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PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


TWENTY-THIRD GENERAL MEETING 


OF THE 


AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 


HELD AT 


WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN 


JULY 4- 10 


IQOI 


PUBLISHED BY THE 
AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 

1901 


CONTENTS. 


\ .. 


TITLE. 
X Address of the President 

What may be done for libraries by the city 
^ 


AUTHOR. 


PAGE. 


Henry J. Carr ............... r 

T. L. Montgomery ........ , . . 5 

What may be done for libraries by the state ...... E. A. Birge ................ 7 

What may be done for libraries by the nation ..... Herbert Putnam ........ ...... 9 

The trusteeship of literature I .......... George lies ........... ... '6 

" " II .......... R. T. Ely ..... ....... 22 

Book copyright ................ Thorvald Solberg ....... .... 24 


The relationship of publishers, booksellers and librarians. W. Millard Palmer 

Library buildings ............... W. R. Eastman .. 

The relationship of the architect to the librarian. . . . J. L. Mauran . . 

The departmental library ............ J- T. Gerould 

Suggestions for an annual list of American theses for I w w n -,i, n j, 

the degree of doctor of philosophy ....... ] W.W, Bishop 

Opportunities ................. Gratia Countryman 


Some principles of book and picture selection G. E. Wire 54 

Book reviews, book lists, and articles on children's ) 

reading: Are they of practical value to the children's > Caroline M. Hewins . . - 57 

librarian? ' 

Books for children : 

I. Fiction Winifred L. Taylor 

II. Fairy tales Abby L. Sargent 


Ella A. Holmes . . 
Charlotte E. Wallace 
Harriet H. Stanley , 


III. Science ................ 

Bulletin work for children ............ 

Reference work with children ........... 

Vitalizing the relation between the library and the school: 
L The school ........... ..... 

II. The library ............... Irene Warren . 

Opening a children's room ............ Clara W. Hunt 

Report on gifts and bequests, 1900-1901 ....... G. W. Cole 


May L. Prentice 


63 
66 
69 
72 
74 

78 
81 
83 
87 


Report of the A. L. A. Publishing Board J. Le Roy Harrison 103 


Proceedings 107-141 

First Session : Public meeting 107 

Second Session 107-118 

Secretary's report . 107 

Treasurer's report and necrology 108 

Report of Trustees of Endowment Fund . . in 
Report of Co-operation Committee .... 113 
Report of Committee on Foreign Documents. 113 
Report of Committee on Title-pages and In- 
dexes of Periodical Volumes . . . . 114 
Report of Committee on " International Cata- 
logue of Scientific Literature " . . . 116 

Memorial to John Fiske 117 

Third Session 118-125 

Report of Committee on Public Documents . ji8 
Report of Committee on Co-operation with 

N. E. A 120 

Report of Committee on International Co- 
operation 122 

Report of Committee on Library Training. . 124 
Collection and cataloging of early newspa- 
pers. W. Beer 124 

Some principles of book and picture selection. 124 

Fourth Session 125-127 

Some experiences in foreign libraries. Mary 

W. Plummer 125 

From the reader's point of view, and the era 

of the placard. J. K. Hosmer . . . 127 

Fifth Session . . , 127-137 

Report on gifts and bequests 127 

Report of A. L. A. Publishing Board . . . 127 

Invitation from L. A. U. K 128 

Report of Committee on Handbook of Ameri- 
can libraries 128 


By-laws 

Memorial to John Fiske 

Co-operative list of children's books . 

Printed catalog cards 

Book copyright 

Trusteeship of literature 


Relationship of publishers, booksellers and 

librarians 

Sixth Session 

Relationship of publishers, booksellers and 

librarians, continued 

Seventh Session , . . . 

Election of officers 

Report of Committee on Resolutions . . . 

College and Reference Section 

Catalog Section 

Section for Children's Librarians 

Round Table Meeting: State Library Commis- 
sions and Traveling Libraries 

Round Table Meeting : Work of State Library 
Associations and Women's Clubs in Advancing 
Library Interests 

Trustees' Section 

Round Table Meeting : Professional Instruction 
in Bibliography 

Transactions of Council and Executive Board . 

Elementary Institute 

Illinois State Library School Alumni Association 

The social side of the Waukesha conference. 
Julia T. Rankin 

Officers and Committees 

Attendance register 

Attendance summaries. Nina E, Browne . . . 


129 
130 
130 


134 
137-140 


'37 
141-142 


142-145 
146-162 
163-170 

171-183 

183-195 
196 

197-205 

206-208 

208 

208 

209 

211 
212 

218 


V0 
MA 


\ 


CONFERENCE OF LIBRARIANS. 

WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN. 

JULY 4-10, 1901. 


BEING A LIBRARIAN : ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 
BY HENRY J. CARR, Librarian Scranton (Pa.) Public Library. 


f 

''/ 
f ' 


T N your presence, and in addressing you to- 
night as presiding officer, I feel to a far 
greater extent than I can express in words 
the high honor that has been conferred in 
each instance upon all who from time to time 
have been chosen to serve as a president of 
this particular association. 

There is in this present age, to be sure, no 
lack of those popular and peculiar entities 
termed associations associations of many 
kinds, and for almost every conceivable pur- 
pose. Throughout the entire continent there 
exist few, perhaps none, whose history, ob- 
jects, and work, have warranted a more justi- 
fiable pride in being a member thereof, than 
is found in being a member of the American 
Library Association. 

It may here be said that conditions and cir- 
cumstances have been favorable to the success 
of the A. L. A. ; not the least of which has 
been the faithful loyalty of its individual 
members. We realize, too, that even time has 
dealt leniently with it, upon noting that of the 
64 members who attended its first meeting, 
held at Philadelphia twenty-five years ago, but 
18 have died, and that 20 persons are yet 
included in its membership list out of the 69 
who joined the association in 1876, that initial 
year. Some of that original number, much 
to our gratification, are present with us at this 
23d general meeting. 

Considering its purely voluntary nature, the 
migratory holding of its successive meetings 
in different parts of the land, and the notable 
avoidance of fads, or any tendency towards 
selfish ends that might otherwise mark its 
united efforts, it becomes almost a matter of 
surprise that so many persons have unfalter- 


ingly kept up their allegiance from year to 
year ever since the time of their joining the 
association. But, as a matter of fact, the 
A. L. A. has at no time fallen off in its total 
membership ; and at this date it numbers near- 
ly one thousand contributing members paying 
dues for the current year. 

The American Library Association has now 
attained a period of twenty-five years in its 
history a quarter of a century. During that 
time, in the addresses given at its general 
meetings, as well as in the multiplicity of 
noteworthy and valuable papers contributed 
to its Proceedings, and the sundry publications 
devoted to library interests, it would appear 
as if there must have been presented almost 
every conceivable phase of library thought 
and sentiment. Can anything new be said, or 
old ideas placed in a new light, so as to be 
worthy of hearing and attention at this time? 
I fear not, except as some lessons may be 
drawn from the experience of one's past work, 
perhaps, that shall serve to aid yet others who 
are to tread like paths in life. 

I beg, therefore, that you will bear with me 
for a short space of time while I give ex- 
pression to some thoughts drawn from the 
experience of myself and others while Being 
a Librarian. 

Without now restricting their application 
to particular phases of librarianship, let us at 
the outset consider them as relating to any 
and all conditions of it as a vocation. "Why 
did you take up library work?" is a question 
not infrequently asked. To that query various 
answer may be given, according to the indi- 
vidual views of the persons replying. Per- 
haps one general reason, that in a certain way 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


has had its unconscious influence upon many 
of us, is best stated in the following charac- 
teristic passage from the "Book-hunter:" 

"To every man of our Saxon race endowed 
with full health and strength, there is com- 
mitted the custody of a restless demon, for 
which he is doomed to find ceaseless excite- 
* ^ N .rnent, either in honest work, or some less 
profitable or more mischievous occupation. 
Countless have been the projects of man to 
open up for this fiend fields of exertion great 
enough for the absorption of its tireless ener- 
gies, and none of them is more hopeful than 
the great world of books, if the demon is 
docile enough to be coaxed into it." 

Since Burton's day the "great world of 
books" has taken on many phases of which he 
never dreamed. And we, as librarians, may 
reasonably believe that if not entirely a part 
and parcel of it, we &re nevertheless called 
upon to deal with that "world" in almost 
every form, and are ourselves more or less 
important factors in it. We may not be called 
upon to adopt the "strenuous life," or seek 
to impart it to the conduct and activities of 
others. But necessarily we are and must be 
accustomed to "doing things" ; and, by that 
very doing, will in some degree, each in our 
own field, inspire and influence others also. 

Furthermore, do we not find our "restless 
demon of work" more agreeably inclined and 
contentedly occupied in the library field than 
in other lines of life which we may have pre- 
viously entered into? I, for one, certainly 
think so, even though we may not have had 
that idea in mind at the outset, or when mak- 
ing the change. And, too, that we derive a 
certain feeling of encouragement akin to in- 
spiration, that in itself renders us contented 
and happy, when responding to the varied 
demands on our time and energy that are en- 
tailed by our positions as librarians. That is 
half the battle, the rest being but a question of 
persistence in the application of means and 
ability. 

Therefore, in the consoling words of one of 
Elbert Hubbard's salient sayings : "Blessed 
is that man who has found his work." 

It is not the purpose of these present re- 
marks to set forth particularly the compensa- 
tions in a librarian's work; neither the ad- 
vantages or disadvantages, the opportunities 


or drawbacks therein. Those factors have all 
been frequently and well discussed in prior 
years, by some of our well-known associates 
and various contributors to library literature. 
I desire, rather, to suggest some features and 
relationships connected with our work as a 
profession, from which an occasional lesson 
may be taken, and possibly a word of en- 
couragement, if such be needed. 

First of all, is librarianship a profession? 
Does it possess the characteristics that make 
it such; and is that work more nearly pro- 
fessional than otherwise, which lies at its 
hands to be done? Some such queries were 
propounded to me by the president of a state 
library association one day last fall, as we 
were journeying together to an annual meet- 
ing. He, himself, had been a teacher and an 
educational administrator for a number of 
years before becoming a librarian ; and of the 
recognized professional standing of his former 
occupation there could be no doubt. 

My first, and off-hand, answer was to the 
effect that librarianship certainly has many 
professional features, even though its being a 
true and undoubted profession in every re- 
spect might be disputed now and then. Going 
further into this question of professional 
status, however, it will be found that the lit- 
erature of views and discussions thereon, pro 
and con, is by no means small. For one of us 
to now express a doubt that librarianship, as 
a whole, is a profession, would be almost pre- 
sumptuous ; and I, for one, do not propose to 
do so. My thesis, so far as it relates to the 
present remarks, is in affirmation of the claim ; 
not only that it is a profession our pro- 
fession but really the profession of profes- 
sions ! 

All other professions now depend to a con- 
siderable extent upon that of the librarian for 
the custodianship of their literature, without 
whose care much of it might be lost. We 
may not be able to transmit to future eras 
such enduring records of antiquity as has been 
done by the librarian of old in his collection of 
clay tablets (which now serve to tell us of 
the affairs of mankind as transacted thousands 
of years ago), but it is certain that we are 
doing our part towards making modern litera- 
ture available in disseminating it, and in pre- 
serving it as far as lies in our power. 


CARR. 


Cotemporaneous with the organization of 
this association Melvil Dewey made the fol- 
lowing decided and well-supported assertion: 
"The time has at last come when a librarian, 
may, without assumption, speak of his occu- 
pation as a profession." I cite Mr. Dewey's 
words, not as necessarily conclusive, but be- 
cause he has ever been an active and constant 
supporter of that doctrine in both his work 
as a librarian, as a noted stimulator of the 
library movement, and as an originator of 
professional instruction of other librarians. 
Similar enthusiastic and persistent efforts on 
the part of librarians generally may do much 
towards the furtherance of such features, and 
the consequent development of librarianship 
as a profession in all its aspects. 

Let us now consider for a few moments 
some features of resemblance and diversity 
between the library profession and others 
quite as well or better known. It has been 
said that the library exists chiefly for the use 
of its patrons, and that the librarian is neces- 
sarily and essentially a servant. Therefore 
the librarian must, of equal necessity, earn a 
livelihood or receive compensation of some 
kind for his services. All of which, in the 
main, is true of the professions generally, as 
will be seen from a brief statement of cir- 
cumstances. 

Doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, ar- 
tists, etc., are engaged by and receive pay from 
their respective clients. The clergy are sup- 
ported by contributions of their church mem- 
bers or from denominational resources. 
Teachers in the public schools are paid from 
public taxes, while those of private schools, 
or endowed institutions, receive their compen- 
sation from various sources. 

The clergy and teachers, as a rule, like most 
librarians, no matter how willing or how 
well qualified, are under the further necessity 
of obtaining a "call," or position, as a pre- 
requisite to the exercise of their professional 
faculties. In that respect they are at a dis- 
advantage in comparison with those practi- 
tioners in the other professions, already named, 
who can go to any locality, solicit clients and 
seek business opportunities, with reasonable 
assurance of obtaining both according to place 
and the circumstances of supply and demand. 

In some of the professions, both the so- 


called "learned" and the practical ones, there 
have been developed certain well recognized 
differentiations and specializations of profes- 
sional work. Those lines have usually been 
taken up in response to what has seemed a 
reasonable demand for them; and in their 
exercise have not unfrequently brought both 
reputation and corresponding remuneration to 
the specialists. 

Possibly the time has arrived for doing much 
more of that nature in the library profession 
than has yet been customary. And there 
are those among us, possessing a due amount 
of working experience coupled with knowledge 
of other and allied affairs, who might now 
do well to devote themselves to some special 
features of library enterprise as a matter of 
desirable business opportunity. Some from 
the library schools, and a few others, have 
gone out as "organizers," and found more or 
less of a field for the exercise of their limited 
special qualifications. The field ought to be a 
growing one, it would seem, if recourse to 
incompetent aid is carefully avoided. 

But the offices of "consulting librarian- 
ship," while possessing many desirable and 
much needed features, do not appear to be 
practised as a specific function. Something of 
the kind has been urged in past years, to be 
sure, and several well-known librarians did 
undertake at different times to supply such 
services. Sooner or later, however, each one 
was persuaded into a more certain, or better 
compensated, and permanent, position of lo- 
cal librarianship, and thereupon abandoned 
that special line of work. 

In this era of the establishment of so many 
new libraries, small and great, and of the gift 
of hundreds of buildings for such purposes, 
there is a decided need for the effective ser- 
vices which a consulting librarian might ren- 
der; and this to a greater extent than is yet 
fully understood or appreciated. Lacking 
such, some librarians and more library trus- 
tees work too often at a disadvantage. Many 
more, too, are burdened with repeated calls 
for information which more properly ought 
to be obtained from an independent expert; 
one so situated as to take an unbiased view of 
circumstances and equally able to give advice 
best suited to the particular case in hand. 
Serious mistakes are sometimes made in the 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


preliminary details of new library enterprises 
that might be just as easily avoided by the 
employment of a competent and paid profes- 
sional adviser. 

Turning now to another side of our subject, 
and considering the relation of the individual 
librarians rather than of the profession as a 
class, a few words upon personal actions may 
not be out of place. A librarian's position is 
usually of a public or semi-public nature; 
ability for its duties is implied; and the com- 
pensation received is for present services as 
a rule, rather than as a reward of merit. In 
order that the library shall perform all that 
is expected of it, not only in being to some ex- 
tent an ever-running machine but equally in 
respect to its recognized higher functions, 
there must be the application of watchful 
care, constant attention, foresight, and un- 
remitting work. The direction of all of which, 
and perhaps much of its actual execution, 
must depend upon the person placed in charge 
of the institution as its librarian. 

It is true that, having a well-trained body 
of assistants, a library may be able to run on 
for a time in the prolonged absence of, or 
when lacking, a chief ; because impetus and the 
effects of past direction are not lost at once, 
provided that no demoralization has taken 
place. But it is not a safe policy to allow a 
library, or other working institution that de- 
pends largely upon the work of trained em- 
ployees for its effectiveness, to go long at a 
time without the presence and oversight of an 
actual and capable head. 

Yet it does not follow that the working 
hours of chief librarians should be absorbed 
in attending to innumerable and trivial items 
of detail which might be delegated to and done 
quite as well, or better, by their assistants. 
Not only is "genius a capacity for evading 
hard work," as has been said, but one of the 
proper duties of the executive of a library is 
to obtain the best results possible from the 
respective capacities of those through whom 
the library does its work. All of which should 
imply the exercise of a kindly and broad- 
minded disposition towards one's assistants, 
just as truly as of respect and obedience to 
one's superiors, or of courtesy and suavity in 
dealing with customers and the public. It 
may be only human for one to desire to be 


that "king of his world," of whom Carlyle 
speaks ; but any policy which reduces the as- 
sistants to mere machines is not a true pro- 
fessional one, since it tends to rob the library 
world of talent which is needed and, except 
for such repression, might be developed and 
brought forward. 

On the other hand I might plead no less for 
corresponding loyalty and fidelity on the part 
of all library workers, both to their respective 
chiefs and the institutions that employ them. 
As a matter of fact, however, action of that 
kind is the prevailing practice in this country, 
with hardly an exception, and that phase needs 
no extended discussion. A chief is, of course, 
entitled to credit for acts done by subordin- 
ates at his direction and for which he is re- 
sponsible. But chiefs, in turn, can well afford 
to give recognition to the ability and deeds 
of their assistants, and will seldom, if ever, 
lose by doing so. 

There are one or two other features of li- 
brarianship which merit passing mention. 
Among them are what may be termed library 
succession, or the librarian's duty to his suc- 
cessor. Some few librarians "die in the har- 
ness"; while quite as many more change 
from one place to another at times. Occa- 
sionally they are succeeded by those who 
come new into the work; and, gaining ex- 
perience, become a credit to the profession. 
Advancement of those trained in smaller li- 
braries to places in larger ones, or from the 
position of assistant in a library to the head 
thereof, has also brought forward quite as 
many more of those whose progress we watch 
with cordial interest. 

Although conscious of those facts, and of 
the inevitable changes and successions that 
must occur from year to year, do we recog- 
nize our duty to our successor? I have asked 
the question, but its consideration must be 
left to some future time and opportunity. 

Impartiality in enforcing rules, and in dis- 
pensing the privileges of the library to all 
comers, should be deemed an important fea- 
ture of librarianship, quite as essential to the 
welfare of the institution as to the profes- 
sional success of the librarian. And this sug- 
gests a query, which has before now been 
raised, as to how far librarians should go in 
aiding persons who expect to use information 


MONTGOMERY. 


obtained at the library, solely for the further- 
ance of personal interests or for purposes of 
pecuniary profit. Impartial and confidential 
treatment of all readers and seekers, who 
come to the library after information, would 
appear to be the only safe practice and cri- 
terion, regardless of their particular motives. 
Care should be taken, of course, to assist them 
in gaining the desired information by means 
of their own study, and in their own way, 
rather than through the efforts of library em- 
ployees applied to searching out the exact and 
final facts for them. 

In conclusion, I would direct your atten- 
tion very briefly to yet another side of libra- 
rianship which ought to have an occasional 
bearing so far as ethical principles may ap- 
ply. 

Since we regard librarianship as a profes- 
sion it would seem that there must needs be 
some recognized principles of an ethical na- 
ture relating to it. Like many of our work- 
ing methods, however, they must probably 
exist chiefly as "unwritten laws." It is al- 
ways a difficult matter to put our ideals into 
words. They may be quite real to the sensi- 
bilities and yet hardly admit of being formu- 
lated. And, too, the evident contrast between 
the ideals aimed at, and the results attained, 
is often so great that one hesitates to say in 
so many words just what is his ideal. 

Still there have been developed in the other 


leading professions, those that are regarded 
as the most reputable and noteworthy, cer- 
tain recognized principles which serve to 
guide their members in many ways. The full 
comprehension of such principles as an au- 
thoritative guide tends to a correct measure- 
ment of the real value of one's professional 
work. Likewise, while supplying certain 
ideals at the outset, they may aid in determin- 
ing the lines of effort and action which will 
tend to elevate the profession itself and to 
the attainment of individual success in its 
pursuits. 

Perhaps it is too soon in the history of so 
young a profession to expect very much in 
the nature of such formulations. To proper- 
ly enumerate and determine the essential prin- 
ciples must call for the attention of many 
minds, working each in their own channel but 
aimed in the same general direction, until the 
final outcome shall be a fully developed and 
rounded code of library ethics which will thus 
be entitled to and gain well deserved recogni- 
tion and observance. 

If, in the views and various thoughts, which 
I have presumed to set forth at this time, 
such ideas as have a bearing on this last 
named topic shall serve as hints to spur on 
some abler and more philosophically versed 
person or persons to undertake the task, or 
serve as a ground upon which to build a 
foundation code, I shall be greatly pleased. 


WHAT MAY BE DONE FOR LIBRARIES BY THE CITY. 


BY THOMAS L. MONTGOMERY, Trustee Free Library of Philadelphia. 


