Influence of the Smithsonian Institution 817 



means he proposed to obtain a general catalogue of all 

 the books in the country, which catalogue should contain 

 references to the various libraries from which each book 

 might be obtained. 



Much time and money were spent in vain on this scheme, 

 and it is evident that neither Mr. Jewett nor the managers 

 of the Institution had at first any adequate idea of the magni- 

 tude or cost of the work which they proposed to undertake, 

 or of the great development of American libraries which was 

 to occur in the near future. At the time this plan attracted 

 a good deal of attention, and there is no doubt that Mr. 

 Jewett's " Notices of the Public Libraries of the United 

 States," published by the Institution in 1851, and his rules 

 for cataloguing, published in 1853, did exert a great influence 

 on the formation and arrangements of a great number of 

 the libraries of this country. 



Professor Henry, the first secretary, soon perceived that 

 the formation and maintenance of a great library would leave 

 the Smithsonian Institution no funds for work which he had 

 more at heart. It was found that the copyright law was 

 rather a burden than an aid, and upon his representation it 

 was finally so modified as to relieve the Smithsonian of the 

 duty of receiving the publications which it provided for. 

 Finally, through his exertions, the library of the Institution 

 was transferred to the Congressional Library, under an 

 agreement that it should be kept separate ; that all ex- 

 penses for binding and care of the books should be paid 

 for by the general government; and that the Institution 

 should have the right to withdraw the books at any time, 

 upon payment of the expense which had been incurred. The 

 number of volumes which were thus transferred was about 

 forty thousand, largely the publications of learned societies 

 which had been received in exchange for publications of the 



