| Fall/Winter 1996
| Smithsonian Institution Libraries
| page 4
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Development Watch
Ripley Library Endowment
The Libraries has established an annual Patron Program to support the S. Dillon Ripley Library Endowment. As of December 1996, the first Patrons had contributed $18,000 to enhance the Endowment. Since the Endowment's inception in 1993 on the occasion of Secretary Emeritus Ripley's 80th birthday, the Libraries has purchased more than 260 books with endowment funds to enrich the research collections in 17 branch libraries. Patron gifts will enable the Libraries to acquire even more books in future years.
To become a Patron of the S. Dillon Ripley Library Endowment, please contact Gwen Leighty, Libraries' Development Officer.
telephone: 202-786-2875
email: gleighty@sil.si.edu
S. Dillon Ripley Library Endowment Patrons
Donor information is not available online.
(at left) Purchased with income from the Libraries' Special Collections Endowment, this 1628 essay on the design and operation of the thermometer is the first edition of the first independent publication on the instrument. "Shrouded in obscurity, the origins of the thermometer as a precise mensuration tool with practical applications can be traced to the work of Galileo and Santorio, 1611/12....
Because no thermometers from this period survive, the present account is doubly significant." Bruce McKittrick
Recent Gift
Early issues (1871-1887) of the Dakota mission newspaper, Iape/The Word Carrier, were recently purchased with gift funds donated by Ruth L. Webb. Recommended by Dr. Ives Goddard, Department of Anthropology curator, the newspaper is an extremely important source for linguistics, in addition to its ethnographic and historical content. A good portion of it was published in both English and Dakota. It is an excellent addition to the Libraries' already very strong collection of missionary publications relating to Native Americans.
Margaret Dittemore, Librarian
Anthropology Branch
Latino Pool
In the summer of 1995, the Libraries evaluated its resources for Latino Studies. That study pointed to the need for improved access to scholarly indexing and reference works. The Institution's Latino Oversight Committee in response to a Libraries' request allocated $10,000 to strengthen these resources. Most of the monies will fund three years of access to two exceptionally valuable research tools, the Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAP) and the Chicano Database (CDB). HAP contains citations to articles in more than 400 journals, selected and indexed by an international panel of librarians and scholars, and the CDB covers all types of materials on Mexican-American topics from 1970. In 1992 CDM broadened its scope to include material on Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Central American immigrants. Remaining funds allow the Libraries to purchase reference and other works covering a wide range of Latino topics from a growing list of recommended titles requested by Smithsonian researchers and reviewed by Libraries' staff. This welcomed funding provides a significant boost to the growing support for Latino studies in offices around the Institution.
Tom Bickley, Librarian
Anacostia Museum Branch
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