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 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 THIRD KDITION 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 
 LIBRARY BRANCH 
 
 1922 
 
(yC^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 THIRD KDITION 
 
 SCHOOL OF LIBRARIANSHIP 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 BERKELEY. CALIFORNIA 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OEEICE 
 
 I^IBRARY BRANCH 
 
 1922 
 
L. C. card 22-26006 
 

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 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 This account of the Library of Congress was prepared in 1911 
 by William Warner Bishop, Superintendent of the Reading Room 
 from 1907 to September, 1915. It was first issued by the 
 American Library Association Publishing Board as a "preprint" 
 of Chapter II of the "A. L. A. Manual of Library Economy". 
 With the consent of the Publishing Board the Library of Con- 
 gress reprinted it for its own use in 1914, with the addition of 
 certain plans of the building. This present issue brings the 
 statistics down to date and includes new matter descriptive of 
 activities developed since the publication of the previous edition. 
 
 Frederick W. Ashley 
 Superintendent of the Reading Room 
 Herbert Putnam 
 
 Librarian of Congress 
 November 1, 1922 
 
 ft/i2«PQ^n 
 
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 HISTORY^ 
 
 The Library of Congress was established by virtue of an act 
 of Congress approved April 24, 1800, appropriating $5,000 for the 
 purchase of books and for fitting up a suitable apartment in the 
 Capitol to contain them. In 1802 a joint committee of both 
 Houses on the Library was created. Under direction of this 
 committee the Library continued for many years, but with the 
 abandonment of joint committees the control passed more and 
 more to the librarian. Since 1897 the direction of the Library 
 has been entirely in his hands as a matter of law. 
 
 In 1814 the Library, then numbering slightly over 3,000 
 volumes, was destroyed when the Capitol was burned by the 
 British troops. Very shortly thereafter the library of Thomas 
 Jefferson, amounting to about 7,000 volumes, was purchased as 
 a nucleus of a new collection. A catalogue of this library, made 
 by Jefferson himself, was published in 1815. The system of 
 classification used by him was followed in the arrangement of 
 the books and in various published catalogues until 1864. The 
 annual increase was steady but small (about 1,300 volumes) until 
 a second disastrous fire in 1851 left but 20,000 volumes out of 
 the 55,000 to which the collection had grown. Appropriations 
 were made at once to restore the Library's quarters in the Capitol 
 and to replace at least in part the books destroyed. In 1865 these 
 quarters were much enlarged and in 1867 the purchase for 
 $100,000 of the Peter Force collection of Americana of some 
 
 iCf. Johnston, Wm. Dawson, History of the Library of Congress, vol. 1, 1800- 
 1864. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1904. 
 
 U. S. Library of Congress. Report of the librarian for 1901. Washington, Gov- 
 ernment Printing Office, 1901, pp. 183-197 ; cf. also the annual reports from 1897 
 to date. 
 
 5 
 
6 the; library of congricss 
 
 60,000 articles increased materially the size of the Library, which 
 had reached nearly 100,000 volumes in the previous year. In 
 1867 also the library of the Smithsonian Institution of some 
 40,000 volumes, consisting largely of transactions of learned 
 societies, was deposited with the Library of Congress, which has 
 continued to act as the custodian for the Smithsonian Institution. 
 Largely by virtue of this arrangement, the Library's collections 
 of the transactions of learned societies has become the most ex- 
 tensive in America. 
 
 From 1846 to 1859 the copyright law required one copy of a 
 copyrighted book to be deposited in the Library. The same pro- 
 vision was in force from 1865 to 1870. The act of July 8, 1870, 
 placed the registration of copyrights under the care of the Li- 
 brarian of Congress, and required the deposit of two copies of 
 each article copyrighted. The provision remains in force, with 
 a few exceptions, under the act of March 4, 1909. 
 
 With the administration of Dr. A. R. Spofford, appointed 
 librarian in 1864, the Library entered on a period of rapid growth. 
 In addition to the Force collection many smaller collections were 
 acquired, large numbers of newspapers were secured and bound, 
 and the manuscripts greatly increased by the purchase of the 
 Rochambeau and other papers. The operation of the copyright 
 law and the agreement with the Smithsonian Institution per- 
 mitted the somewhat meager appropriations for the increase of 
 the Library to be used to great advantage in the auction market 
 and in buying foreign books. When Dr. Spofford retired from 
 the active direction of the Library in 1897 it had grown to about 
 a million volumes and pamphlets. The crowding of this collec- 
 tion in the extremely inadequate space at the Capitol had long 
 since shown the imperative need of a separate building for the 
 Library. 
 
