THE UTILIZATION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC METHODS IN LIBRARY RESEARCH WORK.
WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES ·
By WALTER T. SWINGLE AND MAUDE KELLERMAN SWINGLlI:,
Bureau 01 Plant Industry, Department 01 Agriculture, Washington, D. O.
Photographic methods are no novelty in
library research wcrk and many rare
manuscripts and incunabula have been reproduced
photographically. It is our purpose
to call attention to the possibility of
making fuller and more frequent use of
some of the newer photographic methods
in library research work, particularly in
the natural sciences and industrial work.
Photostat Used to Copy Books and
Manuscripts
In recent years there have been placed
on the market large cameras which take
photographs by the light of a mercury
vapor lamp directly on a roll of sensitized
paper which after exposure is cut off and developed
at once in the machine. These cameras
are known by the trade names of
photostat, cameragraph, etc., and were orig ·
inally devised for use in copying important
legal documents, letters, drawings, plans,
etc. Such a camera has proved so valuable
in our work that we venture to give a few
notes on the uses to which we have found
it fitted.
We have used in our work the larger
size photostat ( No. 2), which is able to
take a roll of paper 13 inches wide and
can also use the narrower roll, 11 inches
wide. It takes a photograph of a maximum
length of 17lh inches. By using the wide
paper a print 17lhx13 inches can be secured;
allowing for trimming, plates or printed
pages up to 16lhx12 can be taken natural
size. The large size machine can be set to
wind off automatically 9 or 18 inches of
paper and the smaller one 7: 1h or 16 inches.
By a new attachment devised by the junior
author it is possible to wind into place
36 different lengths of paper, varying from
one- half to 18 inches, so it is easy to set
the machine to make the most economical
use of the sensitized paper in photograph ·
ing' a book, plate or · map. A special frame
that comes with the machine permits the
book to be held in a horizontal position
and the image is rectified by passing
through a right- angled prism which corrects
the reversal of the image due to the
photographic lens. Consequently a direct
exposure gives a negative as to color, 1. e.
white letters on black background, but a
positive as to position, 1. e. the print can
be read directly from the face of" the paper.
This permits the use of such a direct
image or negative for reproducing printed
or written matter.
The commercial uses of the photostat
are usually limited to negative prints, 1. e.
letters, specifications, diagrams, drawings,
etc., are reproduced in white on a black
ground. Such negative prints are very
useful for reproducing a single page or a
few pages of a publication and may sometimes
be used in photographing botanical
specimens. If several copies are required,'
all that needs to be done is to make several
exposures without changing the position of
the book or specimen.
One drawback to such copies is that the
black background prevents notes or correc ��
tions being added with pencil or pen. Even
red ink coos not show up well on the black
ground. ( Chinese vermilion ink that is
ground on a slab like india ink makes a
very good mark, and liquid white mk may
be used.)
By photographing the nega; ive print
again a positive is secured which has black
• Paper read at the College and Reterence Section ot the American Library Association,
Asbury Park Conference. Reprinted trom Bulletin of the American Library Association,
July. 1916.
letters on a white ground. Such a copy
can be annotated as easily as the original,
which it is often desirable to preserve intact.
By using positive prints pasted back
to bacle it is possible to make very good
copies of printed works that look , remarkably
like the original work. In all cases
where positives are made a negative copy
is also available. These negatives can be
bound up by perforating them so they can
be tied into a pamphlet holder or a special
binder made to fit them. They are then
available at any time for making additional
positive copies. It is sometimes desirable
to make the negatives natural size,
whereas the positive can sometimes be reduced
in size to advantage, making a more
convenient volume.
It frequently happens in copying old,
more or less discolored, books or manuscripts
that it is necessary to use a color
screen and make long exposures to secure
good negatives. Such negatives when once
secured can, however, be copied into positive
prints very rapidly. Moreover, the
copying of negatives is always easier than
making prints from the original book,
since it is not necessary to open the frame
and adjust the pages as with the book.
