CENTRAL CIRCULATION AND BOOKSTACKS The person borrowing this material is re- sponsible for its renewal or return before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for each non-returned or lost item. Theft, mutilation, or defacement of library materials ^can be causes for student disciplinary action. All materials owned by the University of Illinois Library are the property of the State of Illinois and are protected by Article 16B of Illinois Criminal Law and Procedure. TO RENEW, CAU (217) 333-8400. University of Illinois Library ot Urbana-Champoign JUL 1 9 2004 When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 LIBR^wy Of ihe UNIVEKiJiI r uf ILLINOIS. Minnesota State Library Commission. Publication No. 2. JUNE, 1904. < PUBLIC DOCUMENTS IN THE SMALL PUBLIC LIBRARY. 1904 MINNESOTA STATE LIBRARY COMMISSION. Office: 515 Masonic Temple, Minneapolis. Members Ex-officio: — Cyrus Northrop, President of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn John W. Olsen, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, St. Paul, Minn. Warren Upham, Secretary State Historical Society, St. Paul, Minn. Members Appointed by the Governor: — Miss Gratia A. Countryman, Minneapolis, Minn. (Term Expires 1904.) Miss Margaret J. Evans, Northfield, Minn. (Term Expires 1902.) Officers : — Miss Margaret J. Evans, Chairman, Northfield, Minn. Miss Gratia A. Countryman, Secretary, Minneapolis, Minn. Miss Clara F. Baldwin, Librarian, Miss Emily H. Corson, Assistant Librarian. INTRODUCTION. 015,712. K <2 ’p Some of the publications of the U. S. government are to be found in every public library and there is no class of books which is more puzzling to the average librarian. While many of these publications contain much valuable matter, the mis- cellaneous collection which is found in most libraries is of little use. The purpose of this circular is to give practical suggestions with regard to the treatment of public documents in the small libraries. How to weed out and dispose of those which are of little or no value to the small library ; how to obtain those which will be of real value and how to arrange and catalog them so that their contents will be made easily available. The reference us^of public documents through the various official catalogs and indexes will not be discussed here. The article by Mr. Lane, noted in the reference list at the close of this article will be found helpful in this connection. The utmost familiarity with these aids is necessary to make the > most of your documents and if such sets as are named in the following lists do not prove useful to any library the fault will be more that of the librarian than of the documents. The list of seventeen recommended sets compiled by J. I. Wyer, Jr., was originally prepared for the Buying lists of recent books issued by the Wisconsin free library commission, and acknowledgment is hereby made to the Wisconsin commis- sion for permission to reprint the material in this form. The Minnesota commission is also indebted to Mr. Wyer for the preparation of the following material. Note. — In capitalization the rule of the Library of Congress has been followed, using capitals only for the first word in names of bodies or government departments. 141.55 4 UNITED STATES PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. BY J. I. WYER, 0 Librarian, University of Nebraska. WHAT NOT TO GET. A small library does not want all the documents it can get. It is not its province to collect books indiscriminately or to keep all it can get. Remember that every book added to your library costs so much good money (usually more than you think) to prepare for the shelves, to catalog and even to keep standing on the shelves unused and uncalled for. A book rarely or never used has small place in a small library even if it be a government document and free as air. Give your congressmen and senators to understand that you wish to be consulted before they send your library un- solicited offerings. Examine carefully everything which comes to the library, and deal promptly with undesirable gifts. Sort out the volumes you want, acknowledge them courteously, but resack those you do not want and ask your congressman or the Superintendent of documents for return franks. WHAT TO GET. The U. S. government issues each year more than a thou- sand separate books and pamphlets. Only the very largest library needs all of them, but even the smallest library ought to get and use some of them. Naturally the difficulty is to know which ones to get. It is the purpose of this list to call the attention of libraries of less than 20,000 volumes to a few of the regularly issued government serials which seem to promise most usefulness to them. Suppose such a library decides to get and maintain ten, twelve or all^ of these sets as indicated below ; steps should 5 be taken to have its name placed on the regular mailing lists of the government offices which issue all of these serials, so that future volumes or numbers may come regularly without the annual renewal of requests. Send a careful, explicit list of just what serials you want to your local congressman and ask him to see that this is done. Then try to