 As early as 1873 Congress began to consider the matter of new 
 quarters. In 1886, after 13 years of discussion, the construction 
 of a new building was authorized on the site immediately east of 
 the Capitol. This building was completed in February, 1897, at 
 a cost of $6,347,000, on land costing $585,000. The books were 
 
THli LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 7 
 
 moved to the building in the following summer, with the excep- 
 tion of a portion of the law library, which still remains at the 
 Capitol. 
 
 Before the new building was occupied. Congress in the appro- 
 priation, act of 1897 provided for the reorganization of the Li- 
 brary, created the office of register of copyrights, and increased 
 the number of employees. Dr. Spofford, to whose unwearying 
 zeal and enthusiasm the growth of the Library was largely due, 
 became chief assistant librarian in 1897 on the appointment of 
 John Russell Young as librarian. In 1899 Herbert Putnam was 
 called from the Boston Public Library to the post made vacant 
 by Mr. Young's death. 
 
 Since entering the new building' the Library has grown re- 
 markably in size and in service rendered. It has become in fact, 
 if not in name, the national library. In 1922 its collections num- 
 bered: books, 3,000,408; maps and charts, 174,093; music, 
 954,304; prints, photographs, etc., 428,745. The number of per- 
 sons employed in the building is 694, including 91 in the copyright 
 office, 150 occupied with the care of the building and grounds, and 
 95 engaged, under the Public Printer, in the work of printing and 
 book-binding for the Library. It has come into active relations 
 with the libraries of the country, and, while rendering greatly 
 increased service to Congress, has begun a career of service to 
 the whole nation. 
 
 There is no single act of Congress setting forth the constitu- 
 tion of the Library. Sections 80-100 of chapter 6 of the Revised 
 Statutes of 1873 and the appropriation act of 1897 are the most 
 important laws relating to the institution. The Library is classed 
 by law as a branch of the legislative department of the Govern- 
 ment, and although the librarian is appointed by the President he 
 reports directly to Congress. Appropriations for its support are 
 
 iFor a description of the condition of the Library in 1900 cf. Putnam, H., The 
 Library of Congress, Atlantic Monthly, vol. 85, pp. 147-58. Cf. also Annual re- 
 port of the librarian, 1901, pp. 292-351. 
 
 'Ct. Annual report for 1901, pp. 198-208. 
 
8 the: library of congress 
 
 made annually by Congress in the legislative appropriation bill. 
 The librarian submits to the Treasury estimates of his needs, and 
 appears before the appropriations committee in support of his 
 recommendations. 
 
 The total appropriation for 1922 was $711,745.00, divided as 
 follows : 
 
 Contingent expenses $8,000.00 
 
 Increase of Library : 
 
 Books $90,000.00 
 
 Lawbooks 3,000.00 
 
 Periodicals 5,000.00 
 
 ■ 98,000.00 
 
 Salaries 572,745.00 
 
 Fuel, lights, furniture, etc 33,000.00 
 
 ^$711,745.00 
 
 The building is open from 9 a. m. until 10 p. m., except on 
 Sundays and most holidays, when it is open from 2 until 10 p. m. 
 The main reading room and the periodical reading room are open 
 during these hours, and the other reading rooms and offices from 
 
 9 a. m. until 4.30 p. m. 
 
 The Library is absolutely free to any reader over 16 years old. 
 The privilege of drawing books for home use is confined to 
 Senators and Representatives, certain high officials of the Govern- 
 ment, judges, and other persons designated by statute. The 
 librarian, in pursuance of his authority to make rules and regu- 
 lations, occasionally grants this privilege to scholars engaged in 
 research. The Government bureaus in Washington draw books 
 freely for official use, usually through their librarians.^ 
 
 The purpose of the administration is the freest possible use 
 of the books consistent with their safety, and the widest pos- 
 sible use consistent with the convenience of Congress. There 
 is no limit to the number of books a reader may draw for refer- 
 ence use, and he has direct access to a reference collection of over 
 
 iThis sum Is exclusive of a credit of $250,000 at the Government Printing Of- 
 flee for printing and binding. (For 1922-23, $212,500) 
 
 2Cf. Annual report, 1907, pp. 70-78; ibid., 1908, pp. 57-66. 
 
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 9 
 
 15,000 volumes in the main reading room. If his studies require 
 that he have access to the shelves, this privilege is granted him, 
 and if he needs to have the continuous use 'of the same books 
 day after day, he is given a table where they may be reserved 
 for him. When a typewriting machine will greatly facilitate a 
 scholar's labors, a desk is provided in a room where readers will 
 not be disturbed by its use. The library has no force of copyists, 
 but gives to those desiring to have extracts made the names and 
 addresses of persons making a business of such work. Photo- 
 duplicates of books, newspapers, maps, etc., are furnished at a 
 reasonable rate by means of photostat machines, installed in the 
 chief clerk's office. 
 
