American Documentation, Vol. I, No. 1 by Vernon D. TateReview by: Charles W. DavidThe Library Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Apr., 1951), p. 140Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4304000 .

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140 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY

and printers. There are also sections on physi- cians, engineers, and practitioners of the fine arts, as well as one of twenty pages devoted to works of the regions and republics. Four pages are devoted to material on pseudonyms. Dic- tionaries of portraits take a good twenty pages, and a detailed index by names concludes the volume. This work should help in the use of col- lections that are rich in Russian materials, and it should be of considerable value elsewhere in making an adequate selection of the basic Rus- sian biographical dictionaries.

JAMES B. CHILDS Library of Congress

American Documentation, Vol. I, No. i, winter (January), I950. Edited by VERNON D. TATE. (Published quarterly by the Ameri- can Documentation Institute.) Washington: American Documentation Institute, 1719 N Street N.W., I950. PP. 58. Annual sub- scription rate, $5.oo; single copy, $S.Io.

This is a revival of the Journal of Docutmn- ary Reproduction (which flourished from I938 to 1943 and then lapsed as a wartime casualty), but with important differences. Sponsorship has been transferred from the American Library As- sociation to the American Documentation In- stitute, and the scope has been broadened from a primary interest in photographic, mechanical, and other techniques to the whole field of docu- mentation in its broadest aspects. If future is- sues live up to the promise of the first number, success is assured. There can be no doubt as to the need for such an organ. Its format and typography are attractive, the editorship is admirable, and the contents are varied and sub- stantial. The current issue contains, for example, a broad survey of the whole subject of documen- tation in the United States by Jesse H. Shera and Margaret E. Egan; a timely discussion of the problems of the publication of the results of original research in the face of rapidly rising printing costs by Henry M. Silver; a biblio- graphical report by the ADI Committee on the Organization of Knowledge; and a statement of proposed standards for the reproduction of newspapers on microfilm which stems from a committee of the Association of Research Li- braries.

CHARLES W. DAVM

University of Pennsylvania Libraries

The Library Chronicle, Vol. XVII, No. i (Bi- centennial Issue Published in Memory of the Founding of the University of Pennsyl- vania Library, 1750). Issued by the FRIENDS

OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Li- BRARY. Philadelphia, 1950. Pp. 8o. Joining the growing parade of Jubilaumsaus-

gaben, this issue offers a medley of articles which place it partly in the group of Festschriflen con- taining scholarly tribute and partly with those presenting accounts of periods or aspects of in- stitutions. Two of the first three articles com- prising the historical part, "The Early Years of the University Library" and "Sine quibus non: The University of Pennsylvania Librarians," are brief accounts of the collections and the people who sought to make the resources useful.

From the early Academy days to the turn of the eighteenth century, students and faculty in the schools of English, Mathematics, and Philosophy were inadequately supplied with books. In contrast, Latin and Greek classics and some textbooks were available. For supple- mentary reading and for recreational literature the students were expected to depend on sub- scription libraries, notably the Library Com- pany. Various efforts to raise money in England and in the West Indies brought meager return for the library. Even gifts of books came in uncertain dribbles, the notable exception being the hundred volumes presented by Louis XVI.

Nor was the administration of the library more fortunate. Relegated as a part-time job to the faculty from 1750 to I831, the direction of the library became a duty of the provost until I872, then again a part-time concern of a faculty member in the departments of Mathematics, Latin, and Social Science, until finally, in I884, it was intrusted to a full-time librarian. Though it may have benefited from association with high administrative offices, it suffered from lack of continuous and undivided attention. One hundred and twenty-five years after its found- ing it had fewer volumes than many of the li- braries organized after the middle of the nine- teenth century. Since the i88o's it has grown to well over a million volumes. Whatever the cause, the library has fared better at least in its latter days.

Hoping to make the college a center of cul- tural life in America, the first provost, William Smith, encouraged his students to creative ac- tivity and inaugurated a series of "Dialogues and Odes," to be presented at commencement exercises. Some ten of these, dating from 176I to

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