By JOHN Y. COLE
Between now and the end of the year, the Information Bulletin will examine at the history and development of several of the publications of the Library of Congress. This month, we examine the Library's two principal magazines.
Civilization: The Magazine of the Library of Congress (1994-present )
A special section, "The Knowledge Age: The Library of Congress Turns 200," celebrates the Library's Bicentennial in the most recent issue of Civilization (April-May 2000).
The foreword, "In a Haze of Information, Finding Truth," is by Dr. Billington, in his capacity as guest editor for the issue. Other contributors are Ariel Rosenblum, National Digital Library ("Digital Knowledge: A New Tocquevillian Ideal"), Peggy A. Bulger, American Folklife Center ("Folk Knowledge: Lore for Life), James H. Hutson, Manuscript Division ("Written Knowledge: Illuminating Manuscripts"), this writer ("Printed Knowledge: Myth of the Dying Book"), former Congressional staffer Jeffrey Biggs (Political Knowledge: Confessions of a Staffer"), and Ben Gerson ("Branded Knowledge: Copyrights and Wrongs.") The issue also contains "A Birthday for the Books" a reflective historical article by contributing editor Nicholas von Hoffman, a description of the Jefferson library restoration project by Mark Dimunation, chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, and a review by senior editor Sara Austin of James Conaway's America's Library: The Story of the Library of Congress, 1800-2000.
An independent magazine published bimonthly since 1994 under a licensing agreement with the Library, Civilization represents a significant departure for the Library of Congress. It is a commercial venture inspired by the Library and its collections but in no way an official Library of Congress publication.
In the early 1980s, Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin (1975-1987) initiated a feasibility study for a commercial magazine connected with the Library of Congress that would reach a broad general audience. In anticipation of such a magazine, in 1983 the Library ceased publication of The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, a government publication that had a small, circulation base (paid circulation of about 1,000) and a specialized -- if important - - appeal. (The winter 1979 issue contains a brief history of the Quarterly Journal by Frederick Mohr, its editor.) Negotiations with the private sector for a new magazine, however, did not succeed until the administration of Dr. Billington (1987-present). The first issue of Civilization: The Magazine of the Library of Congress was dated November-December 1994 and featured on the cover, appropriately enough, Thomas Jefferson -- the subject of a since published biography by Joseph J. Ellis. Since that issue, Civilization's paid circulation has reached 250,000, giving the Library of Congress its largest audience ever for a Library- connected publication. Prior to the special section in the April-May 2000 issue, Civilization honored Library of Congress anniversaries in two special issues, one marking the 100th anniversary of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 1897-1997, and "Creative America," which inaugurated the Library's Bicentennial celebration.
Aimed at a general audience and containing contributions by professional writers, Civilization did not "replace" The Quarterly Journal. It has a different function. Most of the contributors to The Quarterly Journal were Library of Congress specialists, and most of their articles focused on the Library's acquisitions and collections. During its 50-year history, summarized below, The Quarterly Journal contributed immensely to the Library's history. Moreover its basic function -- communicating information about the Library's collections to a wider audience -- is still a Library of Congress priority.
The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress (1943-1983)
The Quarterly Journal was established by Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish under the title Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions. In his introduction to the first issue, dated July-September 1943, Librarian MacLeish described the new journal as "a work of cooperative scholarship" aimed primarily at bringing the collections and programs of the Library to the attention of Congress, the government and the American people. He acknowledged two developments that made this "convenient and useful" publication possible. They were the agreement by the Public Printer to publish the journal, technically speaking, as a supplement to the Library's Annual Report and, second, the agreement by the distinguished American poet and critic Allen Tate, the Library's consultant in poetry for 1944, to serve as editor.
MacLeish appointed Robert Penn Warren to be poetry consultant and editor of the Quarterly Journal on July 23, 1944. When his term expired on July 15, 1945, editorial responsibility for the journal was transferred to the Acquisitions Department, and John L. Nolan became editor. For the next 20 years the journal systematically emphasized new acquisitions in all of the Library's departments. Many of the descriptions of individual items and collections are unsurpassed. In June 1963 Sarah L. Wallace became editor. A new cover and format were introduced in January 1964, and the words "of Current Acquisitions" were dropped from the title. Readers began seeing fewer articles about acquisitions and more issues devoted to specific topics. Frederick B. Mohr became editor with the October 1977 issue.
Following is a selective sampling of Quarterly Journal issues and articles:
- 1943 July, August, September, Vol. 1, No. 1: "Toward a Rare Book Policy in the Library of Congress," by consultant Lawrence C. Wroth.
- 1945 October, Vol 3, No. 1: A special issue containing five articles about the Lessing J. Rosenwald collection.
- 1950 November, Vol 8, No. 1: A special sesquicentennial issue dedicated to the founding of the Library in 1800 and containing eight articles about early Americana.
- 1952 February, Vol 9, No. 2: Two articles about the Alfred Whital Stern collection of Lincolniana, plus annual reports of acquisitions in the Orientalia and Slavica collections and in the subjects of philosophy and religion.
- 1958 May, Vol. 15, No. 3: "Some Thoughts on the Roosevelt Papers" by Elting E. Morison and the catalog of the Theodore Roosevelt Centennial Exhibit, plus annual reports about acquisitions of manuscripts, rare books, Hungarica and Slavica.
- 1965 April, Vol. 22, No. 2: This special theme issue on "The Creation of a Notable Book" includes essays by Dan Lacy, Aldous Huxley, Fritz Eichenberg, and Joseph Blumenthal.
- 1972 April, Vol. 28, No. 2: Four articles about the history of copyright.
- 1972 October, Vol 29, No. 4: Four articles about the history of the Jefferson Building.
- 1975 April, Vol. 32, No. 2: This issue, which marks the Library's 175th anniversary, begins a series of biographical essays about individual Librarians of Congress. (The 11th and final essay is published in the July 1976 issue).
- 1975 October, Vol.32, No. 4: A special issue about women and the Library's resources for the study of women.
- 1979 Fall, Vol. 36, No. 4: The issue includes a special tribute to poet Allen Tate, the Quarterly Journal's first editor.
- 1980 Summer-Fall, Vol. 37, Nos. 3-4: A double issue containing 12 articles about the Library's motion picture, sound recording and television collections.
- 1983 Fall, Vol. 40, No. 4: The final issue. Editor Frederick Mohr thanks "our authors, who have taken care to follow Librarian Archibald MacLeish's initial instruction that they write as scholars but not necessarily for scholars,' the QJ staff (associate editors James Hardin, Iris Newsom and Evelyn Sinclair; production manager Johanna Craig; and designer Gerald A. Valerio), who in spite of full schedules, editing and producing the Library's many other publications, have managed to find time to put together this 'work of cooperative scholarship,' and our readers, whose continuing loyalty to a journal that was often elusive and sometimes eccentric firmly establishes their membership in that select group 'to whom books are not tools alone but objects of human and humane interest and concern.'" Mr. Cole is director of the Center for the Book and co-chair of the Bicentennial Steering Committee. The premiere and current issues of Civilization, The Magazine of the Library of Congress; the premier issue of the Library of Congress Quarterly Journal, with covers through the years opposite.
Mr. Cole is director of the Center for the Book and co-chair of the Bicentennial Steering Committee.