A Brief History of the U.S. Government Documents Collection at Colorado College

In 1878 Senator Henry Moore Teller sent to the college a signed copy of F.V. Hayden’s USGS Surveys of the Territories: Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado and Portions of Adjacent Territory 1881. In 1880 the library was designated a depository for U.S. government documents. This designation was a senatorial one, presumably done by Senator Henry Moore Teller, after whom Teller County is named. Among the first volumes received were the reports of the Hayden, King, and Wheeler surveys of the West. By 1885, Colorado College was one of three depositories in Colorado. The University of Colorado and the Library of Denver High School were the other two.

After 1880 the library continued to receive historical government publications through the offices of Senators Teller and Walcott, and Representative Bell, in addition to the current documents received through the depository system. The collection received many valuable publications dating from 1774. The documents were arranged according to the Superintendent of Documents Classification System, which was developed between 1895 and 1903.

Manly Dayton Ormes became the college librarian in 1904, and continued in that post for twenty-five years. He and his staff were responsible for the orderly early development of the depository collection.   In his 1908 annual report, Ormes noted that he was able to secure about 400 early government documents through exchange lists from the Library of Congress and the Superintendent of Documents. These included missing Congressional Serial Set volumes, and USGS Bulletins and Professional Papers. By the time of   Ormes death in 1929, the government documents collection numbered 10,000 publications.

The depository has generally received between 25% and 30% of the items available. At this time we are at 33%, due to the electronic items available. The electronic items allow us to link to them through our catalog and home pages without using valuable shelf or cabinet space. Our print collection occupies about 90% of our shelf space. Documents made available in paper or microfiche are disappearing from the program at a rapid pace to be replaced by Internet access to electronic publications. GPO Access, the site maintained by the U.S. Government Printing Office, makes many series available and guarantees permanent access, as does the developing National Archives site. Many other sources of electronic government information are not archival sites, and the documents sometimes disappear altogether.

Citizens access to government information is changing rapidly. It is expanding for those with computers at home or who have other access to the Internet. For others, depository libraries continue to provide the access to electronic and older publications in print and microfiche. Experienced reference staff provide help to those who need assistance finding what they need. Tutt Library will continue to be a rich resource for U.S. government publications.

Note:
History of the Colorado College Library, 1874-1929, by Barbara L. Neilon, 1980. Neilon was the Special Collections and Archivist during the 1980s.

This text written in 2001 by Julie Jones-Eddy, Government Documents Librarian.