In general it would seem desirable to
preserve the original negatives in the
library and to make positive prints for the
use of investigators. If, in addition to the
cost of making the positive copy, say onetenth
of the cost of making the original
negatives is charged to the investigator, in
the long run the libraries will get back the
initial expense of making negatives and
at the same time supply to students positive
copies more cheaply than negatives can be
furnished. Such positives have the ad ·
vantage of reproducing properly any illustration
that may accompany the text. Only
simple line drawings or mechanical diagrams
appear equally well on the negative
and positive copies. All complicated illustrations
and especially all photographic
process illustrations are difficult to understand
or use in the negative copy. Furthermore,
notes can easily be made on the
white surface, whereas negative prints can
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only be annotated by using white ink or
Chinese vermilion.
In copying works printed in nonEuropean
alphabets not to be found in the
ordinary printing office and not capable of
being typewritten, the photostat is, of
course, invaluable. It has been found to be
particularly useful in handling Chinese
works on agriculture and botany. On account
of the scarcity of translators it is
often necessary to send such material to
China or Japan to have it translated or
abstracted. The photostat makes it easy
to do such work cheaply. In the copying of
ancient manuscripts the photostat method
is absolutely necessary to secure accuracy.
By using this machine, such copies can be
made at very reasonable cost.
Having formerly used glass plates for
reproducing rare books, we are in position
to know from experience not only the
heavy cost of such a method but also the
great difficulties in filing in a safe and
convenient manner the heavy and easily
breakable negatives.
Photostat negatives are merely sheets
of flat paper and if properly bound may
be used for reference if the original work
or the positive copy is not at hand.
We have found that in order to keep
the operating cost of the photostat low
per unit of work it is necessary to keep
the machine in continuous use during at
least five or six working hours each day,
thereby permitting an economic utilization
of the operator's time and of the chemicals
used for developing. In this way we have
found that the total cost may be kept down
as low as 4% cents per photostat print
7% xll inches.
Although it is a fact that even a beginner
can get some sort of results with the photostat,
it is nevertheless true that a considerable
degree of skill is necessary to
enable an operator to get the best results,
especially in copying old or discolored
books or manuscripts and in making firstclass
positive copies. It is well worth while
for librarians having such work done to
insist upon a h. igh standard of excellence
in photostat copies. In this way, without
materially increasing the cost, a superior
grade of work can be obtained.
Utilization of Photography In Botanical
Researches
Besides these obvious uses in reproducing
rare or costly manuscripts or printed
books and articles, we have found the
photostat very useful in other ways.
In our work on crop plants and particularly
in the study of the citrus fruits
and their wild relatives, we have found
it necessary to have at hand the original
descriptions of hundreds of different
species and also notes as to their uses in
their native countries, etc. These descriptions
and notes are, of course, scattered
through many hundreds of volumes and
even though one might happen to be so
extraordinarily fortunate as to have within
reach a library containing all of the books
needed, it is not a simple matter to have
a dozen or more descriptions from as
many different books immediately before
one for comparison.
Our citrus index comprises descriptions
of more than twenty genera, each one of
which has a number of species; in addition
there are copies of numerous illustrations.
Yet all of this material is contained in onefiling
drawer and is immediately acce~ sible
for consultation and comparison.
In addition to this file we have made up
booklets in cases where accounts and discussions
of several species are included
in one work. The title page of the book
is included in these booklets and an index
of the species to be found in the
photostat copy is bound in at the front of
the booklet. In this way we have a small
citrus library of our own containing the
material on this special subject which is
scattered through hundreds of volumes,
many of them so bulky or so rare that they
are practically inaccessible for daily use.
We have found it possible to use to advantage
the large size machine in making
copies of valuable herbarium specimens
which we cannot retain in our own collection.
These prints are made on glossy
finish paper which gives a print somewhat
3
like that from a glass plate. In many
cases the type specimens of plants are too
precious to be consulted except for very
critical work. For all ordinary purposes
the photostat print suffices.
Instances of the Use of Photography In
Library Research Work
One of the most important uses of the
method outlined above is to supply missing
numbers of periodicals or missing pages
from valuable books. It has been possible
for us to complete in this way a number of
very important old works on natural history
and in one case a series of 61 dissertations
of the University of Upsala,
Sweden, published from 1787 to 1827, constituting
a catalogue of the Natural History
Museum of Upsala, a collection of unusual
importance because it contained
many specimens collected by Linnaeus or
his pupils upon which the scientific names
now current all over the world were based.
