xt79p843sx7n https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt79p843sx7n/data/mets.xml Louisiana Bennett, William Carroll, 1912- 1940 A paper read by W.C. Bennett, supervisor, Early American imprints inventory ... before the Louisiana library association convention, Lafayette, Louisiana, April 26, 1940. Republished from the Bulletin of the Louisiana library association, v. 4, no. 1, September, 1940, pp. 8-12. UK holds archival copy for ASERL Collaborative Federal Depository Program libraries Call number Z1289 .B45 1940 books  English  This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Louisiana Works Progress Administration Publications Catalogs and Finding Lists of Louisiana Source Materials text Catalogs and Finding Lists of Louisiana Source Materials 1940 1940 2015 true xt79p843sx7n section xt79p843sx7n   5 _ .
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TQ Q (A paper read by W. C. Bennett, Supervisor,
i 1 Early American Imprints Inventory, Louisiana
1+ Historical Records Survey Project, Division
‘ I; ’ of Professional and Service Projects, Work
Fi { t Projects Administration, before the Louisiana
’ j _ Library Association Convention, Lafayette,
L, Q Louisiana, April 26, 1940. Rep blished from
y T The Bulletin of the Louisiana Library Associa-
‘j j tion, vol. 4, no. 1, September, 1940, pp.
ip   8-12 .)
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l It gives me pleasure as a representative of the Professional and Service s
l Division of the Work Projects Administration to discuss with you some of the
\ activities of the Federal Government in designing "new tools for research."
{ I know that you, as librarians, are interested in the acquisition, preservation
{ and use of source materials whatever their form, and because of the calls made
I upon·you for such data, you wish to know whether or not certain specific ma-
terials exist, and if they exist, where they may be found. Before entering up-
on a discussion of these various activities, permit me to indicate what moti-
vated the Federal Government in u dertaking its program for encouraging the pre- `
servation of source materials and making them more accessible by utilizing the
man—power and financial resources of the Work Projects Administration, Federal
and local governmental agencies have been concerned primarily with providing
useful public work rather than the dole for unemployed persons; those of us who
have been in charge of various projects units have been preoccupied with pro-
ducing a socially useful product and in the retention and improvement of work-
ers' skills. Late in 1935, it was determined to survey the quantity, nature
and location of source materials in the United States by preparing keys to the
enormous quantities of raw and relatively inaccessible materials for research.
Local initative in such activities here and there throughout the nation indica-
ted that a mass attack on the problem might be successfully carried out on a
more or less uniform basis. This involved an administrative organization and
work procedures to meet the need of uniform mass production, and utilizing the
services of large numbers of professional, clerical and white collar workers
who had little enough training or back ground in bibliographical work. From
January 1936, until October 30, l939, there existed a nationwide project known
as the Historical Records Survey, which was set up to prepare inventories, lists,
guides, calendars, and similar controls over the basic materials for research V
in American history and related subjects such as Federal, State and local pub-
lic archives, manuscript collections in public and private hands, including
church records, and newspapers and early American imprints. The two general
principles governing activities prosecuted under Historical Records Survey Pro-
jects are:
1. The public records, manuscript and printed materials dealt with shall
be placed under primary controls, i. e., a newspaper file or a record
series (such as the deed books) described as to exact title, inclusive
dates, number of volumes, general nature of information contained and
location. A secondary control such as an index by name or subject
to the contents of the newspaper file or the deed books would not be
a normal activity of this type of project.
2. The work shall as far as possible yield a product suitable for publica-
tion and distribution. h
A third but seldom enunciated practice governing Survey publications is
that sometimes referred to as the progressive bibliography idea, Since most of
the publications are in low-cost near-print form such as mimeograph or multi-
graph reproductions, products which we know to be short of definitive are re-
produced as of a given date for what they may be worth, and with a request for
critical comment. For example: a dozen or more publications under the Early
American Imprints Inventory have been released, although locations of books,
pamphlets and broadsides are still being listed throughout the nation. The _U
distribution of such publications to interested specialists has yielded a
wealth of additional and corrective data. In other words, the issuance of gm `JU

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second and third editions in some cases has become a part of our work procedure _
· designed to effect a progressively more comprehensive listing.