"\1THEN, in the course of human events, it 
became necessary for our people to 
dissolve the political bonds which connected 
them with another, pretty much everything 
was declared a free and an inalienable right 
with the exception of the public library. 
Whether it would have escaped the attention 
of that founder of circulating libraries and 
everything else that is useful, had it not been 
a time of extraordinary pressure of business, 
or whether he purposely neglected it in the 
belief that a people that had expressed such 
lofty sentiments as to life, liberty and the pur- 


suit of happiness might well be trusted to 
consider such matters in due time it is not 
our purpose to discuss. He does not hesitate 
to give credit to the libraries in his autobiog- 
raphy for making the common tradesmen and 
farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen in 
other countries, and for contributing in some 
degree to the stand so generally made through- 
out the colonies in defense of their privileges. 
It. was not until about 1850 that the desira- 
bility of a city library was suggested to the 
City Council of Boston by Josiah Quincy, then 
mayor. The council cautiously Resolved, 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


"That it would accept any donation from citi- 
zens or others for the purpose of commenc- 
ing a public city library and that whenever 
the library shall be of the value of $30,000 
it will be expedient for the city to provide a 
suitable place and arrangements to enable it 
to be used by the citizens with as great a 
degree of freedom as the security of the prop- 
erty will permit." In July, 1852, the trustees 
made a report "that in their opinion the fi- 
nances of the city will not permit of the erect- 
ing of a building and the purchase of an 
ample library." They suggest "a moderate 
expenditure on the part of the city for the 
purchase of books and the compensation of a 
librarian." It was soon after this that Mr. 
Bates made his famous gift of $50,000 worth 
of books "on condition that the city provide 
an adequate building which shall be an orna- 
ment to the city." A complete history of this 
institution would seem to be the best possi- 
ble answer which could be made to the ques- 
tion before us. What can the city do for the 
free library. With a magnificent collection of 
700,000 books, selected under the administra- 
tion of some of the best men who have dig- 
nified our profession, and housed in the most 
expensive building ever erected by a city for 
such a purpose, it would appear that the citi- 
zen of Boston might rightly exclaim "Si 
monumentum quaeris, circumspice." 

The things that can be done by a city are 
innumerable; what it ought to do and what 
it will do are perhaps more easily dealt with. 
Thinking I might obtain some information on 
the subject I asked the question of the libra- 
rian of the Free Library of Philadelphia. He 
settled himself in his chair and assuming the 
tone of an oracle said that there were three 
things that the city should do for its library. 
I. Provide an adequate appropriation for its 
maintenance ; 2. Provide an extra appropria- 
tion for emergencies ; and 3. Provide a special 
appropriation for some particular work which 
the librarian might be particularly interested 
in at the time. I asked several other promin- 
ent librarians the same question and their 
answers were to the same purport namely, 
if the city could furnish sufficient money they 
felt themselves fully competent to build up an 
ideal institution. 

We all know as a matter of fact that the 


strong libraries of the country have been 
built up by other means than the mere appro- 
priation of money by city councils, and it is 
not unreasonable to mention as the first of 
these the librarian. The city should see to 
it that this individual is a man (or woman) 
strong, intellectual and vigorous, without 
bumptiousness, which is often mistaken for 
vigor, and with those qualities which will 
procure for him respectful attention from even 
those who may be opposed to him. I have 
often heard addresses made before this As- 
sociation bewailing the fact that the city li- 
brarian had to deal with certain political 
elements which very much hampered him. I 
should regard this state of affairs as belonging 
to the time when the college president was 
necessarily a professor of moral philosophy 
whose duties consisted of receiving the senior 
class for one hour a week to discuss Whewell's 
"Elements." Such an officer must now be an 
active administrative power as well as an in- 
tellectual entity to at all meet the modern 
requirements, and in like manner the public 
librarian should deem it a privilege to meet 
the representatives of the city government 
and to have the opportunity of impressing the 
needs of his institution upon them. There is 
no better test of the capacity of the man for 
the great work in which he is engaged. 

Speaking practically I would state that in 
the building up of the Philadelphia Free Li- 
brary in which I have taken an active interest, 
the political elements have always responded 
most generously to our requests, and that the 
library has been more inconvenienced by the 
writings and personal influence of certain 
well-to-do-citizens upon whom the word "pa- 
ternalism" has acted as a nightmare than by 
any difficulty with the city government. 

While the city should provide means and a 
proper official to conduct the institution it 
should take much more care in the selection of 
the board of trustees than is usually the case. 
They should be representative men, who not 
only should be able to assist the librarian in 
the formation of an educational institution, 
but also be able to devote a considerable 
amount of time to matters relating to its poli- 
cy. If the librarian is not a systematic busi- 
ness man, one of the board or a committee 
should be delegated to attend to the financial 


BIRGE. 


affairs, as it is absolutely necessary that the 
accounts shall be at all times in as good 
condition as in the most punctilious business 
house. 

I would also suggest that a certain modesty 
be observed in the carrying out of such work 
by a municipality. It is hard to think of any- 
thing that could be said for this proposition 
when the magnificent buildings of Boston, 
Chicago and Pittsburgh are taken into con- 
sideration; but I would respectfully submit 
that the feeling of unrest among the great 
army of industrial workers throughout the 
civilized world is growing. With the tre- 
mendous progress in science and industry 
these people are claiming that they can see no 
gain in the position of the common people. 
This discontent has manifested itself lately in 
the opposition of the labor organizations of 
certain towns to the munificent proposition 
made by one of the most conscientious men 
who has ever been numbered among the multi- 
millionaires of the world. While it is not al- 
ways wise to consider too seriously the social- 
istic murmurings of a few negative people, I 
submit that it is our duty to consider the 
effect produced upon the poorest and most 
scantily clad patron of our libraries. 

It is necessary that the library should be 


housed in a fireproof building as soon as pos- 
sible, and the owners of valuable books will 
always choose such an institution for such 
gifts as they may make. I believe that the 
Boston Library has received donations equal 
to half the cost of the building since it has 
been housed in Copley square. 

Finally, the city should insist that the libra- 
ry be an educational institution and not re- 
ceive its appropriation for recreation mainly. 
The extraordinary demand for light fiction in 
public libraries has led to a very unsatisfac- 
tory condition of affairs, and it is not un- 
common to find 300 copies of a new novel 
necessary to at all meet the demand. There 
is every indication that the public library will 
be furnished with a happy release from this 
call upon their resources by the institution of 
the Book Lovers' Library which has now ex- 
tended its branches to all the important cities. 
If this system can be extended on good busi- 
ness principles, the happiness of public libra- 
ries would be complete notwithstanding the 
slight falling off in circulation that might fol- 
low. 

The motto of every such institution should 
be: Libri liber e liberis, which being freely 
translated, means : "A free people should have 
open shelves if possible." 


WHAT MAY BE DONE FOR LIBRARIES BY THE STATE.* 


BY E. A. BIRGE, President Board of Directors, Madison (Wis.) Public Library. 


T*HE relation of the state to libraries may be 
considered from three points of view. 
The first and oldest library function of the 
state has been the maintenance of a state li- 
brary, usually begun for the convenience of the 
legislature and in many states enlarged into a 
general library. With this function has also 
gone the indirect support of libraries for his- 
torical and scientific societies, incorporated 
by the state and in some degree representing 
it. Much might be said on possible lines of 
work for the state in this direction, but as 
this function is the oldest and best under- 
stood, it may be named and passed without 
further discussion. 

* Abstract. 


Second, the state holds a relation to the 
local libraries in communities which are sup- 
porting free libraries without aid from the 
state. The state aids these libraries by enact- 
ing proper laws for their organization. In 
general, the statutes should be such as will 
give the local library the best opportunity for 
organization, and will leave it when organized 
the largest amount of freedom in doing its 
work. The earlier library laws of the states 
have very generally contained the provision 
that, in order to establish a library in a com- 
munity, the proposition must be accepted by 
a majority of the voters at an election. This 
provision has been found disadvantageous in 
Wisconsin, and was eliminated from our li- 


8 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


brary law in 1897. Experience has shown 
that it is better to leave the establishment of 
a library, like other public works of necessity 
and utility, to the common council, or other 
representatives of the people in the larger 
towns and cities, rather than to commit the 
proposition to the chance of a general elec- 
tion. 

The third function of the state with refer- 
ence to libraries is that which may be called 
library extension. Here the state acts direct- 
ly to aid in the establishment of libraries and 
the extension of library work in the commu- 
nities which would otherwise lack libraries. 
The necessity for this work has become appa- 
rent to the more progressive states of the 
Union within recent years. The justification 
of this work lies in two main reasons. First, 
libraries continue for the older youth of the 
community and for adults the education which 
the state requires for children. It is neither 
fair nor right for the state to maintain a sys- 
tem of education which develops a love of 
knowledge and of reading, and then leave the 
community without the means for continuing 
in later youth the development begun in 
childhood. Second, it is known that the in- 
tellectual isolation of the rural communities 
is one of the main reasons for the much- 
lamented drift from the country into the 
cities, and it has been found that the estab- 
lishment of libraries affords one of the most 
important means of bringing these small com- 
munities into intellectual touch with the 
world. 

The states then which have undertaken this 
work of library extension have usually done 
so by means of the library commission. The 
first commission was established by Massa- 
chusetts in 1890. Seventeen states had es- 
tablished such commissions by the end of 
1900 more than half of them in the two 
years preceding that date. I have no statis- 
tics regarding the establishment of such com- 
missions in 1901. The work of these com- 
missions may be either advisory or mission- 
ary, aiding in the establishment of libraries 
in the smaller communities which are able to 
establish and maintain them under the guid- 
ance and advice of the commission, and di- 
rectly furnishing library facilities to the small- 


est and weakest communities. In certain 
states direct state aid is given to the smaller 
libraries, notably in Massachusetts, where 
each town library established under the rules 
of the commission receives books to the 
amount of $100. In some states aid is given 
in the purchase of books. The direct furnish- 
ing of libraries is done mainly by means of 
travelling libraries. So far as I can learn, 
these are now distributed by six states. The 
system has grown throughout the Union, in 
various manifestations, and its influence in 
bringing books to the communities that most 
lack and need them has been of the utmost 
value. This work is one of the greatest im- 
portance, and yet I believe it is one which will 
ultimately pass into the hands of the counties 
or smaller governmental bodies than the state. 

Lastly, the commissions are aiding in the 
library work by the establishment of library 
schools. In Wisconsin a summer school for 
library training has been held for the past 
seven years, and represents a class of work 
which it seems important that each state 
should undertake, namely: the training of li- 
brarians for the smaller libraries in which the 
salaries paid are necessarily so small that the 
librarians cannot afford the expense of a 
complete course in library training. This in- 
struction applies especially to persons already 
in charge of small libraries throughout the 
state, who have not had the opportunity to se- 
cure professional training for their work, and 
it is of great value in bringing them in touch 
with library effort and setting higher stan- 
dards of purpose and efficiency. Experience 
has shown that in a two months' summer ses- 
sion instruction can be given of the great- 
est value to those who are to have charge of 
this class of libraries. 

In this department of library extension 
which the states have been entering upon dur- 
ing the past decade lies the most important 
work which the state can undertake for libra- 
ries. The work of the library commissions 
means a systematic employment of the library 
as an educational and social factor in the 
progress of the people. This is the true mis- 
sion of the library, and the most important 
function of the state lies in effectively aiding 
it to perform this work. 


PUTNAM. 


WHAT MAY BE DONE FOR LIBRARIES BY THE NATION. 


BY HERBERT PUTNAM, Librarian of Congress. 


~V7"OU have had suggestions as to what may 
be done for libraries by the city and what 
by the state. Whatever is left over if there is 
anything left over I am to treat as something 
that may be done by the nation the nation 
not as an aggregate of its parts, but as a unit, 
acting through its central authority. There 
is a disposition to contend that everything 
which may be more effectively or more econ- 
omically done by a central authority for the 
larger area should be undertaken by that au- 
thority. I am not prepared to go so far. 
There may be a value in local effort that will 
repay its greater cost. But in an educational 
work which involves the accumulation of ma- 
terial some of which is exceedingly costly, 
only part of which is constantly in use, and 
little of which perishes by use; a work whose 
processes are capable of organization on a 
large scale and the application of co-operative 
effort : there must be certain undertakings 
which, relatively speaking, are possible only 
if assumed by a central authority. It is such 
undertakings, for the largest area, that I am 
asked to discover and set forth. 

To do so involves consequences which may 
be inconvenient. For a possible service means 
a correlative duty. And as I myself to a de- 
gree represent here the central authority in 
question, whatever I state as a service appro- 
priate for that authority, I shall have to ad- 
mit as a duty in which I must share. I shall 
try to be candid. But under the circun. stances 
I cannot be expected to be more than candid. 

In some respects the Federal Government of 
the United States has already influenced the 
constitution, resources and service cf our 
public libraries. It has enacted laws which, 
having for their primary purpose the pro- 
tection of authors and publishers, benefit li- 
braries by encouraging the manufacture of 
books soundly, substantially and honestly 
made. It has favored public libraries by ex- 
empting from tariff duty books imported for 
their use. It has encouraged the study of the 
classics by laying a penalty upon the general 


importation of books less than twenty years 
old. In its executive capacity it is itself in- 
vestigator, author, publisher, manufacturer, 
distributor, statistician, bibliographer, and li- 
brarian. It maintains at Washington, with a 
generosity not paralleled by any other govern- 
ment, bureaus for scientific research; it com- 
piles, publishes, and freely distributes the re- 
sults of this research. It is the greatest pub- 
lisher in the world, and the largest manufac- 
turer of books. In a single publication, 
repeated each year, it consumes over a mil- 
lion pounds of paper stock; and it maintains 
a bureau whose purpose is to replenish the 
forests which as publisher it thus depletes. 
It distributes gratuitously to the libraries of 
the United States each year over 300,000 vol- 
umes, embodying the results of its research, 
its legislative proceedings, and an account of 
its administrative activities. It maintains a 
bureau for the investigation of problems in 
education, for the accumulation and dissem- 
ination of information concerning the work of 
educational institutions; and it has included 
the public libraries of this country among 
such educational institutions. This bureau 
has issued three reports tabulating statistics 
concerning them, one also (in 1876) summar- 
izing their history and two (in 1876 and in 
J893) containing essays which embody the 
best contemporary opinion as to library equip- 
ment and methods. It has published as a 
document the A. L. A. list of best books to 
form the basis of a public library. 

Through its bureau of documents it is seek- 
ing to index and adequately to exhibit its 
own publications, to facilitate their distribu- 
tion to libraries and to afford to libraries as 
to federal documents a clearing house for du- 
plicates. 

Al! such services are obviously appropriate 
for the national authority and may doubtless 
be continued and extended. If the interchange 
of books among libraries is to be facilitated 
by special postal regulations this can be ac- 
complished by the national authority alone. 


TO 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


But in the case of a state a service has been 
described which is to be rendered to local li- 
braries by the library which the state itself 
owns and maintains. Now the federal gov- 
ernment also owns and maintains libraries. 
What may be demanded of these? Certain 
precedents have already been established. The 
library of the Surgeon General's office the 
most comprehensive in the world within its 
special field sends its books to members of 
the medical profession throughout the United 
States, relieving just so much the burden upon 
local libraries; and it has issued a catalog 
which is not merely in form and method 
efficient, but is so nearly an exhibit of the 
entire literature of the medical science? that 
it renders unnecessary duplication of catalpg- 
ing and analytical work within the field which 
it covers. This catalog has conferred a gen- 
eral benefit not equalled by any bibliographic 
work within any other department of litera- 
ture. It is perhaps the most eminent biblio- 
graphic work yet accomplished by any gov- 
ernment. The cost of its mere publication 
which is the cost chargeable to the general 
benefit has already exceeded $250,000. 

But this library is but one of several col- 
lections maintained by the Federal Govern- 
ment ; the aggregate of which is already nearly 
two million volumes. In each federal de- 
partment and bureau there is a library. And 
there is a central collection which in itself is 
already the largest on the western hemisphere. 
It was created as a legislative library for the 
use of both Houses of Congress. It is still 
called the Library of Congress. But it is now 
being referred to as something more. The 
government has erected for it a building 
which is the largest, most elaborate, and most 
costly yet erected for library purposes. The 
seven million dollars which it cost has been 
paid not by the District of Columbia, but by 
the country at large. No such sum would 
have been requisite for a building to serve 
Congress alone. It seems to intend a library 
that shall serve the country at large, if there 
is any such thing possible. In fact the li- 
brary is already being referred to as the Na- 
tional Library of the United States. What 
does this mean? or rather, what may this 
mean? One naturally looks abroad to the 
foremost of national libraries. 


The British Museum is a huge repository 
of material. In scope it is universal. Its 
purpose is accumulation, preservation, and the 
aid of research by accredited persons, upon 
its own premises. Its service is purely re- 
sponsive. It has printed catalogs of its own 
collections, but does not undertake biblio- 
graphic work general in nature, nor engage in 
co-operative bibliographic undertakings. It 
lends no books. 

But I fear you will hardly be satisfied with 
the analogy. The British Museum, you will 
say, is placed in a city which is not merely 
the capital of the British Empire, but the 
metropolis ; the literary metropolis also of the 
Anglo-Saxon race. The Library of Congress 
is at the capital of the United States. But 
this capital is not itself a metropolis. No 
student in Great Britain has to travel over 
500 miles to reach the British Museum. A 
student in the United States may have to 
travel as much as 3000 miles to reach the 
Library of Congress. The area which sup- 
ports the national library of Great Britain is 
but 100,000 square miles ; that which supports 
the National Library of the United States is 
over 3,000,000 square miles. The conditions 
differ, and therefore, you will say, the obli- 
gation. If there is any way in which our 
National Library may "reach out" from Wash- 
ington it should reach out. Its first duty is 
no doubt as a legislative library to Con- 
gress. Its next is as a federal library to aid 
the executive and judicial departments of the 
government and the scientific undertakings 
under governmental auspices. Its next is to 
that general research which may be carried on 
at Washington by resident and visiting stu- 
dents and scholars : which in American his- 
tory, political and social science, public ad- 
ministration, jurisprudence and international 
law is likely to make Washington its center, 
and which, under the auspices of the Wash- 
ington Memorial Institution that new pro- 
ject for post graduate study involving the use 
of the scientific collections and scientific ex- 
perts at Washington is likely to be organ- 
ized in various branches of the natural and 
physical sciences as well. But this should not 
be the limit. There should be possible also 
a service to the country at large : a service to 
be extended through the libraries which are 


PUTNAM. 


II 


the local centers of research involving the use 
of books. That claim may be made. Now 
what at Washington might be useful to these 
libraries? 

(A lively imagination is not requisite.) 
Suppose there could be a collection of books 
universal in scope, as no local library with 
limited funds and limited space can hope to 
be: a collection that shall contain also par- 
ticularly (i) original sources, (2) works of 
high importance for occasional reference, but 
whose cost to procure and maintain precludes 
their acquisition by a local library pressed to 
secure the material of ordinary and constant 
need, and (3) the "useless" books; books not 
costly to acquire, but of so little general con- 
cern as not to justify cataloging, space and 
care in each local library if only they are 
known to be preserved and accessible some- 
where. 

Such a collection must include also the gen- 
eral mass of books sought and held by local 
libraries the books for the ordinary reader ; 
the daily tools of research. Its maintenance 
will involve processes of classification and 
cataloging highly costly. Suppose the re- 
sults of these processes could be made gener- 
ally available, so as to save duplication of 
such expenditure upon identical material held 
by local libraries? 

A collection universal in scope will afford 
opportunity for bibliographic work not 
equalled elsewhere. Such work centered there 
might advance the general interest with the 
least aggregate effort. The adequate inter- 
pretation of such a collection will involve the 
maintenance of a corps of specialists. Sup- 
pose these specialists could be available to 
answer inquiries from all parts of the coun- 
try as to what material exists on any par- 
ticular subject, where it is, how it may be 
had, how most effectively it may be used? 

There are special collections already ex- 
istent in various localities in the United States 
and likely to come into being through special 
local advantage or incentive, or the interest 
of private collectors, or private endowment 
which cannot be duplicated at Washington. 
Suppose there could be at Washington a 
bibliographic statement of that which is pe- 
culiar to each of these collections ; in brief, a 
catalog of the books in the United States 


not of every library, not of every copy of 
every book, but of every book available for an 
investigator? 

There are various bibliographic undertak- 
ings which may be co-operative. Suppose 
there could be at Washington a central 
bureau with approved methods, standard 
forms, adequate editorial capacity, and liberal 
facilities for publication which could organ- 
ize and co-ordinate this work among the li- 
braries of the United States and represent 
them in such of it as like the new Royal 
Society index is to be international? 

There is the exchange of material duplicated 
in one library, needed by another. Suppose 
there could be at Washington a bureau which 
would serve as a clearing house for miscel- 
laneous duplicates as the Bureau of Docu- 
ments serves for documents? It might ac- 
complish much without handling a single ar- 
ticle; it might, like a clearing house proper 
as it were, set debit against credit, i. e., com- 
pare the deficiencies in one library with the 
surplus in another and communicate the re- 
sults to the institutions interested. It might 
do this upon slip lists sent in by each of 
duplicates and of particular deficiencies 
in sets, for instance. One of my associates 
has been guilty of this very suggestion. It 
is likely to bring something upon his head. 
He may have his choice between live coals 
and the ashes of repentance. 

Now those are some of the things which 
might be asserted as the duty of Washington 
to the country at large. I have touched them 
as lightly as possible: but there they are. 
And we may not be able to avoid them. Nay, 
we seem to be drifting toward them. To 
some of them we are apparently already com- 
mitted. 

