|
|
Article: The Berg. (Berg Collection of the New York Public Library)
- Article from:
- American Scholar
- Article date:
- June 22, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Phi Beta Kappa Society. 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)
|
Most major European libraries, universities, and museums grew slowly over centuries. Begun as private or ecclesiastical enterprises, they developed according to no particular plan under the inconsistent guidance of successive popes, emperors, queens, bishops, and barons. By contrast, many great American cultural institutions seem to have been created from sheer force of will by individuals with a long-term vision and colossal self-confidence. If the Louvre, Hermitage, Vatican Library, and British Museum embody the impersonal, almost timeless, and public quality of European institutions, then American cultural aspirations most clearly express themselves in such idealistic and ...