APPENDIX 11 
REPORT ON THE LIBRARY 
Sir: [ have the honor to submit the following report on the activities 
of the Smithsonian library for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1948: 
The library received 53,129 publications during the year, 9,250 of 
which were transmitted by the International Exchange Service. They 
covered broadly the fields of astrophysics, botany, zoology, geology, 
anthropology, engineering, the fine and useful arts, history, and many 
related subjects. They came from all over the world, by purchase, by 
gift, and in exchange, and were written in many different languages. 
Friends of the Institution continued to make generous gifts of books, 
pamphlets, and periodicals. Especially noteworthy among the 9,798 
of the publications so received was the library of the late Charles B. 
Chaney, of Laurel, Md., a very fine collection of 1,510 books and 
periodicals on the history of railroads, presented for the special use of 
the division of engineering. The American Association for the 
Advancement of Science and the American Association of Museums 
continued to make large donations of current books and periodicals. 
The library is, as always, greatly indebted to these friends everywhere 
throughout the world for their contributions. 
Purchased publications included 1,485 volumes and pamphlets, and 
271 periodical subscriptions. 
The library is primarily a working reference collection, not a 
museum of rare or fine books, but the interests and responsibilities of 
the Smithsonian Institution touch so wide and timeless a range of 
subjects that many old as well as new books are in daily use. A few 
of the out-of-print works purchased to fill lacunae in various subject 
fields were the following: A Natural History of Singing Birds, by 
Eleazar Albin, Edinburgh, 1776; History of Karly Steamboat Naviga- 
tion on the Missouri River, by H. M. Chittenden, New York, 1902, 2 
volumes; Art Sales from early in the Eighteenth Century to early 
in the Twentieth Century, by Algernon Graves, London, 1918-21, 
3 volumes; Atlas der Baumgarten von Java, by S. H. Koorders, 
Leiden, 1913-18, 4 volumes; Voyages made in the Years 1788 and 1789, 
from China to the N. W. Coast of America, by John Meares, London, 
1791, 2 volumes; Conchology, or Natural History of Shells, by E. 
Mendes da Costa, London, 1770-72, numbers 1-6; Monograph of the 
Snakes in Japan, by Moichiro Maki, with 85 colored plates and 158 text 
145 
