XV

The Library During the Depression

EDGAR ERSKINE HUME, LIBRARIAN 1932-1936

HE Great Depression touched the Library in several ways. As economic

appointed in 1927, retired from the Army in 1931, and been permitted to remain. He might have kept the post for many more years had not Congress enacted legislation to reduce government expenditures and assist the economy. Among the new laws was one which cut off pay of retired officers on active duty. Ashburn tried to be exempted from the law, seeking help from Senator Frederic C. Wolcott (William Welch's nephew) and other influential persons, but he was not successful.' He left the Library in 1932 and was succeeded by Major Edward Erskine Hume.2

Hume was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, December 26, 1889. After attending Centre College (B.A., 1908, M.A., 1909), Johns Hopkins (M.D., 1913), University of Munich and University of Rome, he joined the Army in September 1916. At Army Medical School he ranked first in his class. Following graduation he was sent to Fort Leavenworth, brought back to Washington for a few months, and then ordered to France. He was present at the battles of Meuse-Argonne and Saint Mihiel, then went to Italy and was in the battle of Vittorio Veneto. After the war he was named American Red Cross Commissioner to Serbia and surrounding territory, and he directed the antityphus-fever campaign in the Balkan States until August 1920, when he returned to the United States.

From the autumn of 1920 to June 1922 Hume was in the I Corps Area Laboratory at Fort Banks, Massachusetts. On his own time he attended classes at Harvard and M.I.T., receiving a certificate in public health and a diploma in tropical medicine. Hume had shown skill in writing, translating, history, and biography (he had published a genealogy of the Hume family when he was 24) and for these reasons he was assigned to the Library in 1924 to replace Garrison. Before Garrison left for the Philippines he instructed Hume.3 For 2 years Hume worked in the institution, mainly assisting Albert Allemann prepare the Index-Catalogue. Concurrently he attended Johns Hopkins and received the degree of doctor of public health. Leaving the Library in April 1926, Hume

served at Fort Benning until 1930, then instructed in the New Hampshire and Massachusetts National Guard.

When Percy Ashburn left the Librarian's post in 1932 several officers desired the job. Hume received it, and the Surgeon General could hardly have made a better choice. Hume was familiar with the routine, he spoke five languages and could translate five more, and he was at home in the scholarly, bookish atmosphere. Unfortunately, economics dictated that the Library could not advance, and Hume could only mark time.

In 1936 Hume's 4-year term as Librarian expired. He was sent to the Medical Field Service School and then to Winter General Hospital. In April 1943 he was assigned to General Eisenhower's staff in North Africa. Eisenhower appointed him chief of Allied Military Government in Italy in August 1943, and Hume eventually governed two-thirds of the country. From September 1945 to June 1947 he was chief of Military Government in the U.S. zone of Austria. Thereafter he was chief of the Reorientation Branch, Civil Affairs Division, Department of the Army; chief surgeon of the Far East Command on General MacArthur's staff; director general of medical services of the United Nations Command in Korea; and surgeon on the staff of the Supreme Commander for Allied Powers. He retired with the rank of major general in 1951.

Hume was a handsome, pleasant person with tremendous energy, the intellectual curiosity of a scholar, and seemingly no fear. At the battle of Vittorio Veneto he was wounded and received his first medal for heroism. He was wounded twice in Italy during World War II and twice in Korea. By the time

he reached the end of his career he was the most decorated medical officer in the Army. Among his decorations were two distinguished service medals, the Legion of Merit, the Navy Bronze Star, the Air Medal, and the Soldier's Medal. He received the last for crawling into the cellar of the bombed post office in Naples and rescuing five wounded persons before the building collapsed. He was decorated by 37 countries in Europe and Latin America, was presented with honorary degrees by 10 American and several European universities, received the Gorgas Medal and the Sir Henry Wellcome Prize in 1933 while at the Library. He was an honorary colonel in the Serbian Army and an honorary citizen of two-score Italian and Austrian towns.

