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Article: The first in the field: Prime Ministers' papers in The National Library of Australia.
- Article from:
- Australian Academic & Research Libraries
- Article date:
- March 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Australian Library and Information Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1934 Kenneth Binns made his first overseas trip since joining the staff of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library nearly 24 years earlier. With the aid of a grant from the Carnegie Foundation, he visited about 40 libraries in the United States, Canada and Britain. He spent nine days at the Library of Congress, studying it division by division. On his return to Australia he wrote that 'I am more convinced than ever of the wisdom and foresight of our library committee in taking that great national and parliamentary library as its model'. (1) He was particularly impressed by the success of the Library of Congress in acquiring the papers of former American presidents. A ...