Cutter Expansive Classification - History of The Expansive Classification

History of The Expansive Classification

Charles Ammi Cutter (1837–1903), inspired by the decimal classification of his contemporary Melvil Dewey, and with Dewey's initial encouragement, developed his own classification scheme for the Winchester Town Library and then the Boston Athenaeum, at which he served as librarian for twenty-four years. He began work on it around the year 1880, publishing an overview of the new system in 1882. The same classification would later be used, but with a different notation, also devised by Cutter, at the Cary Library in Lexington.

Many libraries found this system too detailed and complex for their needs, and Cutter received many requests from librarians at small libraries who wanted the classification adapted for their collections. He devised the Expansive Classification in response, to meet the needs of growing libraries, and to address some of the complaints of his critics . Cutter completed and published an introduction and schedules for the first six classifications of his new system (Expansive Classification: Part I: The First Six Classifications), but his work on the seventh was interrupted by his death in 1903.

The Cutter Expansive Classification, although adopted by comparatively few libraries, mostly in New England, has been called one of the most logical and scholarly of American classifications. Library historian Leo E. LaMontagne writes:

Cutter produced the best classification of the nineteenth century. While his system was less "scientific" than that of J.P. Lesley, it's other key features – notation, specificity, and versatility – make it deserving of the praise it has received.

Its top level divisions served as a basis for the Library of Congress classification, which also took over some of its features. It did not catch on as did Dewey's system because Cutter died before it was completely finished, making no provision for the kind of development necessary as the bounds of knowledge expanded and scholarly emphases changed throughout the 20th century.