�鶹��ý��վ

Since its founding, the American �鶹��ý��վ considered it a matter of importance to establish formal intellectual exchanges with societies in the “Old World” engaged in the pursuit of knowledge. This commitment is well documented in early �鶹��ý��վ record collections, including Minutes, Letterbooks, and Sendings and Acknowledgments. Through correspondence to and from individuals and numerous circulars, the �鶹��ý��վ actively maintained a network of communication which kept it, and its members, current on the development of knowledge in a time when news traveled slowly.

Formal and regular publication exchanges were an additional way in which the �鶹��ý��վ both fostered relationships with other organizations, as well as kept current with new developments. In reciprocal arrangements, organizations would send their publications at no or little cost to others, and in kind would receive publications. Beginning in1785, the �鶹��ý��վ engaged in this practice with the publication of its , comprised of essays submitted by members as well as “the ingenious in every profession.”1 Aside from its own intermittent circulars and pamphlets, this was the main currency of the �鶹��ý��վ in publication exchanges until 1846  when the �鶹��ý��վ began to publish its , which gave record of their meetings, as well as excerpts of papers presented at meetings.

Over the centuries, the publications sent by other societies formed the basis of the �鶹��ý��վ’s library, alongside volumes donated by members. In 1900, the librarian reported at its Annual Meeting that nearly 2500 books and pamphlets had been received either as gift or by exchange that year alone.2 Despite the �鶹��ý��վ holding meetings at over 20 different locations  in the first 100 years, the �鶹��ý��վ stewarded this library collection, which eventually comprised over 47,000 volumes in 1946.3 However, as the �鶹��ý��վ’s library continued to grow, numerous institutions within the immediate region also grew, with ever larger libraries of their own, which members would also use. 

In 1946, at a time when many similar organizations were closing, the �鶹��ý��վ embarked on a comprehensive review of its situation and made plans for the future, led by �鶹��ý��վ President Howard Mumford Jones. Subsequently, the �鶹��ý��վ issued a “Report of the Commission on the Present Status and Future of the �鶹��ý��վ,” which called for the �鶹��ý��վ to streamline and refocus its activities. As part of this strategic realignment, the decision was made to divest the majority of the library collection. It was sold that year to the newly established Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, Missouri, which holds a collection focusing on science, engineering, and technology.

However, the �鶹��ý��վ retained a small selection of volumes which were considered either to be of historical significance to the �鶹��ý��վ, or containing titles not found elsewhere in the area. These include donations made by founder and President John Adams and other members significant to the history of the organization, such Presidents James Bowdoin and John Quincy Adams. Additionally, some volumes were retained to document the unique relationships the �鶹��ý��վ cultivated with other organizations through its publication exchange program. One notable example is the Flora Batava. 

Title Page (l) and Inside Cover with bookplate (r), 1800. Jan Kops, ed., Flora Batava (J.C. Sepp en Zoon). Archives of the American �鶹��ý��վ of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Mass.

The first installment of Flora Batava began in 1800, when publishers J.C. Sepp en Zoon printed the first hand-colored illustrated overview of the wild plants, mosses, algae, and mushrooms in Batavia, originally a republic that later became a region of the Netherlands. Published in periodical issues from 1800-1934 that were then bound into volumes by the subscribers, there are a total of 28 volumes with over 2,630 species covered. The �鶹��ý��վ has the first full volume, and interestingly, in that volume, there are illustrations and plants from the Flora Londinensis (for example, the print of Valeriana officinalis). The publishers later elected to include only Dutch plants. 

Record of the �鶹��ý��վ receiving its first installment of the Flora Batava appears in Volume 2 of its Letterbook collection in 1803, 4in a letter, in Latin, sent by the Council of the Interior of the Batavian Republic. Further correspondence regarding the exchange also appears in Volume 3 with an additional letter in Volume 4 of Letterbooks. While the series ran until 1934, the volume of the Flora Batava ends ca. 1806, and is considered volume 1 of the larger 28 volume set.