College and Research Libraries


Book Reviews 
Dictionary of American History. James 

T r u s l o w Adams, ed. in chief. Vols. 
I and I I . Scribner, 1940. 444, 430 pp. 
Set of 6 vols. $60. 
T H E P R O J E C T of which these two vol-

umes represent the first instalment was 
launched in 1936 as a more or less logical 
aftermath of the success of the Dictionary 
of American Biography. T h e growing 
realization of the importance of the con-
tribution made by the compilation of a 
comprehensive and authoritative reference 
work on individuals led to a demand that 
a similar task be undertaken for the facts, 
events, trends, and policies which have 
gone to make up American history. T o 
meet this demand, the publishers of the 
biographical dictionary proceeded without 
subvention from foundations or scholarly 
societies to outline the plans for such a 
work. T h e engagement of James T r u s -
low Adams as editor in chief and R . V . 
Coleman as managing editor was followed 
by the selection of an advisory council of 
seventeen nationally recognized historians 
and librarians representing the different 
sections of the country as well as dif-
ferent spheres of interest within their pro-
fessions. T h e supervisory staff was 
completed by the appointment of Thomas 
Robson Hay and Ralph Foster W e l d as 
associate editors, and the final form 
of the work is the result of the collective 
judgment of this group of twenty-one 
men. 

T h e editorial program began with an 
appeal to the leading historical societies 
and to several hundred historians to assist 
in proposing subjects for treatment, and 
the comprehensive index which was com-

piled on the basis of their suggestions was 
then subjected to an intensive sifting proc-
ess by which near duplications and the 
less significant materials were eliminated. 
T h i s procedure was repeated in determin-
ing the allotment of space for the indi-
vidual topics and in selecting authors for 
the various subjects. As a result, to quote 
from the foreword, " M o r e than a thou-
sand historians, representing a cross sec-
tion of American historical scholarship, 
have joined in the writing of the five to 
six thousand articles which will be found 
in the completed w o r k . " In its finished 
form the work will consist of five volumes 
of text and one volume of index, and un-
like the Dictionary of American Biog-
raphy, all copy was in before the actual 
manufacture of the first volume was be-
gun ; hence it is expected that the remain-
ing volumes will be available by the time 
this review appears in print. 

According to the editor, the justification 
for this work is to be found in the fact 
that although within the last few decades 
the discovery of new facts and the de-
velopment of new interests have brought 
about an almost complete rewriting of 
American history, this new history has 
remained "scattered through thousands of 
volumes of general histories or special 
studies." T h a t the growing complexity of 
the subject together with an increased 
public interest in it created a greater de-
mand for some one source to which an 
inquirer might go to find quickly what 
he wishes to know cannot be denied. 
Whether the fact that a reference work 
rather than a synthesis seemed to come 
nearer to meeting that demand is perhaps 

364 COLLEGE AND RES E ARC LI L I B R A R I E S 



a reflection of the level of culture in our 
own generation, cannot be considered 
here. Having been given a reference 
work, we must attempt to appraise it for 
what it is. 

These two volumes contain approxi-
mately two thousand articles varying in 
length from three to about five hundred 
lines and arranged in alphabetical order 
on double column pages. Despite this 
dictionary form, however, and despite the 
statement in the foreword that "emphasis 
has constantly been placed on the fact that 
this is a 'dictionary' and not a collection 
of essays or even an encyclopaedia," the 
nature of the contents would seem to 
place the work in the category of en-
cyclopedia rather than of dictionaries. 
Relatively few of the articles are confined 
to a simple definition of terms, while in 
many cases they take the form of critical, 
and at times even philosophical, essays. 
Thus it is actually a combination of the 
three possibilities, and as such it is prob-
ably more valuable for the general user 
than would have been the case had it 
been confined to dictionary style. 

While it is not possible, perhaps, for one 
who is not a librarian to attempt to eval-
uate it from that point of view, it seems 
obvious that this work, when completed, 
will quickly become an indispensable aid 
to the reference librarian. Within the 
limits of one work, as illustrated by these 
two volumes, may be found information 
on topics ranging from "Chinch Bugs" to 
"Constitution of the United States." In 
most cases, the articles on the more im-
portant topics have been prepared by the 
historians in whose fields of interest they 
properly fall, and they are written in an 
interesting and readable style without 
sacrificing sound scholarship. In each case 
the article is accompanied by a reference 

or references, "selected, so far as possible, 
with a view to accessibility in the average 
library." Thus it will become the starting 
point for the finding of information on 
almost every conceivable subject in Amer-
ican history. 

