in the card catalogue) were reclassified; 1,205 monographs and arti- 

 cles were analyzed (they are represented in the card catalogue by an 

 author card and one or more subject cards) ; 82 volumes transferred 

 from the John Crerar Library on permanent loan were catalogued 

 under the Library of Congress system and added to this Museum's 

 Library records; and 319 temporary main-entry cards were prepared 

 for the remainder of the volumes transferred from the John Crerar 

 Library so that the volumes may be represented in the Museum's 

 catalogue until they can be completely catalogued and classified. 

 Miss Patricia Williamson, summer assistant, began work on an au- 

 thorities file for authors. In this file are now 1,434 cards, and the 

 Library of Congress section of the Library's author file has been 

 amended through the letter "B." A total of 18,650 catalogue cards 

 was prepared and filed in the main card catalogue and in the cata- 

 logues of the departments. A total of 131 items was translated. 



In the Asiatic section of the Library Dr. Hoshien Tchen contin- 

 ued his work of cataloguing the East Asian Collection of books in 

 Oriental languages, cataloguing new acquisitions and bringing to 

 near completion his part in the processing of the large collection of 

 Chinese and Japanese titles acquired by Dr. Berthold Laufer, former 

 Chief Curator of Anthropology. Including new acquisitions and the 

 Laufer books, 431 titles consisting of more than 2,300 volumes were 

 catalogued during the year by Dr. Tchen. In addition, minor repairs 

 were made on those books that through age and mishandling were in 

 need of special care. Since 1954 Dr. Tchen has catalogued about 

 1,500 titles, consisting of more than 11,500 volumes. 



It is a particular source of satisfaction to note that after three 

 years of concentrated work Dr. Tchen has all but finished the monu- 

 mental task of making a preliminary catalogue of the Chinese and 

 Japanese portions of the Laufer Collection. There remains only a 

 month or two of organizational and repair work. The magnitude of 

 cataloguing this valuable collection of books may be realized when 

 it is pointed out that the Laufer books in Chinese and Japanese lan- 

 guages number 1,119 titles in 7,809 volumes and that the collection 

 in content spans the entirety of East Asiatic history and culture — 

 art and archaeology, biography, dictionaries, encyclopaedias and 

 other reference works, geography, history, literature, philosophy and 

 religion, science and industry. Among these titles are a great num- 

 ber of fine woodblock editions dating from the Ming (A.D. 1368-1644) 

 and Ch'ing (A.D. 1644-1911) periods. 



Although the preliminary cataloguing is near completion, much 

 remains to be done before the processing of the East Asian Collection 

 is finally done. This applies particularly to the Laufer books. The 



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