College and Research Libraries


planning of many of the new libraries in col-
leges and universities throughout the country. 
Higher education in America is seeking for 
new solutions to the problems of curricula, 
instructional aims and methods, and faculty-
student relations. President Virgil M . 
Hancher in the introduction to this pamphlet 
foresees the library in relation to those de-
partments which use books and other written 
records for research and instruction, as labor-
atories are now successfully used by doctors, 
dentists, engineers, psychologists, artists, and 
musicians. The program is one of a pioneer-
ing university not as yet tied down by tradi-

tions in its buildings or in its thinking and yet 
one whch has successfully pioneered in other 
fields. More and more emphasis is being 
placed on the instructional functions of the 
library in the curricula of our colleges and 
universities. The new building at the State 
University of Iowa is a step in this direction 
and its program should be read with care by 
all librarians in academic institutions and be 
brought to the attention of their administra-
tion. It is hoped that as the plans progress 
and the building materializes more detailed 
information will be published.—Charles' M. 
Adams. 

American Historical Societies 

American Historical Societies, 1790-1860. By 
Leslie W . Dunlap. Madison, Wis., Pri-
vately printed, 1944. 
M r . Dunlap, who defines a historical society 

as an association of individuals organized 
primarily to collect, preserve, and make avail-
able the materials for the history of the 
United States or a section of it, divides his 
informed and useful essay into two parts: 
first, a general account of the origin, diffusion, 
aims, activities, and struggles for existence of 
the sixty-five societies established in this coun-
try between 1790 and i860; second, a particu-
larized account of the founding and growth 
of each of the sixty-five societies. The latter, 
though it provides much convenient and useful 
data, was the easier and less important task. 
For the attempt to outline this particular 
segment of our cultural history as set forth in 
the first part is beset with all of the difficulties 
that face any historian who deals with cul-
tural growth—the intangibles of motivation, 
influence, relationships, and institutional evo-
lution. 

M r . Dunlap's essay is the most satisfactory 
account available for the early history of the 
societies founded before i860, for he has 
grounded his work on an extensive examina-
tion of both the publications of these useful 
institutions and the minutes and correspon-
dence in their archives. But the chapters 
forming the first part of his essay are less 
satisfying than the factual account of the 
societies in the second part. Both contain 
much interesting and fresh data—some of it 
no doubt informative even to those who now 

have custody of these societies—yet the ac-
cumulation of facts is not the most valuable 
part of cultural history. On the important 
question of origins and causative factors, for 
example, M r . Dunlap merely points to an 
incipient interest in American history (it was 
much earlier and much more vigorous than 
he indicates), to the need for preserving his-
torical sources, to the absence of research 
libraries, and to the requirement of establish-
ing new agencies—hence the formation of his-
torical societies. This obviously leaves much 
to be desired in answer to the question why 
and when these interests and needs originated. 
Again, the changes of emphasis or interest 
that sometimes pass for growth in a society, 
though extremely difficult to chart, are unsat-
isfactorily presented. M r . Dunlap, I fear, has 
less respect for the early founders than I 
have. Their circular letters asking for source 
material he finds undiscriminating; to me they 
appear to be remarkable for their catholicity, 
their broad and inclusive definition of history, 
and their sense of contemporaneity—qualities 
often sadly lacking in these same societies once 
they have acquired age, respectability, speciali-
zation of interest, and comfortable endow-
ments with well-trained staffs. 

The early societies were founded by vigor-
ous, enlightened, public-spirited men. Even 
at the end of M r . Dunlap's period there are 
signs of hardening of the arteries in some of 
the more venerable institutions. But the clini-
cal analysis of this ageing process as per-
formed by M r . Dunlap is often less flattering 
to youth than to age, and wisdom does not 

JULY, 1946 1 287 



always come with years to institutions any useful service to the institutions themselves 
more than it does to men. Y e t the value of and to historians of our cultural life.—Julian 
his essay is great and he has performed a P. Boyd. 

T h e N e w M e d i c a l Classification for the Library of 

Congress and the A r m y M e d i c a l L i b r a r y — 

A Progress Report 

A t the meeting of the A r m y Medical Li-

brary consultants in October 1944, M a r y 

Louise Marshall reported (in the Bulletin 

of the Medical Library Association 3 3 : 

180-82, 1945) the initial steps which had 

been taken toward producing a system of 

classification suitable for the A r m y Medical 

Library. W o r k i n g under the auspices of a 

committee representing this library, the Li-

brary of Congress, and the A r m y Medical 

Library Survey Committee, and with the 

counsel of physicians concerned with the 

various specialties of medicine, she had made 

the preliminary studies for new alternative 

schedules for Medicine, Class R, and for 

the preclinical sciences in Class Q for the 

Library of Congress system. 

Since that time Miss Marshall has been 

hard at work putting the results of this 

study into effect. T h e schedule for each 

subject division has been drawn up and 

submitted for advice and correction to medi-

cal specialists and to members of the 

committee on classification. A s may be 

imagined, this has proved a long process. 

T h e first draft of the whole is finished, 

and the A r m y Medical Library has begun 

to classify its collection by it. In the 

actual application of the schedules, it is 

expected that alterations, additions, and sub-

tractions w i l l be found necessary. Conse-

quently, until such trial has been thoroughly 

made, it is judged wise not to make the 

provisional first draft of the classification 

available for general distribution. T h e 

process of classifying the A r m y Medical Li-

brary collection should result in establishing 

the system in permanent form. It will then 

be possible to publish it as an integral part 

of the Library of Congress classification 

schedules. 

It should be noted that the notation for 

these new schedules has been planned so 

that it will not conflict with the use of those 

in the original Library of Congress scheme 

for Class Q and Class R . T h e material 

from these classes has been assigned to 

hitherto unused portions of the alphabet, the 

new Q divisions occupying Q S to Q Z , while 

Medicine proper (the former R sections) 

utilizes the wholly vacant letter W . T h i s 

will make it possible for libraries already 

using the present Library of Congress 

classification for medicine and related sci-

ences to continue to do so or, if they prefer, 

to apply the new system, leaving their previ-

ous collections as they are. T h e Library 

of Congress will announce its policy with 

respect to use of the new schedules before 

they are published. 

KEYES D . M E T C A L F , Chairman 

Committee on a New Medical 

Classification for the Library of 

Congress and the Army Medical 

Library 

288 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES