The Institutional Mind: Independent Research Libraries, Learned Societies, and the Humanities in the United States.

Traces the historic significance of independent research libraries and learned societies, and outlines why their mission remains incomplete. The Social Science Research Council's secession from the American Council of Learned Societies in 1923 marked the arrival of a fragmentation and specialization that has often divorced academics from amateurs. As the century progressed, "learned" was associated with professionalism rather than a broader "humane" conception, and research libraries forced themselves to specialize. The author surveys the restraints and complexities facing independent research libraries, the humanities, and learned societies.