ROBERT VOSPER A Century Abroad

THE MOST TANGIBLE AND .PERSISTENT university library-in a fascinating se­ OVERSEAS RELATIONSIDP of American aca­ ries of letters to the contracting book demic and research libraries has been in agents in , whom he convinced the search for books. Thomas Jefferson's to set up a branch office in Charlottes­ zealous skill as a private book collector ville.4 in Europe not only set the pattern for his later personal efforts in support of EARLy COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT the University of Virginia's library; One does not know the extent to here also was an early, exemplary model which other American academic librar-. available for later ""1 as well ies in the 1820s were so carefully search­ as for later university presidents.2 ing the European book market, but it In his dramatic letter of September is pleasant to recall, as another possible 21, 1814, proffering his private library touchstone, that the equally bookish to the Congress, Jefferson recalled: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, profes­ While residing in Paris, I devoted ev­ sor of modern languages and ery afternoon I was disengaged, for a of Bowdoin College from 1829 to 1835, summer or two in examining all the · was painstaking in purchasing European principal book stores, turning over ev­ literature for the library, not many ery book with my own hands, and put­ books in all to .be sure, but a scholarly ting by everything which related to selection. In these professional efforts America, and indeed whatever was he had the advantage of a European rare and valuable in every science. Be­ tour, including book buying commis­ sides this, I had standing orders during the whole time I was in Europe, on its sions, fostered by the college in the principal book-marts, particularly Am­ years just prior to his actual appoint­ sterdam, Frankfort, Madrid, and Lon­ ment.5 don, for such works relating to Amer­ But despite such disciplined efforts as ica as could not be found in Paris.s those of Jefferson and Longfellow, it This would have been between 1784 was pointed out in the first article in and 1789, during most of which time he this series that by 1876, our terminus a was the American minister to France. quo, even though we have no careful This experience permitted Jefferson analysis of collections at the time, ~'li­ then as the founding rector of the Uni­ brary finances were uncertain and gifts versity of Virginia, in the last few years played the largest role."6 This resulted of his life, to give meticulous directions in uneven and generally inadequate col­ -as to language, edition, and price of lections, but it is nonetheless also clear European books required for the new that the importance of British and Eu- 514 I Century Abroad I 515 ropean publications was not underesti­ British and has been mated. translated into English. He specifies im­ The meaty analysis of individual portant private libraries of nineteenth "College Libraries" in the famous 1876 century German scholars in theology, Report on public libraries in the United philology, history, bacteriology, and sur­ States not only reminds us of the eigh­ gical history that ended up at Andover teenth century British gifts of books to Theological Seminary, the Chicago The­ Harvard, Yale, and Columbia, but also ological Seminary, Adelbert College in points out a number of significant Eu­ Cleveland, New York University, Toron­ ropean acquisitions at other institutions. to, Bryn Mawr, Vassar, McGill, Virgin­ Of special note is the fact that Long­ ia, and George Washington, as well as fellow did not plow a new furrow at Harvard, Chicago, Cornell, and Pennsyl­ Bowdoin because in 1811, shortly after vania. its founding, the college library re­ This transatlantic flow began early in ceived a bequest of 4,000 French and the nineteenth century and was, of Spanish books collected by the Hon. course, but one aspect of the German James Bowdoin during his diplomatic influence on American scholarship; but mission in Spain. during the last third of the century the We also learn from the 1876 Report amount and the importance of the traf­ that the only "considerable donation" fic was sufficient to cause concern among received by the University of German librarians and even in the daily Library was "the library of the late Dr. press. 8 As an episode in bibliothecal his­ Rau, Professor in the University of tory this is mindful of the flush years Heidelberg, consisting of about 4,000 after World War II when American volumes and 6,000 pamphlets, purchased academic libraries were investing heavily and presented" by a citizen. The in the en bloc book market in almost all seminal John C. Green endowment of parts of the world. 1868 at Princeton permitted the pur­ The nineteenth century German com­ chase of "the library of Trendelenburg, plainants might have enjoyed Stanford's of Berlin, consisting of nearly 10,000 embarrassment over the 1895 purchase volumes and pamphlets" of classical of the 7,000 volume philological li­ and philosophical interest. brary of Professor Rudolf Hildebrand. In 1869 a local friend purchased for Through an interested Stanford facul­ the young Northwestern University Li­ ty member, friends of the university brary the 20,000 volume private library were asked to contribute toward the of a Dr. Schulze, a member of the Prus­ purchase price, but Mrs. Stanford her­ sian ministry of public instruction. And self lodged a direct protest with Presi­ the library of Harvard's Museum of dent David Starr Jordan about·the pur­ Comparative Zoology was initiated by chase of "that German Library by solic­ the 1858 purchase of a Belgian profes­ iting subscriptions from my friends and sor's paleontological collection. 7 the Trustees." In consequence, some Interestingly enough, the most thor­ years of effort and ingenuity were re­ ough calendaring of the How of Euro­ quired before the cost was covered. 9 pean, particularly German, scholarly One terse note in the 1876 Report book collections to American academic suggests that Rector Jefferson was not libraries was prepared by a German li­ the first university ·founding official to brarian, Dr. Albert Predeek, for the seek out books overseas for a new li­ third volume of the Milkau-Leyh brary: Pennsylvania's first pro-vost, Dr. H andbuch der Bibliothekswissenschaft; Smith, brought back books from a 1751 fortunately, his historical review of visit to Great Britain, undertaken par- 516 I College & Research Libraries • November 1976

