Government publications in the private collections of nineteenth century America: A century-long source for federal document holdings in libraries

Abstract

Private libraries having considerable holdings of United States government publications existed from the first decades of the new government, and continued to be formed throughout the nineteenth century. The dearth of federal government material in the “public” libraries of the country partially contributed to the formation of these private collections. In addition, members of Congress and other government officials who were routinely supplied with government publications sometimes retained these for their own collections; from these and other private collections, donations frequently went to libraries. The government's distribution of government publications to libraries provided by far the greater amount of such material which the libraries received. But the private collections also benefited libraries by serving as supplemental sources of such material and as sources for those libraries not participating in the government's distribution programs. In several cases, the donation of a private collection gave a library comprehensive holdings of federal government publications. The private collections began to have less importance for the nation's libraries as the nineteenth century ended, largely a result of the expanded distribution begun with the 1895 Printing Act.