The development of classification at the Library of Congress

[Pages:85]I LL I N I S

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007.

University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science

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Number 164 August 1984

The Development of Classification at the Library of Congress

by

Francis Miksa

The Development of Classification at the Library of Congress

by

Francis Miksa

?1984 The Board of Trustees of The University of Illinois

Contents

Introduction ..........................

....... ...... ......... 3

Early Growth of the Collections .................................

3

Subject Access During the Early Years ........................

..... 5

A.R. Spofford and the Growth of the Library of Congress ...........

9

Spofford and Subject Access .....................................

10

From Spofford to John Russell Young .........................

15

Trends in Classification ..............................

... ........ 16

A Tentative Beginning, 1897-98 ................................

18

Years of Decision, 1899-1901 ................

..................

21

Classification Development, 1901-11: General Features .............

23

Classification Development, 1901-11: Collocation Patterns.......... 25

Likenesses with Other Schemes .........................

...... 25

A Unique Departure .......................................

26

A Fundamental Tension ....................................

27

Common Arrangement Patterns .........................

...... 28

Adaptation for Particular Subject fields .......................

29

Summary....................... ............................

32

Progress on the Classification: 1901-11............................34

Tentative Schedules ........................................

34

Reclassification and Classification ...........................

34

Publication ..................................................

37

Classification Development: 1912-30 .................

... .......... 41

Decline and Slowdown in Reclassification Production ........... 42

Changing Library Conditions .............

..........

........ 44

Increasing Diffuculty in Reclassification ........................

45

New Schedules, 1912-30 ....................................

50

Additions and Changes, 1912-30 ...............................

51

Classification Development: 1930-46-An Interlude .............

54

The Last Years of the Putnam Era: 1930-39 ...................

54

Years of Change, 1940-46........................ ............

56

Classification Development: 1947--Present .............

........... 58

1947-54 .............

...................

.....

59

1954-Present ..............................................

61

Conclusion ...................................

...............

69

References ............................

....................

71

INTRODUCTION

The most authoritative historical treatments of the development of classification at the Library of Congress are those by William Dawson Johnston, where the earlier system is briefly discussed; Leo LaMontagne, where the earlier system is briefly described and his account of how the present system was created is extensive; and Edith Scott, where the events surrounding the creation of the present system are provided in even greater detail. All other accounts of classification at the Library, including that found in Immroth's Guide, appear to be based on these.'

There is a lack of perspective in all such accounts, however. The Library's classification efforts during the nineteenth century are not discussed in the context of changes that took place in classification concepts. This is particularly the case with the most critical issue in subject access development-the changing definition of a subject and how that changing definition affected subject collocation. More recent developments, especially those that have occurred since 1910, are also not described. In short, the creation of the present Library of Congress Classification has been viewed as such a notable event in its own right that both the larger context of which that creation was a part and the scheme's more recent developments have been neglected. The present essay constitutes an effort to provide additional perspective by tracing the development of classification at the Library of Congress in terms of its broader context and by accounting for changes in the present system since its initial period of creation between 1898 and 1910 and the present.

EARLY GROWTH OF THE COLLECTIONS 2

The Library of Congress was established in 1800 by the same act that provided for moving the national legislature from Philadelphia to the new city of Washington, D.C. Under the direction of the first two congressional librarians, John Beckley (1802-07) and Patrick Magruder (1807-14)-each of whom also served as clerk of the House of Representatives--the Library grew to some 3000 volumes. This initial collection was destroyed in August 1814 during the British attack on the city.

In 1815 Thomas Jefferson's 6487 volume personal library was purchased by Congress as the basis of a new collection. Jefferson's library marked an important change in the scope of the Library's collection. It differed from the first collection in that it was not limited to historical and legal works but rather reflected Jefferson's "own comprehansive interests in philo-

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