get, either from him, from the Superintendent of documents, or from the issuing offices in Washington, the volumes needed to complete your sets. Many of them can be had without cost ; some of them your library will have to buy. Besides these seventeen suggested serial publications there will be issued from time to time a few other documents of special local interest or on a subject of particular timeliness or popular interest, and every wide-awake library will want to know about them. The natural way to learn of such documents is to examine the Monthly catalog of U. S. public documents issued each month from the office of the Superintendent of documents, but un- fortunately the edition is limited by law, and this chief source of information as to just what is being printed at Washington is not available for many libraries that would be glad to get it regularly. To make some such information accessible to libraries that cannot get the Monthly catalog the Wisconsin free library commission has printed in its Buying lists Nos. 7, 8 and 10, lists of recent government docufnents which seem likely to be of interest to small libraries. These lists will probably be con- tinued from time to time. 6 Selected government serials recommended for small libraries. U. S. — Agriculture, Dep’t of. Farmers’ bulletins 630 The numbers in this series treat in a practical, simple and untechnical way of subjects of particular interest to farm- ers and gardeners. Upon application to the department, the name of your library will be placed on the mailing list or the bulletins may be got through your congressman. These bulletins are not bound by the department, so each library will do well to bind them in volumes of convenient size. Yearbook of the Department of agriculture 630 An encyclopedia of practical, popular articles on specific top- ics and a description of the organization and work of the department. A larger edition is printed than of any other public document, and as most of them are distributed by congressmen, it will be easiest to get in that way. Catalog cards for each article in the Yearbook and for each Farmers’ bulletin may be had from the Librarian of the Department of agriculture at Washington. The Yearbooks 1894-igoo are also indexed in Bulletin 7 Division of publications. Department of agriculture. The Department of agriculture is the largest publisher of documents interesting and valuable to small libraries. It is anxious to get its publications into the hands of the peo- ple and active in advertising them. Its Monthly list of pub- lications will be sent free to any applicant. A List of^ bul- letins, circulars, etc., available for free dilstribution is printed at intervals and includes the publications which are of most general interest. Each bureau and division issues now and then for free distributic-n a list of its own publications, for example. List of publications of the Botanical division, 12 pages, December, 1902; List of publications of the Soils bureau, 14 pages, January, 1903; List of publications of the Oihce of experiment stations on irrigation, 8 pages, October, 1902. These lists are all well worth getting, the latter serv- ing as a useful bibliography. Look them over and see if there is any item which you are 'very sure will be useful to you in your library, but do not let them tempt you to aimless acquisition or to starting ill-considered “sets,” just because they may be had for the asking. | The Forestry bureau has recentl)’- issued, as bulletin 36, the Woodman's hand book, part i, by H. S. Graves. This use- ful little volume contains rules for finding the contents of logs and standing timber; methods of estimating timber; a brief outline of forest working plans and a description of instruments useful in the woods. It should prove of special service in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The free distribution of this book will be limited to your congressman and the Department of agriculture. There are no copies for sale or distribution by Superintendent of documents. Circular 24, from the office of road inquiry on highway main- tenance and repairs, is a compilation of testimonials and arguments favoring good roads, chiefly from Wisconsin men and papers. The Statistics division issues monthly the Crop reporter, which can be had through the office of the department, or through your congressman. It will be found of general interest among current periodicals in the reading room, especially during the crop season. U. S. — Census office. All publications 317-3 The report in 10 volumes of the 12th census for 1900 has now appeared and may be had by applying to the Director of the census or to your congressman. The Statistical atlas, a supplementary volume, will be found as useful as any of the other volumes. The abstract of the 12th census, 1900, is a comprehensive manual of important statistics collected by the last census. It will be found an exceedingly useful reference manual supplementing the annual Statistical abstract, U. S. — Civil service commission. Annual report 35i-6 Keeps one informed as to the vicissitudes of civil service and the organization and administration of the U. S. classi- fied service. Candidates for government positions under the civil service are found in every state, and the latest edition of the manual of examinations should be available in all libraries. The commission distributes all publica- tions on application without cost. U. S. — Commerce and labor, Dep’t of. Monthly summary of commerce and finance 380 Within two years this publication has added to its statistical information a number of extremely well done and valuable articles on commercial and financial tables. Recent num- bers contain, for example, monographs on “Great canals of the world,” “Movement of prices, 1840-1901.” Many of these articles are reprinted separately. If you are unable to get this journal directly from the pub- lication bureau, your congressman can. U. S. — Congress. Congressional directory 328 Three or four editions, embodying changes and corrections, are issued during each session of congress. One edition per session is enough for the average public library. Congressional record 328 This is the daily record of the debates and proceedings in both houses of congress. It should be secured and placed on file in the reading room with other daily papers and it 8 will be as much sought after and as much read as any of ‘ them. It is necessary to apply to your congressman at the beginning of each session, as one session's mailing list does not hold over. ' U. S. — Education, Bureau of. Annual report of the commissioner 370 A great store-house of contemporary educational history, statistics, laws and information. The most important edu- cational publication in the country. Indexed to 1898 in the second edition of the A. L. A. index. The edition of the cloth bound set, in which it first appears, is limited, and the surest way to get a copy is to address your congressman. Circulars of information 370.9 If possible, try to get }-our library placed on the mailing list for this series of contributions to the history of edu- cation in the different states. The four numbers issued ' in 1902 are histories of education in Pennsylvania, West ' Virginia, Minnesota and Nebraska, and in 1903, for Maine, Texas and Colorado. Indexed to 1899 in the second edi- tion of the A. L. A. index. U. S. — Interstate commerce commission. Annual report 385 A formal detailed report of the activities of the commission is followed by a syllabus of all decisions made. Statistics of railways in the U. S 385 An invaluable compendium of statistical information. Will answer in most libraries instead of Poor’s manual. ■ All publications of this, commission are distributed without cost upon application to the department. U. S. — Labor, Bureau of. Annual report of the commissioner 331 Special reports .^. 331 Are of utmost usefulness to the librarian who will take pains to find out what is in them. These publications are distributed without cost upon application to the depart- ment. The first set is indexed to 1899 in the second edi- tion of the A. L. A. index and the Bureau of labor issued in 1902 its own excellent index to both sets as well as to the sets of labor reports from the different states. XJ. S. — Mint, Bureau of the. Report of the director of the mint . 332 The information on coins, coinage and money which this report contains is frequently in request. 9 U. S. — National museum. Annual report 507 The chief reason for including this title is because the vol- umes to and including 1898 are indexed in the A. L. A index. The articles are usually on American archaeology, well illustrated but not exactly of a popular sort. U. S. — State, Dep’t of. Consular reports 382 Contains short reports from U. S. consuls all over the world on trade conditions, probable markets, suggestions for stimulating commerce, items from experience or practice of other nations, etc. Will not be of very great use in the smaller libraries and the title is included here mainly because the set is indexed to vol. 60 in the second edition of the A. L. A. index. Index numbers to the Consular reports (not in the regular num- bered series) have been issued by the Department of state as follows: Nos. 1-59. Vols. 1-17. Nos. 60-111. Vols. 18-31. Nos. 112-151. Vols. 32-41. Nos. 152-203. Vols. 42-54. Nos. 204-239. Vols. 55-63. Some of these are out of print but every library maintaining this set should get them all if possible, bind and shelve them at the beginning of the set. The Consular reports appear monthly in pamphlet form, but if it is found that they are in demand they can be had later bound in cloth from the Dep’t of commerce and labor, which now issues them, U. S. — Statistics, Bureau of. Statistical abstract of the U. S 3i7*3 Appears annually and is the most useful summary of statis- tics relating to our country that is printed. May be had in advance edition bound in paper and is available through congressmen. List of single, complete documents which should prove useful in Minnesota libraries. Clements, J. M. The Vermilion iron-bearing district of Minnesota. 463 p. Q. and atlas F. Wash. 1903. (U. S. — Geological survey. Monograph 45.) 557*7 Although prepared primarily for technical geologists, many others, especially in Minnesota, will be interested in the maps and pictures. i 10 Egleston, N. H. Arbor day, its history and observance. 