Jewett Submits Library Survey and Plan
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Assistant Secretary Jewett presents his report which includes a survey of the world's libraries. His plan of collecting includes the purchase of books required by officers and those engaged in research for the Institution, memoirs and transactions of learned societies worldwide, as well as important scientific and literary periodicals, books of general importance, especially those not found in other libraries of the country, and works required to make the Institution a center of bibliographical knowledge. In the last category, he provides a list for an initial acquisition of 3,000 volumes (toward a complete bibliographic library of 20,000 volumes), including histories of literature, science, and art; biographical and critical works; as well as bibliographical works.
Chronology of Smithsonian History
Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1848. Washington, D.C.: Tippin and Streeper, 1849, p. 34-47.
Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu
December 13, 1848