ticularly to seek endowment funds.10 catalogue from Harrassowitz of Leip­ But Jefferson's involvement and exper­ zig," some 1,371 Slavic titles which tise were obviously much more intense amounted to 10 percent of the library's and visible. One wonders then whether total intake for that year. Similarly gen­ his approach may have influenced other erous European purchases, on even a founding presidents. In any event, it is larger scale, continued into the early of significance that two other such great years of the next century. founders did personally involve them­ Then in the spring of 1905 Coolidge selves in the European book market. marshaled a program of special signifi­ The classical example is Andrew Dick­ cance in the history of library collec­ son White, the first president of Cornell tion building. Having decided to bring University, founded in 1865. One of his together for Harvard 10,000 volumes on first acts as president was to spend time German history, to be known as the in Europe buying books for his · new Hohenzollern Collection, he personally university, and throughout his tenure employed a talented young bibliophile, he gave the library his personal atten­ Walter Lichtenstein, later to become tion. This was a natural development Northwestern University's librarian, to because throughout his whole adult life undertake "book-buying and book-trad­ books were an intimate and essential ing for the Library" in Europe and passion.11 then to "check off" the books on re­ William Rainey Harper, as the ·ceipt.13 founding president of the University In a certain sense, then, Lichtenstein of Chicago in 1891, .gave that university is a prototype of today's skilled area an early library emphasis. Like White, specialist bibliographers, many of one of Harper's initial ventures was a whom do their book buying in the field trip to Europe to acquire, among other overseas. This is the same Walter Lich­ things, library books. Soon after settling tenstein whose prototypical cooperative in Berlin, he secured "an option for the book buying trip to South America in purchase by the University of the Cal­ 1913-14 was pointed out in an earlier vary library, a collection of more than article in this series.14 200,000 books, manuscripts, and pam­ phlets." Later called the "Berlin Collec­ THE BooK DEALERS tion," this cost friends of the new uni­ Thus, no matter how uneven the to­ versity $45,000.12 tal result, it seems evident that through­ Archibald Cary Coolidge's tenure as out the nineteenth century a number of Harvard's librarian ( 1910-1928) came American academic libraries were in­ a generation later than the events just volved, at least occasionally, in . the in­ mentioned, but his European book buy­ ternational How of books. This business, ing support for Harvard began in the for libraries in general, was sufficient to late nineteenth century and is thus a generate advertisements in the earliest colorful part of the same story. As an volumes of the American Library ] our­ internationally minded, bookish scholar, nal from New York-based book agents later librarian, he appears a veritable who announced weekly importations paragon. from Germany, , France, and Well-to-do and widely traveled, even Spain. By the 1890s European publish­ while a young instructor in history, ers and book dealers, especially English Coolidge instituted a series of benefac­ and French, were advertising regularly tions to strengthen the . in the Library ] ournal. In 1895 he purchased as a gift for Har­ The agency relationship goes back at vard "almost the entire contents of a least to the early London career of the Century Abroad I 517

forceful and learned Henry Stevens, , similar national programs were based in who primarily served wealthy private contractual . ties with foreign book collectors but who also had a close rela­ agents, including the two just men­ tionship with American libraries. For tioned. It was not in fact until those example, during the autumn of 1845, postwar years that the international [ Stevens' first year in London, Charles C. book procurement activities of Ameri­ Jewett, then librarian of Brown Univer­ can academic libraries moved into a new sity, visited with him, as did Professor gear, marked by those very national pro­ J. L. Kingsley, who had $10,000 to spend grams. for books for Yale and who left orders The general inadequacy of American with Stevens. "Jewett had bought 3,000 research library collections in terms of books on the Continent for Brown U ni­ European publications became a subject versity, and he also placed his final or­ of pointed attention at the end of ders with Henry."15 World War I. In 1919 E. C. Richardson From such associations it was natural of Princeton, a leading internationalist for Stevens in 1877 to act as host for and an early proponent of cooperative the group of twenty-one officers and effort in resolving the problem, deplored members of the year-old American Li­ "The Poverty of American Libraries in brary Association who came to London the Matter of Research Books."20 This when their British colleagues met to appraisal was supported by Yale's An­ form the Library Association of the drew Keogh, who spoke of the "regret­ United Kingdom. Moreover, Henry Ste­ table condition of our scholarly librar­ vens presented a paper at the London ies" with regard to both the primary conference and was elected to the execu­ and secondary sources of research.21 tive council of the new British group.16 But an economic depression and other In 18.64 one of Henry's younger factors, including the lack of an effec­ brothers, Benjamin Franklin Stevens, set tive organizational structure, prevented up his own business in London, thereby any forceful attack on the book poverty establishing the agency firm of B. F. problem until another war in the 1940s Stevens & Brown, which continues to once again cut American libraries off serve many American academic libraries from the European book market and li­ today.l7 The diary of one of B. F. Ste­ braries and thereby reemphasized the vens' assistants, E. C. Bigmore, suggests gaps in American collections. that as early as 1878 the new firm had In 1919 the American Library Insti­ instituted a practice, pleasantly familiar tute, a discussion forum of American to many today, of American commercial library leaders, most of them university tours.18 librarians, had devoted its conference The equally durable and faithful in Atlantic City to "International Co­ German firm of Otto Harrassowitz in operation," but most of the papers dealt Leipzig, later Wiesbaden, became Har­ with general . problems and philosoph- vard's agent in 1882, on the initiative of ical attitudes.22 - , and by 1897 the firm was serving forty American libraries in this ORGANIZED CoLLECTION DEVELOPMENT way.l9 By the time of the second go-around This well established confidential re­ the situation was more optimistic and lationship between individual American more practically based. The analog of libraries and the overseas book trade was the ALI session of 1919, the 1946 to take on a policy significance of a gen­ Princeton Conference, dealt with a eral nature in the years just after World variety of specific proposals and could War II when the Farmington Plan and relate many of them to operational or- 518 I College & Research Libraries • November 1976