 BUILDING. 
 
 The plans for the building,^ which was begun in 1886 and com- 
 pleted in 1897, were drawn by Messrs. Smithmeyer & Pelz, but 
 the building was actually constructed and many architectural 
 details worked out under Gen. Thomas L. Casey, Chief of En- 
 gineers, United States Army, and after his death by Bernard R. 
 Green. The exterior is of gray granite, and the interior is highly 
 decorated with marbles, sculpture, and paintings. The building 
 occupies 3J acres of land, contains 7,500,000 cubic feet of space, 
 and over 8 acres of floor space. The bookstacks are of steel 
 (Snead-Green shelving), and the whole construction is fireproof. 
 About a thousand readers can be accommodated at one time in 
 the various reading rooms and alcoves. Owing to the rapid 
 growth of the collections, a bookstack was constructed (1909) in 
 
 »Cf. Small, Herbert, Handbook of the Library of Congress, Boston, 1909; Green, 
 B. R., The new building for the Library of Congress, Library Journal, vol. 21, pp. 
 13-20 ; Green, B. R., The building for the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Insti- 
 tution, Annual report, 1897, pp. 625-633 ; Bain, G. G., The Congressional Library 
 at Washington, American Architect and Building News, vol. 48, pp. 95-97 ; Schuy- 
 ler, M., The new Library of Congress, Scribner's Magazine, vol. 21, pp. 709-27 ; 
 SpoflEord, A. R., The Nation's library : I, The new building ; II, Special features 
 of the Congressional Library, Century, vol. 31, pp. 682-694 ; Hempstead, E. A., The 
 new Congressional Library, Chatauquan, vol. 23, pp. 695-705 ; Maury, N. B., The 
 new Congressional Library, Cosmopolitan, vol. 23, pp. 10-20 ; The National Li- 
 brary, Munsey's Magazine, 'vol. 18, pp. 707-713; Coffin, W. A., The decorations in 
 the new Congressional Library, Century, vol. 31, pp. 694-711. 
 
10 TH1$ LIBRARY OF CONGRE^SS 
 
 the southeast courtyard. This is lighted wholly by electricity 
 and ventilated by forced draft. 
 
 C0I.I,ECTI0NS. 
 
 The collection of printed books and pamphlets, comprising over 
 3,000,000 volumes, is now the largest in the Western Hemisphere 
 and third in the world. The main collections are strongest in 
 bibliography, history, political and social sciences, public law and 
 legislation, the fine arts, American local history, biography and 
 genealogy. Through the Smithsonian Institution extensive files 
 of the transactions of foreign learned societies are received. 
 Under the operation of the copyright law has been built up 
 (chiefly since 1870) the most complete collection in existence of 
 the products of the American press. Through the international 
 exchange service are now received annually about 12,000 volumes 
 of the publications of foreign governments. American govern- 
 ments, federal, state and local, are adding about 24,000 volumes 
 yearly. 
 
 During the past 24 years (1899-1922) the accessions from the 
 principal sources of increase of the book collections have been as 
 follows: purchases, 637,800 volumes; gifts from private donors, 
 253,600; by copyright, 313,400; through the Smithsonian Insti- 
 tution, 154,400; from foreign governments, 225,800; from Amer- 
 ican governments, federal, state and local, 353,500. 
 
 The special book collections include the library of Thomas 
 Jefferson purchased for $23,950 in 1815, 6,760 volumes, of which 
 two-thirds were destroyed by fire in 1851 ; the Peter Force collec- 
 tion of Americana, 60,000 books and pamphlets, purchased for 
 $100,000 in 1867 ; the Toner collection of medicine and American 
 local history, 24,484 volumes, presented by Dr. Joseph M. Toner 
 in 1882 ; the Yudin collection, 80,000 volumes chiefly in the Rus- 
 sian language, particularly valuable for the history of Russia and 
 Siberia, acquired in 1907 ; the Japanese collection, 9,000 volumes, 
 purchased in 1907 ; the Huitfeldt-Kaas collection of Scandinavian 
 literature, 5,000 volumes ; the Weber collection of Sanskrit liter- 
 ature, 4,020 volumes; the Schiff-Deinard collection of Semitica, 
 
TH^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS U 
 
 22,000 volumes ; the Hoes collection of 4,864 books and pamphlets 
 relating to the Spanish- American war; the Chinese collection of 
 87,000 volumes (fascicules) acquired for the most part since 1906. 
 
