President ANDERSON: Just at this point I want to express, on behalf of the Executive Board and the members of the Association at large, our heartfelt appreciation of what has been done by the District of Columbia Library Association and its officers to make our visit here pleasant. To the president of the local association who is to speak to us in a moment, to the members of the local committee of arrangements, and especially to Mr. Bowerman who has been indefatigable in his labors in our behalf and for our comfort, our grateful thanks are due.

The President then introduced Mr. H. H. B. MEYER, chief of the division of bibliography in the Library of Congress, and president of the District of Columbia Library Association, who gave a very informing and interesting address, illustrated with the stereopticon, on the libraries of Washington.

THE LIBRARIES OF WASHINGTON

The city of Washington is rich in li brary resources. The Library of Congress would lend distinction to any place, but a recent census undertaken to gather information for the "Handbook of libraries in the District of Columbia," issued by the Library of Congress in coöperation

with the District of Columbia Library Association, showed 137 libraries with a total of 5,674,000 volumes and pamphlets. Of these about two-fifths, or 2,250,000, are in the Library of Congress; a little over twofifths, 2,352,000, are in other libraries supported directly by the government; while a little less than one-fifth, or 1,072,000, are in libraries not supported by the government. In this last group the most important are the college and university li braries, and among these the Riggs Memorial library of Georgetown University, Rev. Henry J. Shandelle, S. J., librarian, easily takes first rank. The library dates from the founding of the university in 1789, and is the oldest in the city. It was named in honor of the father and brother of Elisha Francis Riggs, Esq., who in 1891, equipped the library with galleries, alcoves and the main reading room in the south pavilion of the Healy building. In 1911 Mr. Riggs furnished an annex calculated to hold 70,000 volumes. The library contains 106,341 volumes and 62,649 pamphlets, rich in patristics, Greek and Latin classics, American Indian languages, religious writings, including alcoves of liturgical, ascetical and hagiographical works. There are some hundred volumes printed between 1472 and 1520, and a fine working collection on the fine arts.

There are a number of smaller separate collections belonging to the university. The Hirst library, which arose from the bringing together of the libraries of several students' societies, is supported by a small annual fee from the students and in it the students enjoy special privileges. The Observatory library of about 3,500 volumes and pamphlets is a part of the equipment of the Astronomical Observatory founded in 1846. The Law School library and Medical College library are attached to these schools respectively in the heart of the city. Especially worthy of note is the Morgan Maryland Colonial History library of about 3,750 volumes and pamphlets, consisting mainly of books

pertaining to the history of Maryland and the District of Columbia. Its importance is enhanced by the large, perfectly constructed archive or muniment vault which contains old papers, documents, and forms a depository to which Maryland and District families are invited to contribute their ancestral and other valuable papers. With it is connected a museum of historical relics synchronous with the books and documents.

The library of George Washington University goes back to 1821 and now contains about 45,740 volumes. It includes the important collection on Germanic philology brought together by Prof. Richard Heinzel of the University of Vienna, and the classic library of Prof. Curt Wachsmuth of the University of Leipzig. Apart from the main library are the Law library, Medical library and the library of the National College of Pharmacy, which are located with their respective schools in various parts of the city.

The library of the Catholic University, located at Brookland, one of the northern districts of the city, contains about 100,000 volumes and pamphlets. It is the center of a group of Catholic college libraries ranging in size from 3,000 to 15,000 volumes. Especially notable is the library of the Franciscan Monastery, located in a building which affords an interesting specimen of monastic architecture. The library contains about 10,000 volumes and specializes in everything relating to St. Francis and the Franciscan Order.

At the Howard University for colored students there is a compact library of about 50,000 volumes, general in character, housed in a building for which Mr. Carnegie gave $50,000 in 1910.

The government maintains two military schools in the District, both located at the extreme south end of the city. The Army War College for the training of officers in military science had a library of 34,400 volumes, which has recently been raised to the first rank by the addition of the important War Department library

of 60,000 volumes and 40,000 pamphlets, rich in books relating to the wars in which the United States has been engaged. The Engineer School for the instruction of the engineer officers of the United States army has a library of 50,000 volumes and 8,000 pamphlets, largely made up of civil, electrical and mechanical engineering literature.

The public library, located in the Carnegie building in Mt. Vernon Square in the heart of the city, was established by an act of Congress in 1896. It had been preceded by the Washington City Free library in which Gen. Greely was very much interested. The establishment of the public library was largely due to the efforts of Mr. Theodore W. Noyes, editor of the Washington Star. The library has grown from the original 12,000 volumes received from the Washington City Free library to 168,000 volumes and pamphlets. This development has taken place mostly since 1904, when the present librarian, Mr. George F. Bowerman, was appointed. Mr. Bowerman's services were recognized last year by a doctor's degree given him by George Washington University. It is generally acknowledged that he has made the best use of the limited resources at his command. Not having it in his power to establish regularly equipped branch libraries, he has gradually put into active operation 150 distributing stations in all parts of the city.

The government libraries are, as a rule, of a highly specialized character and some of them rank as the most complete of their kind. The library of the SurgeonGeneral's office is the second largest library in the city, containing 503,327 volumes and pamphlets, and is a monument to the industry, scientific knowledge and bibliographical attainments of Dr. John Shaw Billings, who became surgeon-general in 1865, and through whose efforts the library was raised to the very first rank. It is believed to be the largest medical library in the world, surpassing the library of the Faculty of Medicine of

Paris, which has generally been considered the largest. Even in the special field of French medical dissertations it has the most complete collection in existence. It has about 250 medical incunabula, of which Mr. Felix Neumann is making a checklist. The library is further famous as being the basis of the Index Catalogue so well known to all students of medicine.

The library of the Geological Survey is hardly less notable. It contains 190,000 volumes and pamphlets and 25,000 manuscripts. Its catalog would practically constitute a bibliography of geological science.

The library of the Department of Agriculture contains about 131,000 volumes and pamphlets. It is a good example of centralized administration. The bureau and office libraries, of which there are about twelve, are really branches of the main library. They have their own librarians, who devote themselves to the specialty of the office and frequently undertake important bibliographical work. For example, the Bureau of Plant Industry, whose librarian is Miss Eunice R. Oberly, maintains a union catalog of botanical and horticultural literature in the libraries in the District.

Of similar interest are the libraries of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Fisheries, each believed to be the best of its kind in the world. The Weather Bureau library contains 32,000 volumes, mainly devoted to meteorology and climatology. The library of the Bureau of Fisheries numbers 28,695 volumes, especially rich in the literature of fish culture for food.

Other department libraries worthy of mention are the State Department, Bureau of Rolls and Library, one of the oldest maintained by the government. It has about 70,000 volumes on international law, diplomacy and description and travel in foreign countries, while its manuscripts are among the most valuable in the government archives. The Navy Department library contains about 50,000 volumes de

The scientific libraries maintained by the government are in two groups-those under the jurisdiction of the Smithsonian Institution and a number of bureau libraries under independent control, each in its own department. The Smithsonian Institution is an organization whereby a number of the highest officials of the government are made responsible for the administration of a large trust for the increase and diffusion of knowledge. The trust is the result of a bequest by James Smithson, an English gentleman, who died in 1829. He left his property "to the United States of America to found at Washington under the name of the Smithsonian Institution an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The Smithsonian Institution was formally established by an act of Congress in 1846 and has been one of the most widely known scientific institutions in the world. In exchange for its publications it receives the proceedings, transactions and memoirs of other learned bodies. These are regularly transferred to the Library of Congress and constitute the Smithsonian deposit in that library. Under its jurisdiction is the National Museum, with a library of 43,700 volumes and 72,000 pamphlets. These are shelved in the main library on the ground floor of the New National Museum building and in thirtyone branches in charge of the curators of the several departments of the museum. The next most important library under the jurisdiction of the Smithsonian Institution is the library of the Bureau of American Ethnology, consisting of 19,000 volumes, 12,700 pamphlets, 1,700 manuscripts, constituting the finest collection

of books in the world relating to American Indians. The Smithsonian Institution also controls the small libraries at the Astrophysical Laboratory and at the National Zoological Park. For its own use it maintains in the office of the secretary what is known as the "office collection," which is especially rich in books dealing with the administration of museums and galleries and the classification of their contents. It has besides a fine collection on aeronautics and the Watts de Peyster collection on Napoleon.