Hume was lecturer in history of medicine at Georgetown and University of Kansas. He was more interested in history and biography than any other person associated with the Library, except Garrison, and this was reflected in many of his articles and in his books, among which were Max von Pettenkofer, Medical Work of the Knight's Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, Victories of Army Medicine, and Ornithologists of the United States Army Medical Corps .5 Hume died of an aneurysm of the aorta January 24, 1952, shortly after retiring from the Army."

THE DEPRESSION RETARDS THE LIBRARY

The effects of the Great Depression were felt in the Library when the usual appropriation of $19,500 was reduced to $14,300 for fiscal year 1933-34. Forced to reduce purchases, Librarian Hume decided to spend funds entirely on journals. He reasoned that books were less important and could be purchased later from second-hand dealers, whereas back issues of periodicals would be difficult to obtain. Furthermore, periodical literature was the backbone of the IndexCatalogue.

The devaluation of the U.S. dollar to 60 cents forced the Library to pay more for European journals, leaving less money for American. Hume explained the shortage of funds to domestic publishers and asked them to give journals to the Library. The majority did so.

Still there was not sufficient money to continue all subscriptions. Hume evaluated journals to decide which would be discontinued until economic conditions improved. Besides estimating the value of each journal to patrons, he considered the availability of the journal in other medical libraries of the area, as Welch Library in Baltimore. Hume had to cut the subscription list from 2,041 periodicals to approximately 1,600.

The following year Congress repeated the appropriation of $14,300. Hume continued the policy of concentrating on journals. When he requested American publishers again to send journals free, some agreed but the majority refused, asking why they should donate to the Library when the government was collecting more taxes and spending large sums on Depression projects.

During these 2 years the Library purchased very few books, only 16 between July 1, 1933, and May 1, 1935. "No rare medical items have been purchased

since June 9, 1933, although the economic distress world-wide has brought many rare and desirable old medical books on the market at sacrifice prices, noted Hume in April 1935. Fortunately the Library of Congress continued to send some of its duplicate American medical books.

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During the Depression the Library suffered in other ways. Persons could not be hired to replace employees who retired. Salary increases were not permitted. The Government Printing Office bound fewer volumes. The IndexCatalogue was suspended after the final volume of series 3 appeared in 1932 and was not resumed until 1936.

The years 1933, '34 and '35 were the worst for the Library. In 1935 Congress increased the appropriation to $15,700, only $1,400 more but important in a low budget. The organization began to purchase books again. In 1936 Congress elevated the appropriation to $20,660 and the 3-year depression was over for the Library, although the effects would linger for some time.

THE BEGINNING OF THE FOURTH SERIES OF THE Index-Catalogue After the third series of the Index-Catalogue ended, Garrison and other persons concluded that it was not as useful as the first and second series for several reasons, one of which was the omission of citations printed instead in the Quarterly Cumulative Index Medicus. Librarian Hume therefore decided to resume the earlier practice of printing all citations, whether or not they appeared in the QCIM, and to include citations that had been left out of series 3.10

The new editor, Claudius Francis Mayer, arrived only 2 days before the previous editor, Allemann, retired in 1932 and therefore had no one to coach him. But Mayer was an extremely intelligent person—Librarian Jones considered him to be a genius-and he took up the job without difficulty. He began to think of changes that would reduce the time and cost of preparation and allow more citations per volume.

Hume asked Garrison, Morris Fishbein, and others for opinions of Mayer's proposed modifications." They agreed that most were beneficial, and Hume ordered these to be adopted. Thereafter Arabic numerals replaced Roman, paginations were reduced, margins were narrowed, abbreviations were shortened, and other measures were taken to conserve space. 12 The fourth series was scheduled to begin in 1933, but because of the Depression no funds were available for 3 years. 13 The publication came dangerously near to being suspended for all time. Volume 1 finally appeared in June 1936 amid favorable publicity. 14 Through the remainder of the 1930's the Library published a volume each year.

PROGRESS TOWARD A NEW BUILDING

In 1930 Reed Smoot, chairman of the Public Buildings Commission, informed Secretary of War Patrick Hurley that the Library and museum would have to vacate their home as soon as possible. The old building would have to