REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Washington, D. C., December 6, 1909 SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith my report as Librarian of Congress, for the year ending June 30, 1909. The report of the Superintendent of the Library Building and Grounds (and Disbursing Officer) follows, beginning at page 63. SERVICE The death of Doctor Spofford on August 11, 1908, which took from us the service and prestige of the Dean among American librarians, was recorded in my last report; as also the promotion to the Chief Assistant Librarianship of Mr. Appleton P. C. Griffin. The volume there referred to, incorporating the addresses at the memorial meeting of November 12, 1908, was subsequently privately printed, under the auspices and chiefly at the expense of the District of Columbia Library Association, in an edition which sufficed for its members and for a limited distribution to institutions and to relatives and intimate friends of Doctor Spofford. The recent death of another official of the Library who, though a member of the Superintendent's staff, held an office which involved close relations of influence and of service with the Library proper, is mentioned in the report of the Superintendent. This was Dr. George N. French, chief (7) 12721-09-2 SERVICE: Resignation of W. C. Ford clerk to the Superintendent and Disbursing Officer; a veteran in the service of the Government, and an admirable example of a modest, loyal, and devoted official, exact and thorough in his own work and considerate in his relations with that of others. The most notable loss to our staff by resignation was that of Mr. Worthington C. Ford, who on January 1, 1909, left us to become editor for the Massachusetts Historical Society. Mr. Ford brought to the conduct of our Manuscripts Division not merely a precise knowledge of the sources of American history, which made him for certain periods a leading authority, but also a long experience in the scientific treatment of such material. Combining with these qualifications skill in "locating" new material and enterprise in the pursuit of it, his presence with us aided greatly in the enlargement of the manuscript collections, which during the six years of his incumbency more than doubled in extent and importance. Within this period, for instance, occurred the transfer to the Library of the great bodies of manuscriptssuch as the Washington and other presidential papers, and the papers of the Continental Congress-formerly in the State and other federal departments. Within it also have occurred such important private gifts to the Library as those of the Jackson, the Van Buren, and the Breckinridge papers; while in the consideration of material procurable only by purchase, his judgment as to scientific as well as commercial values could be accepted as safely decisive. On the other hand, his certainty and rapidity of decision combined with a prodigious industry effected notable results in the administration and utilization of the collections. His crowning service was indeed as editor, this including not merely the planning and supervision of conventional catalogues and calendars, and the supervision and direction through the press of the Records of the Virginia Company, but the personal editing and similar direction of the first fifteen volumes of the Journals of the Continental Congress, a truly monumental labor for which he was concededly the best equipped person in the country, and his performance of which has won enthusiastic praise from exacting critics. That his departure prevents his completion of it is indeed a misfortune; but the portion completed establishes the plan, scope, and standard for the whole; and Mr. Ford's generous transfer to his successor of his notes, accumulated during a long period of private study in preparation for the work, and his readiness to give particular counsel where this may be needed, combine with the actual competence of his successor to assure that the future volumes will show little, if any, diminution in efficiency. For the gentleman who succeeds him, Mr. Gaillard Hunt, is also familiar with the material and expert in the manner of work. He comes to the Library after twenty-one years' service in the Department of State-not, it is true, as custodian of its archives, but in a proximity to them which his scholarly tastes induced him to utilize. On his departure from the department a letter was addressed to him by the Secretary, which, though it belongs rather to the records of the department than to those of the Library, I can not forbear to reproduce here, not merely as significant of the particular man who has come to our service in a responsibility so important, but also as suggestive of the quality of men that the Government is so fortunate as to secure and retain. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Washington, November 16, 1908 MY DEAR MR. HUNT: It is with great regret that I accept your resignation as Chief of the Bureau of Citizenship of the State Department, to take effect on the 1st of January next. Were it not that the position in the Library of Congress to which you are going affords a better oppor Subordinate service tunity for the kind of work to which you wish to devote yourself, I should urge you to reconsider your determination. Your work in the State Department has been of a very high quality and most devoted and efficient. You have dealt satisfactorily with some of the most important subjects involved in our foreign relations and you have been absurdly underpaid. Your labors have been inconspicuous and of a character to attract little public attention, and you can not expect much public appreciation of them; but they have been appreciated by everybody in the State Department and by many members of both Houses of Congress and by all who have had occasion to become familiar with the workings of the Bureau of Citizenship; and they should be for yourself a basis of enduring satisfaction. We are all sorry to lose you, and I think I am most sorry of all. With sincere esteem, regard, and good wishes, I am Always faithfully yours ELIHU ROOT The position of Assistant Register of Copyrights, created on July 1, 1908, but because of an inadequate salary not then filled, has, now that the salary has been put upon the recommended basis ($3,000), been filled by the appointment of Mr. Ernest Bruncken. Mr. Bruncken, a lawyer by training and original profession (with practice at Milwaukee, Wis.), has for the past four years been legislative librarian in the state library of California. The routine work of other divisions has been embarrassed by the usual number of resignations of subordinate employees. Where, as in the Catalogue and Classification Division, this work is technical, requiring special training and fully efficient only after a considerable period of service here, an increasing difficulty is met in filling the vacancies. As the Chief Classifier remarks in his annual report: "The men and women preparing to enter the library profession appear to be training more and more exclusively for purely executive positions. The multiplica |