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2. Facilities offered for advanced study and research prior to the year 1908.

[A brief narrative and descriptive statement is desired, such as may be incorporated verbatim in the proposed bulletin. If more convenient, reference may be made to publications in which such information is already accessible; or, is such information is not at hand and can not be collected without undue expenditure of time, answer may be omitted altogether.]

3. A more detailed account of such facilities offered during the fiscal year 1908.

[Statements are desired with reference to (a) library facilities, (b) laboratory facilities, (c) direction and supervision of students, (d) special opportunities for study and training afforded to members of the office force, (e) provision for the appointment of student assistants for either part-time or whole-time employment, and (ƒ) additional information.]

4. Number of persons availing themselves of such facilities during the fiscal year 1908.

[Including, if practicable, a list of names and addresses, together with some indication of the previous training of each person and of the work done by him here. If preferred, the answer may take the form of a statement of the number and character or class of such persons and the type of inquiry in which they are engaged.]

5. Facilities offered for the fiscal year 1909.

[Statement in such form as may be incorporated verbatim in the proposed bulletin. Facilities not now afforded but which may be made available to students in the near future might well be mentioned. Where the facilities referred to depend upon an estimated increase in the appropriation for the year, concerning which the action of Congress is still uncertain, this fact should be noted. Answer may be limited to a reference to information given under 3 where this is deemed a sufficient announcement for the coming year.]

6. Regulations and suggestions concerning the conditions of admission to the use of such facilities.

[It would be serviceable to know whether admission to the use of the facilities is limited to any particular type of inquirer; whether, for instance, solely to those pursuing original investigation calculated to advance the boundaries of knowledge, or, in addition, to students doing graduate work in connection with some higher institution, or to all students. Some indication of the number of students who can be accommodated should be included. The conditions governing appointment to student assistantships or analogous positions should be noted.]

7. Additional information and remarks.

These inquiries were transmitted by the Secretary of the Interior to the various departments of the Government, accompanied by a letter similar in form to the following. In the case of those offices not included in any Government department, the accompanying letter was modified to adapt it to the circumstances of the case: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, May 12, 1908.

The honorable the SECRETARY OF STATE.

SIR: Inquiries are made from time to time at the Bureau of Education with reference to the facilities now offered for advanced study and research in the Government offices at Washington, under the provisions of the joint resolution of Congress approved April 12, 1892, and the act of Congress approved March 3, 1901. With a view to answering such inquiries and with a view, also, to furnishing comprehensive information with reference to this matter for the use of the graduate schools of our universities, the Commissioner of Education is desirous of issuing a special bulletin dealing with the subject, and has secured the service of President Ira Remsen, of the Johns Hopkins University, in the capacity of editor of such bulletin.1

You will readily understand that what is contemplated is not the preparation of an official report concerning operations under the acts referred to, which the Bureau of Education is neither directed nor empowered to make, but merely the assembling of such information as will meet the needs of instructors and students throughout the country. Such a publication as will serve this purpose can be prepared only with the cooperation of the heads of the several Government offices concerned. I have received assurances that such cooperation will be freely extended. I trust that you will find it proper and possible to assist in this undertaking by furnishing such information as is indicated on the inquiry blank inclosed herewith with reference to the following offices of the Department of State: The Bureau of Indexes and Archives and the Bureau of Rolls and Library.

This form of inquiry has been prepared in consultation with President Remsen, with a view to bringing together the information from the several offices in something

1 A few weeks later President Remsen was obliged by the pressure of immediate and unusual duties to withdraw from this engagement.

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approaching uniformity of arrangement and presentation. It is not unlikely, however, that in some offices certain variations from this plan will be found necessary to a fair presentation of essential facts concerning those offices. I inclose a copy of this letter for the information of each of the offices referred to.

For convenience of reference there has been added to the circular of inquiry the text of the congressional enactments to which reference has been made, and a provisional list of the Government offices to which this inquiry is to be sent is inclosed herewith.

If convenient, will you kindly furnish this office with the information asked for before the end of this current month?

I have the honor to be, very respectfully,

(Signed) JAMES RUDOLPH GARFIELD, Secretary.

The complete list of offices to which the inquiry was sent is as follows:

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Naval Medical School and Hospital.

Interstate Commerce Commission.

Naval War Records Office and Li-International Bureau of American Re

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It was requested that the information be furnished in such a form that it might be quoted if the Bureau of Education should find it desirable to do so. The majority of the answers were framed with such care that the bureau believes it advantageous to publish them nearly in full. Exception has been made in case of the reports of a few of the departments which, owing to their limited means or to the confidential character of the work intrusted to their charge, are unable to afford much assistance to the general student. The replies of other departments have been abridged by the omission of catalogues of literature collected or published, whose inclusion would have swelled this report beyond its natural limits.

REPLIES MADE BY THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS AND OFFICES TO THE INQUIRIES OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

(Officer reporting: Herbert Putnam, Librarian.)

1. 1897. This date is that of the completion of the new Library Building, which marks the beginning of the opportunity and service of the Library as the National Library of the United States.

While still at the Capitol, however (that is, from 1800 to 1897), the Library was free for reference to all inquirers, and within its abilities rendered valuable service as a general research library, as well as one for governmental use.

2. The resources and facilities are indicated passim in the annual reports of the Librarian 1897-1907. See especially the Manual attached to that for 1901.

3. The Library is still the Library of Congress, and as such has a special duty to Congress. It is also (1) the law library of the Supreme Court of the United States, and (2) the central library for all the executive departments and bureaus at Washington. Subject to the convenience of the Government, it is a free reference library for the general public. As such its interest is particularly to aid research calculated to advance the boundaries of knowledge. All of its collections are available to this end, and they comprise now (in round numbers) 1,500,000 books and pamphlets, 100,000 maps and charts, 470,000 volumes and pieces of music, 250,000 prints, and a great collection of manuscripts indispensable to the student of American history. It receives by operation of law all books copyrighted in the United States, and by exchange the official publications of all governments and most learned societies and institutions. Its expenditures for purchase now total $108,000 a year. In its selection for purchase it will gladly give preference to material desired by investigators for immediate use. It receives currently nearly 7,000 serials, including about 1,200 newspapers. The resident or visiting investigator can be given a special desk where he may reserve material from day to day, and, if necessary, direct access to material on the shelves. Upon special permit he may withdraw material for home use. specialists of the Library, of whom there are a number in various fields of knowledge, will gladly give assistance in the bibliography of their subjects.

The

Investigators not able to visit Washington may secure the loan of material by application through their local libraries.

The main reading room has accommodation for 250 readers, but the building as a whole for a thousand. No credential is required for its reference use, and no formality beyond the minimum requisite for safety.

Special strength of collection.-Manuscripts (for American history), official documents, maps and charts, music, prints, society publications, law, history, and political and social science. Other departments are now being rapidly and systematically developed. (In four are already special collections of importance: Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit literature.)

NOTE.-Special fields not emphasized because covered by other governmental libraries are medicine, agriculture, geology, and education.

4. We do not keep statistical records to enable us to answer this question, nor does the inquiry seem to demand it. The number of persons using the Library is, as a whole, about the number that would use a large municipal library. The classes of persons may be divided into three: Members of Congress; visiting investigators; resident investigators.

The resident use is obvious. The visiting investigators may be indicated by the following: Historians, mostly professors in American universities; economists; scientists, in connection with advanced work of the Government bureaus and for personal work; candidates for doctors' degrees.

5. Same as for 1908.

6. For reference use the Library is absolutely free, without introduction or credential to any inquirer from any place; and it is open from 9 a. m. until 10 p. m., and on Sundays and most holidays from 2 p. m. until 10 p. m.

If,

The general reader is supposed to carry on his work in the main reading room. however, he is pursuing investigations requiring access to the books upon the shelves, he will be admitted to the shelves if his work imperatively demands it, and if he can not be served by having the books brought to him. Such access is, of course, subject to the convenience of the administration. If a reader is engaged in research involving the continuous use of a number of the same books day after day, he will be given a table in an alcove, where they may be set aside for him; if he desires to dictate to a stenographer, a separate room, where he may do so without inconvenience or publicity.

There is no limit to the number of books a reader may draw for reference use. For books from the stacks to be used in the reading room he makes out a call slip, signing his name and residence. But there are available to him without this formality, or the intervention of an attendant, some 15,000 volumes of reference books in this room, 2,700 current newspapers and periodicals in the periodical reading room, and much material in other parts of the Library.

In the very early years (circa 1815), and again from about 1884-1894, the privilege of drawing books for home use was permitted to any resident of the District making a deposit as security. From time to time since then, and especially before the Public Library was in efficient operation in it new building, appeals have been made for the revival of this privilege. A communication from the Librarian to the chairman of the Senate Library Committee, January 27, 1903, was induced by such an appeal, which caused the introduction of a resolution into the Senate. The view held was adverse to the proposal to make the National Library a general circulating library, but emphasized the sympathy of the authorities with every application for the home use of books resting upon a serious need not to be satisfied by reference use nor by the Public Library of the District. A distinction is easy, for the function of the latter is peculiarly to aid the general leader and the younger reader, including the pupils of the common schools. This leaves to the Library of Congress the investigator proper.

The statutory designations of persons (rather classes) within the District who should have the privilege of books for home use are as follows: President, Vice President, ex-Presidents of the United States, Senators, Representatives, Delegates, heads of departments, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, reporter of the Supreme Court, clerk of the Supreme Court, members of the Diplomatic Corps, judges of the Court of Claims, clerk of the Court of Claims, Solicitor General, Assistant Attorneys General, Secretary of the Senate, Clerk of the House of Representatives, Chaplains of the two Houses of Congress, Solicitor of the Treasury, the financial agent of the Joint Committee on the Library, Smithsonian Institution through its Secretary, Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, members of the Interstate Commerce Commission, secretary of the Interstate Commerce Commission, Chief of Engineers of the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, associate justices of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, associate justices of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia,

A resident of the District engaged in serious investigation, and having some special need which can not be met by reference use, may apply to the Librarian for a special permit which may meet this need.

