Overviews of the Collections
The Modern Greek Collections at the Library of Congress
David H. Kraus, European Division
General Evaluation and Size
The Modern Greek collection comprises about 65,000 volumes of
books and bound periodicals, as well as non-print materials such
as music scores, maps and atlases, prints and photographs, manuscripts,
motion pictures, and sound recordings. For this paper we consider
Modern Greece to begin in 1453, with the end of the Byzantine Empire.
The European Division's responsibility for building the Modern
Greek collection begins with 1821, the onset of the War of Independence
from the Ottoman Empire. The collection from or about the period
1821-present amounts to about 50,000 volumes of books and bound
periodicals, with about 70% in the Greek language and the remainder
primarily in West European languages.
Systematic collecting of materials from or about Greece began
in 1969 with the appointment of a specialist for Greece in the
Slavic and Central European Division (now the European Division).
Before that, materials were received primarily on exchange with
Greek academic, governmental, and professional organizations; transfers
from other U.S. government agencies; and purchases through various
agents. The results were quite good, abetted by events such as
the acquisitions trip by Jennings Wood, Assistant Chief of the
Exchange & Gift Division to Athens in 1959 to improve official
exchanges, and the recommendations for additions to the literature
collection made in 1960 by consultant Andonis Decavalles, a Greek
poet who reported favorably on the Library's holdings in this field.
The acquisitions situation proved volatile in the 1970s, with several
changes of blanket-order dealers and unreliable receipts from exchange
partners in the Greek government, and from academic and professional
organizations. A reliable book dealer for commercial publications
was engaged in 1984, following an acquisitions trip by the Assistant
Chief of the European Division to Greece, and in 1988 a reliable
supplier of non-commercial publications, in the form of a bibliographic
services contractor, was employed. Currently, the Library's coverage
of Greek publications may be considered excellent.
Strengths
The strength of the general collection in both quality and quantity
by subject, is approximately as follows, in descending order: literature,
history, philosophy and religion, language, fine arts, politics
and government. The strong special collections are to be found
in rare books, law, maps and atlases, prints and photographs, and
music. In addition, the Library holds about 1,000 Greek serials
and 100 newspaper titles, including 12 current newspapers, representing
the major political or social forces.
In general, the strength of the Modern Greek collection rests
in the strength and extent of its holdings, rather than in rarities.
The history collection comprises more than 10,000 volumes; the
law collection more than 3,000 volumes; the literature collection
about 15,000 volumes; and there are more than 3,000 maps and charts.
Highlights
The Library of Congress' Greek collections are perhaps the largest
and most diverse in the United States, and are capable of supporting
advanced research in practically all fields of human endeavor.
The exceptions are clinical medicine and applied agriculture, which
are the domains of the National Library of Medicine and the National
Agricultural Library.
Some items of special note in the Library's collections are the
exchange of correspondence in 1823 between the Greek scholar, Hellenist,
and patriot Adamantios Koraes, and Thomas Jefferson, in which Koraes
sought advice on the best constitution for Greece, and Thomas Jefferson
responded.
Language and Literature
The Library's collection of works on Modern Greek philology, language,
and literature approaches the comprehensive, with all the major
Modern Greek authors and literary movements well-represented. The
philhellenism that renewed patriotism in Greeks, and that drew
international attention and support for Greek independence from
Ottoman rule in the first quarter of the 19th century, was inspired
to a considerable extent by Greek literature, for example, the
poetry of Dionysius Solomos (1798-1857), the commentaries on classical
Greek literature by Adamantios Koraes (1748-1833) that raised the
pride of Greek in their heritage. In independent Greece a language
controversy prevailed for decades, whether Greek literature should
be written in katharevousa, a "high" literary language, the heritage
of the ancients in modern form -- or in demotike, the spoken language,
and, if in spoken language, then which spoken language in a country
that had strong regional dialects and had suffered disunity under
450 years of Turkish rule... Athenian demotike and the descendants
of the Ionian school finally prevailed, but not until the 20th
century, and demotike did not replace katharevousa in the official
press until 1970. To illustrate the emotions that the language
controversy raised, the publication of a vernacular translation
of the New Testament led to a riot in Athens in 1901.
The Library's literature collection represents all the literary
movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. Alexandros Rangabe (1810-1892)
and the aforenamed Koraes were outstanding proponents of katharevousa,
and Dionysios Solomos and Andreas Kalvos, of the Ionian School,
of demotike. Solomos' Ode to Liberty became the Greek national
anthem. Statistics for the number of works held by the Library
of or about some of the leading Greek authors will give an idea
of the strength of our collection: Andreas Kalvos (1792-1867),
23 works; Konstantinos Kavaphes (1863-1933), 34; Kostes Palamas
(1859-1943), 80; Angellos Sikelianos (1884-1951), 59; Nikos Kazantzakes
(1883-1957), 137.