In the other group of scientific libraries mention should be made of the library of the Naval Observatory containing 27,000 volumes and 3,500 pamphlets on mathematics, astronomy and kindred subjects. Its collection of serials is especially fine. The library of the Bureau of Standards contains about 12,000 volumes in physics, mathematics, chemistry and technology. The library of the Coast and Geodetic Survey now numbers about 25,000 volumes. At one time it was almost twice as large, but by judicious weeding out of irrelevant and useless material it has been made a vastly better working tool. The library of the Bureau of Education numbers 145,000 volumes. It received its greatest development under Dr. W. T. Harris, who was Commissioner of Education from 1889 to 1906. During the early part of Dr. Harris' administration the library facilities of the city were not so good as they became later, and he was practically obliged to create a library of a more general character. Under Dr. Brown, who succeeded Dr. Harris as commissioner, the new conditions were recognized and some 60,000 volumes of a general character were sent to the Library of Congress. The Patent Office library is in two parts-a law library of about 4,000 volumes, and a scientific library of 9,648 volumes. The former is devoted to patent law, while the latter, besides works in the physical sciences, includes a very complete collection of the patent reports of all foreign countries. The library of the Census Bu

reau, established as recently as 1899, already numbers 58,000 volumes and pamphlets, rich in statistical publications of our own states and of foreign governments. The library includes a notable collection on the science of statistics. The Public Documents library is also of recent date. It was established in 1895, when the first superintendent of documents was appointed. From a few wagon loads of rubbish turned over to him at that time, it has now grown to 147,255 volumes and pamphlets, and 16,289 maps. It is the most complete collection of United States public documents in existence and is the basis of the important Document Catalogues published at intervals by the superintendent.

Among the small bureau libraries which should not be overlooked is the library of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at present located in the Commerce building. It contains about 28,000 volumes and pamphlets, both official and non-official, dealing with all phases of the labor question. Its collection of trade union publications and the reports of factory and mine inspectors is particularly important. The Interstate Commerce Commission library contains about 26,000 volumes and pamphlets, rich in railroad literature and interstate commerce documents. The Bureau of Mines, founded in 1911, already has a library of 10,000 volumes, of which 4,000 are kept at the bureau, while 6,000 are distributed among the field stations.

The Bureau of Railway Economics is not a government bureau, but is maintained by the railroads of the country. It has a fine library of 25,000 books, pamphlets, etc., dealing with railways from all points of view, and about 10,000 volumes and pamphlets in addition devoted to finance, labor and other matters collateral to railway economics. The bureau has published, under the editorship of its librarian, Mr. Richard H. Johnston, a union catalog entitled "Railway economics, a collective catalogue of books in fourteen American libraries." The collection is

open to all who desire to use it without restriction.

The Columbus Memorial library of 28,300 volumes devoted to the Latin-American countries is part of the equipment of the Pan-American Union, which was estab. lished in 1890 under the title International Bureau of American Republics. In 1910 the present building, for which Mr. Carnegie gave $750,000, was dedicated, and in the same year the name of the bureau was changed to its present designation, Pan-American Union.

Washington is also notable as possessing the largest library on freemasonry in the world. This is the library of the Supreme Council 33rd degree and numbers about 100,000 volumes and pamphlets. It will shortly be moved to the new building now in course of erection at 16th and S streets, the Scottish Rite Temple.

The literature relating to the deaf and dumb is well represented at the capital. At the Columbian Institution for the Deaf is the Baker collection, rich in the older publications, while in the Volta Bureau, Washington possesses an institution almost unique. It was founded in 1888 by Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, and was the outgrowth of his extensive researches to determine the causes of deafness. The library takes its name from the fact that the Volta Prize, created by Napoleon I, was conferred upon Dr. Bell for the invention of the telephone. This prize carried a gift of 50,000 francs, which Dr. Bell devoted to laboratory researches that resulted in the development of the phonograph-graphophone. From the amount received for this invention he set aside the sum of $100,000 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge relating to the deaf. That sum formed the original endowment and has been largely added to since. In 1909 he presented the library, the Volta Bureau, and other property to the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, and it is now owned and controlled by that