ganizations.23 Thus the Association of oriented, cooperative foreign book pro­ Research Libraries, which had been es­ curement programs (the LC Mission, tablished in 1932, was petitioned "to the Farmington Plan, PL480, and bring the Farmington Plan into effect NPAC) -can be identified, I think, as a as soon as possible on an experimental major effort in the broad field of inter­ basis." Although ARL had not been in­ national relations, an effort that has suc­ tended to manage programs of this na­ cessfully enriched the coordinate hold­ ture, it did have the muscle to respond ings of American research libraries, that to a clear national need, with results has involved many American librarians, that are too well known to be recounted directly and indirectly, in overseas activ­ again here. ity, and that has had a powerful impact However, a few general points should on the book trade, on the development be made. Most pointedly, the high in­ of bibliography, and on the practice of ternational significance of the Library librarianship around the world. of Congress Postwar Mission to Europe, This becomes evident when it is re­ and by extension the Farmington Plan, called that the National Program for is defined by way of the official state­ Acquisitions and Cataloging, or the ment of Ar~hibald MacLeish, as assist­ Shared Cataloging Program as it was ant secretary of state, in 1945 that "the then called, sparked the imagination of Department of State agrees . . . that the the world library community and in national interest is directly affected" by fact fostered the Universal Bibliograph­ the collective holdings of American li­ ic Control program of the International braries.24 Federation of Library Associations. Secondly, it should be repeated here It was at the 1966 IFLA conference that ano.ther intention of the Library in The Hague that the president, Sir of Congress Mission, in addition to Frank Francis, declared in his opening stockpiling European wartime publica­ address ~ith something less than British tions, was to foster the revival of the understatement: European book trade and national bib­ When I first discussed with the Li­ liography. Thus the Farmington Plan brarian of Congress and his colleagues agency contracts were a source of real just about 12 months. ago, their pro­ support. Mr. Dom of Harrassowitz has posal for adopting a system of shared recalled with pleasure the arrival of cataloguing to enable them to meet the . in Wiesbaden in 1950 on new assignments laid on them by the behalf of the Farmington Plan.25 This Congress, I was electri­ use of foreign book dealers as procure­ fied by the prospects which this new ment agents was a distinctive aspect and development opened up. I felt we were ·at least on the edge of the· most fundamental policy of the Farmington important break-through in the world Plan, often debated but sufficiently suc­ of information since the elaboration of cessful that Farmington's successor, the rules for cataloguing made clear the National Program for Acquisitions and basis on which cataloguing procedures Cataloging, uses the same mechanism should. work. 26 wherever appropriate and feasible. It From that perception in 1966 there should also be noted that the Public flowed in short order IFLA's Interna­ Law 480 library procurement project tional Cataloguing Secretariat, with its has also had a beneficial effect on the many skillful seminars and publica­ foreign book trade and the internation­ tions, and then the International Office al relations of libraries. for Universal Bibliographic Control, That neat succession of nationally which already is having glob.al im{>act.27 Century Abroad I 519

INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPIDCAL Thereafter, however, American involve­ PROJECTS ment centered officially in the Smith­ These recent optimistic developments sonian Institution. should not entirely obscure the earlier On the other hand, the International but yet not persistent interest of Amer­ Institute of Bibliography (liB) in ican research libraries, as well as others, Brussels, progenitor of the Interna­ in cooperative cataloging and related tional Federation for Documentation bibliographical activity at the interna­ ( FID), which also developed in 1895, tional level. The paper that Henry Ste­ attracted virtually no American involve­ vens read in London at the 1877 confer­ ment in its activities throughout its ence, entitled "Photo-Bibliography; or, early career. Despite the Institute's a Central Bibliographical Clearing­ adoption of the Dewey classification sys­ house," drew on earlier suggestions ·of tem and despite the persistent involve­ Charles C. Jewett and proposed, in ef­ ment and efforts of Richardson of fect, the centralized production of stan­ Princeton, especially during the 1920s dardized catalog cards that would be when he was chairman of ALA's Com­ universally available for sale.2s mittee on Bibliography, American li­ The time was not yet ripe for so am­ brarianship remained "aloof to the doc­ bitious a project, but another practical umentalists."30 American proposal, formally put for­ THE CoNFERENCE CIRCUIT ward by the American Library Associa­ The events nf 1876 quickly set in mo­ tion, did bear fruit when the confer­ tion a sequence of international library ence approved the appointment of an conferences in which American academ­ English committee to cooperate in mak­ ic librarians, albeit not in large num­ ing a new edition of the Index to Peri­ bers, played their part. Not infrequent­ odical Literature international in scope, ly this was a leading part. rather than just American. himself was present in 1877 London to state the case. It was only fitting that an official ALA When in 1895 the Royal Society of delegation should go to London in Oc­ London invited international participa­ tober 1877 to attend the Conference of tion for developing what became the In­ Librarians, mentioned earlier with ref­ ternational Catalogue of Scientific Lit­ erence· to Henry Stevens. This meeting erature, several Americans immediately was convened for the purpose of supported the idea. of founding an English association of li­ the Boston urged librar­ ians to "enter the discussion" so that not brarians, and it was to be international only scientists would be involved, and in scope because the 1876 founding of both Clement W. Andrews of the John ALA had been observed with great in­ Crerar Library and Joseph C. Rowell, terest in England. librarian of the University of Califor­ Leader of the adventuresome expedi­ nia, prepared supportive papers for the tion was, of course, Justin Winsor, re­ December 1895 ALA conference.29 The cently appointed librarian of Harvard following year Dr. and also president of ALA. Among the of the , on be­ group were Reuben Aldridge Guild, li­ half of ALA, was one of the official brarian of Brown University, Melvil U.S. representatives to the international Dewey of Amherst, Charles Ammi Cut­ conference convened by the Royal So­ ter, sometime cataloger at Harvard, ciety in London to discuss possibilities. · Annie R. Godfrey of Wellesley College 520 I College & Research Libraries • November 1976

Library, who was to become Mrs. Dew­ gradual photographic reproduction of ey, J. Tingley of Allegheny College, and important manuscripts;34 that proposal W. L. Ropes of Andover Theological was eventually referred to ALA's Com­ Seminary Library. That lively and pro­ mittee on Cooperation where it appar­ pitious expedition has been reported en­ ently disappeared. gagingly in an article that should be re­ 1897 quired· reading during the Anglo-Amer­ ican centennial years of 1876 and Four years later, for their twentieth 1877.31 anniversary in 1897, the British were considerably more successful in project­ 1893 ing a truly international conference, no In 1893, under 's presi­ doubt because of the proximity of Eu­ dency, the ALA conference was held in rope and the British colonial ties. In the Chicago in connection with the World's initial planning stages it was thought of Columbian Exposition, which included as a joint Anglo-American meeting, but extensive American and European ·pub­ the larger scheme of a Second Interna­ lishers' exhibits and at least two library tional Library Conference (the first displays. One was prepared by ALA and having been that of 1877) soon devel­ one was sent from Germany and super­ oped. Fourteen governments sent dele­ vised in Chicago· by an assistant librari­ gates, primarily, of course, from Europe, an from the University of Kiel. This but including Japan, Australia, India, exposition also fostered several profes­ and Jamaica. sional congresses, including one that was Out of the total roll of 641, there was announced as the "World's Congress of an impressive delegation of over eighty Librarians." As the Library Journal edi­ from the United States, led, as in 1877, torialized, that title was justified "rather by Justin Winsor, who was a vice-chair­ by the invitations which have been sent man of the London conference, and in­ out than by the response received."32 cluding also Mr. Dewey. However, as In addition to about three hundred against the 1877 meeting, the American Americans there were only fifteen for­ academic attendance was less impressive, eign visitors in the registration list, in­ although there were representatives cluding five Canadians. However, a from Cornell, Wellesley, Nashville, and number of those invited from abroad the University of Illinois. sent papers that were subsequently pub­ The only paper by an American aca­ lished, including some that were indica­ demic librarian was that of E. C. Rich­ tive of academic library interests. The ardson, who was unable to attend in per­ eminent librarian of the University of son. The other American papers were Gottingen encouraged more efficient ar­ by public librarians, including William rangements internationally for the ex­ H. Brett, then president of ALA, on change of duplicates, for interlibrary "Freedom in Public Libraries," by loan, for the distribution of library re­ which he meant free access to the ports, and for the assured cataloging by shelves in both academic and public li­ each nation of its own publications and braries, a concept which a British critic library treasures.33 His colleague from called "simply a plea for anarchy."35 the -Royal University Library in Halle reported on the successful development 1900 of reciprocal agreements in Europe for In connection with an international the lending of manuscripts, called on exposition in Paris in 1900, the French American libraries to join il), and pro­ convened at the Sorbonne a Congres In­ posed an organiz~d program for the ternational des Bibliothecaires, which Century Abroad I 521

