The Library has just published Deutschsprachige Bestande in der Kongressbibliothek: Chronologische Entwicklung by Margrit B. Krewson, German/Dutch area specialist in the European Division.
This is a German-language version of the revised and enlarged 1994 edition of The German Collections of the Library of Congress: Chronological Development.
The handsomely printed and illustrated guide traces the development of North America's largest and richest German collection, beginning with the acquisition of Thomas Jefferson's personal library in 1815 (citing items attesting to Jefferson's interest in the Germanic area) and concluding with today's German holdings, which number more than 2.25 million volumes.
As previously reported (see LC Information Bulletin, March 16, 1994, page 202), the guide describes many of the Library's great treasures, including the Gutenberg Bible; manuscript sketches and scores by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, and the Strauss and Lanner families; the papers of Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben and Carl Schurz; rare editions of works by Goethe, Schiller and Lessing; and the Kohl Collection of early maps of the American continent.
One of the most noteworthy collections described in the guide is the Freud Collection, to be featured an exhibition on the life and work of Sigmund Freud at the Library next year. The Sigmund Freud Archives of New York has been giving its vast collection of Freud's papers and correspondence, books, photographs and other materials to the Library since 1942. In the 1980s, Freud's daughter, Anna, donated her papers to the Library. The exhibition, which will draw from the Library's Freud collections, will explore Freud's fundamental contributions toward understanding the mind, his establishment of a new therapeutic profession and his pervasive influence on 20th century thought.
To introduce German researchers to the services and resources of the Library, the guide provides useful telephone numbers and addresses, as well as a list of published guides and articles about the German collections that have appeared since the mid-1940s.
Deutschsprachige Bestande in der Kongressbibliothek: Chronologische Entwicklung is available free of charge from the Library of Congress, European Division, Washington, DC 20540- 5530.