¥ Various factors growing out of the passage of the Emergency Relief Act in
June, 1939, resulted in the establishment of a consolidated records project in
Louisiana, sponsored by the Department of Archives of Louisiana State Universi- -
ty. On hmrch 2 of this year the statewide Historical Records Survey project
in Louisiana was set up to 1) clean, sort, arrange and renovate state, parish
and municipal records, 2) inventory state, parish, municipal, church, and labor .
unions records, manuscript collections, early American imprints ani newspapers,
i 3) index state, parish and municipal records series, and 4) prepare for pibli-
cation inventories of state, parish, municipal and church records, manuscript
collections, early American imprints and newspapers.
It is not my intention to discuss each task being prosecoteé under the
l present project in Louisiana, but I wish to take up three phases of work in
which I believe the most of you will be interested, the early American imprints
inventory, the newspaper inventory, and the manuscript inventory.
The great number of libraries to be entered on the imprints inventory made
V i necessary the adoption of some briefer means of identification than the full
name of the library in these published bibliographies and check-list:. The sys·
t tem of location symbols used by the Union catalog of the Library of Congress
had been tested by use and had shown that it was flexible and capazle of indef-
inite growth. The American imprints inventory, therefore, adgptge it as a
basis of its system. The work of the inventory required symbols for a hee: :5 '
libraries not reported in the Union catalog and to get these tnoueazie of ai-
? ditional symbols the cooperation of the director of the Union catalog, UT.
George A. Schwegmann, Jr., was solicited. The first eiition cf the L;caticr
Symbols for Libraries in the United States, approved and eniorsei E7 The Union
catalog of the Library of Congress was duplicated by the Louiziana grzject in
October, 1939, and contains a total of 25% pages of Lccaticn Zyzicle for Litre- ,
ries in all states in the Union.
As you know, American book ciblicqraphy is very ineiegyate ari inaccurate
U up to the year 1876, when the American Catalog was estebliziei. E: QEEE, the
Oimuletive Book Index and the United States Catalog was begin, cverlagging for
e few years the American Catalog, which went out of existerce in L2lZ. Charles
Evans undertook the tremendous task of compiling a catale; of Axericer publica-
tions from the beginnings of the American press tc the year ZEZZ, but he wa; ,
unable to complete his work, American Eislicgraphg, beyoni the ziiile cf the ,
alphabet for 1799. Joseph Sabin undertook to list prixtei material cf é;erioa: l
interest in his Dictionary of Books Relating to Lzerica. This wars, zasperiei ,
_ several times becaEEE—o?_irT—3acin's ieath ani because of zkanges cf later eii-
tors, has recently been brought to conclusion unier the eiitcrzhig cf R. W. G.
Vail, under the auspices of the bibliographic €:ciety‘:f izeriee. Yiie p;tli-
cation covers roughly the last half cf the l9th century, tit; e few ;;:l;:i:rs
of earlier dates. From l%6O to l?”i, zany other attezgtz were :aie 1: grziaze t
I a catalog of publications, but none ef these was ezrclneife, rzr iii ery :;r·
vive. Before lE76, therefore, we have no aiaquate catalzg ;f Iriiei irate;
publications.
Both Evans and Sabin locate titles, bit zen; title; fzr ttit; 1: Qzzatizr .. n ,

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l is given are included in both, as well as others for which no definite authori-
i ty is given to warrant their inclusion.
To fill in the gaps in early American book cataloging, the Historical Rec-
. ords Survey, in 1937, undertook through the Early American Imprints Inventory
j the task of compiling a finding list of early American printed materials.
Q These include broadsides, since in many cases broadsides of broadsheets were
{ the first product of a printing establishment; pamphlets, which often have con-
] temporary historical, literary, or political significance; and books, which of .
course are still our main source of information. A nationwide organization was
I set up under Work Projects Administration procedures, with central headquarters
in Chicago under Douglas C. Mchurtrie as national consultant to the director
_ of the Historical Records Survey. Since 1937 workers have gone into libraries,
public, private and institutional, and have listed, according to a certain set
form, all books in each library published in the United States through l876,
V with the exception of those published in Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah, for which states the date limit is
` 1890. The worker's rough copy thus made is sent to the state office of the His-
torical Records Survey Project where it is edited for correctness of form, spel-
ling, and the inclusion of information sufficient for identification of the
book, after which it is typed on a sheet known as a Form 22HR which has four
spaces of catalog card size. The typed forms are then sent to the national ed-
itorial office in Chicago where they are cut, sorted alphabetically by state of
publication, then filed chronologically by years under each state and alphabet-
ically by author or title within each year. Since the same title may be found
{ in a number of depositories, the next step involves the consolidation of loca- `
y tion symbols on a single master card for each title. It is only natural that
{ a certain number of discrepancies in titles received in Chicago would be found, ·
l and something like 5% of the forms are returned to the various state projects
, or to the custodian for verification or correction of information. When the in-
‘ ventory for any given state is near completion a preliminary check-list such as
that recently published for Alabama is typed and then duplicated in the state,
kany books have been published that are no longer in existence, but which
{ are known because notices concerning their p blication or sale were printed in
.` contemporary newspapers and periodicals. To make a complete listing, workers
are going through newspaper files, chiefly before IBQD, transcribing every
A item concerning the publishing trade. These items may inform us that a certain
3 press was in operation in New Orleans at one time, although publications from
. the press are no longer existent, They may tell us that 1 book was published
s~ and for sale, that a newspaper was established, or that e certain firm dealt
in products of the publishing trade. any such information will help us to form
_ a more adequate picture of printing in the United States. Examples of the use
V to which such information is put may be noted in the two volumes of the Ken-
tucky check-list which are on exhibit just outside the door of the auditorium.
Librarians, in looking through published check-lists have checked than
.· with their own holdings and have written to the office of the Survey, making
corrections and additions. These changes will be included in future editions
I or supplements and the final result will, we believe, be a listing as accurate
I and as inclusive as it is possible to make.
’ Our aim is to prepare a basic list of books, from which biilic;ra;hies of »M. -

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all sorts may be prepared, whether subject, author, or publisher, or any other
type of bibliography that may be used in research. A scholar who has studiad V
exhaustivaly a specific subject will have encountered printed material dealing
with his subject that he never thought existed. He will also have bzcpme aw&re,
through various refsrencas,0f numerous pub1i¤at10ns necessary to his work that
ha is unable to locate. The great Union catalog at the Library of Congress and
other local union catalogs such as that under discussion here yasterizy will
help the situation tremendously; but since filing in these catalcgz is by au-
thor only, they cannot be of much value in studying a specific subject, unless _
the student knows thoroughly the publications in his field by authnr. With an
adequate inventory of locally printed material of the early year: of the c¤m·
munity such as the Early American Imprints Inventory is Striving to prpdugé,
he will be able to locate these publications wherever he may ba; and either
through an actual visit to the depository mr through intarlibrary lean may zgke
use of needed material. Such a finding tool will be nf inaztimgble value in
historians and to others doing research mark for which prin%e& materzai is
needed.
_ In Epril, 1939, the firzi zrcups of imprint writers in Lcuiziana were az»
signed to work in Haw Orleans in the Howard Memnrial Library, ami in Qatzn Hnuqé
at the New Hill Memorial Library. Eince {hai beginning, 173,345 imprint eniriex
have been written in BGS librariaz in fha state, incl iixg public, institutional
and private libraries. Az zary as TG worker; have beam engagai af one tixa.
Mark is still being carried an in New Grlzams, Eatcr H;ug2, klezzziriz, and
Ehravapcré, but with the sxcapfian nf a few high zchzcl librzrie; ir the smaller
mcwns and cities ani a few privaie librarie; act yet inve;izri%i, ins Early "
émericar Imprints Imvamfcry ir the Ztatz cf Lcuiziaxz is czxplaié. har; in now
· umiarway an 2 praliminary cbeck·1is€ of Lzmiziaxz i;;?i:t: whiz; will ge ii:·  
iriiuféi fur checking ani additizai.
¢ Hawzczzers are an imzwrtani zztrme ci hiziarical jazz, whetxer pzlitigal,
cmxzarciai, sr social. Egre we fixi a c;:t2:;;rar3 raccré cf ina avz;1x ef the
ia; in current phxazeclagj, interpreizi ir the Light of c:ni2;;arar7 ;niQ;c
cminizz and accriinaiai wich ;fh¢r ralztei czncerraicex, givirq, ever 2 gerici
V 2% ti;2 2 ccuzlata and ccrrélatai gicéure cf fic javalzpgazi zi i;2 l:;al;ty.
