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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 manuscripts— such 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

tion of libraries and the reorganization of older ones into centralized and complex library systems is creating a demand in that direction to which attention has been called repeatedly and prominently of late in the organs of the American library world. As in these cases the scientific and technical problems are not under consideration, it is natural that no reference should be made to them and that the high order of executive ability necessary for the general administration of such institutions should alone be dwelt upon. Cataloguing, classification, reference work, and other such services are, however, vital functions of the library organism. The tendency of aspirants for library honors to confine their efforts to the acquisition of administrative training and experience, and to look upon the other functions with indifference, if not disdain, may be due to the greater emphasis placed upon the former in current professional discussions; not that the executive is held in greater honor, but the others in less. Cooperative cataloguing and classification on the other hand demand comprehensive knowledge and great efficiency. They also involve problems of organization and require constant effort toward improvement in methods and simplification of processes. The value of this service has received recognition by appropriate rank in a few instances, but unless such recognition is granted less grudgingly the technical departments of library work will not attract men of the education and ability requisite to success in them."

FINANCE

The table given below exhibits the appropriations and expenditures of the Library proper and of the Copyright Office for the fiscal year, and the appropriations for the year now current. Included also are the appropriations for the equipment and care of the building and grounds, expended by the Superintendent. The allotment for printing and binding (during the past year $202,000) is not included.

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Increase of Library. e 108, 000.00 e 108, 000.00 f 107, 986. 31

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10, 000. 00

560.00 87,860.00

€ 108,000.00 7,300.00

Contingent expenses.

Total Library and

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b Appropriations 1908 include $1,500 deficiency and $639.22 credits on account of sales to government institutions. Appropriations 1909 include $358.97 credits on account of sales to government institutions. Does not include $146.94 yet to be credited. Expenditures 1909 ($17,123.41) offset by subscriptions covered into the Treasury ($24,452). An indebtedness of $175 is to be paid when amounts due through sales to government institutions have been credited in full.

c Balance available July 1, 1907.

d Offset by fees covered into the Treasury ($83,816.75).

e Exclusive of $1,500 to be expended by the marshal of the Supreme Court for new books for that body.

f Expenditures 1909 include outstanding orders.

9 Appropriations 1910 include balance from preceding year.

*Effective March 5-June 30, 1909.

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