"A Report on the Picture Collection for Mr. Ralph A. Beals"
Excerpt from Javitz, Romana, “A Report on the Picture Collection for Mr. Ralph A. Beals,” Picture Collection records (permission of Picture Collection Records. New York Public Library Archives. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations)
Excerpted by Diana Kamin
REPORT on the picture collection of The New York Library
PURPOSE to provide a basis for the formulation of policy on pictures as an integral part of the Library.
Pictures defined: throughout this report, the word pictures is used to describe pictorial documents: films, “stills,” lithographs, engravings, photographs, and photomechanically reproduced illustrations of images, primarily looked upon for their factual content. This term does not include “fine prints,” the work of artist-printmakers, collected and judged on aesthetic content, and technical and artistic merit—of museum caliber. In this report, pictures are documents.
PROPOSED That a picture collection be established to serve the interests of the Library as a whole. This presupposes a change in the status of the pre- sent picture collection to embrace reference and circulation services, and presupposes a pooling of the picture holdings of both departments to form one coordinated archive.
That policy be formulated favoring the development of a picture collection to gain for the public a pictorial archive and information center of the scope and effectiveness New York requires.
That the policy take account of the unique and strategic location of the Library in the center of education, creative work and performance in the arts; of publishing, advertising, broadcasting and fashion. Agencies of government, private enterprise and research, the painter, the physician and the lawyer all need pictures, and turn to the Library for visual documents. [...]
A favorable directive would give the New York Public Library leadership in the use of pictures to increase the compass of recorded knowledge. [...]
III. SPECIFICATIONS for a PROPOSED PICTURE COLLECTION
A. FUNCTION TO form a picture library that would parallel in images the printed record in words maintain an iconographic archive as an adjunct to the other divisions of the library organize pictures for the purposes of study, information and display act as a center of pictorial information give consultation service in the classification of pictures give direction to and encourage picture service develop areas of picture service within the scope of the Library, and in line with the picture needs of local groups and activities promote interest in the use of pictures and act as a guide in the establishment of picture collections outside of the Library’s sphere, e.g. for the Board of Education.
B. SUBJECT COVERAGE The subject coverage may be likened to a general encyclopedia, brief, but generally inclusive on all subjects; which, for detailed treatment, refers the reader to bibliographic sources listed at the end of each article. Similarly, the over-all coverage in pictures would be broad but linked through referrals to collections of greater depth. [...]
C. FORMAT Comprehensive in types of printed pictorial documents:
Page-size: Clippings; photographs; “stills;” lithographs; advertisements; cartoons;
Card-size: Stereos; postcards; greeting cards; trade cards; labels; Over-size: Posters; car cards; displays; color facsimiles;
Films: Filmstrips; documentary films; microfilms. [...]
D. ACQUISITIONS
The intent would be to raise the standard of the picture stock to that of the general book collections. To do this it would be necessary to seek out and acquire several private clippings collections. More material on the commercial and applied arts, the history of trade and industry, and particularly on American history and the American scene would be needed.
Photographs should be obtained covering the life, events and personalities recorded in the first hundred years of photography. As a public service, some of the great news-agencies could be invited to contribute a cross-section of their collections for incorporation in the Library’s archive. The copyright would not be endangered and the gift would publicize their holdings.
Systematic acquisitions would be planned to round out the collections, with emphasis on keeping the subject coverage abreast of contemporary trends. Areas of the categories in the circulation picture files would be microfilmed so that the original clippings and photographs could be reserved for reference use while the photo-copies would replace them for circulation.