 The John Boyd Thacher collections, five in number, deposited 
 in the Library by Mrs. Thacher as loans, to be freely administered 
 for exhibit and for study, are especially noteworthy: European 
 incunabula, 928 volumes, printed before the year 1501; early 
 Americana — works relating to Columbus and the discovery of 
 America; the French Revolution, 1,581' printed volumes; "Out- 
 lines of the French Revolution told in autographs", a collection 
 of 1,600 letters and manuscript documents; and a collection of 
 autograph documents and signatures of crowned heads of Eu- 
 rope and other foreign celebrities (1,300 pieces). 
 
 The main collections of the Library are supplemented by those 
 of several separate departments : maps, music, prints, law, manu- 
 scripts and Semitic, Slavic and Oriental literature, more fully 
 mentioned hereafter under these several headings. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION (16 PERSONS) 
 
 The administrative officers of the Library are the librarian, 
 chief assistant librarian, chief clerk, and secretary. 
 
 The duties of the librarian, chief assistant librarian, and secre- 
 tary are those customary in libraries, save that the librarian is not 
 under the direction of a board of trustees. The functions of the 
 chief clerk are those of an executive assistant. He is charged 
 with the discipline of the force, and in his office are kept records 
 of the service and of the expenditures under the appropriations 
 for the Library and the allotment for printing and binding. 
 
 The Act of June 29, 1922, abolished the office of superintendent 
 of building and grounds and divided the duties between an ad- 
 ministrative assistant, appointed by the librarian, and the architect 
 of the Capitol. To the latter officer the act gave charge of all 
 structural work, repairs, the operation of the mechanical appa- 
 ratus, the upkeep of the grounds and the purchasing of furniture. 
 
 The administrative assistant, aided by a force of 128 employees, 
 is charged with the care, maintenance and protection of the build- 
 ing, and the disbursement of the appropriations. 
 
12 THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 THE DIVISIONS. 
 
 The Library force is organized into "divisions", each with a 
 chief and assistants; some of the divisions, including the Copy- 
 right Office, are further divided into sections. 
 
 The Mail and Delivery Division (6 persons) handles all ma- 
 terials arriving at or dispatched from the Library building, includ- 
 ing all mail matter and all books delivered for outside use. 
 The yearly mail received exceeds 310,000 items, including arti- 
 cles received for copyright, but not including newspapers and 
 periodicals. 
 
 The Order and Accessions Division (14 persons) organized in 
 1900, attends to all business connected with the purchase of mate- 
 rial for the increase of the collections of the Library. It handles 
 in the first instance all such purchases and also all gifts, deposits, 
 exchanges and transfers, excepting official donations of govern- 
 mental publications, which are handled in the Documents Division. 
 
 No accession books are kept, as the files of vouchers contain 
 all the information generally recorded in formal accession records. 
 Every item approved for purchase is entered on a card, and from 
 these cards the orders, in. the form of lists, are prepared for the 
 dealer. The result is a card catalogue of accessions. All bills 
 are paid by check on the Treasury of the United States after the 
 most careful auditing and final approval by the librarian. A card- 
 ledger system is kept which shows at any moment the condition 
 of each appropriation, the outstanding orders, bills paid, and 
 balances available. 
 
 Printing Office and Bindery. — These are branches of the Gov- 
 ernment Printing Office, which supplies the equipment and details 
 the workmen. The work done is solely for the Library, and is 
 charged to the "allotment" of the Library for binding and print- 
 ing. The allotment for 1922 was $250,000; for 1923, $212,500. 
 The printing office prints the catalogue cards, and all needed forms 
 and circulars.^ Six linotype m.achines are kept constantly busy at 
 the card work. 
 
 ^The publications of tlie Library in book form are printed at the Government 
 Printing Oflace, not at the Library branch. 
 
THE JUIBRARY 01^ CONGRESS 13 
 
 The binding for the Library is mainly done in the building. A 
 special Binding Division (3 persons) has charge of forwarding 
 material in proper shape, keeping accounts with the bindery, etc. 
 
 The Catalogue Division (91 persons) deals with printed books 
 and pamphlets only, and includes the work of classification, shelf- 
 listing, labeling, preparation of copy of catalogue cards for the 
 printer, proof reading, and filing cards in the various catalogues. 
 
