REPORT

OF

THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS,

Washington, D. C., December 7, 1925. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith my report as Librarian of Congress for the year ending June 30, 1925. That portion of it which deals with the care of the physical establishment (excepting such matters as now come within the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol) is set forth in the statement of the administrative assistant, Mrs. Woods, beginning at page 167, who also, as disbursing officer, submits the usual analysis of expenditures. The report of the register of copyrights is attached as Appendix II.

In connection with the physical establishment the fortunate items to report are three: (1) The installation of electric elevators for the outworn hydraulic; (2) the grant (in the appropriation act for the present year) of $345,000 toward the construction of the much-needed bookstack in the northeast courtyard, whose total cost may reach $745,000; and (3) the gift from Mrs. Frederic Shurtleff Coolidge of an auditorium for chamber music.

chamber music.

This gift, unique in its particular purpose, and almost Auditorium for unique in its nature (as from an individual to provide physical resources for the Federal Government), took the form of an offer of $60,000 for the construction in connection with the Library of an auditorium suitable for chamber music but available also for other uses. The offer, addressed to me, was communicated by me to Congress December 4, 1924, and upon the unanimous recommendation of the Committees on the Library was ac

1

cepted (in both Houses by unanimous consent) in a joint resolution approved January 23, 1925, which provided also for the construction under the Architect of the Capitol. (See Appendix IV for my communication and the joint resolution.)

Subsequent estimates indicating that the cost of a structure such as was desirable would be at least $90,000, Mrs. Coolidge increased her gift to that sum. Including the equipment, some of which was, with her assent, provided out of this year's income of her endowment (see infra), the actual cost will have been about $94,000. As most of the work and the equipment was furnished at a bare margin above cost, the $94,000 has secured results' far beyond what such a sum would ordinarily secure. This is exclusive of the organ, the cost of which ($15,500) is to be met out of future income of the endowment.

The general scheme of the structure and its location were determined after consultation with the Architect of the Capitol, members of the Fine Arts Commission, and approval of the Joint Committee on the Library. Mr. Charles A. Platt, of New York (architect of the Freer Gallery), was engaged as consulting architect, and the plans drawn by him were submitted for competitive bids in April last. The successful bidder (Arthur L. Smith & Co., of Washington) initiated work without delay and so hastened it that the structure would be ready for the first group of recitals October 28-30.1

The auditorium is a rectangle, stretching across the north end of the northwest (inner) courtyard, and reaching only to the level of the main floor. Utilizing three of the existing walls, it has but one wall exposed-that to the south. It occupies but about one-half of the court. The entrances are from the west corridor on the ground floor. The hall has a seating capacity of 511; with an entrance lobby (on the west) and a platform stage on the east. This latter is provided with a drop for a piano, and the equipment includes a small three-manual organ (whose cost is to be met out of subsequent income of Mrs. Coolidge's endowment). A chamber over the lobby will

1 The recitals took place as planned. See Appendix VI.

facilitate the use on occasions of a lantern or projection apparatus. (Views of the auditorium appear with the detailed description given in Appendix IVc, p. 28.)

The tablet identifying the structure as the gift of Mrs. Coolidge was itself a gift from certain lovers of chamber music.

Designed primarily for the rendition of chamber music, and subject always to the first claim upon it of our division of music, the auditorium will also serve a long-desired convenience for staff meetings and for lectures in exposition of our collections.

For music its assured and most significant use will be for the periodical recitals for which (among other purposes) Mrs. Coolidge's endowment now provides.

endowment

for

This endowment takes the form of a deed of trust by Mrs. Coolidge's her to the Northern Trust Co., of Chicago, executed music. January 19, 1925, by which she transfers to the trustee certain personal properties estimated to yield a net income of $28,200 per annum. This annual sum is to be paid over to the Librarian of Congress in quarterly instalments, for the following purposes:

(a) To aid the music division of the Library of Congress in the development of the study, composition, and appreciation of music, by enabling it

(b) To establish and conduct a periodic festival or festivals of music;

(c) To give concerts and defray all the expenses connected therewith;

(d) To offer and award a prize or prizes for any original composition or compositions performed in public for the first time at any festival or concert given under the auspices of the Library of Congress;

(e) To pay regularly to the chief of the music division of the Library an honorarium, which shall be distinct from any governmental salary received by him, and shall be in recognition of the special labor (much of it outside of official hours and routine), special responsibility, and inevitable personal expense, imposed upon him in the suitable execution of these purposes.

(f) To further the purposes of musicology through the music division of the Library of Congress.

(g) To do any and all other lawful acts and things designed to promote the art of music, so far as any of the foregoing purposes come within the charitable uses which are allowed and can be

sustained by law, this proviso being inserted out of caution, to make the public and charitable purpose of this gift unambiguous and unmistakable.

As an explanation of her main purpose Mrs. Coolidge coincidentally addressed the following note to me as librarian:

I wish to leave with the recipient of the income from the Library trust fund which I have created the ultimate authority in the matter of its appropriation and application, and have therefore so worded the trust deed; nevertheless, I believe that you and your successors, as such recipients, may conceivably welcome a personal expression of my principal motives in the creation of this foundation.

I have wished to make possible, through the Library of Congress, the composition and performance of music in ways which might otherwise be considered too unique or too expensive to be ordinarily undertaken. Not this alone, of course, nor with a view to extravagance for its own sake; but as an occasional possibility of giving precedence to considerations of quality over those of quantity; to artistic rather than to economic values; and to opportunity rather than to expediency. For this reason I believe that advice should be sought from broadminded and disinterested musicians, whether or not official, whether or not professional. And, for the same reason, I hope that the audience may be chosen very largely from those whose musical taste and experience qualify them to listen sincerely and appreciatively.

It is not, therefore, "quantity production" that Mrs. Coolidge has in view, nor the popularization of the merely meritorious in music. It is rather the cultivation of the exceptional, for the stimulus and benefit of the superior understanding. The choice of chamber music is significant because, in this, music finds its purest and noblest expressions. The promotion of new compositions will stimulate the creation of new forms, of which, though many may be tentative and ephemeral, some will prove of permanent beauty and value. The provision for recitals will enable these to find a hearing. And the fact that the immediate audiences will be small will be no limitation, if they are composed of persons of the requisite understanding, seriousness of purpose, and influence in the musical world. Through that influence the effects may be far reaching; and the little auditorium at our National Capital prove, as a Japanese visitor, with