236 



Collections of Special Material 



The general collections form a matrix in which sre 

 embedded many collections of special material secured 

 by gift or purchase, or by the segregation of material 

 gradually acquired. An enumeration of certain of 

 these is intended to be exemplary rather than ex- 

 haustive. 



Name of collectiOD 



"Accademia della Crusca" 

 Collection. 



Susan B. Anthony Collec- 

 tion. 



John Davis Batcbelder Col- 

 lection. 



Wlnalow M. Bell Collection. 



Henry Carrington Bolton 



Collection. 

 Bertram Dobell Collection.. 



Peter Force Collection 



French plays 



Henry Harrisse Collection... 



Martin Hattnla Collection... 

 Justice Oliver Wendell 



Holmes Collection. 

 Harry Houdini Collection... 



Henrik Jorgen Huitfeld- 

 Kass Collection. 



Jefferson Collection. 



Mrs. Clarence W. Jones Col- 

 lection. 



Edward William Karow 

 Collection. 



Lincoln Collection.. 



Lloyd H. Chandler Collec- 

 tion. 



Longe Collection 



Karl Niessen Collection 



Portuguese Collection 



Frederick Starr Collection... 



Raymond Toinet Collection. 



VoUbehr CollecMon o( In- 

 conabala. 



Volltiehr Collection of Print- 

 ers' Marks. 

 Albrecht Weher Collection.. 



Washington Collection 



Winter Palace Collection 



Size 



1,800 volumes. 

 400 volumes... 

 1,125 volumes. 



444 items 



1,631 volumes. 



1,611 volumes. - 

 60,000 volumes. 



2,823 titles 



220 volumes 



1,500 volumes.. 

 13,000 volumes. 



5.000 volumes. 

 2,000 volumes. 



300 volumes. 



3.000 titles.. 

 567 items.. - 



2.000 titles... 

 752 volumes. 



1.899 volumes- 

 2,706 volumes. 



2,518 volumes. 

 3.000 titles 



11,005 pieces 



4,020 titles 



ca. 2,500 volumes. 

 1,733 volumes 



Subject or contents 



Italian literature, 1500-1887. 

 Woman suffrage movement. 



First editions of significant books 

 and outstanding items of a 

 particular period. 



Bermudiana (rare manuscripts, 

 prints, etc.). 



History and bibliography of 

 chemistry. 



Privately printed books. 



.\mericana: incimabula. etc. 



French drama, 17S9-1930. 



.American history and explora- 

 tion. 



Slavic philology. 



His private library, including 

 law. 



Magic, spiritism, occultism, and 

 psychical research — books and 

 rare periodicals. 



Scandinavian biography, geneal- 

 ogy, local, and theatrical his 

 tory. 



From ' the library of Thomas 

 Jefferson. 



Works by and about Henry 

 James. 



Works relating to Xapoleon 

 Bonaparte. 



By and about .Abraham Lincoln. 



Works of Rudyard Kipling. 



Early English plays. 



Theatrical history, especially 

 German. 



Portuguese literatme. 



Anthropology, ethnology, espe- 

 cially of the Ainus. 



French literature, especially of 

 the 17th century. 



Incunabula, including the St. 

 Blasiu« St. Paul copy of the 

 Gutenberg Bible 



Printers' and publishers' marks. 



Indie philology— important San- 

 skrit collection. 



Books by and about George 

 Washington, 



From the Winter Palace Library 

 of Tsar Nicholas II. 



Other Special Collections 



Certain other special collections are, from their na- 

 ture, or from the conditions of their acceptance by the 

 Library, kept distinct from the general classified col- 

 lections, though containing material which otherwise 

 might be largely fused with them. Among these are : 



National Resources Committee 



The Division of Manuscripts 



Alanuscript materials from various collections ac- 

 quired since 1800 (when the Library was created by 

 act of Congress) , notably those from the Thomas Jeffer- 

 son Library and the Peter Force and Toner collections, 

 formed a nucleus; and a movement was immediately 

 set on foot to assemble important personal collections 

 and early manuscript materials from the Government 

 departments. When the transfer of such material 

 was authorized by law (February 25, 1903), there 

 came from the Department of State such collections as 

 the George Washington papers (336 folio volumes), the 

 James Madison papers (75 folio volumes), and an ad- 

 dition to the Thomas Jefferson papers (137 volumes 

 quarto). Other departments contributed valuable 

 documents and papers: and from tliis beginning the 

 Manuscript Division rapidly developed. Not only were 

 its resources greatly increased from year to year, but 

 a public service was brought into existence which has 

 been of the greatest value to biographers, historians, 

 and others who must use the materials of history. 



The collection, easily the largest of like material in 

 the country, now embraces the papers of nearly all the 

 Presidents; of many Cabinet members, especially Sec- 

 retaries of State; of notable Senators like Calhoun, 

 Clay, and Webster; of Congressmen who have occupied 

 strategic positions; and of business men, literary peo- 

 ple, scientists, and social reformers, including such 

 philanthropists as Andrew Carnegie. 



During the last 15 years, important gifts of funds as 

 well as materials have come to the Division of Manu- 

 scripts. In April 1927 Mr. William Evarts Benjamin, 

 of New York, endowed a Chair of American History, 

 the first incumbent of which was the late Dr. J. Frank- 

 lin Jameson, while Mr. James B. Wilbur, of Vermont, 

 gave a considerable fund, the income of which is used 

 to purchase materials for the study of American his- 

 tory. In 1927, also, Mr. John D. Rockefeller. Jr.. gave 

 $450,000 to be expended within 5 years in the copying 

 of materials in arcliives and libraries abroad relating 

 to the same subject. Under project "A" this fund was 

 administered with such success that it may safely be 

 said that the Division of Manuscripts now has photo- 

 graphic reproductions of all the colonial and diplo- 

 matic series of papers of first importance to be fomid 

 in western European countries and in Canada and 

 Mexico. 



A feature of the work of project "A" was the first 

 successful employment on a large scale of the film 

 camera in the place of the photostat and hand copying. 

 The result was extensive runs of film negatives on 

 35 mm. positive safety film covering all the papers of 

 archival series over a long period of years. Cheapness 

 was combined with photogi-aphic accuracy; space is 



