Excerpt from Special Collections in Libraries, in the United States The present bulletin is virtually a new edition of the work entitled Special collections in American libraries, by William Coolidge Lane and Charles Knowles Bolton (Harvard University Library Bibliographical Contributions, No. 46), published in 1892. Since the publication of that most important contribution to American library literature there have been several surveys of a local character, for example, that of the Library of Congress published in its Report (with Manual) for 1901; the manual of Chicago libraries, Educational Opportunities in Chicago, published by the council for library and museum extension, 1911; the Descriptive and historical notes on the Library of Harvard University, by A. C. Potter and E. H. Wells, 2d ed., 1911 (Harvard University Library Bibliographical Contributions, No. 60); and the Readers' Manual, published by Columbia University in 1911. These local surveys are of fundamental importance; they involve bibliographical work of the most valuable kind and make possible library publicity of the highest type. In the scientific organization of our libraries, however, a national survey is of even greater importance, because it is only by such a survey that collections of general value may be distinguished from those of merely local value and that the results of all local surveys may be made generally known. It was for these reasons that the Commissioner of Education, in collecting the library statistics of the year 1908, determined to secure also information regarding special collections in libraries in the United States, and with that in view issued a circular, dated November 2, 1908, asking librarians to describe (1) any collections of books, pamphlets, periodicals, and documents in their libraries which were of unusual value either because of completeness in foreign literature or early literature of a subject or because the works in them were monumental in character or of unusual rarity; (2) collections of interest primarily because of their history and associations; (3) unique copies of any book. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.