The Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures

It’s odd to think of libraries without rigorous systems of classification, but cataloging was a surprisingly recent addition to libraries. Well, perhaps not so surprising when a few hundred books in the same place was a substantial collection, and a few thousand an unprecedented hoard of wisdom. The Card Catalog is a light history of the Library of Congress, and the effort involved in filing and cataloging everything the right way.

I was familiar with the basic outlines, the core of the collection based around a donation from Thomas Jefferson, but I did not realize that the Library of Congress was such a laggard in organization. Card cataloging was basically formed during the French Revolution, with playing cards (cheap and universally accessible) used as a standard, but the Library of Congress didn’t get its first cards until 1899. For much of the 19th century, the Library of Congress was opposed to Melvil Dewey and the emerging field of library science, but once it stepped in, it threw its immense weight. With copyright registration allowing the library to hold copies of nearly every work published in the United States, the library embarked on a massive effort of making its catalog accessible to the public and smaller libraries. Finally, in 1980 the card catalog was ‘frozen’, in preparation for replacement by computer.

The cards themselves are surprisingly beautiful objects, especially the ones in elaborate ‘library hand’ script. And this book has lots of photos. It’s not the deepest, but it’s a fun read for any bibliophile.