 The Catalogue Division not only catalogues and classifies the 
 current accessions (over 100,000 volumes annually), but has been 
 engaged since 1899 in reclassifying and recataloguing the entire 
 collection. The greater part of the Library has now (1922) been 
 reclassified, and new catalogue entries have been made for over 
 four-fifths of the entire collection. When this work was begun 
 in 1899 there were approximately 700,000 volumes, exclusive of 
 duplicates, to be handled. Moreover, the catalogue being in the 
 form of printed cards, a considerable force otherwise available for 
 cataloguing was necessarily devoted to proof reading. Not only 
 has the enormous task been almost completed in a little more than 
 two decades, but its daily results in the cards printed have been 
 made available to the libraries of the whole country, assisting 
 them to an extraordinary degree in the preparation of their cata- 
 logues and relieving them of a very considerable expense. 
 
 The system of classification adopted has been devised from a 
 comparison of existing schemes and a consideration of the par- 
 ticular conditions in this Library. The schedules are still some- 
 what subject to change, and therefore no complete scheme has 
 been printed. The outlines for most of the classes have been 
 issued in pamphlet form. 
 
 The main catalogue ^ of books and pamphlets is in the form of 
 printed cards, arranged in the "dictionary" order — i. e., author, 
 title, and subject entries in one alphabet. The rules followed are 
 those of the American and British Library Associations. There 
 are also special catalogues in book form for many of the special 
 
 1 For the earlier catalogues in book form see Ford, Paul Leicester, A list of the 
 Library of Congress catalogues. Library Journal, vol. 15, pp. 326-327 ; also An- 
 nual Report of the Librarian, 1901, Appendix II, pp. 362-367. 
 
14 THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 collections, as prints, maps, manuscripts,* etc. These are noted 
 under the various divisions. 
 
 The Card Division (50 persons) established in 1901, handles 
 the accumulated stock of printed catalogue cards and their dis- 
 tribution and sale.* 
 
 The stock now (1922) contains over 870,000 different cards, 
 with an average of about 75 copies of each, or a total of over 
 65,000,000 cards. They are stored by serial number in steel cases. 
 Complete sets of one copy of each card published are on deposit 
 in over 40 of the principal library centers of the country, enabling 
 inquirers in those places to ascertain whether a book is in the 
 Library of Congress, and also facilitating greatly the ordering of 
 printed cards. Cards may be ordered by card number, by title, by 
 series and by subject. They are sold under the law governing the 
 sale of public documents at the cost of manufacture plus 10 per 
 cent. The price of the first copy of each card varies from 2|c. 
 to 5c. according to method of ordering; the price of cards after 
 the first is $.013 each. In 1922 more than 3,000 libraries and 
 individuals purchased cards, and the receipts from sales amounted 
 to over $100,000. 
 
 The Bibliography Division (7 persons) deals with inquiries in- 
 volving research too elaborate for the attendants in the reading 
 room, or in form inconvenient for them to handle expeditiously; 
 compiles and publishes lists of references on topics of current 
 interest, particularly those pending in Congress. The division 
 furnishes references in the case of numerous inquiries received 
 by mail, and is also very frequently called into service by Members 
 of Congress. 
 
 Reading Rooms (66 persons). The main reading room is in 
 the center of the building. It has desks for 200 readers. There 
 are 60 tables in the galleries which can be assigned to scholars 
 making extended investigations. The issue desk in the center is 
 
 iCf. U. S. Library of Congress, Handbook of Card Distribution. 5th ed. Wash- 
 ington, Government Printing Oflfice, 1921. 
 
 Hastings, Charles H., L. C. printed cards and how to order and use them. 4th 
 ed. Washington, Government Printing OflSce, 1021. 
 
THK LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 15 
 
 connected with the stacks, the Capitol, Smithsonian Division, and 
 the librarian's office by pneumatic tubes. Electric book carriers 
 connect the desk with the north and south stacks and with the 
 Capitol. Books can ordinarily be delivered to readers in about 
 five minutes after a request is handed in. 
 
 The alcoves surrounding the reading room contain a reference 
 collection of some 15,000 volumes, to which access is entirely 
 free. The card catalogues of the Library are on the floor of the 
 reading room. 
 
 In addition to the main reading room there are separate reading 
 rooms for Senators and Representatives. A station is maintained 
 at the Capitol for the receipt and delivery of books (an electric 
 carrier runs through a tunnel over 1,200 feet long connecting the 
 station with the Library — the passage takes three minutes). 
 There are also in their respective divisions reading rooms for 
 periodicals and newspapers, fine arts, maps, music, and law. 
 
 There is also a separate reading room for the blind, equipped 
 with nearly 10,000 embossed-type books, pamphlets, maps and 
 musical compositions. The service rendered to blind readers is 
 country-wide through loans by mail (post free under a special 
 provision of law). The work includes also informational service 
 (as to the blind and undertakings for their welfare) much sought 
 and influential. It is also a directing agency for the work of 
 volunteers embossing books for the blind. 
 