There is the building: that in itself seems 
to commit us. There is equipment. There 
are books. As regards any national service 
the federal libraries should be one library. 
They contain nearly two million volumes. 
The Library of Congress contains net some 
700,000 books and a half million other items. 
It has for increase (i) deposits under the 
copyright law, (2) documents acquired 
through distribution of the federal documents 
placed at its disposal for exchange former- 
ly 50 copies of each, now 100, (3) books and 


12 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


society publications acquired by the Smith- 
sonian through its exchanges, (4) miscellan- 
eous gifts and exchanges, and, (5) purchases 
from appropriations. These have increased 
from $10,000 a year prior to 1897 to $70,000 
for the year 1901-2. 

Such resources are by no means omnipo- 
tent. No resources can make absolutely com- 
prehensive a library starting its deliberate ac- 
cumulations at the end of the igth century. 
Too much material has already been absorbed 
into collections from which it will never 
emerge. 

But universality in scope does not mean 
absolute comprehensiveness in detail. With 
its purchasing funds and other resources the 
Library of Congress bids fair to become the 
strongest collection in the United States in 
bibliography, in Americana (omitting the ear- 
liest), in political and social science, public 
administration, jurisprudence. If any Ameri- 
can library can secure the documents which 
will exhibit completely legislation proposed 
and legislation enacted it should be able to. 
As depository of the library of the Smith- 
sonian it will have the most important collec- 
tion perhaps in the world of the trans- 
actions and proceedings of learned societies; 
and, adding its own exchanges and subscrip- 
tions, of serials in general. With theology it 
may not especially concern itself nor with 
philology to the degree appropriate to a uni- 
versity library. Medicine it will leave as a 
specialty to the library of the Surgeon-Gen- 
eral's office, already pre-eminent, Geology to 
the library of the Geological Survey. Two 
extremes it may have to abstain from so 
far as deliberate purchase is concerned: (i) 
the books merely popular, (2) the books mere- 
ly curious. Of the first many will come to 
it through copyright; of the second many 
should come through gift. (Perhaps in time 
the public spirit of American collectors and 
donors may turn to it as the public spirit of the 
British turns to the National Library of Great 
Britain.) Original sources must come to it, 
if at all, chiefly by gift. Manuscript material 
relating to American history it has, however, 
bought, and will buy. 

Otherwise, chiefly printed books. Of these, 
the useful books ; of these again, the books 
useful rather for the establishment of the fact 


than for the mere presentation of it the 
books for the advancement of learning, rather 
than those for the mere diffusion of knowl- 
edge. 

Lastly there is an organization. Instead of 
42 persons, for all manner of service, there 
are now 261, irrespective of printers, binders, 
and the force attending to the care of the 
building itself. 

The copyright work is set off and interferes 
no longer with the energies of the library 
proper. There is a separate division having 
to do with the acquisition of material, anoth- 
er of 67 persons to classify and catalog 
it. There are 42 persons attending to the or- 
dinary service of the reading room as sup- 
plied from the stacks, and there are eight 
special divisions handling severally the cur- 
rent newspapers and periodicals, the docu- 
ments, manuscripts, maps, music, prints, the 
scientific publications forming the Smith- 
sonian deposit, and the books for the blind. 
There is a Division of Bibliography whose 
function is to assist in research too elaborate 
for the routine service of the reading room, 
to edit the library publications, and to rep- 
resent the library in co-operative bibliographic 
undertakings. There is now within the build- 
ing, besides a bindery, with a force of 45 
employees, a printing office, with a force of 
21. The allotment for printing and binding, 
in 1896 only $15,000, is for the coming year 
$90,000. 

The immediate duty of this organization is 
near at hand. There is a huge arrear of work 
upon the existing collection necessary for 
its effective use, and its intelligent growth. 
It must be newly classified throughout; and 
shelf listed. The old author slip catalog must 
be revised and reduced to print. There must 
be compiled a subject catalog, of which none 
now exists. Innumerable gaps that which 
is crooked can be made straight, but that 
which is wanting cannot be numbered in- 
numerable gaps are to be ascertained and 
filled. A collection of reference books must 
be placed back at the Capitol, with suitable 
apparatus, to bring the library once more into 
touch with Congress and enable it to render 
the service to Congress which is its first duty. 
The other libraries of the District must be 
brought into association not by gathering 


PUTNAM. 


their collections into the Library of Congress, 
but by co-ordinating processes and service. 
The Library of Congress as the center of the 
system can aid in this. It can strengthen each 
departmental library by relieving it of ma- 
terial not necessary to its special work. It 
can aid toward specialization in these de- 
partmental libraries by exhibiting present un- 
necessary duplication. (It is just issuing a 
union list of serials currently taken by the 
libraries of the District which has this very 
purpose.) It can very likely print the cata- 
log cards for all the government libraries 
incidentally securing uniformity, and a copy 
for its own use of each card which in time 
will result in a complete statement within its 
own walls of the resources of every depart- 
mental library in Washington. It will supply 
to each such library a copy of every card 
which it prints of a book in its own collec- 
tions relating to the work of the bureau 
which such library serves. 

To reduce to order the present collection, 
incorporating the current accessions, to fill 
the most inconvenient gaps, to supply the most 
necessary apparatus in catalogs and to bring 
about a relation among the libraries of Wash- 
ington which shall form them into an organic 
system: this work will of itself be a huge one, 
I have spoken of the equipment of the Libra- 
ry of Congress as elaborate, the force as large, 
and the appropriations as generous. All are 
so in contrast to antecedent conditions. In 
proportion to the work to be done, however, 
they are not merely not excessive, but in some 
respects far short of the need. To proceed 
beyond those immediate undertakings to pro- 
jects of general service will require certain 
equipment, service, and funds not yet secured, 
and which can be secured only by a general 
effort. But the question is not what can be 
done, but what may be done in due time, 
eventually. 

A general distribution of the printed cards : 
That has been suggested. It was suggested 
a half century ago by the Federal Government 
through the Smithsonian Institution. Pro- 
fessor Jewett's proposal then was a central 
bureau to compile, print and distribute cards 
which might serve to local libraries as a 
catalog of their own collections. Such a pro- 
ject is now before this Association. It may 


not be feasible: that is, it might not result 
in the economy which it suggests. It assumes 
a large number of books to be acquired, in 
the same editions, by many libraries, at the 
same time. In fact, the enthusiasm for the 
proposal at the Montreal meeting last year 
has resulted in but sixty subscriptions to the 
actual project. 

It may not be feasible. But if such a 
scheme can be operated at all it may perhaps 
be operated most effectively through the libra- 
ry which for its own uses is cataloging and 
printing a card for every book currently copy- 
righted in the United States, and for a larger 
number of others than any other single insti- 
tution. Such must be confessed of the Library 
of Congress. It is printing a card for every 
book currently copyrighted, for every other 
book currently added for every book reached 
in re-classification and thus in the end for 
every book in its collection. It is now print- 
ing, at the rate of over 200 titles a day 
60,000 titles a year. The entry is an author 
entry, in form and type accepted by the com- 
mittee on cataloging of the A. L. A. The 
cards are of the standard size 3x5 inches 

of the best linen ledger stock. From 15 to 
100 copies of each are now printed. It would 
be uncandid to say that such a number is 
necessary for the use of the library itself, or 
of the combined libraries at Washington. The 
usefulness of copies of them to any other li- 
brary for incorporation in its catalogs must 
depend upon local conditions : the style, form, 
and size of its own cards, the number of books 
which it adds yearly, the proportion of these 
which are current, and other related matters. 
On these points we have sought statistics from 
254 libraries. We have them from 202. With 
them we have samples of the cards in use by 
each, with a complete author entry. Having 
them we are in a position really to estimate 
the chances. I will not enter into details. 
Summarily, it appears that our cards might 
effect a great saving to certain libraries and 
some saving to others, and would entail a 
mere expense without benefit to the remainder 

all of which is as might have been guessed. 
The distribution suggested by Professor 

Jewett and proposed by the A. L. A. had in 
view a saving to the recipient library of cata- 
loging and printing on its own account. It 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


assumed a subscription by each recipient to 
cover the cost of the extra stock and press- 
work. There is conceivable a distribution 
more limited in range, having another pur- 
pose. The national library wishes to get into 
touch with the local libraries which are cen- 
ters for important research. It wishes the 
fullest information as to their contents; it 
may justifiably supply them with the fullest 
information as to its own contents. Suppose 
it should supply them with a copy of every 
card which it prints, getting in return a copy 
of every card which they print ? I am obliged 
to disclose this suggestion: for such an ex- 
change has already been begun. A copy of 
every card printed by the Library of Congress 
goes out to the New York Public Library: 
a copy of every card printed by the New York 
Public Library comes to the Library of Con- 
gress. In the new building of the New York 
Public Library there will be a section of the 
public card catalog designated The Catalog 
of the Library of Congress. It will contain 
at least every title in the Library of Congress 
not to be found in any library of the metropo- 
lis. In the Library of Congress a section of 
the great card catalog of American libraries 
outside the District will be a catalog of the 
New York Public Library. 

I have here a letter from the librarian of 
Cornell University forwarding a resolution of 
the Library Council (composed in part of fac- 
ulty members) which requests for the uni- 
versity library a set of these cards. Mr. Har- 
ris states that the purpose would be to fit up 
cases of drawers in the catalog room, which 
is freely accessible to any one desiring to 
consult bibliographical aids, and arrange the 
cards in alphabetical order by authors, thus 
making an author catalog of the set. He 
adds "The whole question has been rather 
carefully considered and the unanimous sense 
of the council was that the usefulness of the 
catalog to us would be well worth the cost 
of the cases, the space they would occupy, and 
the time it would take to arrange and keep in 
order the cards." 

There is a limit to such a distribution. But 
I suspect that it will not stop with New York 
and Ithaca. 

There is some expense attendant on it. 
There is the extra stock, the presswork, the 


labor of sorting and despatching. No post- 
age, however, for the Library of Congress has 
the franking privilege, in and out. The re- 
sults however: one cannot deny them to be 
attractive. At Washington a statement of at 
least the distinctive contents of every great 
local collection. At each local center of re- 
search a statement of the distinctive contents 
of the national collection. An inquirer in 
Wisconsin writes to Washington : is such a 
book to be had in the United States ; must he 
come to Washington for it, or to New York? 
No, he will find it in Chicago at the New- 
berry or the Crerar. 

If there can be such a thing as a biblio- 
graphic bureau for the United States, the 
Library of Congress is in a way to become 
one ; to a degree, in fact, a bureau of infor- 
mation for the United States. Besides rou- 
tine workers efficient as a body, it has already 
some expert bibliographers and within cer- 
tain lines specialists. It has not a complete 
corps of these. It cannot have until Congress 
can be made to understand the need of them. 
Besides its own employees, however, it has 
within reach by telephone a multitude of ex- 
perts. They are maintained by the very gov- 
ernment which maintains it. They are learned 
men, efficient men, specially trained, willing to 
give freely of their special knowledge. They 
enter the government employ and remain 
there, not for the pecuniary compensation, 
which is shamefully meagre, but for the love 
of the work itself and for the opportunity for 
public service which it affords. Of these men, 
in the scientific bureaus at Washington, the 
National Library can take counsel : it can se- 
cure their aid to develop its collections and to 
answer inquiries of moment. This will be 
within the field of the natural and physical sci- 
ences. Meantime within its walls it possesses 
already excellent capacity for miscellaneous 
research, and special capacity for meeting in- 
quiries in history and topography, in general 
literature, and in the special literature of 
economics, mathematics and physics. It has 
still Ainsworth Spofford and the other men, 
who with him, under extraordinary disad- 
vantages, for thirty-five years made the libra- 
ry useful at the Capitol. 

The library is already issuing publications 
in book form. In part these are catalogs of its 


PUTNAM. 


own contents ; in part an exhibit of the more 
important material in existence on some sub- 
ject of current interest, particularly, of course, 
in connection with national affairs. Even dur- 
ing the period of organization fifteen such 
lists have already been issued. They are dis- 
tributed freely to libraries and even to indi- 
vidual inquirers. 

But there may be something further. The 
distribution of cards which exhibit its own 
contents or save duplication of expense else- 
where, the publication of bibliographies which 
aid to research, expert service which in an- 
swer to inquiry points out the best sources 
and the most effective methods of research: 
all these may have their use. But how about 
the books themselves? Must the use of this 
great collection be limited to Washington? 
How many of the students who need some 
book in the Library of Congress perhaps 
there alone can come to Washington to 
consult it at the moment of need? A case is 
conceivable : a university professor at Madi- 
son or Berkeley or San Antonio, in connection 
with research important to scholarship, re- 
quires some volume in an unusual set. The 
set is not in the university library. It is too 
costly for that library to acquire for the in- 
frequent need. The volume is in the National 
Library. It is not at the moment in use at 
Washington. The university library requests 
the loan of it. If the National Library is to 
be the national library ? 

There might result some inconvenience. 
There would be also the peril of transit. 
Some volumes might be lost to posterity. 
But after all we are ourselves a posterity. 
Some respect is due to the ancestors who 
have saved for our use. And if one copy of 
a book possessed by the federal government 
and within reasonable limits subject to call 
by different institutions, might suffice for the 
entire United States what does logic seem 
to require and expediency and the good 
of the greater number? 

The Library of Congress is now primarily 
a reference library. But if there be any citi- 
zen who thinks that it should never lend a 
book to another library in aid of the 
higher research when the book can be 
spared from Washington and is not a book 
within the proper duty of the local library to 


supply if there be any citizen who thinks 
that for the National Library to lend under 
these circumstances would be a misuse of its 
resources and, therefore, an abuse of trust 
he had better speak quickly, or he may be too 
late. Precedents may be created which it 
would be awkward to ignore. 

Really I have been speaking of the Library 
of Congress as if it were the only activity 
of the federal government of interest to li- 
braries. That, however, is the fault of the 
topic. It was not what might be done for 
science, for literature, for the advance of 
learning, for the diffusion of knowledge. It 
was merely what might be done for libraries; 
a? it were, not for the glory of God, but for 
the advancement of the church. We have 
confidence in the mission of libraries and con- 
sider anything in aid of it as good in itself. 

Their most stimulating, most fruitful ser- 
vice must be the direct service. The service 
of the national authority must in large part 
be merely indirect. It can meet the reader at 
large only through the local authority. It 
can serve the great body of readers chiefly 
through the local libraries which meet them 
face to face, know their needs, supply their 
most ordinary needs. Its natural agent we 
librarians at least must think this is its 
own library the library which if there is to 
be a national library not merely of, but for 
the United States must be that library. 

Must become such, I should have said. For 
we are not yet arrived. We cannot arrive until 
much preliminary work has been doue, and 
much additional resource secured from Con- 
gress. We shall arrive the sooner in propor- 
tion as you who have in charge the municipal 
and collegiate libraries of the United States 
will urge upon Congress the advantage to the 
interests you represent, of undertakings such 
as I have described. To this point we have 
not asked your aid. In the equipment of the 
library, in the reconstruction of its service, 
in the addition of more expert service, in the 
improvement of immediate facilities, our appeal 
to Congress has been based on the work to be 
done near at hand. I have admitted to you 
the possibility of these other undertakings of 
more general concern. If they commend 
themselves to you as proper and useful the 
appeal for them must be primarily your appeal. 


i6 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


THE TRUSTEESHIP OF LITERATURE I. 


BY GEORGE ILES, New York City. 


C IX months ago the curtain descended upon 
what is likely to be accounted the most 
memorable century in the annals of mankind. 
So salient are three of its characteristics that 
they challenge the eye of the most casual re- 
trospection. First of all, we see that knowl- 
edge was increased at a pace beyond prece- 
dent, to be diffused throughout the world 
with a new thoroughness and fidelity. Next 
we must observe how republican government 
passed from the slender ties spun in the times 
of Washington, Jefferson and Adams, to the 
intimate and pervasive cords of to-day, when, 
as never before, the good of the bee is bound 
up with the welfare of the hive. Parallel 
with this political union of each and all there 
was a growth of free organization which, in 
^evefy phase of life, has secured uncounted 
benefits which only joined hands may receive. 
Fresh torches of light fraternally borne from 
the centers of civilization to its circumference 
have tended to bring the arts and ideals of life 
everywhere to the level of the best. These 
distinctive features of the nineteenth century 
were in little evidence at its dawn, but they 
became more and more manifest with each 
succeeding decade. In American librarian- 
ship, as in many another sphere of labor, 
more was accomplished in the last quarter of 
the century than in the seventy-five preceding 
years. 

It is as recently as 1852 that Boston opened 
the doors of the first free public library es- 
tablished in an American city. Its founders 
were convinced that what was good for the 
students at Harvard, the subscribers to the 
Athenaeum, was good for everybody else. Lit- 
erature, they felt, was a trust to be admin- 
istered not for a few, but for the many, to be, 
indeed, hospitably proffered to all. To this 
hour, by a wise and generous responsiveness 
to its ever-growing duties, the Boston founda- 
tion remains a model of what a metropolitan 
library should be. As with the capital, so 
with the state ; to-day Massachusetts is better 
provided with free public libraries than any 


other commonwealth on the globe; only one 
in two hundred of her people are unserved 
by them, while within her borders the civic 
piety of her sons and daughters has reared 
more than six score library buildings. The 
library commission of the state is another 
model in its kind ; its powers are in the main 
advisory, but when a struggling community 
desires to establish a library, and contributes 
to that end, the commission tenders judicious 
aid. The population of Massachusetts is 
chiefly urban, an exceptional case, for taking 
the Union as a whole, notwithstanding the 
constant drift to the cities, much more than 
half the people are still to be found in the 
country. For their behoof village libraries 
have appeared in thousands. Still more ef- 
fective, because linked with one another, are 
the travelling libraries, inaugurated by Mr. 
Melvil Dewey in New York in 1893, a d since 
adopted in many other states of the Union, 
and several provinces of Canada. All this 
registers how the democracy of letters has 
come to its own. Schools public and free en- 
sure to the American child its birthright of 
instruction ; libraries, also public and free, are 
rising to supplement that instruction, to yield 
the light and lift, the entertainment and stim- 
ulus that literature stands ready to bestow. 
The old-time librarian, who was content to 
be a mere custodian of books, has passed from 
the stage forever; in his stead we find an of- 
ficer anxious that his store shall do all the 
people the utmost possible good. To that end 
he combines the zeal of the missionary with 
the address of a consummate man of business. 
Little children are invited to cheery rooms 
with kind and intelligent hospitality; teach- 
ers and pupils from the public schools are 
welcomed to classrooms where everything is 
gathered that the library can offer for their 
use; helpful bulletins and consecutive reading 
lists are issued for the home circle; every 
book, magazine and newspaper is bought, as 
far as feasible, with an eye to the special 
wants and interests of the community; infor- 


ILES. 


tnation desks are set up; and partnerships 
are formed with expositors of acknowledged 
merit, with museums of industry, of natural 
history, of the fine arts. Not the borrowers 
only, but the buyers of books are remembered. 
The Standard Library, brought together by 
Mr. W. E. Foster, in Providence, is a shining 
example in this regard. 

The sense of trusteeship thus variously dis- 
played has had a good many sources; let us 
confine our attention to one of them. During 
the past hundred years the treasure committed 
to the keeping of librarians has undergone en- 
richment without parallel in any preceding 
age. We have more and better books than 
ever before; they mean more than in any for- 
mer time for right living and sound thinking. 
A rough and ready classification of literature, 
true enough in substance, divides it into books 
of power, of information, and of entertain- 
ment. Let us look at these three depart- 
ments a little in detail. Restricting our pur- 
view to the English tongue, we find the honor 
roll of its literature lengthened by the names 
of Wordsworth, Tennyson and Matthew Ar- 
nold, Carlyle and Ruskin, Emerson and 
Lowell. And not only to authors such as 
these must our debt be acknowledged. We 
owe scholarly editors nearly as much. In 
Spedding's Bacon, the Shakesperean studies 
of Mr. Furniss, and the Chaucer of Profes- 
sor Skeat, we have typical examples of ser- 
vices not enjoyed by any former age. To-day 
the supreme poets, seers and sages of all time 
are set before us in the clearest sunshine; 
their gold, refined from all admixture, is 
minted for a currency impossible before. ID 
their original, unedited forms, the master-, 
pieces of our language are now cheap enough 
to find their way to the lowliest cottage of the 
cross-roads. 

It is not, however, in the field of literature 
pure and simple that the manna fell most 
abundantly during the past hundred years. 
Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace, the last of the 
great students who took all natural history 
for their province, declares that the advances 
in discovery, invention and generalization 
during the nineteenth century outweigh those 
of all preceding time. Admit this judgment, 
and at once is explained why the records and 
the spirit of science dominate the literature 


of the last ten decades. And let us note that 
while books of knowledge have increased be- 
yond measure, they have appeared with a 
helpfulness and with merits wholly new. For 
the first time in the history of letters, men 
and women of successful experience, of prac- 
tised and skilful pens, write books which, 
placed in the hands of the people, enlighten 
their toil, diminish their drudgery, and sweet- 
en their lives. Cross the threshold of the 
home and there is not a task, from choosing 
a carpet to rearing a baby, that has not been 
illuminated by at least one good woman of 
authority in her theme. On the heights of the 
literature of science we have a quality and 
distinction unknown before these later days. 
The modern war on evil and pain displays 
weapons of an edge and force of which our 
forefathers never dared to dream; its armies 
march forward not in ignorant hope, but with 
the assured expectation of victory. All this 
inspires leaders like Huxley, Spencer and 
Fiske with an eloquence, a power to convince 
and persuade, new in the annals of human 
expression and as characteristic of the nine- 
teenth century as the English poetry of the 
sixteenth, in the glorious era of Elizabeth. 
The literature of knowledge is not only fuller 
and better than of old, it is more wisely em- 
ployed. In the classroom, and when school 
days are done, we now understand how the 
printed page may best direct and piece out the 
work of the hand, the eye and the ear; not 
for a moment deluding ourselves with the no- 
tion that we have grasped truth merely be- 
cause we can spell the word. To-day we 
first consider the lilies of the field, not the 
lilies of the printer; that done it is time 
enough to take up a formal treatise which 
will clarify and frame our knowledge. If a 
boy is by nature a mechanic, a book of the 
right sort shows him how to construct a sim- 
ple steam engine or an electric motor. Is he 
an amateur photographer, other books, ex- 
cellently illustrated, give him capital hints for 
work with his camera. It is in thus rounding 
out the circle which springs from the school 
desk that the public library justifies its equal 
claim to support from the public treasury. 

In the third and last domain of letters, that 
of fiction, there is a veritable embarrassment 
of riches. During the three generations past 


i8 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


the art of story-telling culminated in works of 
all but Shakesperean depth and charm. We 
have only to recall Scott and Thackeray, 
Hawthorne, George Eliot and Thomas Hardy, 
to be reminded that an age of science may 
justly boast of novelists and romancers such 
as the world never knew before. No phase 
of life but has been limned with photographic 
fidelity, no realm of imagination but has been 
bodied forth as if by experience on fire, so 
that many a book which bears the name of 
fiction might well be labelled as essential 
truth. Within the past decade, however, the 
old veins have approached their bounds, while 
new lodes do not as yet appear. Of this the 
tokens are the eager sifting of the rubbish 
heap, the elaborate picturing of the abnormal 
and the gross. Pens unable to afford either 
delight or cheer have abundant capacity, often 
with evident malice, to strike the nerves of 
horror and of pain. If at the present hour 
high achievement in fiction is rare, if we hear 
more echoes than ever and fewer voices, 
quantity abounds to the point of surfeit. With 
an output in America alone of 616 works for 
1900, all fears of famine may well be allayed. 

The main fact of the situation then is that 
the librarian's trust has of late years under- 
gone stupendous increase ; this at once broad- 
ens his opportunities and adds to his burdens. 
Gold and silver, iron and lead, together with 
much dross, are commingled in a heap which 
rises every hour. Before a trust can be right- 
ly and gainfully administered, its trustees 
must know in detail what it is that they 
guard, what its several items are worth, what 
they are good for. And let us remember that 
literature consists in but small part of metals 
which declare themselves to all men as gold 
or lead ; much commoner are alloys of every 
conceivable degree of worth or worthlessness. 
There is plainly nothing for it but to have 
recourse to the crucibles of the professional 
assayer, it becomes necessary to add to the 
titles of our catalogs some responsible word 
as to what books are and what rank they oc- 
cupy in an order of just precedence. 

This task of a competent and candid ap- 
praisal of literature, as a necessity of its trus- 
teeship, has been before the minds of this 
Association for a good many years. A nota- 
ble step toward its accomplishment was taken 


when Mr. Samuel S. Green, in 1879, allied 
himself with the teachers of Worcester, Mas- 
sachusetts, that they and he together might 
select books for the public schools of that city. 
The work began and has proceeded upon 
comprehensive lines. Such literature has been 
chosen as may usefully and acceptably form 
part of the daily instruction, there is a liberal 
choice of books of entertainment and inspira- 
tion worthily to buttress and relieve the for- 
mal lessons. The whole work goes forward 
with intent to cultivate the taste, to widen the 
horizons, to elevate the impulses of the young 
reader. Mr. Green's methods, with the mod- 
ifications needful in transplanting, have been 
adopted far and wide throughout the Union. 
Already they have borne fruit in heightening 
the standards of free choice when readers 
have passed from the school bench to the 
work-a-day world. 

Thus thoughtfully to lay the foundation of 
the reading habit is a task beyond praise ; 
upon a basis so sound it falls to our lot to 
rear, if we can, a worthy and durable super- 
structure. It is time that we passed from 
books for boys and girls to books for the 
youth, the man and the woman. And how 
amid the volume and variety of the accumu- 
lated literature of the ages shall we proceed? 
For light and comfort let us go back a little 
in the history of education, we shall there find 
a method substantially that of our friend, 
Mr. Green. Long before there were any free 
libraries at all, we had in America a small 
band of readers and learners who enjoyed 
unfailing pilotage in the sea of literature. 
These readers and learners were in the col- 
. leges, where the teachers from examination 
and comparison in the study, the class-room 
and the laboratory were able to say that such 
an author was the best in his field, that such 
another had useful chapters, and that a third 
was unreliable or superseded. While litera- 
ture has been growing from much to more, 
this bench of judicature has been so enlarged 
as to keep steadily abreast of it. At Harvard 
there are twenty-six sub-libraries of astron- 
omy, zoology, political economy, and so on; 
at hand are the teachers who can tell how the 
books may be used with most profit. Of the 
best critics of books in America the larger 
part are to be found at Harvard, at its sister 


ILES. 


universities and colleges, at the technological 
institutes and art schools of our great cities. 
We see their signed reviews in such period- 
icals as the Political Science Quarterly and 
the Physical Review; or unsigned in journals 
of the stamp of the Nation. Fortunately, we 
can call upon reinforcements of this van- 
guard of criticism. It would be difficult to 
name a branch of learning, an art, a science, 
an exploration, from folk-lore to forestry, 
from psychical research to geological surveys, 
whose votaries are not to-day banded to pro- 
mote the cause they have at heart. These or- 
ganizations include not only the foremost 
teachers in the Union, but also their peers, 
outside the teaching profession, of equal au- 
thority in bringing literature to the balances. 
And the. point for us is that these societies, 
through their publications and discussions, 
enable these laymen to be known for what 
they are. Because the American Historical 
Association is thus comprehensive, its mem- 
bership has opened the door for an initial task 
of appraisal, important in itself and significant 
for the future. 

Drawing his two score contributors almost 
wholly from that Association, Mr. J. N. 
Lamed, of Buffalo, an honored leader of ours, 
has, without fee or reward, acted as chief 
editor of an annotated Bibliography of Amer- 
ican History. The work is now passing 
through the composing room of Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co., of Boston; its contributors in- 
clude professors of history at Bowdoin, Bryn 
Mawr, Columbia, Harvard, McGill, Toronto, 
Tulane and Yale, as well as the Universities 
of Michigan, Wisconsin and Chicago; our 
own Association is worthily represented by 
Messrs. James Bain, Clarence S. Brigham, V. 
L. Collins, W. E. Foster, J. K. Hosmer, E. C 
Richardson and R. G. Thwaites. As a rule 
the notes are signed. Where for any reason a 
book demanding notice could not be allotted 
to a contributor, Mr. Larned has quoted the 
fairest review he could find in print. He has 
included not only good books, but such other 
works as have found an acceptance they do 
not deserve. All told his pages will offer us 
about 3400 titles ; a syllabus of the sources of 
American history is prefixed by Mr. Paul 
Leicester Ford; as an appendix will appear a 
feature also of great value. In their "Guide 


to American history," published in 1896, Pro- 
fessors Channing and Hart, of Harvard Uni- 
versity, recommended such collections of 
books as may be had for $5, $10, $20, $50 or 
$100. Professor Channing is kind enough to 
say that he will revise these lists and bring 
them down to date as a contribution to Mr. 
Larned's work. Professor Channing may, we 
trust, name the books in each collection in the 
order in which they may be most gainfully 
read. 

In times past our bibliographies have begun 
to need enlargement the moment they left the 
bindery; in the present case that need is for 
the first time to be supplied. Mr. Larned's 
titles come to the close of 1899; beyond that 
period current literature is to be chosen from 
and appraised with the editorship of Philip P. 
Wells, librarian of the Yale Law Library, 
who will issue his series in card form. We 
hope that he may be ready with his cards for 
1900 at the time that Mr. Larned's book ap- 
pears. Thereafter Mr. Wells' series will 
probably be published quarter by quarter. Be- 
ginning with 1897, Mr. W. Dawson Johnston, 
now of the Library of Congress, has edited 
for us a series of annotated cards dealing 
with the contemporary literature of English 
history. Both the form and substance of his 
series are capital. In so far as his cards go 
directly into catalog cases, where readers and 
students must of necessity see them, they ren- 
der the utmost possible aid. If subscribers in 
sufficient array come forward, Mr. Larned's 
book may be remolded for issue in similar 
card form, with a like opportunity for service 
in catalog cases. In the Cleveland Public Li- 
brary and its branches useful notes are pasted 
within the lids of a good many volumes. It 
is well thus to put immediately under the 
reader's eye the word which points him directly 
to his goal, or prevents him wasting time in 
wanderings of little value or no value at all. 

With Mr. Larned's achievement a new 
chapter is opened in American librarianship ; 
he breaks a path which should be followed up 
with a discernment and patience emulous of 
his example. If the whole working round of 
our literature were sifted and labelled after 
his method, the worth of that literature, be- 
cause clearly brought into evidence, might well 
be doubled at least. Every increase in the 


2O 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


availability of our books, every removal of 
fences, every setting-up of guide-posts, has 
had a heartening public response. So it will 
be if we proceed with this effort to bring to- 
gether the seekers and the knowers, to obtain 
the best available judgments for the behoof of 
readers and students everywhere. Economics 
and politics, so closely interwoven with Amer- 
ican history, might well afford the second field 
for appraisal. A good many libraries still find 
aid in the "Reader's guide" in this department, 
although it appeared as long ago as 1891. 
Next might fallow the literature of the 
sciences pure and applied, together with the 
useful arts. Among useful arts those of the 
household might well have the lead, for we 
must not be academic, or ever lose sight of 
the duties nearest at hand to the great body 
of the plain people. Mr. Sturgis and Mr. 
Krehbiel, in 1897, did an excellent piece of 
work for us in their "Bibliography of the 
fine arts"; their guide might profitably be 
revised and enlarged in its several divisions, 
not omitting the introductory paragraphs 
which make the book unique in its class. 
These tasks well in hand, we might rome to 
such accessions of strength and insight as to 
nerve us for labors of wider range and greater 
difficulty, where personal equations may baf- 
fle even the highest court of appeal, where it 
is opinion rather than fact that is brought to 
the scales. I refer to the debatable ground 
of ethics, philosophy and theology; and, at 
the other pole of letters, to the vast stretches 
of fiction and belles lettres in our own and 
foreign tongues. With regard to fiction and 
belles lettres, one of Mr. Larned's methods 
has a hint for us. In some cases he has 
found it best to quote Mr. Francis Parkman. 
Mr. Justin Winsor, or the pages of the Na- 
tion, the Dial, the American Historical Re- 
view, and similar trustworthy sources. With 
respect to novels and romances, essays and 
literary interpretation, it does not seem feasi- 
ble to engage a special corps of reviewers. 
It may be a good plan to appoint judicious 
editors to give us composite photographs of 
what the critics best worth heeding have said 
in the responsible press. 

It is in the preponderant circulation of fic- 
tion, and fiction for the most part of poor 
quality, that the critics of public libraries find 


most warrant for attack. They point to the 
fact that many readers of this fiction are com- 
paratively well-to-do, and are exempted by 
public taxation from supporting the subscrip- 
tion library and the bookseller. The diffi- 
culty has been met chiefly in two ways ; by 
curtailing the supply of mediocre and trashy 
fiction ; by exacting a small fee on issuing the 
novels brought for a season to a huge de- 
mand by advertising of a new address and 
prodigality. Appraisal, just and thorough, 
may be expected to render aid more impor- 
tant because radical instead of superficial. In 
the first place, the best books of recreation, 
now overlaid by new and inferior writing, can 
be brought into prominence ; secondly, an em- 
phasis, as persuasive as it can be made, ought 
to be placed upon the more solid stores of our 
literature. "Business," said Bagehot long ago, 
"is really more agreeable than pleasure; it 
interests the whole mind, the aggregate na- 
ture of man more continuously and deeply, 
but it does not look as if it did." Let it be 
our purpose to reveal what admirable sub- 
stance underlies appearances not always se- 
ductive to the casual glance. Lowell and 
Matthew Arnold, Huxley and John Fiske, 
Lecky and Goldwin Smith are solid enough, 
yet with no lack of wit or humor to relieve 
their argument and elucidation. A New 
York publisher of wide experience estimates 
that the average American family, apart from 
school purchases, buys less than two books a 
year. Newspapers and magazines form th^ 
staple of the popular literary diet. What fills 
the newspapers is mainly news ; their other de- 
partments of information are often extensive 
and admirable, but within the limits of the 
hastily penned paragraph or column they can- 
not rise to the completeness and quality of a 
book carefully written and faithfully revised. 
The plain fact is, and it behooves us to reckon 
with it, the average man, to whom we bear 
our credentials as missionaries, looks upon a 
book as having something biblical about it. 
To sit down deliberately and surrender him- 
self to its chapters is a task he waves away 
with strangely mingled awe and dislike. So 
he misses the consecutive instruction, as de- 
lightful as profitable to an educated taste, 
which authors, publishers and librarians are 
ready and even anxious to impart. 


JLES. 


21 


We hear a good deal in these days about the 
need of recreation, and not a word more than 
is true, but let us remember that the best 
recreation may consist in a simple change of 
work. Behold the arduous toil of the city 
lawyer, or banker, as on a holiday tour he 
climbs a peak of the Alps or the Adirondacks, 
or wades the chilly streams of Scotland or 
Canada a salmon rod in his hands. Why 
does he undergo fatigues so severe? Partly 
because they are freely chosen, partly because 
they are fatigues of an unwonted and there- 
fore refreshing kind. So in the field before 
us to-day. Truth is not only stranger than 
fiction, it is more fascinating when once its 
charms are recognized and entertained. Our 
public schools throughout the land prove 
that a true story of exploration, of invention 
or discovery, of heroism or adventure, has 
only to be well told to rivet a boy's atten- 
tion as firmly as ever did Robinson Crusoe 
or Treasure Island. When readers take up 
from instinctive appetite, or wise incitement, 
the best books about flowers or birds, min- 
erals or trees, an art, a science, a research, 
they come to joys in new knowledge, in 
judgments informed and corrected, unknown 
to the tipplers and topers whose staple is the 
novel, good, bad and indifferent. And why, 
if we can help it, should public money ever 
be spent for aught but the public good? 

With a new sense of what is implied in the 
trusteeship of literature, if we endeavor in 
the future to ally ourselves with the wor- 
thiest critics of books, we must bid good-bye 
to the temporary expedients which have 
cramped and burdened our initial labors. The 
work of the appraisal of literature requires a 
home, a Central Bureau, with a permanent 
and adequately paid staff of editors and as- 
sistants. The training of such a staff has al- 
ready begun; in addition to the experience 
acquired by those enlisted in our present bib- 
liographical tasks, instruction is now given 
in advanced bibliography at the New York 
State Library School at Albany, and doubt- 
less also at other library schools. And at the 
Central Bureau, which we are bold enough to 
figure to ourselves, much more should be 
done than to bring books to the balances. At 
such a home, in New York, Washington, or 
elsewhere, every other task should proceed 


which aims at furthering the good that litera- 
ture can do all the people. There might be 
conducted the co-operative cataloging now 
fast taking form; there should be extended 
the series of useful tracts begun by that of 
Dr. G. E. Wire on "How to start a library," 
by Mr. F. A. Hutchins on "Travelling libra- 
ries." At such a center should be exhibited 
everything to inform the founder of a public 
library; everything to direct the legislator 
who would create a library commission on 
the soundest lines or recast library laws in 
the light of national experience; there, more- 
over, should be gathered everything to arouse 
and instruct the librarian who would bring 
his methods to the highest plane. Thence, too, 
should go forth the speakers and organizers 
intent upon awakening torpid communities to 
a sense of what they miss so long as they 
stand outside our ranks, or lag at the rear of 
our movement. In the fulness of time such 
a bureau might copy the Franklin Society, of 
Paris, and call into existence a needed book, 
to find within this Association a sale which, 
though small, would be adequate, because free 
from the advertising taxes of ordinary pub- 
lishing. To found and endow such a bureau 
would undoubtedly cost a great deal, ami where 
is the money to come from? We may, I 
think, expect it from the sources which have 
given us thousands of public libraries, great 
and small. Here is an opportunity for our 
friends, whether their surpluses be large or 
little. When a gift can be accompanied by 
personal aid and counsel, it comes enriched. 
It is much when a goodly gift provides a city 
with a library, it would be yet more if the 
donation were to establish and maintain an 
agency to lift libraries everywhere to the 
highest efficiency possible, to give literature 
for the first time its fullest acceptance, its ut- 
most fruitage. 

In a retrospective glance at nineteenth cen- 
tury science, Professor Haeckel has said that 
the hundred years before us are not likely to 
witness such victories as those which have 
signalized the era just at an end. Assume for 
a moment that his forecast is sound, and that 
it applies beyond the immediate bounds of sci- 
ence, what does it mean for librarianship? It 
simply reinforces what in any case is clear, 
namely, that it is high time that the truth and 


22 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


beauty of literature known to the few made 
its way to all the people, for their enlighten- 
ment, consolation and delight. If the fu- 
ture battles of science are to be' waged less 
strenuously than of yore, if scholarship has 
measurably exhausted its richest mines, let us 
give the broadest diffusion to the fruits of 
their triumphs past. In thus diffusing the 
leaven of culture the public library should 
take a leading, not a subordinate part. Its 
treasure is vaster and more precious than 
ever before. The world's literature grows 


much like the world's stock of gold, every 
year's winning is added to the mass already 
heaped together at the year's first day. In the 
instruction, entertainment and inspiration of 
every man and woman there is a three-fold 
ministry, that of art, of science, and of let- 
ters. Because letters bring to public apprecia- 
tion, to popular sympathy, both art and sci- 
ence, and this in addition to their own price- 
less argosies, may we not say that of art, 
science and letters, the greatest of these is 
letters? 


THE TRUSTEESHIP OF LITERATURE. II. 


BY RICHARD T. ELY, Director School of Economics, University of Wisconsin. 


T T is my purpose to speak plainly and, if pos- 
sible, forcibly, concerning what setms to 
me a grave menace to the progress of science, 
but in all that I shall say, I would have it 
understood that I have only the friendliest 
feelings personally for the gentleman who has 
brought forward what seem to me dangerous 
proposals. I appreciate his zeal for progress 
and his self-sacrificing efforts for human ad- 
vancement in various directions, but I think 
that in this particular case namely, the 
evaluation of literature, or the establishment 
of a judicature of letters, my friend is work- 
ing against his own ideals. 

I admit freely that the readers in our public 
libraries very generally need help in the se- 
lection of books, and that great assistance 
may be rendered them by judicious advice. 
Much time is wasted by those who read sci- 
entific and serious works which do not pre- 
sent the results of recent investigations: fur- 
thermore, as another consequence effort is 
misdirected and instead of producing bene- 
ficial results may do positive damage. The 
question may be asked : "Shall I read Adam 
Smith's 'Wealth of nations?' I hear it men- 
tioned as one of the great works in the world's 
history." Probably many a librarian has had 
this precise question asked him. In giving 
an affirmative answer it will be most helpful 
to offer a few words explaining the circum- 
stances under which it appeared one hundred 
and twenty-five years ago, and its relation to 


the subsequent development of economic 
schools and tendencies. Doubtless this work 
is frequently perused as if it were fresh from 
the press and were to be judged as a work 
appearing in 1901. 

I further admit the harm which has come 
to individuals from the study of the so-called 
"crank" literature in economics and sociology, 
as well as in other branches of learning. 
Doubtless many a man is working vigorously 
in a wrong way and attempting to force so- 
ciety into false channels who might be doing 
a good work had his reading been well di- 
rected in a formative period. 

But the magnitude of the interests involved 
in the proposal which greets us requires cau- 
tion and conservatism in action. We must 
take a long, not a short, view of the matter, 
inquiring into remote and permanent results. 

It is proposed, as I understand it, to have 
so-called expert opinions expressed concern- 
ings books, new and old ; to secure as precise 
and definite estimates of their value as pos- 
sible, and then by means of printed guides, 
and even card catalogs, to bring these opinions 
and evaluations before the readers in our 
libraries. 

Let us reflect for a moment on what this 
implies. It means, first of all a judicial body 
of men from whom these estimates are to 
proceed. Have we such a body? Is it in the 
nature of things possible that we should have 
such a body? I say that so far as contem- 


ELY. 


porary literature is concerned, the history of 
knowledge gives us a positive and conclusive 
negative answer a most emphatic "No." 
Let anyone who knows the circumstances and 
conditions under which reviews are prepared 
and published reflect on what the attempt to 
secure this evaluation of literature implies. 
Many of us know a great deal about these 
circumstances and conditions. We have writ- 
ten reviews, we have asked others to write 
reviews, and we have for years been in con- 
tact with a host of reviewers. We may in 
this connection first direct out attention to the 
general character of the periodicals from 
which quotations are frequently made in the 
evaluation of literature. I say nothing about 
my own view, but I simply express an opinion 
of many men whose judgment should have 
great weight when I say that one of the most 
brilliant of these periodicals has been marked 
by a narrow policy, having severe tests of 
orthodoxy along economic, social and politi- 
cal lines, and displaying a bitterness and vin- 
dictiveness reaching beyond the grave. I 
mention no names, and the opinion may or 
may not be a just one; but it should be care- 
fully weighed whether or not, or to what ex- 
tent, the evaluations of such a periodical ought 
to be crystallized as it were : that is, taken 
from the periodical press and made part of a 
working library apparatus, to last for years. 

Another periodical, an able magazine, which 
makes much of reviews is under the control of 
a strong body of men, but they stand for 
scarcely more than one line of thought among 
many lines. And sometimes very sharp and 
very hard things are said about those who 
believe that scientific truth is moving along 
one of these other lines. Indeed, the dis- 
creet person, knowing personally the reviewer 
and the reviewed, will not be convinced that 
there is always in the reviews, here as else- 
where, an absence of personal animosity. Let 
us for a moment reflect on this personal ele- 
ment in reviews, as it has surely fallen under 
the notice of every man with wide experience 
in these matters. As a rule, the reviewers are 
comparatively young and inexperienced men, 
frequently zealous for some sect or faction. 
Sometimes great leaders of thought write re- 
views, but generally they are unable to find 
the time to do so. As a result in our reviews 


in the best periodicals it will frequently be 
found that an inferior is passing judgment 
on a superior, and furthermore, reviewers 
share in our common human nature, and the 
amount of personal bias and even at times 
personal malignity found in reviews and esti- 
mates of books is something sad to contem- 
plate. An unsuccessful candidate for a posi- 
tion held by an author has been known to 
initiate a scandalous and altogether malicious 
attack in a review. 

In the next place, I would call your atten- 
tion to the absence of objective standards. 
Necessarily are the standards personal and 
subjective; particularly and above all in eco- 
nomics, but in high degree in sociology, ethics 
and philosophy in general, and religion. Bio- 
logical reviews have displayed in marked de- 
gree the subjective personal element. Chem- 
istry, physics, astronomy and mathematics 
probably are best of all fitted for evaluations 
free from personal bias. 

It may be asked what damage will result 
from evaluation. Passing over grave injus- 
tice to individuals, we observe that they must 
lead to the formation of what Bagehot aptly 
called a crust, preventing the free development 
of science. We have been laboring for years 
to obtain scientific freedom, freedom in teach- 
ing, freedom in learning, freedom in expres- 
sion. For this end many a battle has been 
fought by noble leaders of thought. Indeed, 
every new movement of thought has to strug- 
gle to make itself felt, and to struggle pre- 
cisely against those who control the most re- 
spectable avenues of publication ; against the 
very ones who would be selected to give ex- 
pert opinions and make evaluations of litera- 
ture. Call to mind the opposition to Darwin 
and Huxley although they were especially 
and particularly fortunate in early gaining the 
adherence of scientific men also the opposi- 
tion to Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo and 
John Stuart Mill and to the last named, 
even now, some would on a scale of 100 give 
an evaluation perhaps of 50, others of 65 
still others 80 and 90. Recently an economic 
book appeared of which one widely quoted 
periodical said that it illustrated a reductio 
ad absurdum of false tendencies, while an- 
other expert opinion inclined to place it among 
the great works of the age. It would seem 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. . 


to me that if we are to have formal evalua- 
tions, they should at least be restricted to 
works which have been before the public for 
a period of fifty years. 

We have in this proposal, as I take it, an 
attack on liberty, proceeding from one who 
would not willingly attack it, but illustrating 
the truth of the saying "Eternal vigilance is 
the price of liberty." It is proposed to pub- 
lish virtually an index librorum prohibitorum 
and an index expurgatorius. And of all 
efforts ever conceived along this line, this is 
precisely the worst because of its apparently 
impersonal character. Let the ordinary read- 
er go to a guide and find a book described 
as unscientific and superficial, and what weight 
can it have for him. The authority has spok- 
en. It is well enough for librarians person- 
ally to guide and direct their constituencies, 
and one review may be weighed against an- 
other review. The old methods even must be 


used by librarians cautiously, and they are 
ample for the purpose to be attained. The 
great point is that there should be a fliud cur- 
rent of opinion, and every facility for a re- 
vision of judgment should be maintained. 
Reviewers themselves change their views. I, 
myself, remember reviews which I wrote of 
works by two distinguished American authors, 
which I now regret, as my estimates were, I 
believe, not altogether sound and did an injus- 
tice to the authors, namely John Fiske and 
Lester F. Ward. But after all, I suppose no 
special harm was done, but if extracts from 
these reviews had been made part of a sys- 
tem of evaluation it would have b^n dif- 
ferent. 

Librarians as librarians must watch with 
impartiality the struggles among tendencies 
and schools of thought, and above all things, 
endeavor to keep open a free way for new 
truth. 


BOOK COPYRIGHT. 


BY THORVALD SOLBERG, Register of Copyright, Washington, D. C. 


T N order to keep within the time limit pro- 
vided in the program I have been obliged 
to refrain from even touching upon many 
points, but have endeavored to present cer- 
tain general principles governing copyright 
in books. 1 shall, therefore, only attempt to 
make clear, as briefly as possible : 

1. What is copyrighted, i.e., what can prop- 
erly be designated as a "book" in order to se- 
cure copyright protection thereon ; 

2. What is the nature of the protection se- 
cured under the copyright law ; 

3. The limitation in time during which the 
protection applies, and its territorial limita- 
tions ; 

4. Who may obtain protection the differ- 
ence between an "author" and a "proprietor" ; 

5. International copyright ; 

6. What conditions and formalities are re- 
quired to be complied with in order to secure 
copyright ; 

7. The functions of the Copyright Office; 
and 

8. Possible copyright law amendment. 


i. What is copyrighted? 

The copyright statutes enumerate the ar- 
ticles or classes of articles subject-matter of 
copyright, and first in the list stands "book." 
The first consideration is, therefore, What is 
to be understood by the term "book" as thus 
used? or, in other words, What is a "book," 
as that designation is employed in the copy- 
right law ? 

The answer is indicated in the provision of 
the federal constitution upon which our copy- 
right legislation is founded. This paragraph 
of the constitution (section 8 of article i) 
grants to Congress "in order to promote 
the progress of science and useful arts" 
the right to enact laws to secure "to authors 
. . . the exclusive right to their . . . writ- 
ings . . ." This provision is, of course, to 
be broadly interpreted, but, using the exact 
wording of the law, it is the writing of an au- 
thor his literary composition the prose or 
poetical expression of his thought which 
makes his "book," as the term is used in the 
copyright law. In order to be a "book," sub- 


SOLBERG. 


ject to protection under the copyright law, 
the author's production must have this liter- 
ary characteristic. The quality of the literary 
ingredient is not tested, but its presence is 
requisite. Hence not everything which may 
ordinarily be called a book is fitly so nom- 
inated, in order to indicate the subject-matter 
of copyright; while some productions not or- 
dinarily designated as "books" may properly 
be thus classified in order to be registered as 
a preliminary to copyright protection. 

That an article possesses the corporeal 
characteristics of a book is of little conse- 
quence. The literary substance, not the ma- 
terial form, primarily determines the matter. 
An article contributed to a newspaper or a 
periodical 1 although but a few paragraphs 
in length is a "book" under the copyright 
law, while a bookkeeper's ledger, to all out- 
ward appearance answering the description, 
is not a "book" so far as registering its title 
to secure copyright is concerned. A calendar 
whose main features are literary may doubt- 
less be properly registered as a "book," but a 
pack of playing cards with pictures on the 
backs, even though each card may be fur- 
nished with a linen guard and all bound up, 
with a plausible title-page, so as to resemble 
a book, is not a "book" in the meaning of the 
copyright law. 

Orderly arranged information produced in 
a form which would commonly be termed a 
chart cannot be registered under that desig- 
nation which in the copyright law is applic- 
able only to a chartographical work, but may 
properly be called a "book" ; while a so-called 
book of coupons, or railway tickets, or of 
blank forms, cannot be thus entitled. 

In brief, it should be a book in the ordin- 
ary understanding of a work of literature or 
art, and may not include a production whose 
main feature is some original idea, however 
ingenious or fanciful its form may be, or is 
of the character of something invented. Inven- 
tion must look for protection to the patent law. 

2. The nature of the protection secured. 

What is the nature of the protection se- 
cured? Copy-right, i. e., the right of copy 
the right to make copies. According to the 
words of our own statute, the author of a 
book "shall have the sole liberty of printing, 
reprinting, publishing, completing, copying, 


executing, finishing and vending the same." 
The exclusive liberty of reproducing his work, 
and the restriction of the liberty of every one 
except the author to multiply copies consti- 
tute the literary property. It is a m ich-dis- 
cussed question whether the author's privi- 
lege of copyright is a natural right or was 
created by legislation. Granting the produc- 
tion a proper one, it would seem that the au- 
thor of a literary creation has a natural right 
to the unrestricted use and enjoyment of it. 
As Professor Langdell recently put it: "he 
has the right of use and enjoyment, because 
he can exercise such right without commit- 
ting any wrong against any other person, and 
because no other person can prevent his ex- 
ercising such right without committing a 
wrong against him." The author's creation 
is his own, and he has a natural right to the 
use of it without interference. The state does 
not create this right, but recognizes it and 
protects it. Protection is secured by restrict- 
ing the liberty of other people in the use of the 
author's creation. Just how far this restric- 
tion should go is still a moot question. The 
law says, however, that you may not repro- 
duce in whole or in part an author's book 
without his written consent, signed in the 
presence of two witnesses. It does not say 
that you may not read the book, nor are you 
forbidden to read it in public, even for profit, 
although in the case of musical and dramatic 
compositions public performance or represen- 
tation for profit without the author's special 
not implied consent is not only directly 
prohibited, but is punishable by imprisonment. 
The International Publishers' Congress, which 
met in Paris in June, 1896, passed a resolu- 
tion to the effect that the reproduction of a 
literary work by means of public readings, 
in case such readings were held for purposes 
of profit, ought not to be permitted without 
the consent of the copyright proprietor. By 
the Act of March 3, 1891, the exclusive right 
to translate or dramatize his book is reserved 
to the author. In this unrestricted and un- 
limited exclusive right of translation and 
dramatization our law has exceeded the usual 
trend of legislation in regard to the author's 
control over his work in these directions. 
Foreign legislation usually only reserves to 
the author the exclusive right to translate or 


26 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


dramatize for a limited fixed period of time, 
and if he has not himself produced a trans- 
lation or dramatization within that period, an- 
other person may. 

It has occasionally been intimated that the 
efforts made by the public libraries to secure 
the constant circulation of the same book is a 
trespass upon the rights of the author, as he 
is presumably thus subjected to the loss of 
readers who would otherwise also become 
purchasers of his book. A case has just been 
decided to test an author's right to object to 
having copies of his own copyright editions 
of his books sold in a manner not indicated 
by himself as volumes of a so-called collected 
edition of his works. The decision, on first 
hearing, was adverse to the author's conten- 
tion. 

It is the literary expression of the author's 
thoughts and ideas which is the subject-mat- 
ter of the protection, and not primarily the 
thoughts and ideas themselves. These last 
may or may not be original with the author, 
but once he has made public a thought or an 
idea he has given it away; he cannot control 
its use or application. The author of a trans- 
lation of a book the original work being 
in the public domain may obtain a copy- 
right upon his own translation, but doing so 
will not debar another from producing an 
original translation of his own of the same 
work and obtaining copyright registration for 
the same. 

Copyright does not give to any one monop- 
oly in the use of the title of a book, nor can a 
title per se be subject-matter of copyright. 
It is the book itself, the literary substance 
which is protected, the title being recorded 
for the identification of the work. 

3. Time and territorial limitations of copy- 
right. 

A few countries still grant copyright in per- 
petuity, but usually the term of protection is 
limited either to a certain number of years, 
or to a term of years beyond the date of the 
author's death. This last provision is the 
more general, and the term varies from seven 
years after the author's death in England, for 
instance, to eighty years after the author's 
death in Spain. The two most common 
terms are thirty years to fifty years beyond 
the life of the author. Our own legislation 


provides for two possible terms of protec- 
tion. The first being for twenty-eight years 
from the date of the recording of the title in 
the Copyright Office, and the second, an ex- 
tension of fourteen years from the expiration 
of the first term. 

Besides the time limit, copyright espe- 
cially as far as the authors of the United 
States are concerned is limited territorially, 
not extending beyond the boundaries of the 
United States. Whether the protection which 
follows registration and deposit shall extend 
so as to include Porto Rico, Hawaii and the 
Philippines is a matter of some question. 
Probably as regards the Philippines the an- 
swer would be in the negative, but as con- 
cerns Porto Rico, since the passage of the 
"Act temporarily to provide revenue and a 
civil government for Porto Rico" (April 12, 
1900) and Hawaii, since the taking effect 
(June 14, 1900) of the "Act to provide a gov- 
ernment for the territory of Hawaii," the re- 
sponse would be in the affirmative. 

The obtaining of copyright protection by a 
compliance with the United States statutory 
requirements as to registration of title, de- 
posit of copies, and printing of notice of copy- 
right, does not secure extension of this pro- 
tection in the territory of any foreign coun- 
try, the United States not being a member of 
the International Copyright Union. An Amer- 
ican author must comply with the require- 
ments of the copyright laws of a foreign 
country, just as if he were a citizen or sub- 
ject of that country, in order to obtain copy- 
right protection within its borders. Presum- 
ably, however, the obtaining of valid copy- 
right protection in one of the countries of the 
International Copyright Union, England for 
example, would secure protection throughout 
the various countries of that Union. 

4. Who may obtain copyright. 

It is the author of the work who is priv- 
ileged to obtain copyright protection for it. 
As I have already pointed out, the constitu- 
tional provision enacts that Congress is to leg- 
islate to secure to authors the exclusive right 
to their writings. When, therefore, the law 
states that the author "or proprietor" of any 
book may obtain a copyright for it, the term 
"proprietor" must be construed to mean the 
author's assignee, i.e., the person to whom he 


SOLBERG. 


has legally transferred his copyright privi- 
lege. It is not necessarily transferred by the 
sale of the book, i.e., the manuscript of the 
author's work, as the purchase alone of an au- 
thor's manuscript does not secure to the pro- 
prietor of the manuscript copyright privileges. 
Prior to July i, 1891, no foreign author coufd 
obtain copyright protection in the United 
States, hence the purchase by a publisher of 
one of Dickens's novels in manuscript, for 
example, would not enable the buyer to ob- 
tain copyright on the book in this country. 
No author who has not the privilege of copy- 
right in the United States can transfer to an- 
other either a copyright or the right to obtain 
one. He cannot sell what he does not him- 
self possess. Under the United States law 
copyright comes through authorship only. It 
is not a right attaching to the thing the 
book but is a right vested in the creator 
of the literary production, hence does not 
pass to a second person by the transference 
of the material thing, the book, and evidence 
must be offered showing that the transference 
of the book carried with it the author's consent 
to a conveyance of the privilege of copyright. 

This same principle is embodied in the pro- 
visions of the law as to renewal of the copy- 
right. The second term of protection must 
also start with the author, or if he be dead, 
with his natural heirs, his widow or children, 
but not with his assigns, the "proprietors." 
The right to the extension term is in the au- 
thor if he be living at the period during 
which registration for the second term may 
take place., viz., within six months prior to 
the expiration of the first term of twenty- 
eight years. If the author be dead, the priv- 
ilege of renewal rests with his widow or chil- 
dren. Whether the author may dispose of his 
right of renewal so that the transference may 
be effective for the second term, even though 
the author should have died before the date 
of the beginning of that term, is a question 
upon which the authorities differ. The lan- 
guage of the statute would seem to give to the 
author an inchoate right which reverts to his 
widow or children should he be married and 
die before the expiration of the first term of 
the copyright. 

5. International copyright. 

The idea of nationality or citizenship gov- 


erned our copyright legislation for more than 
a century, from the earliest American copy- 
right statute of 1783 to July I, 1891, so that 
until the latter date copyright protection in 
the United States was limited to the works 
of authors who were citizens or residents. By 
the Act of March 3, 1891, commonly called 
the international-copyright law, which went 
into effect on July i of that year, the privi- 
leges of copyright in this country were ex- 
tended to the productions of authors who 
were citizens or subjects of other countries 
which by their laws permitted American cit- 
izens to obtain copyright upon substantially 
the same basis as their own subjects. The 
existence of these conditions is made known 
by presidential proclamation, and up to this 
time ten such proclamations have been issued 
extending copyright in the United States to 
the citizen authors of Belgium, Chile, Costa 
Rica, Denmark, France, Germany, Great 
Britain and her possessions (including India, 
Canada, the Australias, etc.), Italy, Mexico, 
the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzer- 
land. The privilege of copyright in the 
United States is extended only to authors who 
are subjects of some country in whose behalf 
a presidential proclamation as to copyright 
has been issued. 

It is well to point out, perhaps, that these 
copyright proclamations are not equivalent to 
copyright treaties, but are only notices that 
certain conditions exist. Only in the case of 
one country, viz., Germany, has anything been 
entered into approaching a convention or 
treaty. Under date of Jan. 15, 1892, an 
"agreement" was signed with that country to 
issue a proclamation extending copyright in 
the United States to German subjects upon 
an assurance that "Citizens of the United 
States of America shall enjoy, in the German 
Empire, the protection of copyright as regards 
works of literature and art, as well as photo- 
graphs, against illegal reproduction, on the 
same basis on which such protection is granted 
to subjects of the empire." 

In order to obtain copyright abroad, there- 
fore, an American citizen must ascertain the 
requirements of the law of each country in 
which he desires to protect his book or other 
production and comply explicitly with such 
requirements. He can, of course, only avail 


:8 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


limself of the legal protection accorded, so 
: ar as it is within his power to thus comply, 
ind therein lies the difference between the 
irivileges secured under the present inter- 
lational-copyright arrangements, and such as 
vould be obtainable under copyright conven- 
ions or treaties. A citizen of the United 
states may find himself unable to meet the 
>bligations or conditions of the statutes, just 
.s a foreign author may find it practically im- 
ossible to comply with the requirements of 
he United States law, and in either case 
here would be a failure to secure the protec- 
ion desired. In the case of a photograph, for 
:xample, the English law requires that the 
author" of the photograph must be a British 
ubject or actually "resident within the Do- 
ninions of the Crown," and the United States 
aw requires that the two copies of the pho- 
ograph to be deposited in the Copyright 
)ffice "shall be printed from negatives made 
vithin the limits of the United States," two 
ets of conditions difficult of fulfilment. By 
neans of a copyright convention exemption 
:ould be obtained in either case from these 
merous conditions. 

6. Conditions and formalities required by 
he copyright law. 

Two steps are made prerequisites to valid 
:opyright by the laws now in force in the 
Jnited States. The first of these is the re- 
:ording of the title in the Copyright Office. 
7 or this purpose the statute requires the de- 
>osit of "a printed copy" of the title-page, 
'on or before the day of publication in this 
>r any foreign country." For a number of 
fears it has been the practice of the Copyright 
Office to accept a typewritten title in lieu of 
he printed title-page, but in this, as with all 
>ther requirements of the law regarding copy- 
ight, the preferable course is a strict com- 
)liance with the letter as well as the spirit of 
he law. 

The clerical service for thus recording the 
itle requires the payment of a fee, which 
should accompany the title-page when trans- 
nitted to the Copyright Office. The fee for 
:his, as fixed by law, is 50 cents in the case 
)f the title of a book whose author is a citi- 
zen of the United States, and $i in the case 
)f a book whose author is not an American 
>ut is a citizen or subject of some country to 


whose citizens the privilege of copyright in 
the United States has been extended, under 
the provisions of the Act of March 3, 1891. If a 
copy of the record thus made of the title (com- 
monly called a certificate) is desired, an addi- 
tional fee of 50 cents is required in all cases. 

In order to have this essential record of 
title properly made, in the iorm exactly pre- 
scribed by the statute, it is necessary to fur- 
nish the Copyright Office with certain infor- 
mation, namely: 

a. The name of the claimant of the copy- 
right. (This should be the real name of the 
person, not a nom de plume or pseudonym.) 
b. Whether copyright is claimed by applicant 
as the "author" or the "proprietor" of the 
book. c. The nationality or citizenship of the 
author of the book. (This is required to de- 
termine whether the book is by an author 
who is privileged to copyright protection in 
this country, and, also, the amount of the fee 
to be charged for recording the title.) d. 
The application should state that the title- 
page is the title of a "book." e. A statement 
should be made that the book is or will be 
"printed from type set within the limits of the 
United States." 

The second prerequisite to copyright pro- 
tection is the deposit in the Copyright Office 
of two copies of the book whose title-page has 
been recorded. These copies must be printed 
from "type set within the limits of the United 
States," and the deposit must be made "not 
later than the day of publication thereof, in 
this or any foreign country." The stipula- 
tion as to American typesetting applies to 
works by American authors as well as to 
those written by foreign authors. 

The statute provides, as regards both the 
printed title and the printed copies, that the 
articles are to be delivered at the office of 
the Librarian of Congress, or "deposited in 
the mail, within the United States, addressed 
to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 
D. C." Just what would be held to have been 
secured under the latter provision in case the 
deposit in the mail were made and the book 
failed to reach the Copyright Office has not 
been determined by judicial decision. The 
law provides for the giving of a receipt by the 
postmaster in the case of the title and the 
copies, if such receipt is requested. 


SOLBERG. 


The third step required for obtaining a de- 
fendable copyright is to print upon the title- 
page or the page immediately following it in 
each copy of the book the statutory notice 
of copyright. The form of this notice must 
be either "Entered according to Act of Con- 
gress, in the year , by A. B., in the office 

of the Librarian of Congress, at Washing- 
ton;" or, "Copyright, 19 , by A. B." The 

name printed in this notice must be the real, 
legal name of the proprietor of the copyright, 
and must be the same as that in which the 
entry of title has been made; the date, also, 
must be the year date of the record of the 
filing of the title-page. A judicial decision 
is on record to the effect that printing the 
year date in this notice one year later than 
the date of actual recording of title barred 
the defence of the copyright. A penalty of 
$100 is imposed on "every person who shall 
insert or impress such notice, or words of the 
same purport in or upon any book . . . 
whether subject to copyright or otherwise, 
for which he has not obtained a copyright." 

