The Nation's Bookkeeper

Solemnly holding a copy of the only Bible ever approved by an American Congress,* dapper, dark-haired Lawrence Quincy Mumford, 50, last week swore to perform faithfully one of the most arduous bookkeeping jobs the world has to offer. As the new Librarian of Congress (appointed last April by President Eisenhower), Mumford will preside over the world's largest storehouse of the written word--31,692,000 pieces, including 9,000,000 books, 13 million manuscripts and 412,000 records.

An energetic, reserved North Carolinian who put in 16 years at the New York Public Library, four more as head of Cleveland's library system, Mumford is the fourth professionally trained librarian to get the profession's top job--and the scrambled heritage that goes with it. Established by Congress in 1800, the library could at first muster only 1,000 volumes, tucked away for congressional reference in a room of the old Capitol. Even this meager collection was virtually wiped out when the British put Washington to the torch during the War of 1812. Only ex-President Thomas Jefferson's offer of his 6,000 volumes in 1814 kept the idea of a national library from expiring; even so, successive Congresses were reluctant to increase the annual budget. By 1853, occupying its own rooms (now offices) in the Capitol, the library contained but 35,000 volumes, no match for the great state collections of France and Britain. As U.S. publishing expanded after the Civil War, so did the library's literary holdings, but not until 1886 did Congress provide any substantial amount of funds to build the vast-domed, granite library building (completed in 1899) east of the Capitol.

Today, despite the addition of a $10 million annex, the library is hard put to preserve, store and display its growing hoard. For lack of personnel, books from its stacks cannot be issued after 6 p.m. Its 2,300,000 maps need far more space. For lack of funds, its collection of 2,234,000 photos and slides is kept filed away instead of being exhibited throughout the country. Despite President Eisenhower's request for more funds, the 83rd Congress has appropriated only $8,965,000--a decrease of 5%--to help new Librarian Mumford take care of the nation's cramped study.

*The Aitken Bible, first English-language Bible to be printed in America, published in Philadelphia in 1782, endorsed by the Continental Congress.

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