The duty of the National Library is to aid the unusual need with the unusual book, not only by supplying a reader on the premises, but by making books available to the research worker even if he is not in Washington. When, therefore, it receives a call for a book in its possession which is not accessible to the applicant elsewhere, and it is a book required by him for serious investigation, and it can at the moment be spared from Washington, it is lent, through another institution.

The principles governing the operation of the interlibrary loans are described in the following memorandum, which was put forth as a circular at the inception of the system:

"Under the system of interlibrary loans the Library of Congress will lend certain books to other libraries for the use of investigators engaged in serious research. The loan will rest on the theory of a special service to scholarship which it is not within the power or the duty of the local library to render. Its purpose is to aid research calculated to advance the boundaries of knowledge, by the loan of unusual books not readily accessible elsewhere.

"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 procured; nor books for the general reader, mere text-books, 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 departments of the Government, or to reference readers in the Library of Congress.

Genealogies and local histories are not 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 very serious research can the privilege be extended to include volumes of periodicals.

"A library borrowing a book is understood to hold itself responsible for the safekeeping and return of the book at the expiration of ten days from its receipt. An extension of the period of loan is granted, upon request, whenever feasible.

"All expenses of carriage are to be met by the borrowing library.

"Books will be forwarded by express (charges collect) whenever this conveyance is deemed necessary for their safety. Certain books, however, can be sent by mail, but it will be necessary for the borrowing library to remit in advance a sum sufficient to cover the postal charges, including registry fee.

"The Library of Congress has no fund from which charges of carriage can be prepaid."

A service of the Library distinct from that involved in the actual loan of books is that performed by answer to inquiry through correspondence. The character of the questions which the Library answers most willingly is noted below:

1. As to its possession of a particular book.

2. As to the existing bibliographies on a particular subject.

3. As to the most useful existing authorities on a particular subject and where they may be available.

4. As to the author of a book by a known title.

5. As to the date, price, and probable present cost of a specified book.

6. For the source of a particular quotation, if ascertainable by ready reference.

7. (If not requiring elaborate research.) For other particular facts in history or literature; in the organization or operations of the Federal Government.

8. (Where of moderate extent.) For an extract from a book in its possession.

1. 1870.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE: BUREAU OF INDEXES AND ARCHIVES.

(Officer reporting: John R. Buck, chief of bureau.)

2. The diplomatic archives from 1789 to August, 1906, are contained in about 3,000 volumes and are arranged in the following series:

(1) Instructions. These include all letters from the department to diplomatic representatives of the United States abroad. The series commences with January 23, 1791, although earlier letters, to United States representatives in France, Morocco, Great Britain, Netherlands, and Spain, are contained in the volumes of Foreign Letters in the Bureau of Rolls and Library.

(2) Dispatches.

(3) Notes from the department.

(4) Notes to the department.

For details see Guide to the Archives of the Government of the United States in Washington, by Van Tyne and Leland, second edition, published by the Carnegie Institution, 1907.

3. The volumes of diplomatic papers in the Bureau of Indexes and Archives are listed in an inventory book, in which new volumes are entered when bound. This inventory gives the numbers on the manuscript volumes, showing which volumes are duplicates of others; it also gives the dates of beginning and ending of the volumes, but in many cases, especially in dispatches, these dates are not early enough or late enough, as the case may be. The reason for this discrepancy in dates is usually the fact that the letters written before the minister or agent reached his post, and those written after leaving it, are not included in the dates given. In some cases at the end of a volume are found letters written by a former diplomatic officer many years after the termination of his mission. Besides the list of volumes of Dispatches, Notes to the Department, Instructions, and Notes from the Department, this inventory contains lists of volumes of Circulars, of Consular Instructions and Consular Dispatches, and of volumes pertaining to Consular Clerks, Foreign Consuls in the United States, and Special Agents.

By the help of this inventory volumes can usually be located readily. The system of arrangement of books is comparatively simple, and in almost all the books the manuscripts are bound in chronological order, the most noteworthy exception being that inclosures are bound after the letter in which they were inclosed, though naturally preceding it in date. The records are, on the whole, in excellent condition, though some of the older papers are considerably discolored, or are brittle and breaking at the edges, thus making the reading of them difficult for the investigator. The handwriting of many of the earlier papers is hard to decipher, even when the ink has not faded. Some of the press copies are at present almost illegible.

The arrangement in earlier years is in some ways perplexing, and sometimes important documents are not to be found. It is no unusual thing to find that dispatches of certain numbers are not in the archives, and this in spite of the fact that sometimes

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