8o p. il. O. Wash. 1896 .T^. 37i‘8g Issued from the Department of agriculture, but not in any of its regular series. Heitman, F. B. Historical register and dictionary of the United States army, from its organization. Sept. 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903. 2v. Q. Wash. 1903. 355 This is the unofficial work of a private compiler, purchased and published by the government by authority of an act of congress approved March 3, 1903. It contains list of general officers of the U. S. army and of U. S. volunteers, 1775 to 1903; complete chronological roster of chiefs of bureaus, staff corps, field and staff offi- cers of the line; officers who have been thanked or re- warded by congress, and a number of miscellaneous lists of officers, battles, wars, forts, cemeteries, etc., covering the entire period of our national life. The major portion of the work is taken up with a complete alphabetical list of commissioned officers of the army, in- cluding officers of the volunteer staff, giving their full names, records of service with ranks attained. This valuable reference work does not bear the imprint of any department or bureau, so it would seem that appli- cation to your local congressman would be most likely to get it. It is advertised in the Monthly catalog of U. S. public docu- ments as for sale by the war department for $2. Hermann, Binger. The Louisiana purchase and our title west of the Rocky mountains with a review of annexation by the United States. 87 p. Q. Wash. 1900 . d 978 There is an authorized reprint as House document yo8, 56th Congress, ist session, of this timely and valuable monograph originally published in 1898 and no longer to be had in the original form. It has just been distributed to depository libraries as serial number 4002 and may be had from con- gressman in pamphlet form and probably in somewhat limited numbers. Leith, C. K. The Mesabi iron-bearing district of Minnesota. 3i6p. il. O. Wash. 1903. (U. S. — Geological survey. Monograph 43.) 557*7 Good pictures and maps. 11 Moore, J. B, History and digest of the international arbitrations to which the U. vS. has been a party. 6v. O. Wash. 1898 341.6 U. S. — Anirrial industry, Bureau of. Special report on diseases of cattle and on cattle feed- ing. 496 p. O. Wash. 1892 619.2 Special report on diseases of the horse. Ed. 2. 600 p. O. Wash. 1903 619.1 U. S. — Anthracite coal strike commission. Report to the president on the anthracite coal strike of May— Oct. 1902. 257 p. O. Wash. 1903 331-89 There is an earlier less desirable edition without the ap- pendices. The report, probably, can be got from your congressman, and the Superintendent of documents offers it for 15 cts. U. S. — Congress. Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William Mc- Kinley. 246 p. Q. Wash. 1903. (57th congress, 2d session, senate document, 219.) 920 A collection and republication of the memorial addresses delivered in congress on the three martyr presidents, by J. G. Blaine, Geo. Bancroft and John Hay respectively. The separate address^ on IMcKinley is also published as House document ^55. Biographical congressional directory, 1774-1903, Con- tinental congress to the 57th congress. 900 p. Q. Wash. 1903 328.73 Also includes biographies of the executive officers of the government 1789-1903. Issued in paper at 90 cents, cloth, $1, and will be sent depository libraries in sheep as House document 458, 57th congress, 2d session. Your congressman should be able to tell you whether it is to be had gratis and how. Revised statutes of the United States. Ed. 2. Wash. 1878 345-2 Two supplements bring the work almost down to date. These books are never distributed free, but the three vol- umes may be had from the Superintendent of documents for $7.75. 12 U. S. District of Columbia, Committee on (Senate). The improvement of the park system of, thy District of Columbia. 179 p. O. Wash. 1902.917.53 Contains many fine pictures and plans showing the pro- jected transformation of Washington 'city. Of especial interest to those in civic improvement work, U. S. — Foreign relations, Committee on (Senate). Compilation of treaties in force 1898. 779 p. O. Wash. 1899. (Serial No. 3822) 34i-2 U. S. — Industrial commission. Report. 19V. O. Wash. 1900-02 :. 331 This set has been pronounced the most notable document ever published by our government. It treats of capital and labor and the many social topics which result from their inter-relations. It is a pity that the edition was so soon exhausted. The set is very hard to get, the Sup’t of documents having none for distribution and the quota ' with congressmen having been distributed long ago. The volumes occur in the congressional set as serial numbers 3990-92, 4168-69, 4338-49- U. S. — Insular affairs. Bureau of. Pronouncing gazetteer and geographical dictionary of the Philippine islands, with maps, charts and illus- trations. 933 p. O. Wash. 1902. (Serial No. 4240) 919*14 Sold in cloth binding for $2.10 by the Suph of documents. U. S. Printing, Joint committee on (Congress). Celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the seat of government in the District of Columbia. 343 p. Q. Wash. 1901 917-53 Seven thousand copies were printed, most of which were distributed by members of congress. 13 CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGING. i The small library or any iion-depository library but the largest, should classify sets or single volumes of government documents like any other books and place them on the shelves with any other books on the subjects. Shelve government documents on education with the other books on education. Shelve the reports of the U. S. Commissioner of labor with the books on labor. In short, for purposes of classification, forget that they are government documents and incorporate them into the subject arrangement of the library,, exactly as you would so many ordinary books. The Decimal Classifica- tion numbers are given in the preceding list. Many useful government documents will come in pamphlet form. When these form part of a series, such as the Consular reports, they should be entered regularly on a check list like any other serial. If the library already has bound volumes of the set, put the full call number on every pamphlet and keep them in pamphlet boxes just after the bound volumes of the set. For some of these continuations, the government, from time to time, issues bound volumes. For example: The Monthly summary of commerce and finance and the Considar re- ports, and in each case the bound volumes, when they come, will replace the unbound numbers. Others, like the Circulars of information from the Bureau of education and the Farmers’ bidletins are never bound by the government and the library must bind them, as volumes of convenient size accumulate. If a pamphlet is not a continuation, treat it like any other pamphlet, i. e., put class number only, in upper left hand cor- ner and place on the shelves in the pamphlet box, containing all pamphlets belonging to that class. If it contains 75 or 100 pages, is complete in itself, and seems to promise usefulness, it should be bound and treated like any book. Intelligent cataloging of government documents requires intimate knowledge of the organization of the national govern- ment, of the different duties and functions of the various offices and a clear understanding of the relations between the documents themselves and the bodies responsible for them. A careful study of the Congressional directory will do much 14 to supply this knowledge. The chief difficulty will be the form of the author heading. The inverted form of heading given in the foregoing list is recommended for several reasons : First — It is that most generally adopted in all libraries ; is taught in nearly all the library schools and is used by the office of the Superintendent of documents. Second — It brings entries of a like character together in the catalog under the same significant word. Third — It does not require minute technical knowledge of the organization of government departments on the part of the public to use the card catalog. The dash is used after the name of the country to show that what follows is the name of an official department or office of the government and to distinguish such official head- ings, especially in arrangement, from unofficial titles beginning with the words U. S., e. g. “U. S. Steel Corporation.” The new edition of the A. L. A. catalog will print a longer list than the foregoing, of documents useful in small libraries, which will be useful in determining exact form of heading, but the most complete list of current government author head- ings is found in the pamphlet issued from the office of the Superintendent of documents entitled Author headings for U. S. public documents. The title should be given in full, following the title-page, and the card should show what volumes the library has and the years covered. The following is the form of card for a set cataloged in this way : 331 as. — Labor, DepT of. Uni Annual report of the commissioner, \^ZS—date V. I — date O. Wash. \m-daie n (Reduced.) 15 Subject entries should follow the general rules of tlie library, and the amount of analysis possible will depend upon the amount of time and money available for cataloging pur- poses and the special needs of the library. As already in- dicated in the list of recommended sets, some of these are analyzed in the A. L. A. Index to general literature, and sets of catalog cards may be obtained from the library of the Dep’t of agriculture for all publications of that department. The A. L. A. publishing board also prints analyticals for sets like the Smithsonian institution collectibns. National museum proceedings, and American historical association. Tht Library of Congress is analyzing some sets, and the problem of cataloging public documents will undoubtedly be much simplified by means of printed cards. Reference list on U. S. public documents. American library association. Committee on public docu- ments. Annual report (in Proceedings of annual conferences of the A. L. A., 1891 — date), Hasse, A. R. The nation’s records. (In Forum 25 1598.) Describes the deplorable failure of the United States to preserve, collect and arrange their official records. U. S. government publications : a hand book for the cata- loger. 4 parts. 1902-03. The two parts that have appeared are of greatest value to larger libraries. Lane, L. P. Aids in the use of government publications. (In American statistical association. Publications. 7:40-57.) Especially useful because it lists and describes the various indexes to government documents. 16 U. S. — Congress. Official congressional directory. 58th congress, 2d session, 1903- P- 257-90. Or the section “Department duties” in any recent edition of the directory. Statutes at large, 28:601-24. The text of the present printing law known as the Act of Jan. 12 , 1895. The sections of most interest to libraries are printed in Library journal, 20: 13-20. U. S. — Documents, Superintendent of. Annual report (in Report of the public printer, 1895 — date.) Also issued in separate form and numbered i to 9. U. S. — Government printing office. Report of public printer for the year ending June 30, 1901. 359 P- (57th congress, ist session. Senate doc. 19 in serial no. 4220.) Wisconsin free library commission. Buying list of recent books, nos. 7, 8 and 10. 1902-03. Each contains a list of public documents for small libraries. 17 MINNESOTA STATE PUBLICATIONS. BY WARREN UPHAM, Secretary, Minnesota Historical Society. NOTE. — The following paper (with slight changes), was a report lo the Minnesota Library Association, at its annual meeting held in Minneapolis, July 12, 1902, of its special committee on state publications available for distribution to town and city libraries. A complete bib- liography of Minnesota state publications has been prepared by E. A. Nelson, state librarian, for publication in Part 3 of State publications, a provisional list of the official publications of the several states of the U. S., edited by R. R. Bowker, and published by the Publisher's weekly. This bibliography will also be incorporated in the next report of the state librarian and a copy will be available for every public library in Minnesota. The state publications are very useful and important for every public library in our state, as they give information on all subjects relating to the history, development, and resources of Minnesota, its public institutions, government, commerce, manufactures, and agricultural and mining products. These publications should be carefully collected and preserved, in full series for each year or biennial term, by every city and town library, and by the libraries of universities, colleges, seminaries, and high schools. The following list includes the most valuable state publi- cations which are available for all public libraries, with sources from which they may be obtained. The Dewey Classification numbers have been added to the list and the form of entry is that recommendecl for use in cataloging. Minnesota. Executive documents 353 This publication, issued each two years is usually bound in four or five volumes, which contain reports of state officers and institutions, as follows; Secretary of state, Auditor of state. Attorney general. Adjutant general. Public examiner. State treasurer. State agricultural society. Bureau of labor statistics. Railroad and warehouse commission. Hospitals for the insane. State board of corrections and char- ities. Sup’t of public instruction. The executive documents are distributed under direction of the Secretary of state, to whom application should be ad- 18 dressed. Each report in the executive documents may also be obtained separate!}^ by addressing the officer or department so reporting, at St. Paul. Minnesota. — Agricultural experiment station. Annual reports 630 Bulletins 630 Pamphlets on topics of farming and stock-raising, embody- ing the results of experiments and researches at the several experimental farms. These reports comprise many papers of great importance to botanists and entomologists, as well as those of direct interest and value to the practical farmer; Address the College of Agriculture, University of Minnesota, St. Anthony Park. Minnesota. — Dairy and food commissioner. Biennial reports 637 Includes statistics of Minnesota creameries, butter and cheese making, a large and rapidly growing industry. Ad- dress the commissioner, St. Paul. Minnesota. — Fire warden. Annual reports 634 For these reports concerning the forestry of Minnesota, ad- dress Gen. C. C. Andrews, Chief fire warden, St. Paul. Minnesota. — Geological and natural history survey. Annual reports, 1872-1900 557-7 24 reports published under the direction of Prof. N. H. Win- chell, state geologist, mostly now out of print. Geology of Minnesota: — Final reports. 6 v. in 7 557-7 The final reports of this survey are still available for every public library, comprising seven quarto volumes (vol. 3 is in two parts) with many maps and other illustrations. They fully describe the resources of the state in mining and quarrying, agriculture, forestry, etc. Address Prof. W. W. Folwell, librarian. State . University, Minneapolis. Botanical series 580 No. 3 of this series, Minnesota plant life, by Conway Mac- millan, is of especial value, and should be in every library. For this series, address Prof. Conway Macmillan, state botanist. State University, Minneapolis. Zoological series 590 For the reports and publicatioiis in this series, address Prof. Henry F. Nachtrieb, State University, Minneapolis. 19 Minnesota. — Health and vital statistics, Board of. 4 Biennial reports 614 Address the secretary, Dr. H. M. Bracken, St. Paul. Minnesota historical society. Collections 977-6 These form a series of nine volumes published from 1850 to 1901, treating in very full details of the history of Minne- sota and adjoining parts of the Northwest, with many biographies and portraits of the pioneers, founders and chief leaders of Minnesota as a territory and state. These historical collections are issued in limited editions, and are for sale by the society, mostly at $2.50 per volume. The loth volume of the series is in press and three further volumes are in preparation. Address the secretary of the society, St. Paul. Minnesota horticultural society. Annual reports 634 These reports, each about 500 pages, indexed, contain many papers of use to all intei;ested in fruit-raising, gardening and farming. Address A. W. Latham, secretary of the society, 207 Kasota Block, Minneapolis. Minnesota. — Insurance commissioner. Annual reports 368 Address State Insurance Commissioner, St. Paul. Minnesota. — Secretary of state. Legislative manual 353 One of the most useful publications of the state, issued bien- nially, and con-taining in a single compendious and well- indexed volume, a vast amount of information about the government, state institutions, and history of Minnesota. According to law, every public library is entitled to two copies, which may be obtained from the Secretary of state. Minnesota. — State librarian. Biennial reports of the state library . . 027 The state law library in the capitol contains the published laws and reports of law cases for all the states. Address State librarian, St. Paul. Minnesota state normal schools 370 The state normal schools in Winona, Mankato, St. Cloud, Moorhead and Duluth each publish annual catalogs, with statements of courses of study, etc. Address the princi- pals of these schools. 20 Minnesota state public library commission. Biennial reports 027 Handbook of library organization 020 The commission issues other publications and circulars from time to time, which are sent to every public library in the state. Minnesota state university. Catalogs, bulletins of courses of studies, and reports of various colleges and departments . 378 Address President Cyrus Northrop, State University, Min- neapolis. Three other series of state publications should be noted, but they will be needed only by the larger city libraries. Minnesota. — Legislature. Journals of the House and Senate, 1849-1879 (an- nually), 1879-1903 (biennially) 345 Laws of Minnesota (enacted by the successive Legis- latures) 345 These series are not available for general distribution, but may probably be secured for the libraries of large towns and cities. Minnesota.— Supreme court. Reports of cases argued and determined in the su- preme court of Minnesota, 1849-1903. 87 v 345 Not for public distribution. Correspondence about these series should be addressed to the Secretary of state, St. Paul. Besides these state publications, our town and city libraries will also find it very useful to secure the catalogs of other special schools, academies, colleges, and universities in this state, and the reports of its large cities, as Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Winona, etc., including the reports of the Board of trade or Chamber of commerce, the City comptroller. Park boards. City corrections and charities. Health departments. Water boards, City engineers. School superintendents. Public libraries, etc. Another class of publications, quite useful for reference in any town library, consists of the annual reports, for the 21 state, of its chief religious denominations, which may usually be secured if the librarian will take a little care to learn where inquiries for them should be addressed. The public libraries of our state, by the request of their librarians, will usually be placed on the mailing lists of these various state and city departments, and other organizations, so that these reports in ensuing years will be forwarded as soon as published. For past years the series can rarely be supplied. If some of them seem, for special reasons, to be greatly needed, an ex- planation of these conditions in making application to the head of the department or commission will receive due con- sideration, sometimes securing the series as desired ; but in many or most instances the supply of former years has been exhausted. For the present and future, each of our public libraries may obtain, by asking, nearly all of the reports here noted. A commendable pride in our North Star State, and desire for its advancement in every worthy direction, cannot fail to be kindled in the minds of all, young and old, who acquaint themselves, through these publications, with what our people have already achieved, with the grand capabilities of our agriculture, forests, and mines, and with our educational, reli- gious, and governmental institutions. d'. ? ^ X. V . J" . ■■■■'•!. ■- >^:- vV-is-^ r-' l,Pr V.. >'v.' . '» ■ •-"S :; •