brought together librarians from most The International Catalogue of Scien­ of the European countries, and from ti-fic Literature, the Concilium Biblio­ as far afield as Chile, Cub.a, and Mex­ graphicum, . and the liB in Brussels); ico. Herbert Putnam, by then at the Li­ and another group was concerned with brary of Congress, was one of the vice­ cataloging practice and the theory of presidents of the congress, but was ap­ classification. Among the authors of pa­ parently unable to attend. However, . pers were Richardson, William Coolidge , director of li­ Lane of Harvard, Charles Martel of the braries of Pratt Institute .and later pres­ , the vice-librarian ident of ALA, was another official of Uppsala, and the principal librarian American delegate and presented a pa­ ·of the Danish Royal Library. The most per on cooperation between public and intriguing paper was that of Dr. Guido school libraries in the United States. Biagi, director of the Laurentiana in The American delegation of about Florence, who foresaw the "grapho­ twenty w.as the largest foreign group phone" as a major new device for re­ and included E. C. Richardson; Addison cording and disseminating information Van Name of Yale; Clement W. An­ and thus for transforming libraries: drews of the John Crerar Library; Jo­ "Books will no longer be reaP., they will seph C. Rowell of the University of be listened to," he said. 37 · California; Florence Kane, librarian of Bryn Mawr; and G. T. Little of Bow­ 1910 and 1923 doin. An unusual paper describing the Two congresses in tandem at Brussels organization and operation of Ameri­ in 1910, one on bibliography and docu­ can libraries and including a bibliogra­ mentation in connection with the liB, phy, was presented by a French partici­ and the other of archivists and librar­ pant, E.-Daniel Grand, who had visited ians, drew over fifty Americans. Their widely among American libraries of all participation, however, was relatively kinds between 1894 .and 1898 when he slight, and a very few university librar­ was apparently taking an A.M.· degree ians were in the group, which did in­ at Harvard. An ALA exhibit "showing clude, interestingly enough, the Misses the progress and condition of American Carrie Watson, librarian of the Univer­ libraries," prepared by the New York sity of Kansas, and Belle Sweet, librar­ State Library, w.as included at the Paris ian of the University of Idaho.38 exhibition. 36 · The International Congress of Li­ brarians .and Bibliophiles in Paris in 1904 1923 apparently brought no Americans, Once more in 1904, ALA, under Put­ possibly because of the pressures of nam's presidency, convened in connec­ postwar activity at home, but ALA was tion with a world's fair, this time the officially represented by W. Dawson St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposi­ Johnston, recently appointed librarian tion. The international component was c;>f the new American Library in P.aris. 39 noticeably more significant than in 1893,_ with delegates from seventeen countries 1926 and 1927 and a still useful body of published pa­ However, three years later another pers. period of major ALA involvement in One group reported on library prac­ international affairs got underway. In tice, including the state of research li­ the heady .atmosphere of the new Czech­ braries, in several countries; another oslovakia, another International Con­ ~ . group dealt in specific terms with inter- gress of Librarians and Bibliophiles was national bibliographic activities (e.g., convened in Prague in late June 1926, 522 I College & Research Libraries • November 1976

with some 700 in attendance, involving Palestine, the Soviet Union, and Ja­ a large and interesting representation pan.42 from Central and Eastern Europe. The following year eighty-two Amer­ ALA dispatched Carl Milam to take icans joined the British for their jubilee greetings and to invite partiqipation in conference. E. C. Richardson, by then the forthcoming ALA fiftieth anniver­ emeritus, was in attendance, and An­ sary conference to be held in Philadel­ drew Keogh of Yale presented a lantern phia and Atlantic City. In Prague, slide lecture on the new Sterling Li­ W. Dawson Johnston, by then the Li­ brary, but the American academic at­ brary of Congress official representative tendance in general was limited, and the in Europe, chaired a session on inter­ conference papers did not generally national questions, and Mary Parsons, deal with academic library matters. resident director of the lively library Carl Milam, projecting a new interna­ school in connection with the American tional thrust of ALA, was a leader in Library in Paris, presented a paper on the proceedings, and it is of interest library education and the exchange of that Mr. Dewey, who was scheduled to teachers and students. present a major address, was kept at M. Gabriel Henriot, president of the home by ill health. This led to a regret­ French library association and a regular ful editorial comment that the British teacher in the American library school "had hoped to .assure ourselves that he in Paris, officially proposed the estab­ was a man and not a system."43 lishment of a permanent library com­ mittee to be representative of the sev­ IFLA eral national library associations. He From 1927 onward the story of inter­ even suggested that such a body might national library conferences is pretty find a home in connection with the much the story of IFLA, which will be American Library in Paris. 40 duly memorialized in historical publica­ Henriot's suggestion was pursued at tions, including an intended article on the ALA conference that fall in a spe­ U.S. participation, during IFLA's own cial session chaired by William Warner jubilee year of 1977.44 Bishop of the , A few comments on the American chairman of ALA's International Rela­ role are requisite here. At the outset, as tions Committee. The European delega­ has been indicated, the American inter­ tion on that occasion requested ALA of­ est was crucial. Dr. Bishop was the offi­ ficially to canvass the several national cial ALA delegate; he was immediately associations, looking toward formal dis­ elected vice-chairman, and then served cussions to be held the next year in as president of IFLA from 1932 Edinburgh at the Library Association's through 1935. Unhappily, the depres­ fiftieth anniversary conference. Those sion almost aborted the Chicago meet­ 1927 Edinburgh discussions were suc­ ing which he scheduled for 1933. cessful in establishing what we now Out of respect for Bishop, a small know as the International Federation group of eminent European librarians of Library Associations.'1 did come to Chicago, but a formal ALA's 1926 conference had a strong meeting was held later that year in international flavor, with just over one Avignon. Full-scale meetings of IFLA hundred registrants from twenty-two did not cross the Atlantic until 1967 foreign countries, and it has left us in (Toronto) and 1974 (Washington, the proceedings an interesting body of D.C.). Fortunately, though, Bishop's papers dealing with library develop­ IFLA career concluded grandly when he ments in such distant places as China, presided in 1935 over IFLA's Second Century Abroad I 523