 Periodicals Diznsion (12 persons), organized in 1901, handles 
 all periodicals as received, and prepares the completed volumes 
 for binding. The total number of periodicals received is in ex- 
 cess of 7,400. Over 770 newspapers are currently received, in- 
 cluding 120 foreign newspapers; of these 327 are bound and 
 shelved. Half the space in the new stack in the southeast court 
 is fitted up with shelving designed especially for bound volumes 
 of newspapers. The files of American newspapers are very ex- 
 tensive," (60,000 bound volumes) while the collection of news- 
 papers of the eighteenth century is perhaps the largest in 
 
 iCf. U. S. Library of Congress. Check List of American Newspapers, 1901. 
 
16 THE UBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 America/ The reading room for periodicals occupies the south 
 side of the building on the main floor. It has seats for 200 read- 
 ers, who have direct access to the current issues of about 280 
 newspapers and over 1,500 magazines which are on file in this 
 room. 
 
 Documents Division (7 persons), organized in 1901. The 
 function of this division is to acquire, arrange, and make avail- 
 able for use the publications of governments, national, local, and 
 municipal, and of quasi-public bodies, such as commercial organi- 
 zations, international congresses, and the like. This division has 
 charge of the exchange of publications of the Federal Government 
 for those of other nations. The average annual receipt of these 
 foreign documents is about 10,000 volumes and pamphlets. The 
 average annual accessions of all documents total over 45,000, of 
 which over 11,000 are publications of the several States of the 
 Union. Since January, 1910, this division has edited the Monthly 
 Check-list of State Publications. 
 
 The Division of Manuscripts (4 persons), established 1897, has 
 the custody of manuscript material not classified as maps, music, 
 or prints. There is a special reading room for the consultation of 
 manuscripts, in which is placed the card index to the collection. 
 The collection consists almost wholly of the papers of American 
 public men and of the Federal Government, and is by far the 
 largest in America. It is constantly growing by gift and pur- 
 chase. A descriptive handbook ' of the collections was issued in 
 1918; calendars have been published of several of the groups of 
 papers,* and the Journal of the Continental Congress is being pub- 
 lished by the Library. The various departments of the Govern- 
 ment are authorized to turn over to the Library material of his- 
 
 1 Cf , U. S. Library of Congress, Check List of American Eigliteenth Century News- 
 papers, compiled by J. V. N. Ingram. Washington, Government Printing Office, 
 1912. 
 
 2 Handbook. Handbook of Manuscripts in the Library of Congress. 1918. 
 •The Franklin papers (1905) ; John Paul Jones manuscripts (1903) ; Papers of 
 
 James Monroe (1904) ; Naval records of the American Revolution (1906) ; Vemon- 
 Wager manuscripts (1904) ; Washington aids (1906) ; Washington correspondence 
 (1906) ; Washington manuscripts (1901) ; Van Buren papers (1911) ; Crittenden 
 papers (1913). 
 
THS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS l7 
 
 torical importance as it ceases to be needed in the departments. 
 Much extremely vahiable material has been received in pursuance 
 •of this law. 
 
 Manuscripts are repaired (frequently a task of great difficulty), 
 mounted, and bound into volumes. The repairers and mounters 
 handle about 8,500 pieces annually. Index cards are written for 
 all important items in each manuscript. 
 
 Manuscripts are consulted by readers only under the super- 
 vision of attendants. The privilege of making extracts and photo- 
 .:graphs is granted on permit from the librarian. 
 
 Division of Maps and Charts (6 persons), organized in 1897. 
 All maps, atlases, and many works on cartography are in the cus- 
 tody of this division (174,093 pieces, 1922). Maps are kept flat 
 in steel cases, each map in a separate manila paper folder. The 
 •collection is richest in maps of North America,' and includes a 
 number of manuscript maps. The collection of atlases is espe- 
 cially noteworthy,' comprising over 5,300 titles, including most of 
 the early printed atlases. 
 
 The Division of Music ^ (7 persons), organized 1897, has the 
 custody of the collection of music (both scores and works of 
 music), numbering over 950,000 items in 1922, with yearly acces- 
 sions of more than 30,000. The greater part of the collection has 
 been acquired by copyright, but of late extensive purchases have 
 been made in addition. The Library now owns one of the largest 
 and finest collections of music in the world, and by far the largest 
 in America.* 
 
 »Cf. U. S. Library of Congress, A List of Maps of America in the Library of 
 •Congress ... by P. Lee Phillips. Washington, Government Printing OflBce, 1901. 
 
