NOTES FROM THE TREASURY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

David Sundman of Littleton Coin Company in Nw Hampshire writes:

Treasury Library Celebrates 200 Years
The Treasury Library celebrated its bicentennial this year with events during April’s National Library Week.

The establishment of the Treasury Library did not occur in a specific moment. It is likely that components of what would become the library existed in some form prior to 1817, the first year of a verifiable budget. Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford submitted a report to Congress in 1823 that detailed the average annual funds for book purchases. It showed that between 1817 and 1822 Treasury purchased approximately 172 books a year at a cost of $406. In 1850, Congress directed the Library of Congress to set aside $1,000 for the Treasury Library. With the Printing Act of 1895, the Treasury Library became a federal depository library.

In addition to its holdings, the growth of the Treasury Library is measured by its significance in the lives of Treasury employees. In 1865, 136 Treasury clerks petitioned Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch to open up the library to all Treasury employees. The clerk in charge of the library at the time, Samuel Yorke Atlee, did not approve of letting employees borrow books; he thought only the Secretary should be allowed to take books out of the room. Secretary McCulloch disagreed with Atlee, and issued an order allowing employees to use the library and check out books. Between January 1867 and October 1869, Treasury employees borrowed over 22,000 volumes from the library. Clerks from throughout the organization were detailed to the library to help run it until June 4, 1897 when Congress directed the Treasury Secretary to appoint a salaried librarian. Today, the Treasury Library continues to support the information needs of employees and Treasury’s many missions at Departmental Offices and Treasury’s bureaus with three librarians.

Rare Treasury Seal Found on eBay Site
THA's Chairman Tom O’Malley checks the eBay site frequently for unusual Treasury Department items, both for his own collection and for THA’s consideration to purchase and give to Treasury. Recently, he found a rare Treasury seal medallion on a man’s jewelry box

As presented in a number of previous THA newsletter articles, the Treasury seal was changed in 1968 from a very intricate artistic form with Latin inscription to the modern version with English text that is used today on the Department’s stationery as well as on all currency notes. The earlier version bore the inscription “Thesaur. Amer. Septent. Sigil.” which was the abbreviation for “the seal of the Treasury of North America.”

The recent eBay item that O’Malley discovered had similar intricate artistic form, but with the full Latin text of the Department’s name: “Sigillum Thesauri Americae Septentrionalis,” a full-text version that has not been found in THA’s research over the years.

For more information on the Treasury Historical Association, see:
www.treasuryhistoricalassn.org

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