An American author may obtain for his book 
copyright protection in Great Britain, by a 
compliance with the official instructions as to 
publication, deposit of copies and registra- 
tion. The protection, under English law, 
dates from the day of first publication, but 
such first publication must be on English ter- 
ritory, and registration may follow, but can- 
not precede publication. The term of protec- 
tion in the United States, on the contrary, 
elates from the day of registration of title in 
our Copyright Office, which must precede 
publication, and be followed by deposit of cop- 
ies made "not later than the day of publication 
thereof in this or any foreign country." The 
point to guard, therefore, is simultaneous 
publication in this country and in Great 
Britain. Registration in England is a second- 
ary matter. As stated in the official circulars 
of instructions issued by the English Copy- 
right Office, "Copyright is created by the 
statute, and does not depend upon registra- 
tion, which is permissive only, and not com- 
pulsory, but no proprietor of copyright in any 
book can take any proceedings in respect of 
any infringement of his copyright unless he 
has, before commencing his proceedings, reg- 
istered his book." 


Under existing legal conditions, in order to 
secure valid copyright on a book in this coun- 
try and in England, the following steps should 
be taken, and in the order stated. I. Record 
title in the United States Copyright Office. 
2. Print book from type set within the limits 
of the United States. 3. Deposit two copies 
of such book in the United States Copyright 
Office. 4. Send sufficient copies to London to 

a. Place copies on sale and take such usual 

steps as are understood, under Eng- 
lish law, to constitute "publication" on 
a prearranged day, on which same day 
the book is published in the United 
States. 

b. Deposit copies : one copy of the best edi- 

tion at the British Museum, and four 
copies of the usual edition at Station- 
ers' Hall for distribution to the Bod- 
leian Library at Oxford, the Univer- 
sity Library at Cambridge, the Faculty 
of Advocates Library at Edinburgh, 
and the Trinity College Library at 
Dublin. 

c. Register title of book and day of first 

publication at Stationers' Hall, London. 

7. The United States Copyright Office. 

One frequently hears the expressions "has 
obtained a copyright," "issued a copyright," 
etc., giving the impression that copyrights can 
be granted somewhat after the manner in 
which the Patent Office issues letters-patent. 
But Congress has established no office author- 
ized to furnish any such guarantee of literary 
property as is done in the case of patent 
monopoly. The Copyright Office is purely an 
office of record and simply registers claims 
to copyright. The form of record prescribed 
by law being the effect that A. B. "hath de- 
posited the title of a book the right whereof 
he claims as author or proprietor in conform- 
ity with the laws of the United States re- 
specting copyrights." The Copyright Office 
has no authority to question any claim as to 
authorship or proprietorship, nor can it de- 
termine between conflicting claims. It regis- 
ters the claim presented in the prescribed form 
for a proper subject of copyright by any per- 
son legally entitled to such registration with- 
out investigation as to the truthfulness of the 
representations, and would be obliged to re- 
cord, not only the same title for different 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


books, but the same title for the same work 
on behalf of two or more different persons, 
even against the protest of either one, were 
such registrations asked for. No examina- 
tion is therefore made when a title reaches 
the office as to whether the same or a similar 
title has been used before. As I have already 
stated, the title per se is not subject to copy- 
right, and no one can secure a monopoly of 
the use of a title by merely having it recorded 
at a nominal fee at the Copyright Office. 

If any one, wishing to use a given form of 
title but desiring to avoid possible duplication 
of one previously used, writes to the Copy- 
right Office asking whether such a title has 
already been recorded, an answer is made 
stating what is disclosed by the indexes of the 
office. It must be frankly explained, how- 
ever, that an absolutely conclusive statement 
as to whether a given title has been previously 
used cannot always be given. The copyright 
records of entries of title previous to July 10, 
1870, are but indifferently indexed and rarely 
by title, usually only under names of proprie- 
tors of the copyright. The copyright entries 
since July 10, 1870, to May 31, 1901, number 
1,217,075. The index to these entries consists 
of more than 600,000 cards, many of which 
contain a number of entries. These cards in- 
dex the entries primarily under the names of 
the proprietors of the copyright, and this pro- 
prietor's index is understood to have been 
kept up continuously and to be complete, so 
that under the name of each copyright pro- 
prietor there is a card or cards showing the 
titles of all articles upon which copyright is 
claimed. In addition to the proprietor's index 
there are cards under the titles of periodicals 
and under the leading catchwords of the titles 
of other articles, besides cards under the au- 
thors' names for books. Unhappily there are 
periods of time when what may be called the 
subsidiary index cards were not kept up. 

In addition to cards under the proprietors' 
names, cards are now made : for books, under 
the names of their authors; for anonymous 
books, periodicals and dramatic compositions, 
under the first words of the titles (not a, an, 
or the), and for maps, under the leading sub- 
ject words of the titles, i.e., the names of the 
localities mapped. It is doubtful if an abso- 
lutely complete index of all copyright entries 


by the title of the book and other article 
in addition to the cards at present made 
could be justified by even a possibly legiti- 
mate use of such an index. When it is re- 
membered that the copyright entries last year 
numbered 97,967, the magnitude of the task 
of making several cards for each entry is 
easily conceived, and it is a question whether 
it could be rightfully imposed upon the Copy- 
right Office under the present provisions of 
the law and so long as the registration of a 
title does not secure the use of that title 
to some one person to the exclusion of all 
others. 

8. Amendment of the copyright law. 

The possible amendment of the copyright 
laws is a subject which my time does not per- 
mit me to consider in detail, even were that 
deemed desirable. The law now in force con- 
sists of the Act of July 8, 1870, as edited to 
become title 60, chapter 3 of the Revised 
Statutes, and ten amendatory acts passf d sub- 
sequently. Naturally there is lacking the 
consistency and homogeneousness of a single 
well-considered copyright statute. It is pos- 
sible that Congress will presently be willing to 
take under consideration, if not the re-codifica- 
tion of the copyright laws, then, at least, some 
amendment of them. An increase in the pe- 
riod of protection has frequently been urged, 
with some advocacy of perpetual copyright. 
As the Federal constitution, however, dis- 
tinctly provides that the protection granted 
the writings of an author is to be for a lim- 
ited time, an amendment of the constitution 
would be necessary before Congress could 
enact perpetual copyright, and such alteration 
of the fundamental law of the land is not 
probable. 

Much might be said for an increase in the 
period of protection. It is for a shorter term 
of years than that provided by most modern 
copyright legislation, and the trend of such 
lawmaking has been in the direction of an in- 
crease in the length of time during which the 
author or his heirs could control the repro- 
duction of his work. It should be borne in 
mind that for books of little value the length 
of the term of protection is of no great con- 
sequence. "Dead" books are not affected by 
the length of the term of copyright. In the 
case also of popular new books, the great sales 


PALMER. 


and consequent disproportionate remunera- 
tion comes within a short period of time after 
publication, and are not likely to continue 
during a long term of copyright. On the 
other hand, many books of great and perma- 
nent value not unfrequently make their way 
slowly into popular favor, and are not fully 
appreciated until many years after publica- 
tion. For such books the results, perhaps, 
of long years of study and labor an equit- 
able return cannot be secured except by a 
long term of protection. 

Perhaps the most urgently desirable for- 
ward step in respect to copyright is the adhe- 
sion of the United States to the Berne con- 
vention, thus securing the inclusion in the In- 
ternational Copyright Union of our country, 
the leading one of the three great states not 
yet members of this admirable association of 
nations. Were the United States a member 
of the Berne Union a compliance with the 
statutory provisions of our own laws alone 
would secure copyright protection not only 
within the limits of the United States, but 
practically throughout the whole book-read- 
ing world Great Britain, all Europe .(except 


temporarily Russia, Austria, and Scandi- 
navia), Canada and Australia, India, Japan 
and South Africa thus increasing the pos- 
sible reading public of American authors 
many fold. It would seem that considera- 
tions of justice to our large and constantly in- 
creasing national contingent of literary and 
artistic producers requires this advance of 
such great practical importance. It is the 
easier of accomplishment because it involves 
the adoption of no new principle, but only the 
extension of the principle embodied in the 
Act of March 3, 1891, namely, reciprocal in- 
ternational exchange of copyright privileges, 
and in return for the advantages which would 
accrue to our own citizens, only obligates the 
extension of copyright in the United States to 
the subjects of such countries as are members 
of the Union. Of the members of the Inter- 
national Copyright Union, all the great na- 
tions already enjoy copyright in the United 
States, and it would only remain to extend 
this privilege to the citizen authors of the 
six minor states that are members of the 
Union, namely, Hayti, Japan, Luxembourg, 
Monaco, Norway and Tunis. 


THE RELATIONSHIP OF PUBLISHERS, BOOKSELLERS AND LIBRARIANS. 
BY W. MILLARD PALMER, Grand Rapids, Mich. 


T N accepting the president's suggestion to 
give "expression of the business side of 
the subject rather than the theoretical or sen- 
timental," I wish at the outset to recall certain 
functions performed by publishers, book- 
sellers and librarians, and to acknowledge 
my indebtedness to Mr. J. W. Nichols, secre- 
tary of the American Booksellers' Associa- 
tion, for material along this line. 

Casual observers have come to regard pub- 
lishers as bookmakers or manufacturers, who 
merely put the product of authors into mer- 
chantable form, and distribute it to dealers, 
for sale to the reading public. If this were 
the only function of the publisher, his task 
would be an easy one; indeed we might soon 
expect to see all publishers supplanted by one 
great co-operative factory, to which authors 
might take their manuscripts, and have them 


transformed into books and distributed 
through the ordinary channels of commerce, 
like any other commodities. Some super- 
ficial observers have recently made bold to 
conjecture that this will be the final outcome 
of the present troubled state of the general 
trade of publishing and selling books. But, 
alas ! the actual making of the book giving 
to it an appropriate, artistic and really attrac- 
tive form is perhaps the least of the publish- 
ers' trials, though this, in itself, is a difficult 
task, requiring an artistic taste, well trained 
and skilful judgment, and much technical 
knowledge. 

To one who has had an insight into the 
publishing business, the enormous mass of 
manuscript that is annually submitted to each 
of the great publishers is simply appalling. 
They are compelled to employ a corps of 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


"readers" to cull out that which is worthy of 
consideration by an intelligent and skilled 
publisher. Much that come to hand has been 
hastily prepared by persons who lacked the 
time, experience or special training necessary 
to enable an author to prepare an acceptable 
manuscript, while the great majority of young 
authors have really no message to tell that is 
worth recording. Here comes the most diffi- 
cult and trying task of the successful pub- 
lisher the selection of proper material for 
publication. It often happens that a rejected 
manuscript contains some good work a prom- 
ise of something better to come. Then the 
publisher points out the best features and en- 
courages the incipient author to try again. 

Thus books are made, not after a given pat- 
tern, like certain fabrics, but each is a crea- 
tion in itself. The responsibility of the pub- 
lisher, for the character of the creation, is by 
no means unimportant. He acts as arbiter of 
the standard of excellence that must be at- 
tained by an author before he is introduced to 
the public. The publishers' criterion is simply 
a question of cash. "Will the public buy the 
book and pay for it?" Nor can any other 
standard be adopted with safety. The whole 
question of supply must always depend upon 
public demand. 

But the publisher is not infallible. He 
often makes mistakes. Between' him and the 
readers is the dealer. The retail bookseller 
stands closest to the reading public. He ac- 
quaints himself with the essential character of 
the new book, points out to his customer 
enough of interest to cause him to glance 
through it, and finally sells it to him ; for the 
intelligent bookseller knows the taste and 
reading habits of his customers. He has his 
leading customers in mind from the time he 
orders a new book till he has shown it and 
sold it to them. If they are pleased with it, 
and recommend it to their friends, who call 
at the store for it, the bookseller re-orders it, 
and, if he is so fortunate as not to be re- 
strained by unfair local competition, he ad- 
vertises the book and pushes its sale with en- 
ergy, so long as interest in it can be kept 
alive. 

Thus the retail booksellers in every city and 
hamlet throughout the country, standing close 
to the reading public, knowing what their cus- 


tomers will buy, are the real monitors of the 
publishers. 

When the publisher considers the advisabil- 
ity of bringing out a new book, he cannot 'un- 
dertake to look beyond a few hundred book- 
sellers. It is through them, and only through 
them, that he has learned to gauge the taste 
of the reading public. The paramount ques- 
tion for him to decide is, "How many copies 
of this particular book can I sell to dealer A, 
dealer B and dealer C; how many copies of 
this book can I hope with certainty to sell to 
all of my customers in the trade?" The pub- 
lisher well knows that the dealer is governed 
by the same criterion as himself: "Will it 
pay; will this book be a ready seller, or will 
it cost me all of the profit I make on it to 
sell it?" 

Thus the product of the author is subject 
to the immutable laws of supply and demand 
from the time he submits his first immature 
manuscript until he makes two, three, four 
or more trials, and finally has a manuscript 
accepted. But even then the publishers pre- 
pares only a small edition for a new author, 
and the dealers are very conservative in or- 
dering a new book especially by an unknown 
author. The conscientious bookseller awaits 
the verdict of certain patrons, knowing that, 
if the book is commended by one whose judg- 
ment is respected by local readers, he can 
safely re-order a goodly number. 

Thus the author is dependent upon the pub- 
lisher for the standard of excellence he must 
attain in order to achieve success; the pub- 
lisher is dependent upon the dealer, not only 
in forming his judgment of the character of 
books that will sell, but also for the number 
that he may safely print; while the dealer is 
dependent upon his best and most critical pa- 
trons. Hence the relation of author, publisher 
and dealer is so close indeed they are so mu- 
tually interdependent that one factor could not 
be removed without vitally crippling the other. 

A distinguished librarian, who has been a 
pioneer of progress in the library movement, 
has recently suggested the propriety of abol- 
ishing book stores (see Publishers' Weekly, 
May ii, '01, p. 1149) and allowing public li- 
brarians to receive orders and forward them 
to the publishers. If the distinguished gentle- 
man did not have in view visions of personal 


PALMER. 


33 


gain for public librarians, he should have car- 
ried his philanthropic suggestion farther, and 
proposed to abolish both booksellers and li- 
brarians, and to allow the public to procure 
their books directly from the publishers, thus 
saving that moiety of gain that would be made 
by either in return for the service rendered. 
It cannot be supposed that so able and con- 
scientious an administrative officer ever con- 
templated maintaining an extra corps of as- 
sistants, at an extra expense to the munici- 
pality or to those liberal benefactors who have 
endowed public libraries, in order that opu- 
lent citizens may still further indulge their 
tastes by purchasing larger private libraries, 
without paying the small commission or profit 
that is usually allowed to retail booksellers. 
On the other hand, if this proposal was made 
for the purpose of allowing libraries main- 
tained by taxing the municipality, to engage 
in gainful occupation, this is carrying the so- 
cialistic idea farther than even our populistic 
friends have ever yet proposed. 

However, inasmuch as this question has 
been raised, we are bound to treat it from an 
economic point of view. The question is, 
"Shall the bookseller be abolished and his of- 
fice merged into that of the librarian, and can 
the librarian perform the offices of the book- 
seller?" 

No one has ever questioned the value of 
the public library from the burning of the 
Alexandrian Library to the present day. The 
value of a library, as a librarium, or store- 
house for the permanent preservation of 
books, has always been manifest. 

Again, the public library gives a larger op- 
portunity and a wider range than is possible 
in the private collection; and scholars, his- 
torians and students of all classes are daily 
made grateful to the trained, professional li- 
brarian, who has so classified the contents of 
the library as to make the whole available at 
a moment's notice. 

Still another inestimable feature of the pub- 
lic library is that it maintains a public read- 
ing room for children as well as adults. 

Finally, the library furnishes reading at 
home to those who are not yet in a position 
to become owners of books. The benefit de- 
rived from reading of this character is often 
of questionable value. The habitue of the cir- 


culating library makes his selections from 
misleading or sensational titles. Little care and 
less intelligence is exercised in choosing either 
title or author. As a result librarians are con- 
stantly complaining that only the trashiest 
and most worthless books are read. 

The circulating department of the public li- 
brary is now supplemented by others that are 
conducted for cash profit. These have sprung 
up in many cities. And now we have the 
"Book-Lovers' Library," a corporation with 
capital stock, engaging in business for profit. 
It has the advantage of certain trust features. 
It proposes to organize branches in all of the 
principal cities and towns in the country. For 
five dollars a year it proposes to supply fifty 
dollars' worth of reading to each subscriber. 
An automobile is employed, with an attendant 
to deliver the books to subscribers each week 
and take up those that have been read. Hav- 
ing paid five, ten or more dollars, at the be- 
ginning of the year, the subscriber can read 
from morning till night, while the new books 
come and go with the lightning speed of the 
automobile. 

As in many other circulating libraries, new 
copyrighted fiction is the chief staple supplied 
by the "Book-Lovers' Library" the sweetest 
pabulum automatically administered. 

After a season of such dissipation call in a 
neurologist to diagnose your patient, and he 
will advise you that by continuing the treat- 
ment the mind will be reduced to a sieve, if 
not ultimately to absolute imbecility. Having 
abandoned the more serious literature that 
calls into use all the faculties of the mind, the 
reader of nothing but fiction converts what 
would otherwise be a healthful recreation into 
dissipation, that is enervating and perma- 
nently debilitating to all the faculties of the 
mind, when carried to an extreme. Had the 
reader been denied the use of this automatic 
machine, and been compelled, as formerly, to 
browse through the book store in search of 
something to read, more serious books would 
have been selected history, travel, descrip- 
tive writing or popular science, with an oc- 
casional novel by way of recreation. 

But to continue the argument, suppose we 
abolish the bookseller, as has been proposed. 
This would not be a difficult matter. Most 
of them would gladly be "abolished" if they 


34 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


could sell out their stock for anything near 
what it cost them. Their profits have been 
so reduced by unfair competition that they 
are not sufficient to pay the cost of doing 
business. They have been compelled to carry 
side lines, as stationery, newspapers, period- 
icals, sporting goods, bric-a-brac, wall paper, 
etc., in order to make a living. By this means 
they have learned that other lines of merchan- 
dise yield a better profit than books. As a 
result most of them have greatly reduced 
their book stock, or entirely abandoned the 
sale of books, and put in more profitable lines 
of merchandise. 

The causes that have led up to this result 
are manifold: 1st. They were strenuously 
urged, and they finally consented to allow 
discounts : 
.(a) To ministers of the gospel, since they 

are public benefactors. 
(&) To school teachers, since they are public 

educators and benefactors, 
(c) To public libraries, since they are for the 

most part eleemosynary institutions, and 

hence entitled to charity. 

Indeed, when I recount the charitable ben- 
efactions that have been exacted and received 
at the hands of the retail bookseller, he seems 
to me to have been the most saintly character 
that has lived in my day and generation. And 
right here it is of interest to note that these 
ministers, these teachers, these physicians, 
these public librarians were actually receiving 
out of the hands of the public stated salaries 
that exceeded by far the annual net profit of 
the average bookseller. 

2d. Having secured from the local dealer 
a discount equal to the best part of his profit, 
many librarians have gone behind him and ap- 
pealed directly to the publishers for a larger 
discount. This has been granted in most 
cases, so that most librarians have recently 
been receiving as large a discount as local 
dealers. 

3d. Commission agents have purchased 
complete editions of popular-selling books 
from the publishers, and re-sold them at a 
slight advance: 
(a) To dry-goods stores, where they have 

been put on "bargain counters" and sold at 

less than cost, to attract customers to their 

stores. 
(&) To publishers of local newspapers, who 


give the books away as premiums or sell 

them at cost prices, to increase the local 

circulation of their papers. 
(c) To mail-order agencies, who advertise 

the books at less than they are usually sold 

for by dealers. 

4th. Many publishers have been advertising 
and mailing their books directly to retail cus- 
tomers at reduced prices, or at the same price 
they recommended local dealers to ask for 
them, and they have prepaid the postage, thus 
competing directly with their distributing 
agents, the booksellers, in their own field. 

5th. Finally, some local librarians, who a 
few years ago were appealing to local book- 
sellers for a discount, having been granted the 
discount, have recently been supplying books 
"at cost prices" to other patrons of the local 
booksellers. Thus our friends, the librarians, 
having inverted the good old practice of re- 
turning good for evil, having helped to rob 
the local bookseller of his livelihood, now 
propose to abolish his office. 

To carry the proposition to its conclusions, 
suppose we abolish the bookseller. Can the 
librarian take his place and send the orders 
in to the publishers? If so, if this is all there 
is to the bookselling business, why should the 
publisher pay a commission to the librarian 
for doing what the people could as readily do 
for themselves? But a general business can- 
not be carried on in this way. Publishers 
have tried it for years, yet only comparatively 
few people are willing to order books that 
they have not had an opportunity to examine, 
and of this class librarians are the most con- 
servative. They, too, want to know what they 
are buying before they place their orders. 
Hence, this postulate: If the librarian is to 
succeed the bookseller, he must become a mer- 
chant; he must order stocks of books and 
take the speculative chance of selling them. 
But the librarian has had no experience or 
training in merchandising. Can he afford to 
hazard his own capital in an untried field ; 
can he induce his friends to supply him with 
capital to invest in a business of which he 
confessedly has no knowledge? It would 
manifestly be a perversion of the funds of the 
institution in charge of the librarian, to invest 
them in a gainful occupation. 

From what I have said, it must be apparent 
that booksellers, as well as librarians, have a 


PALMER. 


35 


province of their own, and perform a service 
that cannot be delegated to another. And 
hence it is desirable that we live and dwell 
together in peace and amity. 

But in these days of combinations, reorgani- 
zations and revolutions in the conduct of busi- 
ness, the publishers have looked farther, in 
their quest for more economical purveying 
agents. For the past ten years they have been 
trying to induce the dry-goods merchants to 
carry books. But, after all this time, not 
more than half a dozen department stores 
carry fairly representative stocks of books. 
They confine themselves, for the most part, to 
new copyrighted fiction, and of this they han- 
dle only that which is widely advertised. 

Of late, department stores and dry-goods 
stores have met severe competition in clothing 
stores, that make no pretext of carrying a 
book stock. They simply buy an edition of a 
popular-selling book and advertise it for less 
money than it actually cost. They do this 
simply as an advertising dodge, to attract 
customers to their stores. Then, too, the 
mail-order agencies have cut the price of the 
most popular books so low that it is no longer 
profitable to handle them. The result of this 
has been that many of the most promising 
new novels have been killed before they were 
fairly put on the market; for as soon as they 
ceased to be profitable no one could afford to 
re-order them. 

The effect of this recent drift of the trade 
has been to stimulate the frothy side of liter- 
ature to an extreme degree. The more se- 
rious literature is being neglected. The latest 
novel is the fad. Its average life is reduced to 
little more than one year, though the copy- 
right lasts for twenty-eight years, and with a 
renewal it may be extended to forty-two 
years. 

This shortening of the life of books has had 
a baneful effect: 

(a) Baneful to the bookseller, since it fre- 
quently leaves him with a dead stock of 
books on hand that cannot be turned with- 
out loss. 

(&) Baneful to the publisher, since the book 
stops selling and the plates become value- 
less before he has had time fairly to recoup 
himself for the expense of bringing it out, 
advertising it, and putting it on the market. 
(c) Baneful to the author, since by shorten- 


ing the life of his books the value of his 

property in them is reduced. 

But perhaps the most baneful effect of this 
craze for ephemeral literature is upon the 
people themselves. As the standard or de- 
gree of civilization for a given age is marked 
by the character of the literature the people 
produce and read, we cannot hope for a gold- 
en age in American letters, unless the present 
system is reversed. Work of real merit is 
never done by accident, nor is it the product 
of mediocre talents. If we are to develop a 
national literature that shall fitly characterize 
the sterling qualities of the American people 
in this, the full strength of the early manhood 
of the nation ; at the time when the nation has 
taken its place in the vanguard of civilization ; 
at the time when the consumptive power of the 
nation is equal to one-third of that of the en- 
tire civilized world; at the time when men of 
talents and genius are annually earning and 
expending, for their comfort and pleasure, 
more munificent sums than were ever lavished 
on the most opulent princes ; I say, if we are 
to produce a literature that shall fitly charac- 
terize this age of our nation, we must hold 
forth such rewards for the pursuits of litera- 
ture as will attract men of genius, men of the 
most lustrous talents, men who are the peers 
of their co-workers in other walks of life. 
But this will not be possible so long as the 
present strife to furnish cheap literature to the 
people continues. 

It should be observed that the bookseller 
has not suffered alone in this cheapening proc- 
ess. The publisher has suffered. Within 
the past few months two names that for half 
a century were household words, synonyms 
of all that is excellent in the publishing world, 
have met with disaster, and others were ap- 
proaching a crisis. 

Fortunately one firm stood out so prom- 
inently, as a bulwark of financial strength and 
security, that its president, Mr. Charles 
Scribner, of Charles Scribner's Sons, could 
afford to take the initiative in calling for re- 
form. He invited the co-operation of other 
publishers, and a year ago this month they 
met in New York and organized the American 
Publishers' Association. Their organization 
now includes practically all of the general 
publishers who contribute anything of real 
value to current literature. 


WAVKESHA CONFERENCE. 


The publishers canvassed thoroughly the 
causes that had led to the decline of the 
trade, and they appointed a committee to draft 
reform measures. 

In reviewing the decline of the trade, two 
facts stood out so prominently that it was 
impossible to disassociate them as cause and 
effect. The three thousand booksellers, upon 
whom, as purveying agents, the publishers had 
depended a generation ago, had shrunk in 
number until only about five hundred could 
be counted who were worthy to be called book- 
sellers. The other fact, which doubtless made 
quite as deep an impression upon the minds 
of the publishers, was that the long line of 
books, on each of their published catalogs, 
was practically dead. Those books of high 
standard character, by eminent authors, books 
that for years had had a good annual sale, no 
longer moved. These standard books have 
been a large source of revenue to publishers 
and their authors for many years. But now 
so few of them are sold that it hardly pays the 
publishers to send their travellers over the 
road. 

Few dry-goods merchants, druggists, news- 
dealers and stationers, that have recently been 
induced to carry a small number of books, 
feel sufficiently well acquainted with salable 
literature to warrant their carrying anything 
more than the most popular-selling new copy- 
righted novels and cheap reprints of non- 
copyrighted books that sell for twenty-five 
cents or less. As stated above, there are a 
few large department stores that carry a more 
general stock, but they are so few that the 
support received from them is not sufficient to 
compensate, in any measure, the loss sus- 
tained through the sacrifice of the regular 
booksellers. Moreover, the regular booksell- 
ers that still remain in the business have not 
been buying many standard books of late. 
Seeing their profit in fiction sacrificed by un- 
fair competition, many of them have ordered 
only enough of the new copyrighted novels to 
keep alive their accumulated stocks of stand- 
ard books, until they can sell them out or re- 
duce them to a point where they can afford 
to abandon the book business. 

From the character of the reform measures 
adopted by the American Publishers' Asso- 
ciation, which went into effect on the first of 
May, it is evident that the publishers have de- 


termined to restore the old-time bookseller. 
This can be done only by the publishers en- 
forcing the maintenance of retail prices, the 
same as is done by the proprietors of the 
Earl & Wilson collar, the Waterman foun- 
tain pen, the Eastman kodak, and many other 
special lines of which the retail price is listed. 

When dry-goods stores and clothing stores 
bought these special lines and retailed them 
at or below the cost price, in contrast to the 
list price asked in the special furnishing 
stores, in order to attract customers to their 
stores because of their wonderful "bargain 
counters," the manufacturers realized that the 
dry-goods stores were simply using up these 
wares to advertise their other business. They 
cut off the supply of their goods to these 
price-cutting dry-goods stores, and refused to 
supply any more goods, except under a sub- 
stantial undertaking on the part of the dry- 
goods stores to maintain the full list price. 

This, in a word, is the substance of the pub- 
lishers' plan. They have agreed to cut off 
absolutely the supply of all of their books, 
net, copyrighted and otherwise, to any dealer 
who cuts the retail price of a book published 
under the net-price system. 

On the other hand, the nearly eight hundred 
members of the American Booksellers' Asso- 
ciation have entered into a mutual agreement 
to push with energy the sale of the books of 
all publishers who co-operate with them for 
the maintenance of retail prices, and not to 
buy, nor put in stock, nor offer for sale, the 
books of any publisher who fails to co-operate 
with them. This is substantially the same 
system that was adopted in Germany in 1887, 
in France a few years later, and in England 
in 1900. 

The effect of this system in Germany has 
been to lift up the trade from a condition 
even more deplorable, if possible, than that 
into which it has fallen in this country, and 
to make it a prosperous and profitable busi- 
ness. It has proved beneficent and satisfac- 
tory, not only to dealers and publishers, but 
also to authors and to the reading public, for 
every city, town and village in Germany now 
sustains a book shop that carries a fairly 
representative stock of books, so that the peo- 
ple are able to examine promptly every book 
as soon as it comes from the press, and the 
authors are sure of having their books 


PALMER. 


37 


promptly submitted to the examination of 
every possible purchaser. 

The results in France and England are 
equally encouraging, and it is believed that 
as soon as the American system is fully under- 
stood, and as soon as enough books are in- 
cluded under the net-price system, so that a 
bookseller can once more make a living on the 
sale of books, many of the old-time book- 
sellers will again put in a stock of books and 
help to re-establish the book trade in America. 

Having tried to define the present relation 
of publishers and booksellers, I beg leave to 
say frankly that I know of no reason why 
publishers and booksellers should maintain 
any different relations with librarians than 
they maintain with any other retail customers. 

For example, let us take the new "Book- 
Lovers' Library," so called. Their plan is 
to sell memberships, and to deliver to each 
member one book a week for five dollars a 
year, or three books a week for ten dollars a 
year. They take up the books at the end of 
each week and supply new ones. 

If this plan could be carried out success- 
fully, it would result in making one book do 
the service now performed by ten or fifteen 
books. In other words, this circulating li- 
brary proposes to furnish its members with 
ten or fifteen books for the same amount of 
money they now pay for one book by simply 
passing the book around from one to another. 

The effect of this scheme, if carried into all 
cities and towns as proposed, would be to re- 
duce the number of books manufactured and 
sold to about one-tenth of its present magni- 
tude. From a business point of view, publish- 
ers and dealers cannot be called upon to make 
special discounts to encourage such an enter- 
prise. 

The encouragement and support given to 
authors, by patrons of literature, would be re- 
duced by this scheme to about one-tenth of 
the present amount. The effect of this with- 
drawal of support to American authors can 
easily be imagined. 

But I do not believe that real book-lovers, 
intelligent and conservative readers, will be 
carried away by this passing craze. On the 
contrary, they have studiously avoided form- 
ing that careless, slip-shod habit of reading 
that characterizes patrons of circulating li- 


braries. The real book-lover selects his books, 
like his friends, with caution, and with dis- 
criminating and painstaking care. 

From a bookseller's point of view, the 
"Book-Lovers' Library" is not founded on 
practical lines. However, as the plan also in- 
cludes the selling of capital stocks to its pa- 
trons, it is probable that the money received 
from subscriptions, together with the annual 
membership fees, will be sufficient to keep the 
enterprise going for some time. But since 
this is a corporation organized for the pur- 
pose of making money, a failure to earn 
money and to pay dividends will discourage 
its patrons, cause them to feel that they 
have been deceived, and finally to withdraw 
from membership. When the members real- 
ize that they are paying five or ten dollars a 
year for privileges that can be had free at the 
local library, in most cases they will withdraw 
their support. 

Thus, while in some respects I regard this 
enterprise as an evil factor, it contains, I 
think, inherent weaknesses that will finally 
compass its own end. 

But what is said of the relation of publish- 
ers and dealers to the Book-Lovers' Library 
is true in a measure of all circulating and 
other public libraries. They do not increase, 
but they positively contract the number of 
sales that are made in the interest of authors, 
publishers and dealers. 

Under the German system, of which I have 
spoken, public libraries were at first allowed 
ten per cent, discount; but recently this has 
been reduced to five per cent. 

Under the English system, profiting by the 
experience of German publishers, no dis- 
count is allowed to public libraries, schools or 
institutions. 

The American system, however, is modelled 
largely after the German, and it permits the 
dealers to allow a discount of ten per cent, to 
local libraries. In doing this local dealers are 
protected from competition by the publishers, 
in that the publishers have agreed to add to 
the net price the cost of transportation on all 
books sold at retail outside of the cities in 
which they are doing business. Thus public 
libraries can buy net books cheaper of the lo- 
cal booksellers than they can buy them of the 
publishers by just the cost of transportation. 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


LIBRARY BUILDINGS. 


BY W. R. EASTMAN, New York State Library, Albany, N. Y. 


A BUILDING is not the first requisite of a 
public library. A good collection of 
books with a capable librarian will be of great 
service in a hired room or in one corner of a 
store. First the librarian, then the books and 
after that the building. 

But when the building is occupied the value 
of the library is doubled. The item of rent 
is dropped. The library is no longer depen- 
dent on the favor of some other institution 
and is not cramped by the effort to include 
two or three departments in a single room. 
It will not only give far better service to the 
community, but will command their respect, 
interest and support to a greater degree than 
before. 

The following hints are intended as a reply 
to many library boards who are asking for 
building plans. 

The vital point in successful building is to 
group all the parts of a modern library in 
their true relations. To understand a par- 
ticular case it will be necessary to ask some 
preliminary questions. 
I. Books. 

Number of volumes in library? 
Average yearly increase? 
Number of volumes in 20 years? 
Number of volumes to go in reference 

room? 
Number of volumes to go in children's 

room? 
Number of volumes to go in other 

departments ? 
Number of volumes to go in main book 

room? 

If the library is large will there be an 
open shelf room separate from the 
main book room? 
Is a stack needed ? 

Will public access to the shelves be al- 
lowed ? 

By answers to such questions a fair idea of 
the character and size of the book room may 
be obtained. 
Rules for calculation. In a popular library, 


outside the reference room, for each foot of 
wall space available 80 books can be placed 
on eight shelves. Floor cases having two 
sides will hold 160 books for each running 
foot, and in a close stack 25 books, approxi- 
mately, can be shelved for each square foot 
of floor space. But the latter rule will be 
materially modified by ledges, varying width 
of passages, stairs, etc. 

The above figures give full capacity. In 
practical work, to provide for convenient 
classification, expansion, oversized books and 
working facilities, the shelves of a library 
should be sufficient for twice the actual num- 
ber of books and the lines of future enlarge- 
ment should be fully determined. 

2. Departments. 

Is the library for free circulation? 
Is the library for free reference? 
Are special rooms needed for 

high school students? 

children ? 

ladies ? 

magazine readers ? 

newspaper readers? 
How many square feet for each of the 

above rooms? 

Are class rooms needed as in a col- 
lege library? 

Club rooms? 

Lecture rooms? 

Museum? 

Art gallery? 

Other departments? 

3. Community. 

In city or country? 
Population? 

By what class will library be chiefly 
used? 

School children? 

Students ? 

Mechanics ? 

Reading circles? 

Ladies ? 

4. Resources and conditions, 

Money available? 


EASTMAN. 


39 


Money annually for maintenance? 

Size of building lot? 

Location and surroundings? 

How many stories? 

Elevators ? 

Heat? 

Light? 

Ventilation ? 
5. Administration. 

Is library to be in charge of one person ? 

How many assistants? 

Is a work room needed? 
unpacking room? 
bindery ? 
librarian's office? 
trustees' room? 

By careful study of these points a clear 
conception of the problem is gained and the 
building committee is prepared to draw an 
outline sketch indicating in a general way 
their needs and views. They are not likely 
to secure what they want by copying or even 
by competition. The best architects have not 
the time nor the disposition to compete with 
each other. A better way is to choose an ar- 
chitect, one who has succeeded in library work 
if possible, who will faithfully study the spe- 
cial problems, consult freely with the library 
board, propose plans and change them freely 
till they are right. And if such plans are also 
submitted for revision to some librarian of 
experience or to the library commission of the 
state, whose business and pleasure it is to 
give disinterested advice, so much the better. 
The foljowing outlines taken from actual 
library buildings are offered by way of sug- 
gestion. 

Square plan. 

An inexpensive building for a small coun- 
try neighborhood may have one square room 
with book shelves on the side and rear walls. 
A convenient entrance is from a square porch 
on one side of the front corner and a libra- 
rian's alcove is at the opposite corner leaving 
the entire front like a store window which 
may be filled with plants or picture bulletins. 
With a stone foundation the wooden frame 
may be finished with stained shingles. 

Oblong plan. 

A somewhat larger building may have a 
wider front with entrance at the center. 


Book shelves under high windows may 
cover the side and rear walls and tables may 
stand in the open space. 

It will be convenient to bring together the 
books most in demand for circulation on one 
side of the room and those needed most for 
study on the opposite side. One corner may 
contain juvenile books. In this way confusion 
between readers, borrowers and children will 
be avoided. Each class of patrons will go by 
a direct line to its own quarter. This is the 
beginning of the plan of departments which 
will be of great importance in the larger 
building. 

The number of books for circulation will 
increase rapidly and it may soon be necessary 
to provide double faced floor cases. These 
will be placed with passages running from the 
center of the room towards the end and that 
end will become the book or delivery room 
and the opposite side will be the study or ref 
erence room. 

T-shape plan. 

The next step is to add space to the rear 
giving a third department to the still open 
room. If the book room is at the back the 
student readers may be at tables in the right 
hand space and the children in the space on 
the left. The librarian at a desk in the cen- 
ter is equally near to all departments and 
may exercise full supervision. 

The presence of a considerable number of 
other busy persons has a sobering and quieting 
effect on all and the impression of such a 
library having all its departments in one is 
dignified and wholesome. It may be well to 
separate the departments by light open hand 
rails, screens, cords or low book cases. It is 
a mistake to divide a small building into three 
or four small rooms. 

Separate rooms. 

For a larger library these rails must be 
made into partitions, giving to each depart- 
ment a separate room. Partitions of glass set 
in wooden frames and possibly only eight feet 
high may answer an excellent purpose, adding 
to the impression of extent, admitting light 
to the interior of the building and allowing 
some supervision from the center. With par- 
titions on each side, the entrance becomes a 
central hallway with a department at each 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


side and the book room at the end. This is 
the best position for the book room for two 
special reasons. Overlapping the departments 
in both wings it is equally accessible from 
either, and at the back of the house a plainer 
and cheaper wall can be built admitting of 
easy removal when the growth of the library 
requires enlargement. 

Sometimes the angles between the book 
room and the main building may be filled to 
advantage by work room and office. These 
working rooms though not large and not con- 
spicuous are of vital consequence and should 
be carefully planned. 

We have now reached a type of building 
which, for lack of a better word, I may call 
the "butterfly plan," having two spread wings 
and a body extending to the back. Others 
call it the "trefoil." This general type is 
being substantially followed in most new li- 
braries of moderate size. From one entrance 
hall direct access is given to three distinct 
departments, or perhaps to five, by placing 
two rooms in each wing. 

Modifications required by limited space. 

If we have an open park to build in we 
shall be tempted to expand the hallway to a 
great central court or rotunda. Perhaps the 
importance of the library may justify it, but 
we should be on our guard against separating 
departments by spaces so great as to make 
supervision difficult or passing from one to 
another inconvenient. We should aim to con- 
centrate rather than scatter. 

More frequently the lot will be too nar- 
row. We must draw in the wings and make 
the narrower rooms longer from front to 
back. With a corner lot we can enter on the 
side street, leaving a grand reading room on 
the main front and turning at right angles as 
we enter the house pass between other rooms 
to the book room at the extreme end of the 
lot. Or again, we shall be obliged to dis- 
pense entirely with one wing of our plan, and 
have but two department rooms instead of 
three on the floor. Every location must be 
studied by itself. 

Other stories. 

Basement rooms are of great service for 
work rooms and storage. A basement direct- 


ly under the main book room is specially val- 
uable to receive the overflow of books not in 
great demand. 

A second and even a third story will be use- 
ful for special collections, class and lecture 
rooms or a large audience hall. In a library 
of moderate size it will often be found con- 
venient to build a book room about 16 feet 
high to cover two stories of bookcases and 
wholly independent of the level of the second 
floor of the main building. 

Extension. 

To meet the needs of a rapidly growing 
library it is important at the beginning to fix 
the lines of extension. 

A building with a front of two rooms and a 
passage between may add a third room at 
the rear, and at a later stage, add a second 
building as large as the first and parallel to 
it, the two being connected by the room first 
added. 

This is the architect's plan for the Omaha 
Public Library. 

Open court. 

When a library is so large that one book 
room is not enough, two such rooms may be 
built to the rear, one from each end of the 
building with open space between, and these 
two wings may be carried back equally and 
joined at the back by another building, thus 
completing the square around an open court. 

This gives wide interior space for light and 
air, or grass and flowers. Such is the plan of 
the Boston Public and Princeton University 
libraries. It will be the same in Minneapolis 
when that library is complete. In the plan of 
the new library at Newark, N. J., the central 
court is roofed over with glass becoming a 
stairway court with surrounding galleries 
opening on all rooms. In Columbia Univer- 
sity, New York, as in the British Museum, 
the center is a great reading room capped by 
a dome high above the surrounding roofs and 
lighted by great clerestory windows. 

If the street front is very long there may be 
three extensions to the rear, one opposite the 
center and one from each end, leaving two 
open courts as in the plan for the New York 
Public or the Utica Public; and this general 
scheme may be repeated and carried still 
farther back leaving four open courts as in the 


EASTMAN. 


Library of Congress. This plan can be ex- 
tended as far as space can be provided. 

When the general plan of the large build- 
ing is fixed, passages will be introduced, 
parallel to the front and sides, and depart- 
ments will be located as may be judged most 
convenient, always having regard to the con- 
tvenience of the patrons of each department 
in finding ready access to the books they need 
and providing for supervision and attendance 
at least cost of time, effort and money. Ex- 
travagance in library building is not so often 
found in lavish ornament as in that unfor- 
tunate arrangement of departments which re- 
quires three attendants to do the work of one 
or two. 

Light. 

