Descriptive Record 
Enlarge Image1943
February 18
Report from the Committee on the Collection of Photographic Materials, February 18, 1943.
Library of Congress Archives, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Librarian Archibald MacLeish appoints a Committee on the Collection of Photographic Materials to formulate a policy governing the acquisition of photographic materials for the Library’s collections. Chaired by David C. Mearns, the Committee concludes that the Library should set up a national photographic collection, study the costs of servicing such a collection, define its nature, and develop classification and cataloging procedures for it.
April 17
General Order No. 1179, Library of Congress, April 17, 1943.
Library of Congress Archives, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Librarian’s General Order No. 1179 outlines the work of the new Staff Advisory Committee, which advises the Librarian and other administrative officers of the Library in matters of immediate interest to the staff. The Committee will forward suggestions from Library staff to administrators, study personnel problems and report conclusions, and give, in response to requests from the Library administration, “advisory opinions” on problems affecting personnel and similar matters.
April 23
Letter from Allen Tate to Archibald MacLeish, April 23, 1943.
Library of Congress Archives, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Allen Tate, poet and critic, accepts Librarian Archibald MacLeish’s invitation to become the Library’s Consultant in Poetry. The appointment of Tate, a well-established man of letters, signals the Librarian’s wish to improve the Library’s poetry and literature programs as well as its literary collections.
August 2
Letter from Lawrence G. Wroth to Archibald MacLeish, August 2, 1943.
Library of Congress Archives, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Lawrence G. Wroth, Librarian of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University and consultant in the acquisition of rare books for the Library of Congress, writes Librarian Archibald MacLeish that Lessing J. Rosenwald, the distinguished bibliophile, has agreed to give his Blake collection to the Library. The collection is an assemblage of books, plates, proofs, and engravings relating to the works of William Blake, the English poet, painter, and philosopher.
August 26
General Order No. 1202, Office of the Librarian, Library of Congress, August 26, 1943.
Library of Congress Archives, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Librarian’s General Order No. 1202 announces a new publication, the Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions. Archibald MacLeish hopes that the journal will offer its "principal clients a more appetizing account" of Library holdings.
1944
May 9
Special Order No. 102, Office of the Librarian, Library of Congress, May 9, 1944.
Library of Congress Archives, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
The Librarian appoints Robert Penn Warren as Consultant in Poetry and editor of the Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions.
July 18
Letter from Archibald MacLeish to Major General Alexander D. Surles, July 18, 1944.
Library of Congress Archives, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
The Librarian writes Major General Alexander D. Surles to ask if the United States War Department will transfer to the Library of Congress its older recordings of news broadcasts. “We are gradually accumulating in the Library an important collection of documentary recordings and we should regard these recordings of news broadcasts as a very valuable addition to our collection.” The War Department’s Colonel Stanley J. Grogan responds on July 20, 1944, that the Librarian’s suggestion is “an excellent one.”
December 4
Memorandum from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Archibald MacLeish, December 4, 1944.
Papers of Archibald MacLeish, 1907-1981, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
The White House sends Archibald MacLeish a telegram to inform him that President Franklin D. Roosevelt wants the Librarian to move ahead with the appointment of a new Register of Copyrights.
December 19
Wearying of his job and wishing to play a more direct and active role in the war, Archibald MacLeish resigns as Librarian of Congress. President Franklin D. Roosevelt immediately appoints him Assistant Secretary of State for Cultural and Public Affairs.
December 20
Luther Harris Evans, Chief Assistant Librarian, is appointed Acting Librarian of Congress.