World Congress of Libraries and Bib­ of Congress, as well as of the national liography in Madrid; the first, of libraries for medicine and agriculture; course, had been held in Rome and that is a full story in its own right. 45 Venice in 1929. It should be recalled here also that in In its rearly years IFLA activity cen­ September 1964 ARL undertook its one tered in its governing body, the Inter­ overseas junket when the Carnegie Cor­ national Library Committee, quite lim­ poration of New York financed, for a ited in number, formed by individual selected group of eleven ARL represent­ delegates from national associations. atives, a joint meeting with the equiva­ For some years after Bishop's day, lent British body, the Standing Confer­ American participation was rather inter­ ence of National and University Librar­ mittent, and, of course, World War II ies ( SCONUL) at the University of closed everything down from 1940 to Hull. This was .a useful time for the 1947. Milton Lord served as vice-presi­ American visitation because of the re­ dent from 1947 to 1949, and then begin­ cent rise of several new British univer­ ning in 1953 there developed a regular sities. The joint meeting found. a num­ pattern of American (latterly North ber of matters of common interest and American) vice-presidents (Douglas proposed a reciprocal meeting on this Bryant, 1953-1957; Jack Dalton, 1958- side. Unfortunately, that did not work 1965; Foster Mohrhardt, 1966--1971; out, but it was made possible for the and Robert Vosper, 1972-1977). Honorary Secretary of SCONUL to visit In the burgeoning days of library ex­ American libraries and meet with ARL pansion beginning about 1960, the num­ the following year.46 bers of official delegates and observers That experience reminds one also at annual meetings, including Amer­ that in 1956 ACRL happily arranged icans, increased sharply and forced re­ for 130 U.S. librarians to fly and float consideration of the· organizational from Miami Beach to Havana for a structure and meeting format of IFLA. gala session with their Cuban counter­ Our own academic involvement in the parts.47 Not only was the intermingling professional work of the organization appreciated on both sides, but the tim­ was usefully advanced in 1963 when the ing was providential in that the ac­ Association of Research Librarians quaintanceship assisted a few Cuban li­ ( ARL) officially joined as a national brarians in moving to this country a member alongside ALA, and from few years later when life became too about the same time the Library of complicated for them at home. This is Congress has been regularly represented. not to overlook the fact that for many The dynamic involvement of ARL years through its committee structure, and the Library of Congress in interna­ its conference papers, and the pages of tional procurement and cataloging ac­ College & Research Libraries, ACRL has tivities after World War II has been de­ opened up international horizons to its tailed already in this arti~le, and that members. story will have made it evident that the INDIVIDUAL COMMITMENT closer participation since about 1963 on the part of both organizations in IFLA It will be evident that during its first affairs has been a significant internation­ half century and more ALA's interna­ al move on the part of American re­ tional involvement focused around the search lil::>raries. energetic commitment of a few indi­ It must be obvious, of course, that viduals, notably Winsor of Harvard, this article does little justice to the total Dewey, Richardson of Princeton, Put­ international program of the Library nam of the Library of Congress, and 524 I College & Research Libraries • November 1976

