ferson City. GINIA, Rich mond. [1828.] KENTUCKY, [1834.] [14.] Of [15.] Of CoN- for the formation of a new collection, which, in 1849, contained 4637 volumes, and now contains about 6000. The State Library of Virginia dates from 1828, and contains about 15,000 volumes. That of Kentucky was founded in 1834. It contained, in 1849, about 8000 volumes,† and now contains nearly 10,000. Maine began its State Library in 1836, and has now 15,500 volumes. Here also considerable advantages appear to have been derived from M. Vattemare's system of exchanges. As to the use of the Library, "probably 2500 persons," it is stated, consult it each year. The State Library of Connecticut is of still more recent formation. In an able report addressed by the State Librarian, Mr. Trumbull, to the General Assembly, in 1855, it is remarked: "As yet Connecticut has only the beginning of a library, .... far from being adequate to supply necessary books of reference to the Legislators, Judges, State Officers, and others who have occasion to resort to it. Its increase has been necessarily very slow, having been mainly dependent on exchanges with other States, on the receipt of public documents and other works distributed by Congress, and (since 1849) on the operations of the system of international exchange, for which the State is largely indebted to the good offices and untiring exertions of M. Vattemare, now the accredited agent of the State for that end." The Report proceeds to point out the various classes of books, the collection of which most merits the care of the Legislature, and is likely to open a new and prosperous era in the annals of the Library. Of other State Libraries recently commenced, an enumeration will be found in the appended "Statistical Table.” Hartford. [1850.] CHAPTER IV. OF TOWN LIBRARIES. THOSE who have followed our historical summary thus far, will have, we think, no difficulty in assenting to the assertion which preceded it, that the provision of Libraries in the United States is-all things fairly taken into account a very honourable one. But we now approach a quite new epoch in the history of American Libraries, which bids fair, if it but proceed as it has begun, to eclipse all preceding efforts in this direction. The libraries whose progress we have been reviewing, however well stored, generously supported, and liberally managed, are, in almost every instance, dependent for their maintenance on the fluctuating and insecure resource of voluntary contributions, and for their accessibility on the favour and goodwill of their Directors. The State Libraries are, indeed, an exception, but, from their very nature and object, the usefulness of these is limited, or almost limited, to lawyers and + Ibid. 166. * Jewett, Notices, &c., p. 181. public men. Up to the year 1848, no Town or City Library, strictly so called, existed within the breadth of the Union. By "Town Library," we mean a library which is the property of the town itself, and enjoyable by all the townspeople. Such a library must be both freely and of right accessible, and securely permanent. It must unite direct responsibility of management with assured means of support. No such library existed in the United States until that of Boston was founded, in 1848. Nor did any such library exist in the United Kingdom until after the passing of the "Libraries Act," in 1850. [1.1 Free Public Libra ry of the City By chapter 52, of the Statutes of 1848, the Massachusetts Legislature enacted that the City of Boston might, from the city funds, establish a Public Library, and expend 5000 dollars (£1000) a year for its maintenance.* In aid of the first expenses, £200 was given by Mr. Bigelow, and large contributions of books were made by Mr. Winthrop and Mr. Edward Everett. of Boston. The earlier steps in the realization of this project were slow but sure. They proved conclusively (were proof needed) that under judicious regulation the levying of rates for Public Libraries may become a spur, not a hindrance, to private munificence. The first money donation which followed that of the Mayor of Boston was one of ten thousand pounds (50,000 dollars) from Mr. Joshua Bates for the purchase of books. This princely gift was invested, and it put the Library at once into possession of a permanent augmentation fund of £600 a year. Mr. Jonathan Phillips followed with another gift of £2000, to be similarly applied. In an admirable Report, presented to the City Council, in July, 1852, the Trustees develope their views as to the plan of the new Library, and their desire to awaken "a general interest in it, as a City Institution, important to the whole people, as a part of their education, an element of their happiness and prosperity;" regarding that course as being "the surest way to make it at last a great and rich library for men of science, statesmen, and scholars, as well as for the great body of the people, many of whom are always successfully struggling up to honourable distinctions, and all of whom should be encouraged to do it." + It was not until the 20th of March, 1854, that the Boston City Library was opened to readers, nor until the 2nd of the following May that it was opened to borrowers It begun with about twelve thousand volumes, and, before the close of the year, this number was increased to 16,553, of which 6360 had been presented, and the remainder purchased. The aggregate issues during the first six months amounted to about 40,000 volumes. The Committee thus close their first Report on the actual working of the Library: "The benefits that must follow from such an institution, fitted, as the Public Library is, to continue by home-reading, and self-culture, the education begun by our excellent system of Free Schools, your Committee will not pretend to estimate. Indeed, if this Library should be liberally fostered and administered by the persons to whom its support and care are intrusted, all its benefits to * Jewett, Notices, &c., p. 48. + Boston City Documents, No. 73 [Nov. 1853], p. 4. the intellectual, moral, and religious training of our community, and especially of our children, can neither be measured nor foreseen."