About the European Division
History and Background
In
1906 the Library purchased the 80,000 volume collection of Russian bibliophile
Genadii Yudin, making the Library of Congress a leading center for Slavic
research in the United States. Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam created
a Slavic Section in 1907 to cope with this acquisition. The Slavic Section
evolved into a Slavic Division after World War I in 1919, providing cataloging
and reference services.
As a result of the reorganization of the Library in 1944, in which the cataloging
and reference functions were separated, the Slavic Division was abolished.
It was reestablished
in 1951.
During the 1950s, as new countries were added to its area of responsibility,
the Slavic Division evolved into the Slavic and East European Division. The
name was changed to the European Division in 1978, when it was expanded to
include all of Europe except Iberia and Great Britain.
The Collections
The Library of Congress collections from or pertaining to Europe began with
the acquisition of Thomas Jefferson's personal library, which contained representative
works of European culture in many subjects. Since Jefferson's day, the Library's
European collections have grown in size and quality to the point where they
can meet the needs of Congress and of the scholarly community in all disciplines.
The Library's European collections are among the finest in the world.
These holdings are especially strong in history, literature, and the social
sciences. The French, German, and Russian collections, an estimated 3,500,000
volumes, are the strongest among the European collections. European materials
are found in the general collection, and in the specialized collections,
such as those of the Geography and Map Division, the Motion Picture, Broadcasting
and Recorded Sound Division, the Music Division, the European Law Division,
and the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. The European Division
has custody of one of these special collections--some 35,000 uncataloged
Russian books and periodicals in all fields, dating primarily from 1880 to
1945. See: Overviews of the Collections
Services
The primary role of the European Division is to enhance the value of the
Library's European collections through recommendation of research materials
for addition to the collections, assistance to scholars, other libraries,
federal agencies, and the public in the use of the collections, and interpretation
of the collections through guides, bibliographies, and other studies. These
services are provided by the Division's area (country) specialists and by
the staff of the European Reading Room.
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