REPORT ON SMITHSO^^IAN EXCHANGES, JANUARY 1 TO 



JUNE oO, lS8o. 



By George H. Boehmer. 

 office work. 



On my retiuu tiom an official mission to Europe as special agent for 

 the international exchange of official ])ublic documents of the United 

 States Government with foreign powers, to which position I had been 

 api^ointed by yourself, and at the request of Mr. Spofford, the Libra- 

 rian of Congress, on July 22, 1884, I resumed charge of the Exchange 

 Office on March 1, 1885. One of my first duties was the preparation of 

 reports to (1) the Smithsonian Institution, as the agent of exchange of 

 the United States Government, and (2) to the Library of Congress, as 

 the beneficiary under the Congressional act establishing this system of 

 exchange. The latter report is a manuscript of 620 jjages of (42-line) 

 foolscap paper, and will in all probability be presented to Congress by 

 the Librarian of Congress through the Joint Committee on the Library. 

 The report to the Smithsonian Institution is a manuscript of over 500 

 pages foolscap, and comprises : (a) Letter of transmittal; (&) historical 

 sketch of international exchanges ; (c) journal; (J) correspondence ; (e) 

 bibliographical list of official and scientific publications made by the 

 Government departments and scientific and learned societies located in 

 Berlin, Germany. This list is as complete as could be collected during 

 the comparatively short sojonin in that city. Of this report only the 

 letter of transmittal, exhibiting a resume in a condensed form of the 

 worlc performed, success attained, and certain observations made abroad, 

 will be given in thepresent statement, under the heading "Government 

 Exchange Division." 



Special attention had been given in .all the countries visited to the 

 collecting of reliable information and material to aid in the correction 

 of the "list of foreign correspondents." In this endeavor I met with 

 the most generous assistance on the part of all officials to whom I made 

 known my wishes, and a full list of the eo-operators in this enter])rise 

 will be i>resented in the new and revised list prepared from the mate- 

 rial collected and now ready for publication. This new list comprises 

 over 4,000 titles, while the last one published by the Institution had 

 only 2,1)01. 



The regular office work has received proper attention, and the first 

 six months of the present year close with a record never attained 



before. 



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