Bishop of Michigan. This was true even from 1876 and even earlier, up until after ALA decided at Montreal in 1900 World War II and its aftermath. to formalize its activities in a standing The strength of the personal involve­ Committee on International Coopera­ ment is particularly demonstrable in the tion, which in 1906 became the Commit­ careers of two university librarians, tee on International Relations. Richardson and Bishop. The latter, with Richardson was appointed founding some reason, has been termed "our first chairman in 1901, Putnam succeeded international librarian."48 Yet from a him in 1911, and Bishop took over in chronological viewpoint that title might 1926, serving until 1934. During those well be given to Richardson. years a few other research library lead­ ers recurrently served on the committee: Ernest Cushing Richardson John Shaw Billings, W. C. Lane, C. W. Ernest Cushing Richardson's long Andrews, T. W. Koch, , professional career and his impressive and C. H. Gould. Richardson, in fact, contributions to bibliography, histor­ COI)tinued as a member of the commit­ ical studies, and interlibrary coopera­ tee until the mid-1930s, a term matched tion, have been well reported, but the only by that of ALA-founding father international component has ,been some­ Richard Rogers Bowker, a man of what slighted. He himself recalled in varied international interests, who was a significant article that in his earlier a member of the first committee in 1901 years he "fell into the habit of using and apparently served until his death the four months' vacation for the study in 1933. of European libraries," and that, ·'when It is of some interest that, even in the I went to ~rinceton in 1890, the prin- more intensive days after the 1942 es­ tablishment of ALA's International Re­ lations Board with its complex corpo­ rate responsibilities, the following aca­ demic librarians served terms as chair­ man, up into the 1960s: Flora Belle Ludington, Keyes D. Metcalf, Luther Evans, Douglas Bryant, William Dix, Jack Dalton, Raynard Swank, and Marion Milczewski. But most of the international involve­ ment discussed thus far, it will have been noted, was that of research library officials as individuals, often to be sure as representatives of the ALA, rather than an institutional commitment of American research libraries. University librarians if interested conducted their own international relations. The insti­ tutional overseas involvement in those days was pretty much limited to the foreign procurement activities of par­ ticular libraries, by way of purchase or publications exchange. It is then per­ ALA Archives, haps reasonable to speak of a long era University of Illinois ot Urbono-Chompoign of personal ambassadorship stretching Ernest Cushing Richardson Century Abroad I 525 ciple of frequent bibliographical jour­ neys was accepted by the President and William Warner Bishop, however, the Trustee Committee as part of a rec­ who it happens disagreed with his men­ ognized policy."49 tor Richardson's evaluation of liB, was In addition to his long service with notably effective in organizational af­ ALA's Committee on International Re­ fairs, as is evident from his IFLA career lations, Richardson was also the first discussed earlier. As with Richardson chairman of the Committee on Bibliog­ Bishop had close and learned ties with raphy established in 1922-23, a position Europe, beginning with an 1898 fellow­ he held for the next decade. He used ship in the American School of Classical that forum to speak and write fre­ Studies in Rome, where he, of course, quently and forcefully about the im­ became acquainted with the Vatican Li­ portance of international bibliograph­ brary. ical cooperation and to urge American participation in a variety of undertak­ ings; such as the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, the Concilium Bibliographicum in Zurich, and the var­ ious bibliographical activities of the In­ stitute of Intellectual Co-operation es­ tablished by the League of Nations in 1924. Most particularly he was the American spokesman, albeit not very successfully, in behalf of the liB in Brussels, the recurrent conferences of which he frequently attended. 50 Richardson's prescience in this field is best illustrated by this statement in a 1901 symposium on Libraries in the Twentieth Century: Co-op~ration has been the watchword of American libraries during the latter part of the nineteenth century, but it is only beginning to be a matter of uni­ versal scope. It is beginning, however, and the century will doubtless see Chi­ na, India, and Africa as well as Europe The Michigan Historical Collections and South America using common bib­ of the University of Michigan liographical standards and uniting to William Warner Bishop produce a universal catalog of world Unlike Richardson, Bishop did not 1 literature. 5 have the private means to support re­ IFLA's UBC program in the last quar­ current European visits, but both the ter of the century confirms that opti­ University of Michigan, by way of mism. However, Richardson was often book-buying ventures and sabbatical a lone voice and apparently not always leaves, and latterly the Carnegie Cor­ successful in generating organized sup­ poration did facilitate his active inter­ port in behalf of his interests, despite national library career. 52 his strong convictions about the neces­ Beyond his IFLA work, Bishop's most sity for institutional cooperation, na­ enduring overseas contribution was his tionally and internationally. service as head of the project, fostered 526 I College & Research Libraries • November 1976

