Evening star., 1946-10-20

itself with millions of pieces OF
material in Germany alone. Mr..
Peiss was sent to take charge of a
staff there. AS result of their
efforts the Library of Congress will
have the greatest collection in the
world of war year publications and
also the largest and most authentic
collection for the study of the Na1
movement.
Nazi Collections in Bavaria
Provide Many Sources
In Bavaria the mission found the
Nazi Party's own efforts at contem-
porary archiye building, the Rehss
collection in Munich, the adjutan-
tur from the chancellory in Berlin,
the private library of Adolf Hitler
and numerous other smaller Nazi
collections. The posters and leaflets
(quarter Million, the newspapers
Il 500 titles representing Nazi prop
aganda in all occupied territories,
the underground pamphlets, etc,
alone represent a Nazi collection
unique of its kind in the world.
One of the unusual acquisitions
obtained in Germany by the mis-
sion was eight sets of "Mein Kampf'
in German braille in six volumes.
Another task of the mission was
to learn what had been done in
Germany during the war in COM
mercial, literary and scholarly
fields. Mission representatives and
officers of the Boersenverein in
Wiesbaden tentatively agreed to
publish list of these works as
commercial venture. The edition
will be about 5000 copies with the
mission. acting for the Library OF
Congress, advancing $3.50 for 1000
copies.
Earlier, in Italy, Mr.. Sanchez
and Domenico Fucile, an Italian
book expert, managed to acquire =
set of the 'Dizionario di Politica'
in four volumes. This work was
published in 1910 and its distribu-
ton had been limited to Fascist
leaders.
A recent step looking forward to
future acquisitions was taken in
the American zone in Germany.
Contacts were made with about 300
publishers licensed to print and
distribute books and periodicals and
with approximately 1900 dealers.
.1,750,000 Pieces Acquired
By Library in Year
The Office of War Information
outposts and Libraries in foreign
countries. the Alien Property Gus
todian. the Allied Control Commits
sion and the War Emergency Pro-
gram for the Microcopying of British
Manuscripts, conducted by the
American Council of Learned So
cieties, were among other sources
providing access to overseas ma
terials.
As a result of the exchange pro-
gram 1,75o,000 pieces of material
were brought into the Library last
year. This material included foreign
documents, domestic publications
deposited for copyright purposes.
Federal and State publications and
items from official and quasi-official
bodies. Spanish, Portuguese and
Italian institutions sent 37.918 items;
Italy, 28,590; Latin American coun-
tries, 1882. and Soviet Russia 675
items
A recent project of great future
significance is that for the. "selec-
ton, preservation and service of mo-
ton pictures" This venture, which
began May l, 1912, aims to preserve
these important products OF Ameri-
can civilization. During the three
years to 1945 the Library has re-
ceived 603 feature films. 1873 news
reels, 62 documentary pictures and
118 short subjects.
In addition, 100000 feet of film
produced between 1906 and 1920 was
was presented to the Library by
John E. Allen of Rochester, N. Y.
The Alien Property Custodian sent
more than 100000 feet of enemy
produced film and the Office of War
Information transferred to the
Library 10000 feet of pictures.
There are other facets to the Ac-
quisitions Department impossible to
note in a short article. But as the
Library of Congress continues to
grow this department will take on
more and more importance. 1t is
and will continue to be one of the
chief factors in maintaining the
Library of Congress position as one
of the worlds leading libraries.