TE; :;:iiticr cf newzpzper filaz, €E§&5i&llY wha wzzi p;l; gzgerx, zzzex t;ii
i57&TYCTT alzgzi exérgzxcj in charazkar. A2 Mit; Asiatic: taii ix a:;t:er can-
nev this zzrziwg, males: me can laarx jqzt wizf paper: exist ani ¤;ere isa? are
ani grézarva aha; ky $@:2 ;aar; 2;:; as ;icr;;;;fcgrz;;T, TZE iaxt garasatiex
zi ziuézxtz i; varv prlik&l7 t; gave ar ;;;cr<1;iiy TC cake :22 zi 212 rewa-
_ :2:erz cf the zerigi aftzr iéii. V
Tar? few liirarie; Lzva 22i2:;ir2 1EWZ}E;€f ;11i;tq;; zri qpiiat 1; i;;é »
`TZE 15 zziarial are few ez: ;<2;e; ate, Z: QFE', wiz; xirgfrzé Eregzri, .5fer
rig zyzzizaz :5 the Azaricar Qi;L;;rT>g;i: Z;:iet7, p.cL;:;2i ga: £§%TiZ27 Naw;-
:z;€r2, LEQZ t; Léii, tzrrzrlv r;rart r2;2;rai, ;z·7 ;:;crta·i ;;L:;r;1 :2:% left ,r-
Qiiiai. Hiwari L. Yirker t;r;;L2i 2 "EiiQ;;g:2;hj 1T ?r2·;; fevz1e;ar2 a·i
?EfiCiiTi1Z ir Qt;2i;ava, ari ¥Q2:2;:a L. %r;·iz# a i;;LL1;:z;17 :5 Agerizan
V Femzpagari, E€EZ it Léki. Jyi riitxér zi iiaze #;r& T?;¤;?T?t7;? :?—i:& ravi- .~
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Rowell's American Newspaper Directory and Aycr’s annual Directory of American ,
Newspapers also give full bibliographical information, but make nb_attempt to
give the holdings of any newspaper listed.
_ To meet the need of a check—list of Louisiana newspapers and Newspapers in
Louisiana depositories, the Early American Imprints Inventory of the Louisiana ’
Historical Records Survey, has begun the preparation of such a finding list.
‘ Workers have entered public libraries, newspaper offices, and private homes to
list the papers on file, giving all obtainable information concerning the news-
paper itself, and checking each issue in the holdings of the depository. The
· completed forms on each newspaper file will be deposited with the Gregory file
in the Library of Congress, A check-list supplementary to the Union List is be-
ing compiled in Louisiana.
Since the beginning of the newspaper inventory in January, l939, the work
has been carried on in thirty parishes throughout the state. Fifty-three dif-
ferent depositories have been entered in thirty-two cities; and 759 different
titles have been inventoried.
The Inventory of Manuscripts in Louisiana will result in the publication
of three different guides to such materials. The first of these is the Guide
A to Manuscript Depositories in Louisiana. The final draft covering 35 Louisi-
ana manuscript depositories is presently in Washington awaiting publication ap-
~ proval. The second type of publication will be the imide to Manuscript Collec-
tions in Louisiana. The first volume of this guide, describing the manuscript ,
collections in the Department of Archives, Louisiana State University, has also
I been completed and is presently awaiting publication approval by the Librarian
‘ of Congress, The third type of guide which has been prepared in the state, is ‘
the calendar to a selected manuscript collection. A number of these have been
published including the Calendar of the Yucatecan Letters, the Calendar of I
the .Tabgr‘ Collection, and the Guide to the C. I. Fayssoux Collection of Wil-
liam Walker Papers.
I regret very much that it has been impossible to discuss with you other
. types of catalogs and findings lists of Louisiana source materials which are
being prepared by the Historical Records Survey Project in the state. I can.
· merely call attention to such tools as the Inventory of the Parish Archives of
`. Louisiana which is now being published at the rate of*app;bximately two volumes
each month; to the Inventory of State Archives, volumes on which will be issued
by departments, and to the Municipal Archives Inventory, a volume of which is
" being issued describing the records of each city in the state.
I wish to express to you my appreciation for intelligent and friendly co-
L operation which you, as librarians throughout the state have afforded us in the
work which we have underway. We realize that there is much which we can do to
improve the quality and the nature of the work which we have undertaken, and
your further interest and cooperation is most earnestly solicited. Requests
j for any of the thirty volumes issued by tho project in Louisiana should be ad-
dressed to Dr, Edwin A. Davis, Archivist, Louisiana State University. Thank
you.

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