No American library had a complete set but
by using the photostat two. complete sets
were made up, one for the Library of Congress
( 51 original, 10 photostat copies) and
one for the New York Botanical Garden ( 59
original, 2 photostat copies). A memorandum
bound in the Library of Congress
copy shows where each original was found
( they came from four public libraries and
one private collection) so that in case of
special investigations involving the quality
of paper or ink, the original could be found
and consulted.
A more extensive piece of work is the
making of a photostat copy of an entire
book, as was done with Osbeck's pagbok
ofwer en Ostindisk Resa, Stockholm, 1757.
Only on~ copy of this work could then be
located in this country. Since it was very
important for our work we borrowed this
copy and made one negative and two positive
copies of it. The original negatives
are filed in our office, one positive copy is
filed in the library of the Department of
Agriculture and the other positive copy
is now available for field use s~ hat an explorer
traveling in China may consult the
descriptions of plants that were written
more than one hundred and fifty years ago
by Osbeck, a pupil of Linnaeus, who was
the first botanist to assign modern scientific
names to Chinese plants.
Another instance showing the im\ lortance
of photographic methods in reproducing an
entire book is that of the original account
of a new and virulent disease of sugar cane
and maize that appeared six years ago in
Formosa. A bulletin issued by the Sugar
Experiment Station of the Formosan
Government in December, 1911, consisting
of some 80 pages and 9 plates gave a full
description of the new parasitic fungus
causing the disease. It was not found in
any library in Washington and was finally
borrowed from the library of the Sugar
Planters' Experiment Station at Honolulu,
Hawaii. The entire bulletin and plates
were copied by the photostat and largely
because of the information thus secured it
has been possible for the Federal Horticultural
Board of the Department of Agriculture
to put into effect quarantine regulations
which it is believed will effectively
prevent the introduction into this country
of this dangerous maize parasite which if
once introduced might easily cause a hundred
million dollars a year damage to the
corn crop of the United States. As the
bulletin in question contained maps, photogravures,
lithographic plates, and was,
moreover, written in Japanese, it would
have been impracticable to copy it at any
reasonable cost in any other way than by
photography.
Every Book and Manuscript In the World
Placed Within the Reach of the Investigator
by Photographic Means
It often happens that important investigations
on critical matters involving interests
into the tens or even hundreds of
millions are delayed for years because of
the lack of books which are known to exist
in Old World libraries. Often these books
are rarely or never put on the market,
practically all of the copies being in the
pOllsession of museums, libraries and other
public institutions. Under such circumstances
it seems the part of wisdom to
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make definite arrangements by which photographic
copies can be secured promptly
of all works believed to be of importance
for scientific or economic investigations in
progress in this country. It is believed
that any objection the librarians might
feel to having photographic copies made
of their treasures would be removed by delivering
to the library furnishing the work
to be copied a complete photostat copy of
it. This could be circulated to readers in
place of the originai copy which could be
kept under lock and key and only consulted
on critical matters. In this way the use of
the photostat would not only result in the
wider diffusion and greater use of rare
books but also in the better preservation
of the originals from which the photographic
copies were made.
In view of the difficulty, often impossf.
b1l1ty, of purchasing old foreign books it
becomes evident that in the photostat we
have a cheap and efficient means of reproducing
quickly such works as are needed
by American investigators. It will be
necessary to place a photostat in one or
more favorably situated cities in Europe
and then copy such books and papers as
they are needed:
We often forget that European investigators
have access not only to the books of
their own libraries but to those of foreign
countries either by exchange or by a few
hours railway travel. The English and
French investigators for example, have access
to the national libraries of France,
Belgium, Holland and England and by a
railway journey not exceeding ' eight to
twelve hours' duration. In order to
give our investigators facilities equal
to those of western Europe our great
libraries should be very much more
complete than those of London, Paris
and Berlin, not, as is actually the case,
much less complete. The only feasible way
to supplement our scanty library facilities
is to use modern scientific and business
methods to make available the books of the
Old World until we are able and willing
to purchase copies. In the case of manuscripts
of which often only a single copy
I
n- Ot
D
A t-------+-------- IB
in the middle with the two blank sides
pasted together; the pages will then follow
in the same order as in the original book.
( b) A positive copy made from such
negative.
