Melville, A. (1980). Special Collections in the Library of
Congress: A Selective Guide. Washington, D.C.: Library
of Congress. First Edition. ISBN 0-8444-0297-4.
Melville's (1980) text is a 464 page publication divided into 8 sections. These sections consist of a Foreward by John C. Broderick, Assistant Librarian for Research Services at the Library of Congress, an Introduction by Melville, a section on how to use the Guide, a general description of the Special Collections of the Library of Congress that is presented alphabetically, a depiction of the Special Collections by Division in the form of an appendix, Acknowledgements, instructions on how to order reproductions and a 40-page index. The book also contains a number of black-and-white illustrations, including photographs, maps, drawings, etchings, and so forth.
Produced by the U.S. Government Printing Office, Melville's (1980) book delineates the specific contents of various "Special Collections" that are held by the Library of Congress. It identifies the physical location of the collections, focusing on a sample of 269 of the myriad collections that is held by the Library. Though 24 years old, this text represents what its author characterized as a first attempt to describe a large number of its collections in a single guide. The author notes that it took approximately three years for the guide to be constructed. Each entry or description of a special collection consists of a heading which describes the collection name, contents, and location, an essay detailing aspects of the collection, and references citing sources which describe the collection as a whole (Melville, 1980).
The theme of the book is relatively simple. As noted above, it is an attempt to summarize the contents of a number of the main Special Collections that are held by the Library of Congress. The "cast of characters" naturally refers to the documents and other materials th...