* The Legislature of Massachusetts took a further step in advance on the subject in 1851, by passing "an Act to authorize cities and towns to establish and maintain Public Libraries." American legislation differs from British so widely in the particulars of prolixity and verbosity, that the entire Act may be cited and read with little expenditure of type, or of time. 1. "Any City or Town of this Commonwealth is hereby authorized to establish and maintain a Public Library within the same, with or without Branches, for the use of the inhabitants thereof, and to provide suitable rooms therefor, under such regulations for the government of said Library as may from time to time be prescribed by the City Council of such city, or the inhabitants of such town; 2. "Any City or Town may appropriate for the foundation and commencement of such Library, as aforesaid, a sum not exceeding one dollar for each of its ratable polls, in the year next preceding that in which such appropriation shall be made; and may also appropriate annually, for the maintenance and increase of such Library, a sum not exceeding twentyfive cents for each of its ratable polls in the year next preceding that in which such appropriation shall be made; [2.1. Free Public Library of the City of New Bed ford. 3. "Any Town or City may receive in its corporate capacity, and hold and manage any devise, bequest, or donation, for the establishment, increase, or maintenance of a Public Library within the same." The first town to take action under this Statute was New Bedford, by whose Council a Free Library was established, in August, 1852. The proprietors of a Subscription, or "Social Library," transferred their collection to the new foundation, which was opened for public use on the 3rd of March, 1853, with about 6000 volumes. This number has been, within about three years, increased to 9000; and in their fourth Report the Trustees are enabled to affirm that "it is undoubtedly true that no act of the municipal authorities of New Bedford has reached with its recreative and improving operation so large a part of our population, and probably none has ever met so universally and deeply the approbation of the people. . . . A Free Public Library is the crowning glory of the system of public education, which has been from our earliest history the pride of Massachusetts." ‡ In a Report of the preceding year there is a passage bearing on a point which is always interesting in connection with the present subject that of the selection of the books: "While care has been taken," say the Trustees, "that no publication injurious to the public morals should find a place upon our shelves, we have endeavoured to divest ourselves, in our efforts to place before our fellow-citizens the means of a more extensive and genial culture, of all narrow and sectarian partialities. In this respect we are gratified to be able to state that no difference of opinion has for a single moment interrupted the harmony and unanimity of our proceedings." § * City Documents, 1854, No. 74, p. 15. + First Annual Report, [1853], p. 4. City Documents of New Bedford [1856], No. 6, p. 4. § Documents of 1855, pp. 80, 81. [3.] Astor Free Library of the City of New York. Whilst the "Old Bay State" was beginning to form Town Libraries, by wise and foreseeing legislation, aided by the munificence of merchants who may, without any flattery, be said to be "as princes in the earth;" that munificence unaided was providing, in the chief city of the "Empire State," a library on the largest scale and of the widest accessibility. John Jacob Astor, a native of the little village of Waldorf, near Heidelberg, was brought to London whilst yet a mere youth. By dint of great industry and frugality, he found himself, at the close of the American war, in possession of a small sum which he invested in merchandise suited to the New York market. On his voyage thither he formed an acquaintance with a furrier—a countryman of his own-and, by his advice, invested the proceeds of his venture in the fur trade. "He began his career," says his friend and biographer, "of course, on the narrowest scale, but he brought to the task a persevering industry, rigid economy, and strict integrity. To these were added an aspiring spirit that always looked upward; a genius bold, fertile, and expansive; a sagacity quick to grasp, and convert every circumstance to its advantage, and a singular and never wavering confidence of signal success."