SECRETARY'S REPORT 159 



literature needed by the scientific and curatorial staff of the Institu- 

 tion to the cordial exchange relations maintained with scientific and 

 other cultural institutions throughout the world. These relations 

 are continually being extended, and there were 531 new exchanges 

 arranged during the year, while 7,899 different publications were 

 received in response to 497 special requests for volumes or parts of 

 serial publications needed to fill gaps in our collections. 



Acquisitions by purchase included 1,278 books and 332 subscriptions 

 for foreign and domestic serial publications not obtainable by ex- 

 change. Most of the books bought were recent publications, but a 

 few of the many out-of-print works still much needed were purchased 

 as they came into the market. It is highly desirable to be able to buy 

 the most needed of these old books when copies are advertised for sale, 

 but many of them are prohibitively expensive for a small budget, when 

 they are available at all. 



As always, friends of the Institution made many generous gifts to 

 the library. Especially noteworthy among the larger donations was 

 a selection of more than a thousand volumes from the library of the 

 late Gen. John J. Pershing, presented by his son, Francis W. Pershing, 

 especially for the use of the division of military history in the National 

 Museum. 



The library is deeply indebtedly to many members of the Smith- 

 sonian staff for their generosity and thoughtfulness in giving the 

 library copies of their own publications and other books and papers. 

 Stamp collectors everywhere will, directly or indirectly, have reason 

 to be especially grateful to Franklin E. Bruns, Jr., for the more than 

 1,500 publications on stamps he has donated from his own library to 

 the sectional library in the division of philately. Many other gifts 

 to the sectional library were obtained through his good offices. 



Of the grand total of 22,774 publications transferred to the Library 

 of Congress during the year, 5,573 were books and serial publications 

 individually stamped and recorded as additions to the Smithsonian 

 Deposit. Others were 2,481 doctoral dissertations from European 

 universities, and 14,720 foreign and domestic documents, and many 

 miscellaneous publications on subjects not immediately pertinent to 

 the work of the Institution. 



Of the 3,216 publications transferred to the Army Medical Library, 

 581 were medical dissertations. To other government libraries were 

 sent 425 publications on subjects in their special fields of interest. 



There were one or two fairly large and a number of small with- 

 drawals from the library's huge collection of duplicates, but the collec- 

 tion continued to grow. The 11,420 pieces selected and sent to the 

 United States Book Exchange, for exchange credit, made no noticeable 

 impression on it. The collection needs the exclusive time and atten- 

 tion of a small staff of its own, working under the direction of the 