by the Carnegie Endowment for Inter­ overseas library activity is highly or­ national Peace, to recatalog and in other ganized, is based in a variety of inter­ ways modernize the Vatican Library in institutional compacts, involves large Rome, between 1927 and 1935.53 Insti­ numbers of individuals, is fostered by tuted from Rome by Msgr. (later Car­ large injections of external funding, dinal) Tisserant, himself an active par­ and is oriented toward a multitude of ticipant in early IFLA and other inter­ complex projects. The long pleasant era national library affairs, the Vatican proj­ of personal international relations and ect is one of the great monuments of of junkets to paper-reading conferences American overseas library activities and draws to an end. is also a worthy forerunner of the mod­ Not only is this more recent experi­ ern project-oriented style that marks al­ ence so rich as to make a brief analysis most all post-World War II internation­ overly simplistic, but it becomes even al activities. more difficult than in the earlier period The project brought four Vatican li­ to extricate the academic and research brarians ( as well as others in later years ) library experience from the generality to the United States for practical intern­ of the international relations of Amer­ ship at the Library of Congress and for ican librarianship. formal library training courses at Co­ Fortuitously, Beverly J. Brewster's lumbia and Michigan. Under Bishop's analysis of American Overseas Library leadership the project also took an im­ Technical Assistance has just apeared pressive American team of experts, in­ and provides thorough documentation cluding Charles Martel and J. C. M. of almost all aspects of this busy peri­ Hanson of the Library of Congress, to od.55 Rome where they were joined by Milton That report, with its many useful Lord, then Librarian of the American tabulations of overseas projeGts, sup­ Academy in Rome. ports the impression that during these As a result, the Vatican Library was recent postwar years American academic enabled, not only to produce a summary libraries and librarians have continued index of its manuscripts and a record to play a major role in the overall li­ of its incunabula, but also to recon­ brary technical assistance effort abroad, struct the reading rooms, install a Snead as fostered by the active involvement of stack and elevators, and establish a li­ U.S. government agencies, UNESCO l brary training school. A central com­ and other international bodies, the ponent was the adoption of LC cards American private foundations, ALA, for the basic catalog record. It was and individual universities. Still needed, Bishop's opinion at the time that .. this as Brewster concludes, is qualitative agreement on cataloging principles . . . evaluation of the impact of these multi­ will advance the practice of internation­ farious activities on library develop­ al cataloging at least fifty years."54 ment and on librarians, here and abroad. 56 . THE AcE OF TECHNICAL AssiSTANCE One gap in the record is the busy con­ With the development of the Farm­ centration in the 1950s and 1960s on au­ ington Plan and related projects follow­ tomation developments, with a flurry of ing on World War II, as has been men­ groups and individuals from abroad tioned earlier, and with the establish­ looking into the American academic li­ ment of ALA's International Relations brary experience with computers. Eval­ Board and International Relations Of­ uation is needed here as well, because I fice in 1942, we come into a far more too frequently, at least in the earlier ~ complex modem period when American years, the American experience may Century Abroad I 527 have been misleading. parative Librarianship Group was being As against the earlier period, a strik­ fostered by membership initiative in the ing change since the 1940s is the wide-. Library Association of Great Britain, spread involvement of large numbers .and today the Library Association and of individual librarians, not just chief its members are noticeably busy over­ librarians, in all manner of internation­ seas, with particular support from the al programs-as book selection special­ British Council. ists, often in the field, as expert con­ Even more impressive has been there­ sultants abroad, and as lecturers and cent surge of involvement on the part teachers in almost all corners of the of Third World countries in interna­ world, as well as in service at home to tional library affairs, as focused par­ a complexity of committees of ALA, · ticularly through a reorganized IFLA. ACRL, and ARL. Another basic change, Of .about eighty-five countries thus in­ as already suggested, is the institutional volved, over half are now so-called de­ involvement of academic and research veloping countries, and this is a phe­ libraries in large-scale programs, such as nomenon of the 1970s. The call from Farmington, as well as in bilateral tech­ libraries in those countries today is not nical assistance compacts between indi­ so much for .aid, in the older sense of vidual American universities and for­ technical assistance, as it is for joint eign counterparts. participation in professional activities requiring .a larger forum. · CuRRENT IssuEs In evaluating the American effort of With the close of the 1960s this rich the previous three decades, one might adventure went into a sharp decline, in well ask what part that effort may have considerable measure because of the de­ played in stimulating this refreshing pressed American economy, the conse­ movement of the 1970s and readying li­ quent drying up of government support braries for it, taking into account .also for both overseas projects and academic the parallel British activity overseas as programs at home, .and the concurrent well as the understandable ambitions of redirection of foundation support into new nationalism in the Third World. other fields. But equally debilitating A major focus of interest and work was the American malaise stemming in the international field today is on from the . Vietnam war and related un­ IFLA's rapidly developing program for happy experiences overseas, which led Universal Bibliographic Control, and many intellectuals, including librarians, next in the pipeline is what IFLA calls to suspect that any international in­ Universal Access to Publications. Both volvement would be tainted with cul­ concepts may seem to involve overween­ tural imperialism or worse. More than ing ambition, yet UBC already has de­ symbolic of this distressing period was monstrably sparked the imagination and the virtual cessation, fortunately only generated the support of librarians temporarily, of official ALA interna­ throughout the world, including the de­ tional activity. veloping world. Ironically, this American withdrawal Thus the center of attention is no occurred just as the need for a new style longer American librarianship and U.S. of extensive international library coop­ aid; the center of attention is the inter­ eration was being sharply perceived in national forum and professional pro­ other parts of the world. Just when the grams in which all libraries in all coun­ ALA membership was expressing disap­ tries have both an obligation and a proval of organized overseas programs, stake. In many aspects of modern li­ a new and lively International and Com- brarianship we are no longer a creditor 528 I College & Research Libraries • November 1976 nation, but rather we have much to require not so much chief librarians as learn from our colleagues overseas in experienced staff experts in cataloging, fields ranging from library architecture automation, networking, and the like. to library, automation, from library edu­ Fortunately, there are some bright in­ cation to national library planning. dicators on the horizon. The Council on In the field of international standards Library Resources has put firm support for bibliographic control, stemming behind IFLA; the Library of Congress from IFLA's UBC program, for exam­ is aware of the need for effective par­ ple, rapid strides are being made toward ticipation; and since IFLA opened up firm decisions that will fundamentally the possibility of formal associate mem­ affect the design of national bibliogra­ bership for libraries in recent years, a phies and the ready transfer of biblio­ commendable number of American re­ graphic information. Yet for lack of search libraries and library schools have adequate U.S. participation in the early so joined. Now they must take up the design effort, decisions may be made option of personal involvement. that American libraries will find it dif­ E. C. Richardson observed half a cen­ ficult to live with. It thus behooves the tury ago that the solution to many of research libraries of the country to in­ our local problems is in large measure crease the level and quantity of Amer­ dependent on international coopera­ ican involvement in the professional tion. 57 It is now urgent that we take his and technical work of IFLA. This will observation seriously.

REFERENCES 1. Randolph G. Adams has called Jefferson American Library Assn., 1947 ) , see esp. the "Father of American Librarianship" in p.100-102. his Three Americanists (Philadelphia: 9. Ralph W. Hansen, "The Stanford Univer­ Univ. of Pennsylvania Pr., 1939), p.95. sity Library: Genesis 1891-1906," Journal 2. I have recently treated this matter at great­ of Library History 9:147-48 (April1974). er length in a Clark Library seminar paper 10. 1876 Report, p.l17. now in press. 11. , Autobiography 3. William Dawson Johnston, History of the (New York: Century Co., 1905), V. 1, esp. Library of Congress, · Vol. I,. 1800-1864 p.262-64, 308-309, 338, 360, 440. (Washington, D.C.: Govt. Print. Off., 12. Thomas W. Goodspeed, William Rainey 1904), p.70. Harper, First President of the University 4. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson's Ideas on a of Chicago (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., University Library, edited by Elizabeth 1928), p.l17-18. Cometti (Charlottesville: Tracy McGregor 13. William Bentinck-Smith, "Archibald Cary Library, Univ. of Virginia, 1950). Coolidge and the Harvard Library," Har­ 5. Roger Michener, "Henry Wadsworth Long­ vard Library Bulletin 21:237, 240-44 fellow: Librarian of Bowdoin College, (July 1973). 1829-1835," Library Quarterly 43:215-26 14. David C. Weber, "A Century of Coopera­ (July 1973). tive Programs among Academic Libraries," 6. Edward G. Holley, "Academic Libraries in College & Research Libraries 37:207 (May 1876" College & Research Libraries 37:23 1976). (Jan. 1976). 15. Wyman W. Parker, Henry Stevens of Ver­ 7. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau mont, American Rare Book Dealer in Lon­ of Education, Public Libraries in the Unit­ don, 1845-1886 (Amsterdam: N. Israel, ed States of America: Their History; Con­ 1963), p.54-55. dition, and Management, Special Report, 16. Ibid., p.295-97. Part I (Washington, D.C.: Govt. Print. 17. G. Manville Fenn, Memoir of Benjamin Off., 1876), p.60-126. Hereafter cited as Franklin Stevens (London: Chiswick Press, 1876 Report. 1903 ), p.111. 8. Albert Predeek, A History of Libraries in 18. Lawrence Clark Powell, " ... and Brown"; Great Britain and North America, translat­ A Chronicle of B. F. Stevens & Brown, ed by Lawrence S. Thompson (Chicago: Ltd., Library and F_ine Arts Agents of Century Abroad I 529