* With the good fortune that so often attends sagacious activity, Mr. Astor again found himself in London at a critical occasion;-at the period, namely, when a treaty was concluded which, for the first time, opened a direct commercial intercourse between Canada and the United States. He entered immediately into a contract with the North-West Company for furs. In the course of thirteen or fourteen years he had amassed means enough to launch the gigantic commercial enterprise known as the "American Fur Company " (afterwards the "South-West Company "), with a capital of one million of dollars, wholly furnished by himself. With that famous episode in the history of this enterprise, the splendid though unsuccessful attempt to establish an American colony beyond the Rocky Mountains, Mr. Washington Irving has made all the world familiar. To have failed in a great project, which undoubtedly aimed as much at public as at private advantage, and to know that such failure resulted mainly from the supineness of the people and of the government in the furtherance of their own interests, would, perhaps, have deterred most men from busying themselves much about the public thereafter. With Mr. Astor, however, it was otherwise. Whether or not the precise channel which his munificence has chosen was the result of any reflections upon the share that popular ignorance may have had in the ill fortune of the greatest enterprise of his life, is but matter of conjecture. Be that as it may, his foundation at New York is the noblest contribution towards the dispelling of popular ignorance, and the facilitating of mental culture, which any American citizen has yet left behind him. In a codicil, dated 22nd August, 1839, to his last will, Mr. Astor says: "Desiring to render a public benefit to the City of New York, and to contribute to the advancement of human knowledge and the general good of society, I do, by this codicil, appropriate four hundred thousand dollars (£80,000 sterling) out of my residuary estate to the establishment of a Public * Washington Irving, Astoria, p. 11 [Edition of 1851]. Library in the City of New York . . . . . . . . to the intent that the said amount be . . disposed of, as follows, namely: 1. 'In the erecting of a suitable building for a Public Library; 2. In furnishing and in supplying the same from time to time with books, maps, charts, . . . . . . furniture, and other things appertaining to a Library for general use, upon the most ample scale and liberal character; 3. In maintaining and upholding the building, and other property, and in defraying the necessary expenses of... the accommodation of persons consulting the Library.' "The said Library is to be accessible at all reasonable times and hours, for general use, free of expense, to persons resorting thereto. . . . . I further direct that a sum, not exceeding 75,000 dollars (£15,000), may be expended in the erection of a building for the Library; 120,000 dollars (£24,000) may be expended in the purchase of books, .... and the residue shall be invested as a fund for the maintaining and gradually increasing of the Library.” Mr. Astor proceeded to name the first Trustees (Washington Irving, W. B. Astor, Daniel Lord, James G. King, Joseph G. Cogswell, Fitz-Green Halleck, Henry Breevort, Samuel B. Ruggles, Samuel Ward, and Charles Astor Bristed), in addition to the Chancellor of the State of New York,. and the Mayor of the City, for the time being, who are always to be Trustees, ex-officio. The Trustees were incorporated by an Act of the Legislature of the 18th Jan., 1849, and it was enacted that all the property of the Corporation, real and personal, "shall be exempt from taxation in the same manner as that of the other incorporated Public Libraries of this State," and that "the said Trustees shall, in the month of January of every year, make a Report to the Legislature for the year . . . preceding, of the condition of the said Library, of the funds, and other property of the Corporation, and of its receipts and expenditures during each year." Mr. W. B. Astor, the son of the founder, shortly afterwards presented to the Library the sum of 12,500 dollars (£2500 sterling †), for the special purpose of forming a complete technological department, by the purchase of books on every branch of practical industry and the mechanic arts. In 1849, Mr. Joseph G. Cogswell was chosen Superintendent, or Principal Librarian. In March, 1850, the corner-stone of the new building was laid, and in the summer of 1853 the building was completed. Its architect was Mr. Alexander Sæltzer, a pupil of Schinkel, and its style may be termed Florentine. The entire structure is fire-proof. The dimensions of the principal Library Hall are one hundred feet by sixty, and this room alone is capable of containing 100,000 volumes. The reading rooms are stated to be capable of accommodating 500 persons. The structure was completed for the £15,000 specified by the founder, and the cost of the fittings, about £3500 more, was defrayed by surplus interest which had accrued whilst the building was in progress. On the 1st February, 1854, it was opened for public use, with about 80,000 volumes of books. In the selection of books, the aim has obviously been to give no preference to special classes of literature, but to collect a library which should be at once Jewett, Notices, &c., pp. 88-91. ↑ Annual Report of the Trustees of the Astor Library, 1854, p. 11. |