Modern Language Associa tion. Registration of students. tions. The French transcripts received during the year from the Archives Nationales, include documents from the Ministry of the Colonies, Correspondance Générale de Saint Domingue; also from the archives of the Ministry of the Marine, series B1, B2, and B7, beginning with the year 1778. The Library has also received copies of correspondence of Franklin, Vergennes, Gérard, and others, from the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Correspondance Politique, États-Unis. The number of reproductions of fundamental books and manuscripts relating to the beginnings of English literature, prepared under the direction of the Modern Language Association, has increased from 49 to 67. These reproductions are duplicated by the New York Public Library so that two sets shall be available to students. The volumes are sent out on interlibrary loan and are in constant demand by students. The registration of students using the manuscript collections numbered 241. This year George Washington University for the first time leads in the number of student users, with Johns Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania a tie for second place, and Columbia and Howard a tie for third place. In all, 49 institutions were represented by students. Use of collec-The collections were consulted 2,125 times by investigators and for photostat copying. These figures do not. include the research work performed by the staff in answer to inquiries made verbally, by telephone, and by mail. The presidential papers were used 441 times. As usual, the Washington papers were oftenest consulted (202), with Thomas Jefferson next (157). Interest centered around Jackson, Madison, Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Pierce, Arthur, Tyler, McKinley, Grant, Polk, and Monroe. The Roosevelt and Taft papers were consulted under restrictions. The main Lincoln collection is not now open; but many Lincoln papers are open to students. One consultation usually means a full day's use by the investigator. Personal papers (other than the presidential series) were used 223 times with calls made. most often on Genet, Chase, Lyman Trumbull, Franklin, John Sherman, McArthur, Stanton, Biddle, and Marcy. Other miscellaneous personal papers were used 597 times. The Papers of the Continental Congress, the most valuable of the major groups, were used 133 times. The papers of the various States were called for 70 times, with those of Florida used oftenest (48 times). The House of Representatives collection was used 172 times on account of special research work being done by the Department of State in connection with the preparation for publication of the papers of the States. The transcripts from foreign archives were used 258 times. The interest, as always, was greatest in the British archives and the Stevens transcripts (241 times used); the French transcripts were consulted 13 times and the Spanish 4 times. ence. During the year, 1,564 letters, memoranda, and reports Correspond were written on subjects ranging from Christopher Columbus to present-day politics, and from administrative routine to technical advice as to manuscript repair and care. The greater number of inquiries were for information concerning the Declaration of Independence, George Washington, the Revolutionary War, and Abraham Lincoln. The interest in Thomas Jefferson and the Jeffersonian philosophy of government is increasing. repair of manu scripts. The repair shop, operated under the direction of the Binding and Public Printer, has maintained its high standard of efficiency and achievement. It also serves as a model for similar work in various State, university, and association repair divisions. The total number of manuscripts and photostat sheets handled was 110,363. The number of volumes prepared for the bindery was 639. Of this number, 400 volumes, or almost two-thirds of the total, are withdrawn from use, awaiting binding. DIVISION OF DOCUMENTS (From the report of the chief, Mr. CHILDS) The collection of material.-During the fiscal year DOCUMENTS: ending June 30, 1927, the accessions to the Library Accessions. through the division of documents were as follows: 1 A total of 6,277 volumes sent to bindery; 8,872 pamphlets bound into covers. A visit to Germany, Lithuania, and two near-by countries, made during October and November, 1926, by the chief of the division, afforded opportunity to form new connections for the acquisition of official publications. In these countries the printing and distribution of government documents is, to a very considerable extent, decentralized. In practice, the distribution is in the hands of the departments and has been largely limited to copies for the official use of the departmental personnel. No bibliographical record (annual or otherwise) has been available to indicate what publications are being issued by the various agencies of the governments and the channels through which these documents may be obtained. In view of this situation, no occasion was overlooked to emphasize the value of these foreign government publications in the collections of the Library of Congress as necessary sources of information to the Members of our Congress. In Germany, the Reichstauschstelle has been established in the Reichsministerium des Innern as an official exchange bureau for the Federal Government.1 Thus, a definite step has been taken toward centralizing the exchange of all publications of the various agencies of the "Reich" Government. In Lithuania, the Government has agreed not only to exchange official publications as issued currently, but to furnish a complete series of all documents issued since the Declaration of Independence about 10 years ago. The importance of this project was presented at the Foreign Office in Kaunas with the cooperation of the American consul. Further, as a result of the journey, important connections for the acquisition of publications issued in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (Russia) were established. During the latter half, principally, of the past year 1,700 volumes and 5,464 pamphlets have been received, including not only Government documents from the Union Government, but from Ukrainia, White Russia, and Uzbekistan. In Latvia the Service des Échanges Internationaux at Riga has issued a check list of the Government documents published by that Government during the years 1924-1925,2 and is undertaking to centralize the exchange in a satisfactory fashion. Although the Kingdom of Egypt had, on June 13, 1925, become a party to the two conventions of March 15, 1886, relative to the international exchange of official publications, notice of this fact was not transmitted to the Library of Congress until April, 1927. In compliance with Article I of the First Convention, the Egyptian Government had established the bureau of publications in the Ministry of Finance as the official agency of distribution. The international exchange with Canada was discussed, during the latter part of June, 1927, with the parliamentary librarian, the King's printer, and others at Ottawa. For instance, various changes are taking place in the distribution of the Canadian official publi 1 Functioning, of course, with the cooperation of the Amerika-Institut in Berlin. 2 Latvijas oficialo izdevumu saraksts. Riga, 1925. 25 p. cations. The Sessional Papers of the Canadian Parliament, corresponding to our Congressional Series, have been discontinued with the volumes for 1925, but may be replaced in part by a series of consolidated departmental reports. Arrangement has been made through the use of the daily Congressional Record for the immediate exchange of parliamentary material to secure regularly the legislative proceedings and documents of two German States, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. These exchanges, negotiated through the good offices of the Amerika-Institut, Berlin, represent the final additions to the list of the German States from which the Library of Congress is receiving documents currently. In exchange for the daily Congressional Record all but two of the States of Mexico are now sending official gazettes. A detailed list of these publications, which contain, in addition to the legislative proceedings, the State laws and proclamations, follows: Aguascalientes. erno del estado. Labor libertaria, periódico oficial del gobi Campeche. Periódico oficial del gobierno constitucional del estado de Campeche. Chiapas. Periódico oficial del gobierno constitucional del es- Chihuahua. Periódico oficial del gobierno del estado de (The Governor of Chihuahua State presented to the Library of Congress, through the American Consulate, a file of the Periódico oficial from July, 1914, to December, 1925.) Vol. I, No. 1, December 15, 1913, already in the Library of Congress, opens with the following proclamation by Gen. Francisco Villa, Gobernador interino del Estado: "Manifiesto de amnistia que concede el Primer Jefe del Ejército Constitucionalista del Estado de Chihuahua.") Coahuila. Periódico oficial del gobierno constitucional del estado independiente, libre y soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza. Colima. El Estado de Colima, periódico oficial del gobierno constitucional. (The Hon. Francisco Solorzano Bejar, Governor of the State of Colima, presented to the Library of Congress through the American consulate at Manzanillo a file of the official gazette for 1916-1926, being vols. 1-11.) |