HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE LIBRARY.

The twenty-fifth Congress, at its second session, passed the following act:

"CHAP. 96-An act to divide the Territory of Wisconsin, and establish the Territorial government of Iowa."

Section 18 of said act provides "That the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended by and under the direction of the Governor of said Territory of Iowa, in the purchase of a library, to be kept at the seat of government for the accommodation of the Governor, legislative assembly, judges, secretary, marshal and attorney-general of said Territory, and such other persons as the Governor and legislative assembly shall direct." The first legislative assembly of the Territory was begun and held at Burlington, November 12, 1838, and Governor Robert Lucas in his message to this assembly, in reference to the proposed library, says that, previous to leaving Ohio, he, with the assistance of several literary friends, had made out a catalogue of such standard works as are deemed most important as the foundation of a public library, and commissioned an agent in Cincinnati to purchase the books, and this having been done, and the books expected in a short time, he recommended to the assembly the appointment of a librarian, defining his duties, who should be the custodian of the library.

The books selected were standard biographical, historical, legal and miscellaneous works, many of which are still in the library, and in addition to these Dr. O. Fairchild, of Cincinnati, presented the library with a valuable set of maps.

As his suggestions were not acted upon, Gov. Lucas caused to be fitted up a room on Jefferson street, belonging to Mr. J. S. David, and, April 10, 1839, commissioned Mr. T. S. Parvin, his private secretary, as librarian. This commission is framed and now hangs in the State Library, the gift of Mr. Parvin.

He soon resigned his office, and Mr. Charles Weston was made temporary librarian.

In 1840 the second legislative assembly passed an act for the ap pointment of a librarian, defining his duties, and Mr. Morgan Reno, treasurer of the Territory, was appointed by the Governor to discharge said duties at a salary of $210, being required to give bond in the sum of $5,000.

The library was kept open every day during the sessions of the legislature and Supreme Court, and during the remainder of the year, four hours on each Wednesday and Saturday afternoons,

The fourth legislative assembly met in Iowa City, the seat of government having been removed there, but the capitol not being ready for occupancy, temporary quarters were prepared for the State officers and the library.

The first report of the librarian is that of Mr. Reno to the fifth legislative assembly, in 1842-3. The first catalogue of the library is a small volume of eighteen pages, containing the titles of about sixteen hundred volumes, classed as follows: "Biography, history, jurisprudence, reports, laws, medicine, miscellaneous, periodicals, political, etc., poetry, science, etc, theological, voyages and travels, and maps." In 1846, L. B. Patterson was appointed librarian by the first gen. eral assembly of the State, at a salary of $150, and the bond was reduced to $2,000.

At the session in 1848 this was made a circulating or rather a peregrinating library, as the judges of the Supreme and District Courts were allowed to take twenty volumes of law books to use in the courts of their respective districts.

In 1851 an appropriation of $500 was made to be expended by the Governor in books for the library.

In 1852 Mr. Israel Kister was appointed librarian, and in his report to the fourth general assembly he gives the number of bound volumes at 2,627, with 1,100 unbound volumes, documents, pamphlets, etc. The library had now been removed to more commodius quarters in the new capitol.

In 1852 a second appropriation of $500 for the purchase of books was made, and Martin L. Morris, who succeeded Mr. Kister as treas urer and librarian, reported to the fifth general assembly, in 1854-55, a list of the books purchased therewith. This legislature also appropriated $1,000 for the purchase of books, and passed an act forbidding the removal of the books from the seat of government. The

librarian was also directed to number and label the books, and to make an alphabetical catalogue and report the same to the Governor to be printed.

In the fall of 1857 the library was brought from Iowa City, in charge of Mr. John Pattee, Auditor of State, who was also librarian. The 3,000 volumes which the library then contained, were deposited in a room prepared for that purpose in the capitol, and shortly after Mr. L. I. Coulter was made librarian.

In 1858 the legislature, in making an appropriation for the pay of a clerk to the secretary of the Board of Education, provided that said clerk should also act as librarian, and this proviso appeared in each appropriation for ten years succeeding. The report of Mr. Coulter, in 1862, shows the number of volumes to be 6,433.

In 1866, 100 copies of the Supreme Court reports were given to the library for exchange, and at the suggestion of Gov. Kirkwood $3,000 were appropriated to be expended by the judges in the purchase of law books. With this sum 744 volumes were added to the library, making the total number at this time 8,216.

In 1868 the demands of the two offices became such that one person could not do justice to both, and the legislature authorized the appointment of a librarian at a salary of $150, but failed to provide for the payment of this sum. The Census Board unwilling to see the library closed on this account decided to employ an additional janitor at a compensation of $2.00 per day and place the library in his custody. Thereupon Governor Merrill appointed a young man by the name of John C. Merrill-not a relative, however—as librarian. This appointment was really the beginning of the library as a library. Thenceforth it was kept open all day, Mr. Merrill devoting his entire time to the work and interests of the library. Nearly thirty years had left it in a very undesirable condition. Many of the volumes were lost or injured, and no systematic arrangement seemed ever to have been thought of. Mr. Merrill, however, brought order out of chaos by renumbering the entire collection and classifying and rearranging the books. He introduced the card catalogue, and thus laid the foundation for the preservation of and access to information otherwise inaccessible.

In 1870 the legislature made the judges of the Supreme Court "Commissioners of the State Library," with authority to manage and control the same. An appropriation was made for the purchase of several hundred volumes of G. Greene's Reports to be exchanged for

the benefit of the law department. Many of the English, Irish and Scotch Reports were purchased about this time from the proceeds of the sale of Iowa Reports, and an effort was made to complete the sets of American Reports, and many law treatise, state papers, etc., were added to the library. "Young as Mr. Merrill was, for his really brilliant career of three years ended as he became of age, he ranked as one of the very best librarians in the country. But ambition and overwork proved too much for his physical frame, and in September, 1871, he passed from the life of earth to that of eternity." When Mr. Merrill left the work in September, 1871, the library contained 14,079 volumes.

Mrs. Ada North was appointed by Governor Merrill to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the librarian. The compensation still came through the holding of a janitorship, but in 1872 the law concerning the library was revised, the office of State Librarian created with a salary of $1,200 per year, and the term fixed at two years. A board of trustees was created to have supervision over it, consisting of the Governor, Secretary of State, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the judges of the Supreme Court, an annual appropriation of $1,000 to be expended by the Governor in the purchase of new books for the iibrary, and all the Supreme Court reports remaining after the distribution by the Secretary of State was made, were to be given to the library to be disposed of by the trustees for law books. The librarian, the same year, made a catalogue of the books, showing the entire number to be 14,500. "From this time there was more attention paid to the general library, though there was no cessation in the effort to make the State's collection of law books complete, and this effort, begun at the instance of Judge Cole and supervised by him so long as he remained on the bench, finally succeeded in making it one of the five best collections of law books in America."

Mrs. North retained the position of State Librarian until 1878, when she was succeeded by the present incumbent, Mrs. S. B. Maxwell. Mrs. North continued the good work begun by Mr. Merrill, and in her first reports she says that the English, Irish and Scotch reports and statutes are complete to date. This was an error, but owing to the imperfect catalogues of the publishers at that time it was impossible to know what constituted a set of foreign reports. I believe, however, that we now lack only one report, the 7 Vermont. The East India Reports were but recently received and will be

catalogued as soon as time will permit. My predecessor's last report shows 15,836 volumes, exclusive of duplicates and pamphlets. The present number is about 27,000.

In 1880 an assistant librarian was authorized at a salary of $500 a year, the cash appropriation was increased to $2,000, but the supply of Supreme Court Reports, which had been a good source of revenue, had been cut off.

In 1882 the appropriation was again increased, this time to $3,000. In January, 1884, the library was removed to the new quarters in the west wing on the second floor of the new capitol. This room is 53 feet wide, 108 feet long and 45 feet high. It has four galleries, reached by winding stairs at either end of the room, is finished in ash and chestnut, with marble wainscoting aud pilasters, and has an encaustic tile floor. Including duplicates, there are over 40,000 bound volumes already upon the shelves; the full capacity of the library is about one hundred thousand volumes.

The Twentieth General Assembly made a special appropriation of $6,000 for the purchase of books for the general library, and this has been expended in the purchase of the best books in every department of knowledge. This legislature also authorized the librarian to employ a second assistant at a compensation of $500 and a messenger at $300.

The library contains twelve rooms, three in each corner, which have been fitted up as a librarian's office, work-room, cloak-room and private room for the judges on the main floor; on the first gallery, what I call the art room, a memorial room, a room for law periodicals and a newspaper room; the gallery above the newspaper room is fitted with spring rollers for maps; upon the next floor, immediately above this, is another newspaper room and another room for maps. . Four of these rooms do duty as duplicate rooms.

Hon. Charles Aldrich, of Webster City, has donated to the library & large and interesting collection of autographs, photographs, etc., which has been placed in the library in elegant cases prepared especially for that purpose.

I have made an effort to rescue from oblivion the rapidly vanishing scraps of the early history of the State, and also to collect everything written by Iowa authors. I have what I call the Iowa Department, in regard to which I can do no better than to quote from Mr. Perkins' notice of my last biennial report:

"The department was established over two years ago for the