Occasionally, however, the result will 
be disappointing. It is much easier, of 
course, to criticize the selections made by 
another than to make choices without 
seeming to be arbitrary, but there are 
some cases which seem to call for con-
sideration. For example, since one of the 
problems to be faced in the development 
of the Great Plains was the scarcity of 
both wood and water it seems illogical to 
include "Buffalo Chips" and omit can-
teens. Would not the question of "direct 
trade with Europe," as planned by south-
erners in the 1850's, be just as important 
as "Drogher T r a d e " ? One wonders if 
the Franco-Texienne Company and the 
Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company, 
neither of which is included, were not 
more far-reaching in their effects than was 
the Castorland Company, which is in-
cluded. If the "Dare Stone" deserves a 
place, why not also the "Drake Plate"? 
These are merely samples of apparently 
arbitrary selections. 

In general, the work may be said to be 
more valuable for the librarian and for 
the general public than for the historian. 
While it is true that the articles furnish 
convenient summaries of the essential in-
formation concerning both broad trends 
and specific events, the historian will not 
always be willing to accept this as the 
final word. He will wonder, for example, 
if Gutzon Borglum is completely objective 
in his article on "Borglum's Colossal 
Sculptures," or he will be struck by the 
fact that the article on " T h e Fourteenth 
Colony" discusses Transylvania, Franklin, 

SEPT EMBER, 1940 365 



and Vermont without deciding upon one 
of them, and completely ignores the ef-
forts during the American Revolution to 
bring Canada into the conflict as "the 
fourteenth colony." More striking, per-
haps, is the fact that the article on "Abo-
lition Movement" treats abolition and 
antislavery as if they were synonymous 
terms, while the one on "Antislavery 
Movement" does not even contain a cross-
reference to abolition. T h e article on 
"Abolitionist Literature" asserts that "the 
great number of antislavery newspapers 
began with Charles Osborn's Philanthro-
pist ( 1 8 2 0 ) and Benjamin Lundy's 
Genius of Universal Emancipation 
( 1 8 2 1 ) , both originating at M t . Pleasant, 
Ohio, and The Castigator ( 1 8 2 4 ) at 
Ripley, Ohio." T h e article on The 
Emancipator, of Jonesboro, Tenn., on the 
other hand, states that "it preceded the 
Genius of Universal Emancipation by 
seven months." Careful editing should 
have caught these inconsistencies. 

T h e presence of a few minor flaws, 
however, should not be permitted to ob-
scure the fact that because of the excel-
lence of the work as a whole it may be 
expected to rank with the Dictionary of 
American Biography as an indispensable 
reference aid for all students of American 
history.—William C. Binkley, Vanderbilt 
University, Nashville. 

The Library Survey: Problems and 
Methods. E . W . McDiarmid, J r . 
American Library Association, 1940. 
2 4 3 P - $ 3 - 5 0 . 

FOR MANY YEARS we have debated, 
among ourselves and with outsiders, our 
right to call the study of librarianship 
"library science." T h e word "science" is 
one of many which have come to mean 
so many things that they mean almost 

nothing. In this review the word "sci-
ence" means a method of study, a method 
to which no field or fields of knowledge 
may claim exclusive right, and "library 
science" is the application of that method 
to the problems of librarianship. While 
we have always had a library science, until 
a year ago we had not a single manual, 
textbook or handbook on its methodology. 
T h i s condition is undoubtedly both cause 
and effect of the very subordinate position 
heretofore occupied by the scientific as-
pects of the study of librarianship. In 
J u n e 1939 appeared a landmark in the 
literature of librarianship, Investigating 
Library Problems by Douglas Waples. 
Within less than a year has appeared a 
second library science manual: The Li-
brary Survey. 

The Library Survey is an important 
book. It does not pretend to be original 
or profound. It is a practical handbook 
for the student of library problems. It 
"attempts to combine within the covers of 
one volume a wide variety of survey meth-
ods and procedures, in the hope that it 
will result in a saving of time and effort 
for future surveys." T h e "methods and 
procedures" have been assembled, in gen-
eral, from actual surveys. " T h e author 
has essayed the role of reporter and com-
mentator, rather than that of authority." 
T h u s The Library Survey is essentially a 
survey of library surveys. 

By a "library survey" the author means 
a systematic and thorough evaluation of 
the work of a library, a division of a 
library, or a group of libraries, in relation 
to its, or their, objectives. T h e final 
objective of a library survey is always a 
program of action. M r . McDiarmid has 
given us a compendium of evaluative cri-
teria and techniques. He has done a 
thorough and workmanlike, if unimagina-

366 COLLEGE AND RES E ARC LI L I B R A R I E S