 »Cf. U. S. Library of Congress, A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of 
 Congress, compiled under the direction of P. Lee Phillips. 4 vols. Washington, 
 Government Printing Office, 1909-1920. 
 
 •Sonneck, O. G. T., The Music Division of the Library of Congress, in the Pro- 
 ceedings of the Music Teachers' National Association, 1908. 
 
 *U. S. Library of Congress, Dramatic Music: Catalogue of full Scores. Com- 
 piled by O. G. T. Sonneck. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1908. U. S. 
 Library of Congress, Catalogue of Early Books on Music (before 1800) ... Wash- 
 ington, Government Printing Office, 1913. U. S. Library of Congress, Catalogue 
 of Orchestral Music, Part I, scores ... by O. G. T. Sonneck. Washington, Govern- 
 ment Printing Office, 1912. U. S. Library of Congress, Catalogue of Opera Libret- 
 tos printed before 1800. 2 vols. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1914. 
 
18 THE LIBRARY 01^ CONGRESS ' 
 
 Division of Prints (5 persons), organized in 1897. The col- 
 lections of prints of all sorts and the books and periodicals devoted 
 to the fine arts are in charge of this division. In 1922 the books 
 numbered about 44,000 volumes ; the prints, photographs and re- 
 productions of all kinds numbered 428,745 pieces. Worthy of 
 special note are the George Lothrop Bradley collection of 1,980* 
 pieces (originally a loan but now the property of the Library), 
 the Gardiner Greene Hubbard collection of prints (of which the 
 Library issued a catalogue in 1905), the Joseph and Elizabetb 
 Robins Pennell collection of Whistler iana presented in 1917, and: 
 a bequest of about 1,000 prints from the late C. L. Freer. Addi- 
 tions to the Hubbard collection are made from the income arising 
 from a bequest of $20,000 made by Mrs. Hubbard for this specific 
 purpose. In addition to these collections the T. H. Garrett collec- 
 tion of 19,113 pieces has been deposited as a loan for exhibition^ 
 and reference. 
 
 Law Library (8 persons) ; 196,573 volumes in 1922. Part of 
 the Law Library (American and English statutes, reports and' 
 legal periodicals, together with a selection of American and Eng- 
 lish treatises) is kept at the Capitol, where it occupies rooms on- 
 the ground floor. In the Library proper are placed works on 
 foreign law, history and philosophy of law, and jurisprudence, 
 nearly complete sets of American reports, a selection of treatises, 
 and a set of the original Records and Briefs of the United States- 
 Supreme Court. 
 
 The Law Library also contains a valuable collection of legal' 
 incunabula and other early material. 
 
 Under the direction of the law librarian, acting under special' 
 authorization from Congress, an index to the Federal Statutes 
 from 1789 to 1907 was compiled and published in 1908-11.' This 
 index has since been brought up to date as a card index by the 
 American Law Section of the Legislative Reference Service. 
 
 lAn Index Analysis of the Federal Statutes ... by G. W. Scott and M. G. Bea- 
 man. Prepared under the direction of the Librarian of Congress. 2 vols. Wash- 
 ington, Government Printing OflSce, 1908-11. (Not distributed by the Library,, 
 but sold only by the Superintendent of Documents) 
 
TH^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1^ 
 
 Division of Semitic, Slavic and Oriental literature (5 persons), 
 organized in 1914. This is the only division whose field is de- 
 limited by the' languages of the material to be administered. Its^ 
 functions include the cataloguing and classifying of books in the 
 three groups indicated above, as well as the custody, care and 
 administration of these collections. 
 
 The Semitic collection contains about 22,300 volumes in the- 
 Hebrew, Yiddish and cognate languages, the most of which, col- 
 lected by Dr. Ephraim Deinard, were presented to the Library 
 by the late Mr. Jacob Schiff in 1912 and 1914. Yearly additions 
 have made the collection one of the largest and most important, 
 both in quality and quantity. 
 
 The Slavic collection contains 80,000 volumes, chiefly in the 
 Russian language. The private library of Gennadius Vasilievich 
 Yudin of Krasnoiarsk, Siberia, acquired in 1907, constitutes the 
 greater part of the collection, to which, however, considerable 
 additions are made each year through purchase and gift. 
 
 The Oriental collection consists chiefly of East Asiatic liter- 
 ature. It includes upwards of 87,000 Chinese volumes, possibly 
 the largest and best Chinese library outside of China. This col- 
 lection was begun by the first American minister to China, Hon. 
 Caleb Cushing, who brought home about 2,500 selected works for 
 the Library. During the Roosevelt administration another Amer- 
 ican minister, Hon. W. W. Rockhill, gave more than 6,00D 
 volumes and the Chinese government gave 7,000. The preemi- 
 nence of the collection is due, however, to additions in excess of 
 50,000 volumes selected for the Library since 1914 by Dr. Walter 
 T. Swingle of the Department of Agriculture. 
 