Two outstanding representatives of the golden age of Greek poetry
in the late 20th century are the 1963 winner of the Nobel Prize
in Literature, George Seferis (1900-1971), and the 1979 Nobel Prize
winner, Odysseus Elytis (1911- ). The Library holds 110 works by
or about Seferis and 68 by or about Elytis.
The monograph collection of Greek literature is supported by literary
periodicals.
History and Political Science
All periods of Modern Greek history are well covered in both Greek
and Western works, with approximately 15,000 volumes. The Library's
collections are strong in 15th to 19th century Western accounts
of travel to Greece under Ottoman rule. These are important sources
of information on many aspects of Greek life, customs, political
and economic status for that period of history. An element of strength
of the collections for the period of independence (1821+ ) is local
and regional history, covering the traditional regions of Greece
such as Crete, the Cyclades, Epirus, the Ionian Islands, Macedonia,
the Peloponnesos, and Thrace. In the past decade, there has been
a flurry of Greek publishing on Macedonia, as the Slav-Greek rivalry
in that area has heated up, particularly since 1989 when the newly-independent
Yugoslav republic of Macedonia has sought world recognition under
that name.
Rare Books
The Library's sizable collection of rare Greek books pertains
principally to Ancient Greece, including incunabula produced in
Italy after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Among the Library's
holdings one must also mention the first book to be printed entirely
in Greek, Konstantinos Lascaris' Epitome ton okto tou logou meron
[Summary of the Eight Parts of Speech], published in Milan in 1476,
although it concerns Ancient rather than Modern Greek.
Manuscripts
The Library limits its collection of manuscripts to those that
have an American connection. Therefore, its papers relating to
Greece are mainly those of American statesmen or travelers. The
correspondence of President Jefferson and Adamantios Koraes has
already been mentioned. President Martin Van Buren's Second Annual
Message to Congress (December 3, 1838) contains a copy of the Treaty
of Commerce and Navigation between the United States and Greece,
ratified in 1837. The papers of Nicholas Biddle contain an account
of his travels to Greece in 1806. The papers of President Woodrow
Wilson and his Secretary of State Robert Lansing for 1919 include
reports on Greek claims in Eastern Thrace. The papers of Henry
Morgenthau, senior, Chair of the Greek Settlement Commission in
1923 are particularly important. They describe the tragic transfer
of more than one million Greeks from Asia Minor to Eastern Thrace,
following the disastrous Greek invasion of Anatolia. The papers
of Cordell Hull, Secretary of State during the Franklin Roosevelt
era, contain numerous memoranda on Greece during the period 1933-1944.
Prints and Photographs
Perhaps the most interesting Library of Congress holding in this
area is the collection of stereographs, 600 in number, showing
Greece at the turn of the 20th century -- buildings, archeological
sites, churches, monasteries, street scenes from Athens, views
of other towns, localities, and areas. The views of Athens are
particularly interesting today because they show the city's historic
landmarks before their devastation by atmospheric pollution. Another
collection showing the progression of Athens is the Holland (Leicester
B. Holland, Chief of the Fine Arts Division of the Library) Views
of Greece, 1919-1921. Collections with a noteworthy Greek component
are the Riggs and Carpenter collections that are geographical in
character. Mention is also due Joseph Pennell's 27 lithographs
and eleven etchings showing Greek temples and the monasteries of
Meteora. The Greek poster collection amounts to several hundred
items dating from 1930 to the present.
Geography and Maps
The first separate map of Greece, Hellados perigraphe [Description
of Greece], drawn by Nikolaos Sophianos in 1543, is held by the
Library in a 1545 edition issued by Johannus Oporinus in Basel
with a descriptive commentary in Latin by Nicolaus Gerbel, and
Sophanos' table of ancient and modern place name equivalents. This
was part of the Melville Eastham gift presented to the Library
of Congress in 1958. The Library's single sheet maps include 16th,
17th, and 18th century maps of mainland Greece and the islands,
as well as modern maps that depict regions, provinces, cities,
islands, and harbors, and thematic maps that cover economics, weather,
natural resources, industry, commerce, demography, in all more
than two thousand maps.
The multi-sheet map collection includes official maps made periodically
following Greek independence, covering the expansion of Greek territories
in its struggle with the Ottoman Empire, and, ironically, the maps
of German and British forces in Greece and Crete during World War
II, as well as those of the U.S. Army Map Service.
The nautical, that is, hydrographic charts, include all the important
Greek harbors -- Piraeus, Saloniki, Patras -- and coastal charts
include gulfs, bays, straits, and canals. Once again, the Greek
surveys are supplemented by British Admiralty charts of Greek waters.
The Library has a substantial collection of atlases, including
industrial and economic atlases as well as geographic ones. Edited
by Harold M. Leich, European Division, who notes: David
Kraus apparently wrote this description of LC's Modern Greek holdings
around 1991; it was found among Mr. Kraus' papers at the time of
his death in October, 1997. I have changed very little in the draft,
so the figures and statistics about holdings reflect the situation
as of the early 1990s.
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