College and Research Libraries


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Independent Historical Societies, An En-
quiry into Their Research and Publi-
cation Functions and Their Financial 
Future. By Walter Muir Whitehill. Bos-
ton: The Boston Athenaeum, 1962. xvii, 
593p. $12.50. 

In the annals of American historical schol-
arship, no single group of institutions has 
loomed larger in importance than the major 
state and regional historical societies. Since 
1791, when the Massachusetts Historical So-
ciety was founded, these organizations have 
pursued diligently the gathering and preserv-
ing of historical source materials without 
which a great deal of American history 
could not have been written. As historical 
research libraries they have been of primary 
importance in making possible a better un-
derstanding of the American past. 

How these societies developed, what they 
have accomplished, and how we may expect 
to see them develop in the future are the 
questions to which Walter Muir Whitehill 
addresses himself in this book. Although the 
title of the book would seem to indicate that 
the author was concerned only with inde-
pendent societies which operate without 
benefit of public funds-societies like the 
Boston Athenaeum, of which he is the very 
capable director-Mr. Whitehill actually has 
given us an erudite and comprehensive view 
of the whole historical society movement. 
The emphasis is on the independents, but 
he gives a great deal of attention to the non-
independent societies and agencies which 
derive all or part of their support from pub-
lic funds. 

Dealing primarily with societies on the 
state and regional level, he describes their 
research facilities, publications, membership 
policies, and financial conditions. He also 
evaluates their past contributions and makes 
recommendations for their future develop-
ment. His book is based on a study which he 
made of these societies in 1959-60 under a 
grant from the Council on Library Resour-
ces. It is an extremely valuable and excel-
lently written analysis of these historical so-
cieties, and will be of immediate and prac-
tical value to those who work for or with 
these societies, and for all who would under-

JANUARY 1964 

Review Articles 
stand· better the nature of these organiza-
tions. 

For all its good points-and this volume 
has them in abundance-Independent His-
torical Societies should be used with cau-
tion. Mr. Whitehill's reporting of the activ-
ities and programs of the nation's historical 
societies is generally accurate and percep-
tive, but his evaluation of these activities is 
essentially one-sided. This is because he 
represents only one of the two dominant 
present-day philosophies of historical society 
operation. Mr. Whitehill's view is that of the 
major independents, which maintain that 
the proper role of a society is to collect, 
preserve, and interpret manuscripts, books, 
and other materials which serve an essen-
tially academic scholarly purpose. The 
broader view, held by many others, is that 
the society not only must serve these needs 
of the scholar but must also serve, in a va-
riety of ways, the needs and interests of a 
great many nonscholars in the area which 
it serves. 

Mr. Whitehill has a right to his opinions 
regarding the proper role of an historical so-
ciety, but it seems to this reviewer that he is 
less than charitable in his evaluation of those 
societies which do not follow the pattern of 
the major independents. For example, he 
justifies the limiting of memberships by 
independent societies on the grounds that 
this will reduce the total cost of membership 
benefits, but he caustically applies the term 
"togetherness" to the efforts of other soci-
eties to attract a large membership and 
thereby reduce the unit costs of these bene-
fits. He does not criticize the independent 
societies for restricting use of their facilities 
to members and credential-bearing scholars, 
but he levels a good deal of criticism at 
those societies which engage in such "periph-
eral" activities as historymobiles, junior his-
torical societies, historic sites and mark-
ers, and other programs, in an effort to serve 
the needs of the nonscholar. He does not 
criticize the independent societies for not 
taking advantage of new developments in 
the graphic arts in the publication of their 
scholarly journals, but he applies the term 
"popularizing" to other societies that have 
used illustrations, artwork, color, and even 

63 



magazine format in the attempt to secure a 
wider reading audience. Going further, Mr. 
Whitehill maintains that this "sociability by 
participation" is usually "at . the expense of 
scholarship" -a statement which, in this 
reviewer's opinion, is not borne out by the 
facts-and he says nothing on the question 
of whether drab appearance and unimagina-
tive presentation are not major impediments 
to the wider reading of historical journals. 

The crux of the matter is that Mr. White-
hili-and presumably the independent so-
cieties he admires so much-believes that 
"it is only the serious workers that count, 
and their numbers will always be small." 
Opposed to this view are many equally re-
spected leaders and societies who believe 
that the number of people who "count" is 
very great indeed. Mr. Whitehill's book is a 
very informative and beautifully written re-
port on the historical societies of the United 
States, and it is an eloquent exposition of 
the philosophy of the major independents. 
Those societies that pursue a broader range 
of activity will be fortunate indeed if their 
side of the story can someday be presented 
by as gifted and accomplished a scholar.-
William T. Alderson, Tennessee State Li-
brarian and Archivist. 

Special Libraries: How to Plan and 
Equip Them. Chester M. Lewis, ed. New 
York: Special Libraries Association, 1963. 
(SLA Monograph No. 2) vi, 117p. $5.55. 

The past decade has witnessed a "popula-
tion explosion" of special libraries, most of 
which serve clienteles in the sciences, engi-
neering, or business. Over ten thousand such 
libraries (including those in governmental 
and academic institutions) are listed in Kru-
zas' Directory of Special Libraries and In-
formation Centers. While more and more 
of these libraries, and the new ones just 
starting, have the benefit of professional 
librarians, too many have been administered, 
planned, and equipped by individuals who 
do not have the requisite skills and training 
for this work. Since the supply of experi-
enced librarians is limited and the curricula 
of the library schools neglect to a large de-
gree the problems inherent in planning and 
equipping small, specialized libraries, it is 
heartening to find a publication which speaks 
directly to this point. 

The New York chapter of the Special 
Libraries Association, with Chester M. Lewi~ 
acting as editor, is to be congratulated for 
producing the present work which is based 
on a symposium on library planning held 
by the chapter in 1958. To the ten papers 
presented at the conference, four have been 
added. In addition, ten case histories have 
been included, most of which were original-
ly printed in Special Libraries. An annotated 
bibliography on library planning, a directory 
of suppliers, and a subject index complete 
the text, which is well illustrated. 

The editor wisely has not attempted a re-
vision of Jackson's Technical Libraries but 
has limited the content to the physical plan-
ning and equipping of libraries. Inevitably, 
in a work of this kind, there is a certain 
amount of duplication between a few of 
the papers (e.g., Randall's paper on steel 
shelving and Price's on metal library equip-
ment) . On the whole, such duplication has 
been kept to a minimum. Somewhat disturb-
ing, however, are contradictory statements 
which are permitted to stand without edi-
torial comment. On page five it is suggested 
that an allowance of six to seven volumes 
per running foot for monograph titles be 
made and four to five for bound periodicals. 
On page seventeen a range from six to ten is 
suggested, and no differentiation between 
monographs and journals is indicated. 

Similarly, on page five it is noted that the 
floor loading of books plus shelving varies 
from 110 to 140 pounds per square foot. On 
page forty-eight the figure of 140 pounds 
per square foot, exclusive of shelving is giv-
en. This can be most important, particularly 
if the library is located on the upper floors 
of an office-type structure. The library plan-
ner should be warned to give careful atten-
tion to this point. 

As would be expected, the quality of the 
papers varies from writer to writer, both in 
content and style. The bibliography on plan-
ning appears reasonably complete and up-to-
date. The directory of suppliers is useful but 
perhaps superfluous, the same information 
being obtainable elsewhere. The index is 
good. The Checklist for Planners, by Jean-
nette Sledge, should be particularly useful 
for those without previous experience in 
planning a library. One wishes that R. R. 
Shaw had used more space describing flow 
process charting, a highly useful technique 

64 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES