David Sundman of Littleton Coin Company in Nw Hampshire writes:

Treasury Library Celebrates 200 Years
The Treasury Library celebrated itsbicentennial this year with events duringApril's National Library Week.

The establishment of the Treasury Librarydid not occur in a specific moment. It islikely that components of what wouldbecome the library existed in some formprior to 1817, the first year of a verifiablebudget. Treasury Secretary William H.Crawford submitted a report to Congressin 1823 that detailed the average annualfunds for book purchases. It showed thatbetween 1817 and 1822 Treasury purchasedapproximately 172 books a year ata cost of $406. In 1850, Congress directedthe Library of Congress to set aside$1,000 for the Treasury Library. With thePrinting Act of 1895, the Treasury Librarybecame a federal depository library.

In addition to its holdings, the growth ofthe Treasury Library is measured by itssignificance in the lives of Treasuryemployees. In 1865, 136 Treasury clerkspetitioned Treasury Secretary HughMcCulloch to open up the library to allTreasury employees. The clerk in chargeof the library at the time, Samuel YorkeAtlee, did not approve of letting employeesborrow books; he thought only the Secretaryshould be allowed to take books out ofthe room. Secretary McCulloch disagreedwith Atlee, and issued an order allowingemployees to use the library and checkout books. Between January 1867 andOctober 1869, Treasury employees borrowedover 22,000 volumes from thelibrary. Clerks from throughout the organizationwere detailed to the library to helprun it until June 4, 1897 when Congressdirected the Treasury Secretary to appointa salaried librarian. Today, the TreasuryLibrary continues to support the informationneeds of employees and Treasury'smany missions at Departmental Officesand Treasury's bureaus with threelibrarians.

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

As presented in a number of previous THAnewsletter articles, the Treasury seal waschanged in 1968 from a very intricateartistic form with Latin inscription to themodern version with English text that isused today on the Department's stationeryas well as on all currency notes. Theearlier version bore the inscription"Thesaur. Amer. Septent. Sigil." whichwas the abbreviation for "the seal of theTreasury of North America."

The recent eBay item that O'Malleydiscovered had similar intricate artisticform, but with the full Latin text of theDepartment's name: "Sigillum ThesauriAmericae Septentrionalis," a full-textversion that has not been found in THA'sresearch over the years.

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