The Landauer Collection consists primarily of thousands of 19th century busi­ness cards, professional advertisements, catalogues, souvenirs used by 19th cen­tury business firms, etc. This material, because of its pictorial nature, is especially in demand by commercial photographers, magazine editors and the like.
Included in this collection are the early and later 19th century bookplates col­lected by Mrs. Landauer, which are supplemented, in turn, by two collections of bookplates of the late 19th and early 20th century donated to the Library.
The Manuscript Collection is one of the oldest in the Library. In 1813, only nine years after the Society was founded, fifty-one manuscripts were listed in the Society's Catalogue of its library. The collection now consists of over 300,000 sin­gle manuscripts and hundreds of bound volumes. Among these are papers of the Colonial and Revolutionary War periods, account books, diaries, journals, etc., of New York and early New Yorkers. The Manuscript Collection is particularly cohesive and is enriched, almost equally, by gift and purchase.
It is suggested that only material be purchased which has special relevance to material already in the collection.
As of March 1958 we received a total of 398 periodicals. Of these, 222 were paid subscriptions and 289 were received “by exchange.” This is explained by the fact that some of these “exchanges” are to individuals or to institutions in which we desiere to have our Quarterly represented.
Of the 398 different periodicals which were received, some arrive annually, some quarterly, etc.
In order to reduce the flow of this material, with its attendant handling and storage problems, it is suggested that the paid subscriptions—66 in number—listed below be discontinued.
It is suggested that the "exchange" items—32 in number—listed below be dis­continued.
It is suggested that the exchange list be reviewed annually in order to avoid re­ceiving extraneous material and at the same time to assure ourselves that our Quarterly is received by those who welcome it.
It is suggested that new subscriptions and exchanges be based on the sugges­tions put forth in the previous pages.