Hole in the Floor

One for the Books

The Smithsonian's first Secretary, Joseph Henry, recognized the need for a library, but not one that would conflict with or drain funds from his priorities, especially that of scientific research. In 1855, following a dispute with Jewett over the Institution's goals, Secretary Henry fired him, and, without the guidance of a "librarian in charge of the Library," the Smithsonian's acquisition, housing, and care of books and journals became fragmented. For a time, Henry himself oversaw the library collections, relying on the help of such staff members as Miss Jane A. Turner, whose beautiful and meticulous "Turner records" of accessions are still on file.

After the disastrous Castle fire of June 1865, Henry transferred the Smithsonian library-some 40,000 volumes-to the Library of Congress for safekeeping, and instituted a daily messenger service to retrieve books. But by the early 1880s, with the establishment of the U.S. National Museum, scientists and curators needed faster, easier access to books, and this service became wholly inadequate. Spencer Fullerton Baird, who had succeeded Henry as Secretary, thus created the National Museum Library in 1881, donating his extensive private library to augment the small reference collection that had remained at the Institution.

Early on, the Smithsonian received a wealth of printed material through the International Exchange Service, which Secretary Henry had established in 1849 for the sharing of literary, scientific, and cultural publications between American and foreign scientific societies and libraries. Beginning in 1892 and continuing over a period of 22 years, William H. Dall, a prominent zoologist and explorer, donated 3,600 manuscripts and pamphlets to the library. Since that time, the library's holdings have been greatly enriched by a number of noteworthy donations, including the Larry Zim World's Fair collection and the Mel Heinz collection of machine-tool trade catalogs. Today, a special gift-and-exchange program brings in a multitude of books and about 3,000 journals annually-many of which are unavailable commercially-from some 1,800 organizations.

In 1967, Russell Shank, of Columbia University, was named director of the newly established Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL). Soon thereafter, Secretary S. Dillon Ripley called for the establishment of branch libraries as access points to better serve the entire Institution, and, in the early '70s, Shank established the Jewett Room, the Smithsonian's first rare- book library, in the Arts and Industries Building. This was followed in 1976 by the opening of the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology in what was then the National Museum of History and Technology-today's National Museum of American History. Donated by the Burndy Library, this stellar collection of 8,000 books and 1,600 manuscript groups had been assembled by Bern Dibner, founder of the Burndy Engineering Corporation, in Connecticut.

Shank also established a Book Conservation Laboratory; the SIL now houses two additional rare-book facilities: the Admiral DeWitt Clinton Ramsey Room, at the National Air and Space Museum; and the Bradley Room, at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, in New York. Today, Smithsonian Institution Libraries is a major research facility, with 18 branches serving national and international museum and research communities and the public. Its collections of 1.2 million volumes 15,000 journal titles, 40,000 rare books, and 1,800 manuscript groups, all of whose records are accessible on the Internet, continue to grow, often through the lasting tradition of generous donations from individuals and organizations.

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