26 TH Bs AtUeD UB OWe Be Lhe 
‘There Is Nowhere Anything Quite Like It’ 
DENVER’S CONSERVATION LIBRARY 
by R. M. BARRON 
DENVER’S CONSERVATION Li- 
brary is a unique institution that 
should be better known to all con- 
servationists. Says Monroe Bush 
in American Forests, “Within a 
scant ten years from its date of 
founding, a department of the Den- 
ver Public Library system has 
come to be recognized throughout 
the land as both a depository and 
research-base for the very personal 
history of research management in 
the United States. 
“This is a rare example of a mu- 
nicipal library sponsoring a serv- 
ice to scientists, historians and 
students of the entire nation. There 
is nowhere anything else quite like 
nlite 
The key words in Bush’s state- 
ment are “depository” and “re- 
search-base,’ both of which are 
functioning seemingly well in spite 
of limitations of space, and par- 
ticularly of money. Up to now, the 
Conservation Library has _ been 
getting along with a small annual 
appropriation, part of funds granted 
its library by the city of Denver, 
a few donations from foundations, 
and scattered gifts from individ- 
uals and industries, The year 197I 
saw the beginning of a five-year 
campaign to raise $375,000 from all 
sources. 
THE DEPOSITORY function con- 
sists of sorting, collecting, catalog- 
ing and making available for retrie- 
val the publications and work pa- 
pers of individual conservationists 
as well as those of public and pri- 
vate agencies (largely donated 
materials). These include a wide 
range of materials from the com- 
plete libraries of such greats as 
Arthur H. Carnhart, famed western 
historian, and Ira N. Gabrielson 
(two of the library founders), the 
late Olaus J. Murie and Howard 
Zahnizer, former Wilderness Soci- 
ety presidents, and down to my 
modest piece, ‘The Audubon Im- 
age,” in the January 1970 Outdoor 
Illinois magazine. 
The input of such material con- 
tinues — bales and boxes — from 
attics full of memorabilia, such as 
manuscripts (425 boxes), diaries, 
field notes, pamphlets (more than 
6,000), photographs (15,000 of them), 
periodicals (450 linear feet) and 
4,000 books. 
Much lately also has come from 
twenty-five major private organi- 
zations and governmental agencies, 
including the National Audubon 
Society, the Wildlife Management 
Institute, American Motors Con- 
servation Awards Program, Ameri- 
can Association for Conservation 
Information, Wilderness Society, 
Outdoor Writers of America, Amer- 
ican Bison Society, Public Lands 
Review Commission, and the U.S. 
Forest Service. 
AMONG GOVERNMENT organiza- 
tions, the Bureau of Sport Fisher- 
ies and Wildlife, U.S. Department 
of the Interior, has a special rela- 
tionship. It has established its Li- 
brary Reference Service, Federal 
Aid in Fish and Wildlife Restora- 
tion, in the Conservation Library 
Center, To assure that the Center 
becomes more than an archives 
type of depository, the second main 
library purpose — retrieval — re- 
ceives greater emphasis. With addi- 
