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Correspondence and other papers relating to his work with the American Library Association's Committee on Revision of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 1935-1941; letters from his former students upon the occasion of his retirement in 1964; personal correspondence, including letters to his parents from relatives in Norway, 1880-1935 and letters written while in service during World War I; and photographs.

The bulk of the collection consists of Gjelsness' professional correspondence between 1930 and 1965; materials concerning the committees of the American Library Association on which he served, and relating to his foreign assignments; extensive files of drafts of the revision of the Catalog Code, together with related. correspondence; and comments on the final draft of the Code.

Some unusual items are letters in Norwegian written between 1881 and 1935 to Marius S. and Karoline O. Gjelsness, parents of Rudolph Gjelsness. The correspondents were family and friends in Norway, and residents of other Norwegian. communities in north-central United States. Business papers of Marius S. Gjelsness from 1885 to 1917 reflect his activities as a member of the local school board and as a leader in his church. Several catalogues of merchandise are included.

There are also early personal letters of Rudolph H. Gjelsness written to his mother and his sister Helen during the years he was in the army and later a student in Norway, as well as a few from his days as a library science student and a beginning librarian. There are also a few folders of his World War memorabilia.

Librarian at the Library of Congress, University of Michigan and Northwestern University, and bibliophile. Correspondence, articles and pamphlets, papers relating to his books and articles, and topical files relating to his interest in Carnegie Libraries, literary forgeries, the work of the American Library Association's Library War Service during World War I, library Americanization programs, 1919-1921, and the library building of University of Michigan; also photographs.

The Koch papers are very incomplete for the part of his career before he went to Northwestern. Much of the earliest correspondence deals with the gathering of material for his "A Portfolio of Carnegie Libraries," Very little material on his work at the University of Michigan has survived, although a few reports from Byron A. Finney on the operation of the library and copies of Koch's proposal for a new library in 1915 are included in the collection.

Although the collection is much larger for the years after 1919, it is apparent that even for these years many of his professional files were either retained by the Northwestern University Library or destroyed. There is surprisingly little information on the activities of the A.L.A. or other professional organizations. Much of the correspondence consists of family and personal mail rather than the activities of the Northwestern library.

A high proportion of the material from this period relates to the writing and publication of his many books and pamphlets. Although Koch's files on Carnegie libraries, literary forgeries, the A.L.A. Library War Service, and Americanization programs may be of interest to scholars, many of his publications involved the translation and publication of works aimed merely at bibliophiles. These works were often published by such groups as the Caxton Club of Chicago or the Roxburgh Club of San Francisco which are interested in printing as an art form.