Most Of them were returned
to him unpublished and have remained
in obScurity until this year when they
were purchased from his heirs by the
Congressional Library. They cover al
most an entire century, from Early's
days as cadet at West Point through
much of the reconstruction period. OF
special interest are his military CORE
sponoence, battle reports, and other
papers Of the Civil War period.
The youthful romance of Abraham
Lincoln has found new expression in
the Library of Congress in the form of
copy of Samuel Kirkham's English
grammar which Lincoln mastered and
then presented to his sweetheart, Ann
Rutledge. Through the efforts of Miss
Jane E. Hamand of Schaller, Iowa, the
volume was secured from the Rutledge
family about 10 years ago. She has de-
posted it in the national library.
The last year, Mr.. Putnam reports,
has been marked by an extraordinary
accession of photoStatic reproductions
VI AlaAloCLlpI HldteTldl bearing on
American history in foreign archives
and libraries. This was made possible
| through gift Of John D. Rockefeller,
jr A total of nearly 100000 pages
has been acquired. Library representa-
tives combed national archives of Eng
land, France, Spain, The Netherlands,
Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Nor
way, Canada and Mexico. There also
have been searches in Switzerland and
Russia. Much of the material deals
with colonial history.
A second collection Of Russian books
from the Winter Palace of the czar was
acquired this year. There are nearly
1000 volumes, many of them elaborately
bound.
The Chinese collection was increased
during the year by 1892 volumes. There
now are 149,800 volumes in this sec
ton, making it the worlds largest Chi
nese library outside of China.
Special activity has been devoted dur
ing the year to securing manuscript
material dealing with the life of George
Washington and many hitherto un-
known bits of correspondence have been
brought to light.