4. A book ( Osbeck, Dagbok Ofwer en
Ostindisk Resa, Stockholm, 1757) in posi ��
tive photostat copy, one- fourth natural size,
made as described below:
If the negatives show large clear print,
four negatives, each of two pages, can be
placed at once in the frame under the lens
and a reduced positive copy made on a
single sheet. For example, pages 8- 15 of
a book would be arranged thus:
14- 15 3- 9
exists it is obvioul that the photostat will
be invaluable for making cheap copies.
There is no longer any need for any
competent scholar to be hampered for lack
ot material provided arrangements are
made to install photostats in Old World
library centers.
Finally the need of the isolated worker
in our own country can be met by furnishing
him with photographic copies of the
literature he cannot consult in his ltate.
Possibly if the original user were charged
a fifth or a tenth of the cost of such a
copy enough other copies could be sold
to make the work self- supporting in a short
time.
If American scholars are to take the
place in the learned and scientific world to
which their energy, originality and intelligence
entitle them steps must be
taken to free them from the heavy handicap
they now suffer in competition with
their Old- World colleagues because of the
greater volume of old books and records
at the disposal of the European scholars.
il
APPENDIX: NOTES ON THE SPECI-MENS
OF PHOTOSTAT WORK
EXHIBITED
1. ( a) Negative photostat copies on
loose sheets, such as are used in commercial
work.
( b) Positives made from such negatives.
2. ( a) Negative prints in loose- leaf
binders. In the case of material of which
it may at any time be desirable to make extra
copies, the negatives are made natural
size, perforated at the margin, and preserved
in these binders so as to be available
for making positive copies.
( b) Positives made from these negatives.
3. ( a) Negative prints trimmed and
rearranged for use in reproducing books.
In the case of books that open flat it is
often cheaper and quicker to make a print
of two pages at one exposure. These can
then be cut apart and tipped on large
sheets of black paper in reverse order.
When the positive is made it can be folded
The resulting positive is folded first on
the line A- B and the blank sides pasted
together. Then the pasted sheet is folded
on the line C- D; turning the double page
14- 15 under, leaving the double page 8- 9
on top. If the book is bound with guards,
such a folded sheet, carrying 8 pages of
the original work, can be attached to the
stub by a single strip of linen which
greatly reduces the work of binding.
5. ( a) Negative prints stapled or
sewed into a booklet without being pasted.
These are useful for reference work and
notes can be made on the blank side of the
print.
( b) Positive prints made up into a
booklet in the same way.
6. ( a) Negative prints with the blank
sides pasted together bound into a booklet.
These small booklets resemble the original
book from which they are made except
that black and white are . eversed. Positives
pasted and bound in the same way
make notations in the text easier. If bound
with each sheet guarded these books open
5
flat and are often easier to use than the
original.
7. ( a) Negative prints of herbarium
specimens, on glossy paper, 16¥. ixll%
inches. Prints of this kind, made natural
size, are very useful when the original
specimen is not available for study.
They can be made for a small fraction of
the cost of bromide enlargements from
glass negatives.
8. Photostat cards and booklets from
the Citrus index. A sample showing
method of handling and indexing literature
relating to the cultivated species of
Citrus and their wild relatives. This index
comprises loose sheets, filed alphabetically,
giving the original descriptions
of about twenty genera of the orange sub ·
family of plants, having from one to fifty
or more species; in addition there are
photostat copies of numerous illustrations.
Besides these loose sheets there are about
two hundred booklets made up from indio
vidual books, monographs, and local floras,
6
which contain accounts and discussions of
several species.
9. Photostat copy of index of Chinese
botany. The Chill, wu ming shih t'u k'ao
by Wu Ch'i chiin, the best modern work
on Chinese botany, comprises 60 volumes
but has no index and no general table of
contents, though one is given at the beginning
of each volumt. These tables of contents
of the individual volumes were copied
with the photostat, the page references
added and the whole bound together,
which greatly facilitates looking up any
particular plant in the text. This piece of
worlr could scarcely have been done at
all without using the photostat.
10. Card index of Chinese plant names.
Extra copies of the tables of contents of
the Chinese botany noted above were made
and the plant names occurring in the work
pasted on cards, obviating the difficulty and
expense of writing these Chinese characters.
Walter Tennyson Swingle
