May 10, C. S. Paine, miscellaneous bills...$ 22 52 June 26, First National Bank (F. E. Jack son), services 7 00 June 29, City National Bank (Clara 3 00 July 1, exchange, David City.. 10 6 30 Ferris), reporting 5.00 November 6, Central National Bank (Jacob November 7, First National Bank (J. E. November 7, National Bank of Commerce November 11, City National Bank (W. F. (Ivy Press), printing. November 23, M. E. Wheeler (J. E. Fer ris), reporting December 3, exchange paid. Total Balance in National Bank of Commerce.. 3 00 10 00 12.00 500 10. $248 35 $274 94 REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. To the Board of Directors of the Nebraska State Historical Society: I take pleasure in submitting my report as Librarian of the Nebraska State Historical Society, from May 1, 1907, to December 31, 1907. Perhaps the most important work done during this period was the cataloguing of a very large part of the 27,000 volumes in the library. Up to the 1st of last June the library had not been catalogued, organized, or classified except in a general way. The present Secretary and Library Committee were very anxious to have the library catalogued and put into such shape that the material could be used to better advantage. As it was, there was no way, outside the memory of those actively connected with the Society, of telling what material was on hand, or of locating things for those who came to use the library. When your Librarian assumed her duties, the 1st of May, 1907, the Board had decided to secure an expert organizer and cataloguer for the summer, and do as much as possible toward cataloguing the whole library. Miss Anna M. Price of the Library School of the University of Illinois was employed as organizer, and on the tenth day of June the work of cataloguing began. Besides Miss Price and your Librarian, a young woman was secured to typewrite the cards, and during eight and one-half weeks of the summer one other assistant was employed. For financial and other reasons the library had not received as much attention as it needed, and was very dirty. Every book was taken from the shelves, the dust wiped off with damp cloths, and the shelves washed before the books were replaced. The work of cataloguing continued from June 10 to September 4, and during that time 22,000 titles were catalogued by the Dewey decimal system of classification. The card catalogue contains 10,000 typewritten cards, shelf list included. One room of the library is known as the Nebraska room. It contains all books pertaining to Nebraska, all books written by Nebraska people, and all books of western description and travel. Everything in this room was catalogued. In the other part of the library more than three-fourths of all the books on hand at that time were catalogued. With the exception of 525 volumes on agriculture-the 630's-cards were made for everything down to the 974's, which leaves the history by states yet to be done. This material was all arranged by itself and was in the best shape of any part of the library, so it was thought best to leave it, rather than other subjects, uncatalogued. Beside the 27,000 volumes already mentioned in the library, there were a large number of volumes stored in the vault for exchange purposes. They were mainly reports from the various state offices, and were being asked for on exchange account by libraries and historical societies. These books were not listed nor systematically arranged, so it was impossible to tell what was on hand. After the principal part of the cataloguing was finished September 4, these duplicates were carried from the vault, sorted, counted, listed, and arranged according to an alphabetical system. The list showed 11,962 volumes, chiefly publications of the state departments, and 6,800 volumes of the Society's own publications. Beside the duplicates in the vault, there is another room containing approximately 4,000 volumes for exchange. These are of a general nature, including public documents, departmental reports of various states, historical publications, etc., and a special list is being made of them. The storerooms at the capitol contain a large number of duplicates of state officers' reports, and the Historical Society obtained permission to take such of these as were needed for exchange purposes. In October the books were looked over and 2,353 volumes were added to the Society's duplicates. Many of these were early territorial laws, and senate and house journals, some of which were quite valuable. At the meeting of Secretaries of Historical Societies from the various Mississippi valley states in this city October 17 and 18, our exchange lists were gone over eagerly and carefully by the visiting secretaries, and arrangements were made to add a large number of books to the library without expense by exchanging duplicates with the other societies. The secretaries from Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Montana were especially anxious to exchange for Nebraska's full list of duplicates, and the secretary from Montana shipped 225 volumes to the library immediately on his return home. Others have since sent the library what they had for exchange, Kansas sending 962 volumes. The library was officially represented by the Librarian at the meeting of the Iowa and Nebraska Library Association, which was held in Omaha and Council Bluffs, October 8 to 11, 1907. On account of the financial limitations of the Society and an extra amount of money having been spent on the library during the cataloguing, it was decided best to dispense with the Librarian's services for the month of November. Several donations of valuable books and manuscripts have been made to the library during the period which this repert covers, and a few persons have made loans either for a short period or for an indefinite length of time. During the months between May 1, 1907, and January 1, 1998, the Society sent out 900 books and pamphlets and received 1,400 in exchange. The volumes on hand January 1, 1908, are as follows: State Historical Society publications for exchange.... 6,800 General publications for exchange.. 4,000 Total 53,665 Respectfully submitted, MINNIE P. KNOTTS, Librarian. REPORT OF ARCHEOLOGIST. To the Honorable, The Board of Directors, Nebraska State Historical Society: REVIEW OF PREVIOUS REPORTS. The complete report of this department has been published in the Annual Report of the State Board of Agriculture from time to time. My first report will be found in the Annual Report of the State Board of Agriculture for 1902. This embraces a report for the last six months of 1901 and a report for 1902. In the same publication for 1904 will be found my (second and third) report for 1903 and 1904. My (fourth) report for 1905 will be found in the annual report of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture for 1905. It is hoped to have these reports gathered into a volume and published in the Nebraska State Historical Society series, but until such a volume is compiled it seems right that a brief summary be printed here. At a meeting of the executive board of the Nebraska State Historical Society in June, 1901, $300 was set apart to begin the work of this department. J. Sterling Morton, then President of the Society, gave his influence, and I may say that he was chiefly responsible for the start made at that time. This branch of the work was placed on a permanent footing at the January meeting in 1902. A salary of $800 per year was granted the archeologist, and the museum was placed under his direct charge. Fifty dollars a year was added to the salary of the archeologist in 1905. The cast third of the state has been explored, and about fifty Indian village sites have been visited and described in the reports. Maps have been made of a few of the most important ones. Relics have been gathered from each site and stored for future study. |