London, with Emphasis on the Years Since 35. International Library Conference, 2d, Lon­ 1902 (London: privately printed, 1959), don, 1897, Transactions and Proceedings p.3. (London: 1898); see also the report in Li­ 19. Richard Dorn, "Otto Harrassowitz, Buch­ brary Journal22:391-408 (Aug. 1897). handlung-Verlag-Antiquariat: The First 36. Congres International des Bibliothecaires, Century," Harvard Library Bulletin 21: Paris, 1900, Proces-verbaux et Mernoires 365--7 4 (Oct. 1973). (Paris: 1901); see also Plummer's report 20. E. C. Richardson, General Library Co-op­ in Library Journal 25:580-82 (Sept. eration and American Research Books 1900). (Yardley, Pa.: F. S. Cook, 1930), p.13-16. 37. The proceedings, including formal papers, 21. Andrew Keogh, "Our Library Resources as appear in the Conference Issue of Library Shown by Some Government Needs in the ]ournal29 (1904). War," Library Journal 44:504-507 ( 1919). 38. Congres International des Archivistes et 22. American Library Institute, Papers and des Bibliothecaires, Brussels, 1910, Actes Proceedings, 1919 (Chicago: 1920 ). (Brussels: 1912); "The International Li­ 23. American Library Association, Board on brary Congresses at Brussels," Library I our­ Resources and International Relations nal35:442-60 (Oct. 1910). Board, Conference on International Cul­ 39. Congres International des Bibliothecaires tural, Educational, and Scientific Ex­ et des Bibliophiles, Paris, 1923, Proces­ changes ( Chicago: American Library verbaux et Mernoires (Paris: Jouve, 1925). Assn., 1947). 40. Congres International des Bibliothecaires 24. Edwin E. Williams, Farmington Plan Hand­ et des Amis du Livre, Prague, 1926, book (Assn. of Research Libraries, 1953), Proces-verbaux et Memoires (Prague: Imp. p.19. d'lttat, 1928-1929), 2 vols.; Ladislav Jan 25. Dorn, "Otto Harrassowitz," p.371-72. Zivny, "The Prague International Con­ 26. International Federation of Library Asso­ gress," Library Journal 52:304-6 (March ciations, Actes du Conseil General, 328 15, 1927). session, The Hague, 1966 (The Hague: 41. The discussions and decisions, relating to Nijhoff, 1967 ), p.27. the founding of IFLA, at Prague, Philadel­ 27. The basic document is Dorothy Anderson, phia and Washington, and Edinburgh are Universal Bibliographic Control ( Pullach/ brought together as "Travaux Prepara­ Miinchen: Verlag Dokumentation, 1974). toires," p.1-15, together with the initial 28. Conference of Librarians, London, 1877, Actes du Comite International des Bi­ Transactions and Proceedings (London: bliotheques (International Federation of Li­ Chiswick Press, 1878), p.70-81. brary Assns. Publications, No. 1, Uppsala, 29. Clement W. Andrews, "International Bib­ 1931). liography of Scientific Literature," Library 42. ALA Bulletin 20: 175-643 (Oct. 1926) . Journal 20: c25--c27 (Dec. 1895); Joseph 43. "The Jubilee Conference," Library Associa­ C. Rowell, "A Subject Index to Science," tion Record ser. 2, 5:249-52 (Dec. 1927). ibid., p.c27-c28. 44. The more specialized types of international 30. For fuller reports on this and related mat­ library conferences, such as for medical, ters, see Katherine 0. Murra, "History of music, and law libraries, do not quite fit Some Attempts to Organize Bibliography into this article; and FID, as has been in­ Iziternationally," in Jesse H. Shera and dicated, is a bit aside from the mainstream Margaret E. Egan, eds., Bibliographic Or­ of general American librarianship. ganization (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 45. For LC, see John G. Lorenz and others, 1951), p.24--53; and Edith Scott, "IFLA "The Library of Congress Abroad," Library and FID-History and Programs," Library Trends 20:548-76 (Jan. 1972). Quarterly 32:1-18 (Jan. 1962). 46. Robert Vosper, official letter to Florence 31. Budd Gambee, "Great Junket: American Anderson, Secretary of the Carnegie Corp., Participation in the Conference of Librari­ reprinted as Appendix S, p.76-80 in As­ ans, London, 1877," Journal of Library sociation of Research Libraries, Minutes, History 2:9-44 (Jan. 1967). 65th meeting, Jan. 24, 1965, Washington, 32. Library ]ournal18:218 (Aug. 1893). D.C. 33. K. Dziatzko, "The International Mutual Re­ 47. Arthur T. Hamlin, "The Trip to Cuba," lations of Libraries," Library Journal 18: ALA Bulletin 50:527-28 (Sept. 1956). 465-68 (Nov. 1893). 48. Foster Mohrhardt, "Dr. William Warner 34. 0. Hartwig, "The Interchange of Manu­ Bishop, Our First International Librarian," scripts Between Libraries," Library Journal Wilson Library Bulletin 32:207-15 (Nov. 18:503-505 (Dec. 1893). 1957). 530 I College & Research Libraries • November 1976

49. Ernest Cushing Richardson, "International 53. !gino Giordani, "The Vatican Library Dur­ Library Co-operation and Our Local Prob­ ing Recent Years," Library Quarterly 7: 1- lems," p.131-44 in his Some Aspects of In­ 25 (Jan. 1937). ternational Library C a-operation (Yardley, 54. Ibid., p.6. Pa.: F. S. Cook & Son, 1928). 55. Beverly]. Brewster, American Overseas Li­ 50. For example, E. C. Richardson, "The Brus­ brary Technical Assistance, 1940-1970 sels Institute Again!" Library Journal 52: (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1976); also 795-801 (Sept. 1, 1927). useful are the several articles in Library 51. E. C. Richardson, "Federation and Co-op­ Trends 20 (Jan. 1972), devoted to "The eration," Library Journal 26:123 (March Influence of American Librarianship 1901). Abroad." 52. William Warner Bishop, "International Re­ 56. Brewster, American Overseas Library lations: Fragments of an Autobiography," · Technical Assistance, p. 306-7. Library Quarterly 19:270-84 (Oct. 1949); 57. Richardson, "International Library Co-op­ see also Mohrhardt, "Dr. William Warner eration." Bishop."

Robert V osper is professor in the Graduate School of Library and lnfo1'11Ultion Science and director of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at the University of California, Los Angeles.