Description:

Smithsonian Group of Letters and Document, Signed by Spofford, Henry, & Meehan

Four individual partially printed documents signed, each relating to the Smithsonian and Library of Congress as shown below:


1. Letter of receipt on Smithsonian Institution letterhead, with the Smithsonian raised blind stamp. 8" x 10". Dated "December 1st, 1859", and signed by Joseph Henry "Joseph Henry" as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. "Received … one copy of a work entitled Colburn's Series … The Common-school Arithmetic; A Practical Treatise on the Science of Numbers…"
2. Partially printed autographed memo note on Library of Congress letterhead, 5" x 8", "the assignments of Copyright asked for is herewith enclosed…" Dated "Nov 4, 1870", and signed by "A.R. Spofford".
3. Receipt on letterhead with imprint of "An act to establish the Smithsonian Institution ….", and Library of Congress letterhead below. Dated "August 31, 1854", as a receipt to establish the Smithsonian Institution "An Epitome of the American Eclectic Practice of Medicine; embracing Pathology, … Diagnosis, Prognosis… By William Paine, M.D.." Signed by "John S. Meehan, Librarian"
4. Another receipt similar to the above but dated "November 27, 1858", and showing a receipt of "Coburn's Series- Part III …", and signed by "John S. Meehan, Librarian"

• The Library of Congress had an ongoing relationship with the Smithsonian Institution. The Library developed relationships with other national libraries over the years, but none has been as close and intertwined than its association with the Smithsonian Institution and its library, prompting passage of legislation to regulate the relationship between the two agencies.
• The U. S. Congress, uncertain of the Smithsonian's exact mission, established a Board of Regents to create and oversee the Institution, and called for construction of a building to house a museum, laboratory, library, art gallery, and lecture rooms.
• The Board of Regents appointed renowned physicist Joseph Henry as the first Smithsonian Secretary. Henry wanted to craft a premier scientific institution with only a small library consisting primarily of materials that could be loaned to scientists to support their research.
• The controversy with Jewett convinced Henry that the function of the Smithsonian's library should be more clearly defined. Furthermore, the library experienced rapid growth from the international exchange program Henry had instituted in 1848 after launching the "Contributions to Knowledge" series, along with copyright deposits mandated by Congress.
• The Library of Congress, meanwhile, had grown to only 55,000 volumes by 1850, and two-thirds of that was destroyed by fire in late 1851. After a fireproof room was built for the library in the Capitol, its collection grew to nearly 80,000 volumes by 1861, but the Library had many deficiencies. When Assistant Librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford was appointed Librarian of Congress on December 31, 1864, he became the first person truly qualified to hold the job. Eager to create a great national library for the American people, Spofford secured congressional funding to expand the Library and established the requirement that copyrighted materials be deposited there.
• The Smithsonian suffered a fire in the Castle building in early 1865. None of the main library materials were lost, but after another, smaller fire the following year, Joseph Henry was eager to take action. He and Spofford proposed to both the Joint Committee on the Library and the Board of Regents that the Smithsonian library be deposited in the new and empty fireproof wings of the Library of Congress. An act was signed into law on April 5, 1866 to make the transfer, and it defined the relationship that exists to this day.
• Smithsonian library materials were catalogued, shelved and integrated into the rest of the Library of Congress' collection, but the scientific materials were kept separate. The Smithsonian also did not surrender ownership of its library, known officially as the Smithsonian Deposit, which continued to grow through the international exchange program.
• In 1867, Librarian of Congress Spofford received congressional authorization to print extra copies of official federal publications for exchange with other countries as a way to enhance the utility of the Library's collections. Joseph Henry asked the Department of State to contact foreign ministries about their interest in the plan. After receiving positive feedback, Henry and Spofford agreed to establish a routine for sending official documents to universities and societies, in addition to their official national counterparts.

An interesting group of signed documents surrounding this period.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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