The Vatican Library and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: The History, the Impact, and the Influence of their Collaboration in 1927-1947

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace collaborated with the Vatican Library in order to make the Vaticana's precious collections more accessible to researchers. Largely unknown until now, the events of this twenty-year relationship were reconstructed, primarily from unpublished correspondence preserved in American archives. Brought together by fortuitous circumstances, the Library and the Endowment were able to accomplish great things for the Vaticana and the world of scholars who use its treasures. The history and results of this unique cooperation are the focus of this study. In 1926, the Vatican Library was overcrowded from the acquisition of new collections. Besides additional stacks, it needed modern bibliographic access and better facilities for its growing international clientele. The Carnegie Endowment offered assistance in the organization of a modern cataloging system. William Warner Bishop was asked to survey the Vaticana and to make recommendations for its modernization. His suggestions were well received by Pope Pius XI and by the Endowment. Vatican librarians were invited to America; five received formal training in library schools. In 1928, a party of American experts led by J. C. M. Hanson spent four months in Rome to establish a dictionary catalog for the Vatican printed books. For this project, the Library of Congress sent Charles Martel to Rome, donated a depository catalog and printed cards, and offered training to Vatican librarians. In addition to adopting American methods, the Vatican Library added fourteen miles of American stacks, improved its quarters, published a cataloging code (which was translated into four other languages), printed catalog cards, compiled a "summary index" of its manuscripts, and participated in the American Library Association, the Catholic Library Association, and IFLA. It also established a prestigious library school based on the American model. Many contributed to the success of the Vaticana's vast reorganization project, notably William Warner Bishop, Nicholas Murray Butler, Pope Pius XI, and Monsignor Tisserant. The modernization marked a new "golden age" for the centuries-old Library and placed it decades ahead of other European libraries. The collaboration of the Vatican Library with the Carnegie Endowment, indeed international in scope, was an unmatched example of library cooperation.