 Japanese books to the number of 13,000 volumes, selected for 
 the most part by Dr. Asakawa of Yale University with the assist- 
 ance of other Japanese authorities make up a good working col- 
 lection for students of Japanese history, literature and institutions. 
 
 East Indian languages and literature are represented by the 
 library of the late Dr. Albrecht Weber, professor of Sanskrit at 
 the University of Berlin, comprising 4,020 vplumes acquired in 
 1905. 
 
20 THE I.IBRARY O^ CONGRESS 
 
 Smaller groups of Manchu, Mongol, Korean, Thibetan, Turk- 
 ish, Persian and Arabic books constitute the remainder of the 
 Orientalia. 
 
 The Legislative Reference Division (variable number of per- 
 sons), organized in 1914, renders service only to Congress, its 
 committees and members, by gathering data bearing upon legis- 
 lation. It collects, classifies and indexes material containing in- 
 formation on topics likely to come up for Congressional action. 
 Corresponding to three principal classes of topics on which in- 
 formation is required, the division is organized in three sections : 
 
 (a) The American lav^ section, which indexes the Federal and 
 
 state laws as rapidly as the texts become available. 
 
 (b) The Foreign law section, which indexes and translates the 
 
 laws of other countries. 
 
 (c) The Economic, Statistic and History section, which collects 
 
 and indexes current miscellaneous material on matters 
 likely to be the subject of Congressional inquiry. 
 
 Copyright Office (91 persons), organized in its present form in 
 1897. It has the entire "copyright business" in its charge. The 
 office is under the register of copyrights, who "acts under the 
 direction and supervision of the Librarian of Congress". It 
 receives and records all material offered for copyright entry, 
 turning over to the Library such items as are desired. Fees 
 received from owners of copyrights are turned into the United 
 States Treasury. These amounted to $138,516.15 in 1922, ex- 
 ceeding the appropriation for the office by $33,776.15. The total 
 number of articles deposited was 241,262 in 1922. The office 
 publishes in weekly and monthly issues a Catalogue of Copyright 
 Entries, recording each item copyrighted, and forming the most 
 complete record made of the product of the press of America. 
 
 The Library of Congress and other libraries. — The resources of 
 the Library of Congress are available for other libraries, (1) by 
 the sale and deposit of printed catalogue cards; (2) interlibrary 
 loans; (3) distribution and sale of its publications, including 
 bibliographies of special topics; (4) cooperation in publishing. 
 
TH^ LIBRARY O? CONGRESS 21 
 
 The sale of printed cards has been mentioned above/ The inter- 
 library loan is a matter of comparatively recent development. It 
 acts on the principle that the duty of the national library is to aid 
 the unusual need with the unusual book. Books are lent to other 
 libraries for the use of investigators engaged in research expected 
 to enlarge the boundaries oi knowledge. The material lent can not 
 include, therefore, books that should be in a local library, or that 
 can be borrowed from a library (such as a State library) having 
 a particular duty to the community from which the application 
 comes; nor books that are inexpensive and can easily be pro- 
 cured; nor books for the general reader, mere textbooks, or 
 popular manuals ; nor books where the purpose is ordinary student 
 or thesis work, or for mere self-instruction. Nor can it include 
 material which is in constant use at Washington, or whose loan 
 would be an inconvenience to Congress, or to the executive de- 
 partments of the Government, or to reference readers in the 
 Library of Congress. 
 
 Genealogies and local histories are not as a rule available for 
 loan, nor are newspapers, the latter forming part of a consecutive 
 historical record which the Library of Congress is expected to 
 retain and preserve ; and only for serious research can the privi- 
 lege be extended to include volumes of periodicals. 
 
 The expense of transportation are borne by the borrowing 
 library. 
 
 The publications* of the Library are distributed by exchange 
 with other institutions and by sale through the office of the Super- 
 intendent of Documents of the Government Printing Office. A 
 very limited number is distributed gratis. 
 
 The Library has cooperated with the American Library Asso- 
 ciation in editing and publishing the A. L. A. Catalog of 1904 and 
 the A. L. A. Portrait Index, and with the libraries of the District 
 of Columbia in the Union List of Periodicals, Transactions, and 
 Allied Publications, issued in 1901. 
 
 iPage 14. 
 
 «U. S. Library of Congress, Publications issued since 1897. October, 1920. 
 
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