Evening star., 1938-01-07
CONGRESS LIBRARY
!. GROWTH GOES ON
Dr. Putnam's Annual Re-.
port Reveals Expansion
in Last Year.
BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

SuCH is IHe inference 10 De uIdWIl
from the 1867 report of DR.. Her
bert Putnam, librarian of Congress,
filed Wednesday. The text of his
379-page document constitutes veri-
table encyclopaedia of information on
books, periodicals, manuscripts, maps,
prints etc 1t includes sectional re-
ports from the administrative heads
of the copyright office. union cata-
log, law library, Smithsonian deposit, |
reading rooms, classification, card. !
binding and legislative reference divi-
sions Also reports from the direc-
tors of the fine arts, music, aero
rautlcs. Oriepta!ia, Semitic literature,
Slavic literature and other branches
= Appropriations for 1886 the record
shows, tota!ed $2.567,239l3: those for
1887, $9,265.375.96, of which sum S.
100000 was allocated to construction
and equipment costs of the new annex
building, now approaching compile
ton. But the Library Of Congress is
not entirely dependent upon taXpay-
ers. DR.. Putnam chronicles receipts
in amount of s230,541 40 through the
copyright office; likewise substantial
gifts and trust funds from private
sources to the Trust Fund Board,
of which Secretary of the Treasury
Henry Moreenthau, jr, is chairman.
5.395,044 Printed Books.
The contents of the Library June
30, 1887. are summarized as 5,395,044
printed books and pamphlets. 1876
80l maps and views, ll68 584 VOL
umes and pieces of music. 540,85l
prints and an undeterminable num-
Der of manuscripts. BY purchase
,20.268 books and pamphlets were ac-
quired in the fiscal year ending on
the date mentioned. Meanwhile in
dividuals and "other unoffcial' gifts
were listed as 24433 titles. Foreign
governments, by international eX-
change during the same II months,
contributed 29,257 items; the public
printer. "by virtue of law s,675 State
governments. 2l,l7A: for c0py..ght by
authors and publishers. 33.4'l, and
by exchange, piece for p.eco," 6.402.
Among friends of the Library who
generously enriched It's treasures at
their own expense were Bernard N.
Baruch. who gave the papers of
Alexander H. Stephens. Vice Presi-
dent of the Confeoeracy: Mrs. TruX-
tun Beale, the library Of Represent
ative Samuel Edwards of Pennsyl-
rania and part of the library of her
late husband: H N LaWrie, bound
volumes Of congressional hearings and
other books: Charles Manaugh and
Miss Josephine Tucker, juvenile works:
Mrs. Brand Whitlock. collected ma
terial relating to the World War; Rear
Admiral Lloyd H. Chandler. part of
his Rudyard Kipling collection;
Judge Isaac Hit, Illinois and Indiana
law reports; Miss Lucy L. Stratton.
large collection of her water-coler
drawings of birds; Mrs. James w.
Wadsworth. 73 volumes of clippings
collected by her father, Secretary of
State John Hay: James NJ. Cameron.
the papers of Secretary of War Simon
Cameron: James A. Purcell, rare law
books: Daniel Carter Beard l10 of
his drawings for Mark TWains Con-
necticut Yankee at King Arthur's
Court; Miss Leila Mechlin. letters
OF Joseph Pennell: Miss Ruth L.
Rosenberg. 3S volumes of Hebrew
and Yiddish periodicals.; DR.. H. Blak-
iston Wilkins, five stringed instru-
ments: Mrs. Gertrude Clarke Whit
tall. The Ward" violin OF Stradi-
varius, and other donors.
Private Contributions.
DR.. Putnam says with reference to
private contributions Of money to
the Library: Our resources for a spe-
cialized service, distinct from that of
our technical staff, have been aug
mented from time to time by con-
tributions from private sources. The
object OF these is not to relieve the
Government of the duty to provide
for the routine, but within certain
fields of knowledge to assure, in the
development of our collections and
In the Interpretation of them to the
public using them, scholarly attain
ments and experience which the Gov
ernment stipend alone would not
secure" These gifts, he explains,
"have assumed two forms. The first
consists of an endowment "a fund
committed to our Trust Fund Board)
the income OF which goes to the in
cumbent OF a particular position as
an honorarium in addition to his regu-
lar salary. OF this nature have been
the endowments of five chairs of
American history, geography, fine
arts, music and aeronautics held by
as many of our chiefs of division. |
The funds thus far received tthree |
from individuals and two from founda-
tions) have in each case been in the
sum of $4,000, calculated to provide |
an income of about $4,000 per an
mum.
HOnorarium Is Offered.
Similar in the type of service rem
dered but less in degree are the con-
sultantships,' OF which We have had
q fortunate experience during the
last eight years. They constitute but
q small group-never over seven in
number-and until recently only one
Of them chat in Hispanic culture)
resting on a permanent endowment,
the others having been provided for
BY pioneer (experimentaD grant
from the General Education Board,
supplemented during the last two
years by special grants from the
Carnegie Corporation. The provision
enables us to offer an honorarium
(about s2,500 per annum) to spe-
cialist in some useful field of knowl-
edge, to associate himself with the
Library in purely advisory capacity
calculated to aid us in perfecting the
collections and the public in the use
Of them. The fields already repre-
sented have been the important
ones OF European history, church his
tory, archaeology. philosophy, soci-
ology, economics, political science and
pure science"
Fourteen concerts were given in
the Library auditorium during the
fiscal year under the provisions of
the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foun-
datiOn DR. Putnam renorfs Tla