Natural light should be secured if possible 
for every room. Windows should be frequent 
and extend well up toward the ceiling ter- 
minating in a straight line so as to afford 
large supply of light from the top. Windows 
like those in an ordinary house or office build- 
ing, coming within two or three feet of tHe 
floor are more satisfactory both for inside and 
outside appearance than those which leave a 
high blank wall beneath them. From the 
street a blank wall has a prison-like effect; 
on the inside it cuts off communication with 
the rest of the world and the impression is 
unpleasant. The proper object of library win- 
dows six or eight feet above the floor is to 
allow unbroken wall space for book shelves 
beneath them. There is no serious objection 
to this at the back of the room or sometimes 
at the sides of the house where the windows 
are not conspicuous from the street, but every 
room of any size, if it is next to the outer 
wall, should have windows to look out of on 
at least one side. 

A book room at the back of a building 
may secure excellent light from side windows 
eight feet above the floor with lower windows 
at the back. 

The lighting of large interior rooms is often 
a difficult problem. Light will not penetrate 
to advantage more than 30 feet. Skylights, 
domes and clerestory windows are used. In 
the case of the dome or clerestory the room to 
be lighted must be higher than those imme- 
diately surrounding it. The clerestory plan 


with upright windows is most satisfactory 
when available, being cheaper and giving bet- 
ter security against the weather than the sky- 
light. In a large building with interior courts, 
the lower story of the court is sometimes 
covered with a skylight and used as a room. 

This appears in the plans for the New York 
Public and the Utica Public libraries. Sky- 
lights must be constructed with special care 
to protect rooms against the weather. 

The problem of light is peculiarly difficult 
in the crowded blocks of cities. A library 
front may sometimes touch the walls of ad- 
joining buildings so that light can enter only 
from the front and rear. If extending more 
than 40 feet back from the street, it will be 
necessary to narrow the rest of the building 
so as to leave open spaces on each side, or to 
introduce a little light by the device of light 
wells. Occasionally a large city library is 
found on the upper floors of an office build- 
ing, where light and air are better than be- 
low, and the cost of accommodation is less. 
The use of elevators makes this feasible. 

Shelving. 

The general scheme of book shelves should 
be fixed before the plan of the building is 
drawn. Otherwise the space for books can 
not be determined and serious mistakes may 
be made. Between the two extremes of open 
wall shelves and the close stack a compromise 
is necessary. The large library will put the 
bulk of its books in a stack and bring a con 
siderable selection of the best books into an 
open room. The small library will begin with 
books along the walls and provide cases for 
additions from time to time as needed. Its 
patrons will enjoy at first the generous spaces 
of the open room without an array of empty 
cases to offend the eye and cumber the floor. 
When walls are covered with books a floor 
case will be introduced and others when 
needed will be placed according to plan, till 
at last the floor is as full as it was meant to 
be, and the basement beneath having served 
for a time to hold the overflow, a second story 
of cases is put on the top of the first. This 
process should be planned in adrance for a 
term of 20 years. 

For public access passages between cases 
should be five feet wide. Cases have some- 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


times been set on radial lines so as to bring 
all parts under supervision from the center. 
This arrangement, specially if bounded by a 
setni-circular wall, is expensive, wasteful of 
space and of doubtful value, except in pe- 
culiar conditions. It is not adapted to iurther 
extension of the building. 

Size of shelf. 

For ordinary books in a popular library the 
shelf should not be more than eight inches 
wide with an upright space of ten inches. 
Eight shelves of this height with a base of 
four inches and crown finish of five inches will 
fill eight feet from the floor and the upper 
shelf may be reached at a height of 81 inches 
or six feet nine inches. Ordinary shelves 
should not exceed three feet in length. A 
length of two and a half feet is preferred by 
many. A shelf more than three feet long is 
apt to bend under the weight of books. For 
books of larger size a limited number of 
shelves with 12 inches upright space and a 
few still larger should be provided. The pro- 
portion of oversize books will vary greatly 
according to the kind of library, a college or 
scientific collection having many more than 
the circulating library. Any reference room 
will contain a large number of such books and 
its shelves should correspond. 

Movable shelves. 

Much attention has been given to devices 
for adjustment of shelves. Some of these 
are quite ingenious and a few are satisfactory. 
No device should be introduced that will 
seriously break the smooth surface at the side. 
Notches, cross bars, iron horns or hooks or 
ornamental brackets expose the last book to 
damage. If pins are used they should be so 
held to their places that they cannot fall out. 
Heads of pins or bars should be sunk in the 
wood and the place for books left, as near as 
possible, absolutely smooth on all sides. It is 
at least a question whether the importance of 
making shelves adjustable and absolutely ad- 
justable has not been greatly overrated. As 
a fact the shelves of the circulating library are 
very seldom adjusted. They may have all the 
usual appliances gained at large expense but 
there is no occasion to adjust them outside 
the reference room. They remain as they 


were put up. It is probably well to have the 
second and third shelf movable so that one 
can be dropped to the bottom and two spaces 
left where there were three at first. But all 
other shelves might as well be fixed at inter- 
vals of 10 inches without the least real in- 
convenience and the cases be stronger for it 
and far cheaper. A perfectly adjustable shelf 
is interesting as a study in mechanics, but is 
practically disappointing. Its very perfection 
is a snare because it is so impossible to set 
it true without a spirit level and a machinist. 
All shelves in a reference room should be 
adjustable. Bound magazines might have 
special cases. 

Wood or iron shelves. 

Iron shelf construction has the advantage 
of lightness and strength, filling the least 
space and admitting light and air. Where 
three or more stories of cases are stacked 
one upon another iron is a necessity. It also 
offers the best facilities for adjustment of 
shelves and is most durable. 

On the other hand it is more difficult to get, 
can be had only of the manufacturers in fixed 
patterns, and costs at least twice as much as 
any wood, even oak, unless carved for orna- 
ment, and four or five times as much as 
some very good wooden shelves. This great 
cost raises the question whether the advan- 
tages named are really important. Few vil- 
lage libraries need more than two stories of 
shelves in a stack. If iron is more durable 
we can buy two sets of wooden shelves for 
the cost of one of iron and when we buy 
the second set will know better what we want. 
The importance of shelf adjustment has been 
exaggerated. 

A more important consideration, to my 
mind, is that iron is not so well adapted to 
the changing conditions of a growing library. 
It is made at a factory and to be ordered 
complete. It is bolted to the floor and wall 
at fixed intervals. But we have seen that a 
gradual accumulation of bookcases is better 
than to put all shelving in position at first. 

Wooden cases are movable. You begin with 
those you need and add others as you have 
more books, you can change and alter them 
at any time with only the aid of the village 
carpenter, and enjoy the wide open spaces till 
the time for filling them comes. 


MAURAN. 


43 


Iron with all its ornaments belongs in the 
shop. It is not the furniture you prefer in 
your home. The item of cost will usually de- 
cide the question. For libraries of less than 
30,000 volumes, where close storage is not im- 
perative, wood has the advantage. 

Miscellaneous notes. 

A floor of hard wood is good enough for 
most libraries. Wood covered with corticene 
or linoleum tends to insure the needed quiet. 
Floors of tile, marble or concrete are very 
noisy and should have strips of carpet laid 
in the passages. 

On the walls of reading rooms it is neither 
necessary nor desirable to have an ornamental 
wainscot, nor indeed any wainscot at all, not 
even a base board. Book cases will cover the 
lower walls and books are the best ornament. 

Small tables for four are preferred in a 
reading room to long common tabls. They 
give the reader an agreeable feeling of pri- 
vacy. 

Do not make tables too high. 30 inches are 
enough. 

Light bent wood chairs are easy to handle 

Steam or hot water give the best heat and 
incandescent electric lamps give the be-t light. 

Be sure that you have sufficient ventilation. 

Windows should be made to slide up and 
down, not to swing on hinges or pivots. 

Without dwelling further on details let us 


be sure i, That we have room within the walls 
for all the books we now have or are likely 
to have in 20 years ; provide the first outfit of 
shelves for twice the number of books ex- 
pected at the end of one year and add book- 
cases as we need them, leaving always a lib- 
eral margin of empty space on every shelf. 
We must plan for the location of additional 
cases for 20 years with due consideration of 
the question of public access. 

2, That all needed departments are provided 
in harmonious relation with each other and 
so located as to serve the public to the best 
advantage and at least cost of time, strength 
and money. 

3, That the best use of the location is 
made and the building suited to the constitu- 
ency and local conditions. 

4, That the estimated cost is well within 
the limit named, for new objects of exepense 
are certain to appear during the process of 
building and debt must not be thought of. 

5, That the building is convenient for work 
and supervision, a point at which many an 
elegant and costly building has conspicuously 
failed. 

Make it also neat and beautiful, for it is 
to be the abiding place of all that ib best 
in human thought and experience and is to be 
a home in which all inquiring souls are to be 
welcomed. Since the people are to be our 
guests let us make the place of their recep- 
tion worthy of its purpose. 


THE RELATION OF THE ARCHITECT TO THE LIBRARIAN. 


BY JOHN LAWRENCE MAURAN, Architect, St. Louis, Mo. 


PHE public library, as we understand the 
name to-day, has had but a brief ex- 
istence compared with the mere housing of 
collections of books which has gone on 
through countless ages. 

With the change from the old ideas of 
safeguarding the precious books themselves to 
the advanced theory of placing their priceless 
contents within the easy reach of all, has come 
an equally important change in the character 
of the custodian of the books. The duties of 
the modern librarian are such that he must 
be not only something of a scholar, in the best 


sense of the word, but he must be capable 
also of properly directing others in the pur- 
suit of learning, and, withal, combine execu- 
tive ability with a highly specialized profes- 
sional facility. The result of carefully con- 
ceived courses of training is apparent in the 
wonderful results achieved through the de- 
voted and untiring efforts of the members of 
this Association towards a constant better- 
ment of their charges, and a closer bonding, 
through affection, between the masses of the 
people and that portion of the books which 
lies between the covers. 


44 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


My purpose in recalling to your memory 
the wonderful advance made by training in 
your profession in a comparatively short time, 
is to give point to an analogy I wish to draw, 
showing a corresponding advance in the pro- 
fession of architecture. Not so very many 
years ago there were ample grounds for the 
recalling by Mr. David P. Todd of Lord 
Bacon's warning against the sacrifice of utility 
to mere artistic composition in the following 
words : "Houses are built to Live in, and not 
to Looke on : Therefore let Use bee preferred 
before Uniformitie; Except where both may 
be had Leave the Goodly Fabrickes of Houses, 
for Beautie only, to the Enchanted Pallaces 
of the Poets; Who build them with small 
Cost" : but to-day, thanks to the munificence 
of the French government and the untiring 
energy of some of those who have profited 
by it, in fostering the growth of our own ar- 
chitectural schools, there are few sections of 
this broad land which have not one or more 
worthy followers of Palladio and Michael 
Angelo. Hunt, Richardson and Post were 
among the first to receive the training of the 
Ecole des Beaux Arts, and they, moreover, 
had the rare judgment to take the training 
only, adapting their designs to the climatic 
and other local conditions rather than attempt- 
ing the importation of French forms as well 
as method of design. Their example and the 
impetus they were able to impart to the tech- 
nical schools have been potent factors in the 
development of the talent of American archi- 
tects. While it is true, and more the pity, 
that some students return from Paris with 
the idea that because Paris is a beautiful city 
architecturally, the simple injection of some 
of their own masterpieces into our diverse 
city street fronts, is going to reincarnate our 
municipalities, the major portion are suf- 
ficiently discriminating to realize that Paris 
owes much of its charm to a symmetry under 
governmental control which we, free born 
Americans, can never hope to attain, and 
leave behind them the mere forms and sym- 
bols of their alma mater to use that which is 
best and most profitable in their training; 
that is, a breadth of conception of the prob- 
lem and a logical method of sequential study 
of it which ensures a creditable if not an 
ideal solution. The modern architect, to be 


successful, must be conversant with a vast 
amount of information which is apparently 
outside his chosen profession such as the 
minutiae of hospitals, churches, libraries, rail- 
road stations and the like. As a case in point 
I recall the address of a certain railroad presi- 
dent at the dedication of a large terminal 
depot, in which he said : "while we have had 
the co-operation of engineers and specialists 
in every branch of the work, I must give great 
credit to our architect who is responsible for 
the conception of the entire system of the 
handling of passengers, although he was em- 
ployed solely to enclose the space designated 
by our engineers." It is not my purpose to 
laud the profession of architecture, but rather 
to show its preparedness to co-operate with 
you in achieving the best in library construc- 
tion and design. 

May I add to Mr. Todd's advice to library 
boards about to build, "first appoint your li- 
brarian," the suggestion that second, in con- 
sultation with him, appoint your architect. 
It is not disbelief in competition which has 
led the American Institute of Architects to 
advise against competitions, for the former is 
a constant condition, while the latter they be- 
lieve to result in more evil than good. It is 
a popular notion among laymen that a com- 
petition will bring out ideas and mayhap de- 
velop some hidden genius, but in answer to 
the first I can say, I know of but one build- 
ing erected from successful competitive plans 
without modification, and for the second, the 
major portion of American originality in 
building designs is unworthy the name of 
architecture. Aside from the needless ex- 
pense and loss of time entailed on library 
board, as well as architect, by the holding of 
competitions a greater evil lies in the well 
proven fact, that in their desire to win ap- 
proval for their design, most architects en- 
deavor to find out the librarian's predilections 
and follow them in their plans rather than to 
submit a scholarly solution of the problem 
studied from an unprejudiced standpoint. It 
is not often the good fortune of competitors 
to have their submitted work judged with 
such unbiased intelligence as that which per- 
mitted the best conceived plan to win in the 
competition for the new library in New York 
City. Few men would have dared in compe- 


MAURAN. 


45 


tition to remove that imposing architectural 
feature, the reading room, from their main 
fagade and put it frankly where it belongs, 
in direct touch with the stacks which serve it, 
as Carrere & Hastings did. , 

Not long ago a member of a certain library 
board of trustees wrote to us that we were 
being considered, among others, as architects 
for their new building, and he suggested that 
we send to them as many water colors as we 
could collect and as large as possible, to im- 
press the board; for, as he added, "some of 
us appreciate your plans, but most laymen 
are caught by the colored pictures, the larger 
the better." 

As a rule librarians have very decided ideas 
as to the plan desired in so far as it relates 
to the correlation of rooms and departments, 
and it, therefore, seems manifestly proper that 
having selected a librarian on account of 
merit, the next step should be the selection of 
an architect on the same basis, to the end 
that in consultation the theory of the one may 
either be studied into shape or proved in- 
ferior to the theory of the other. Under the 
discussion of two broad minds, the wheat is 
easily separated from the chaff with the much 
to be desired result of the assemblying of a 
well ordered plan to present to the board, 
which has had such study that few criticisms 
cannot be answered from the store of ex- 
perience gathered in the making. This ideal 
crystallization of ideas, this development of 
the problem working hand in hand precludes 
the need of such advice as is found in the 
following quotation from a paper on libra- 
ry buildings : 

"Taking into account the practical uses of 
the modern library it is readily seen that it 
needs a building planned from inside, not 
from without, dictated by convenience and 
not by taste no matter how good. The order 
should be to require the architect to put a 
presentable exterior on an interior having 
only use in view and not as is so often done 
to require the librarian to make the best he 
can of an interior imposed by the exigencies 
of the architect's taste or the demand of the 
building committee for a monumental struc- 
ture." 

Such an anomalous relationship between in- 
terior and exterior is absolutely opposed to 


the fundamental training of the architect of 
to-day. Often have I heard my professor of 
design, a Frenchman of rare judgment, rly 
out at a student caught working on his ex- 
terior before the interior was complete: 
"Work on your plan, finish your plan, and 
when that is perfect, the rest will come." 

Architects of experience, who have been 
students of library development in its every 
branch, who have followed the changes in 
the relations of the library to the people, have 
reached the same conclusions along broad 
lines, as have the librarians, with respect to 
lighting, access, oversight and administration, 
as well as the general correlation of universal- 
ly important departments, and it is therefore 
my purpose to state our relationship rather 
than attempt the raising of issues on details 
of library arrangement, and to show if possi- 
ble, that the skilled architect's method of pro- 
cedure tends to settle mooted points by 
weighing values and considering relations of 
parts in a logical and broad minded study of 
the particular set of conditions pertaining to 
his problem. 

Either owing to the size, shape or contour 
of the site, its particular exposure, local cli- 
matic conditions, the particular character of 
the library itself or the people whom it serves, 
the problem presented to an architect by a 
library board is always essentially a new one. 
Certain fundamental rules may obtain through 
their universal applicability, but every step in 
the working out of a successful plan must be 
influenced by the particular conditions re- 
ferred to, and here the co-operation of the li- 
brarian is of inestimable value to the architect, 
no matter how wide his experience may be. 

Desired correlation, like most results, can 
be achieved in divers ways, and in mo^t cases 
nothing of utility need be sacrificed to secure 
& dignified plan, which is as much to be de- 
sired as a dignified exterior. Realizing the im- 
portance of accomplishing successful results, a 
scholarly architect will strive to mould his 
plan with an eye to symmetry, without losing 
sight for an instant of the conditions of use, 
and never sacrificing practical relationship to 
gain an absolutely symmetrical arrangement 
of plan. 

The French architect will, if necessary, 
waste space or inject needless rooms into his 


4 6 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


plan to secure perfect balance, while his 
American student will gain all the value of 
the effect without diminishing the practical 
value of his building one iota. 

Along with symmetry, the logical develop- 
ment of the plan in study keeps in mind some- 
thing of the rough form of the exterior de- 
sign, with particular reference to the group- 
ing of its masses to secure the maximum of 
air and the best light for the various depart- 
ments. With the best designers, it is an un- 
written law, that the next step after complet- 
ing a satisfactory plan, is to sketch a section 
through the building, not only to ensure a 
proper proportion in the enclosed rooms, but 
most important of all to secure a system of 
fenestration, allowing wall space where needed 
and introducing the light as near the top of 
the rooms as the finish will permit. Having 
settled then all the details of plans and sec- 
tion, wherein are comprised all of the matter 
of greatest moment to the practical librarian, 
it only remains for the architect to prepare a 
.suitable exterior and I certainly agree with 
*ny old preceptor that "it will come." The 
American people believe that education is the 
corner stone of manhood and good citizenship, 
and next to our public schools, if not before 
them, the most potent educational factor is 
our public library. The librarians are respon- 


sible in a great measure for the good work 
which is being accomplished in the dissemina- 
tion of knowledge and culture among the peo- 
ple, but let me ask, are we not as responsible 
for our share, as co-workers with them, to 
perpetuate in lasting masonry the best which 
in us lies for the same great cause of the 
education of the people? 

What renaissance has failed to find litera- 
ture and architecture quickened alike? The 
awakening of a love of the beautiful brings 
a thirst for knowledge concerning the beauti- 
ful; as the records will show, the interest ex- 
cited by that marvellous assemblage of ar- 
chitectural masterpieces at the Chicago Fair, 
created a demand on the libraries almost be- 
yond belief for books on architecture and the 
allied arts. 

Every conscientious architect must feel his 
responsibility to his clients as well as to the 
people and strive he must, to combine the 
ideal in convenience with simple beauty in 
design; my one plea is that such a combina- 
tion is not only possible, but in intelligent 
hands, should be universal, and if my beliefs, 
hopes and expectations find sympathy with 
you, I shall feel repaid in the security of a 
harmonious co-operation between architect 
and librarian in the great work which 
stretches ahead of us into the future. 


THE DEPARTMENTAL LIBRARY. 


BY JAMES THAYER GEROULD, University of Missouri, Columbia. 


*T*HE recent discussion of the departmental 
library system at the University of Chi- 
cago and the consequent restatement of the 
position of that university in reference to 
such libraries, together with the considera- 
tion of the problem in the annual reports of 
Dr. Canfield and Mr. Lane, have called up 
anew the question of the expediency of the 
system. Is the departmental library to be a 
permanent feature of the university library? 
Is the highest effectiveness of a library to be 
secured by a policy of decentralization? 

The public library has answered the ques- 
tion, finally, it seems, in the affirmative. Do 
the arguments which have induced the public 
librarian to establish branches and delivery 


stations apply in the case of the university 
library? Is the university library of the fu- 
ture to be housed in a single building, or is it 
to be scattered about in class rooms and lab- 
oratories? To my mind, there is no more 
important question of administration before 
those of us who are trying to render the uni- 
versity library an efficient instrument of in- 
struction than this. 

With many librarians there is an element of 
necessity entering into the question. Mr. 
Lane is facing a condition where the library 
has altogether outgrown its building, and 
some place must be found where books can be 
stored and used. The situation is much the 
same in many other places. Shall the facili- 


GEROULD. 


47 


ties of the library be enlarged by building or 
shall the books be transferred to the various 
departmental libraries? Mr. Lane, speaking 
for his own library, says of the latter alterna- 
tive: "It would commit the library to an en- 
tirely different policy from what it has pur- 
sued hitherto, and such a change would be lit- 
tie short of a revolution for this library." 

At the University of Missouri we are ex- 
pecting in the near future to begin the con- 
struction of a library building, but, before 
adopting any definite plans, we are trying to 
work out the problems that have just been 
stated, and to make ourselves reasonably sure 
that we are right before we go ahead. 

There are arguments enough on all sides of 
this question, of which Dr. Canfield says that 
it has not two sides only, but a dozen. We 
must premise that no two departments use 
their books in exactly the same way, and that, 
consequently, methods of administration must 
differ. It is generally for the advantage of 
all, for example, in a university where there 
is a law school, that the books on private law 
should be separated from the main collection 
and treated as a branch library. Similarly 
medicine, theology and possibly a few other 
subjects may be withdrawn and administered 
separately. 

In some of our universities one or more of 
the departments are several miles away from 
the main body of the institution. It is ob- 
viously necessary that the books most used 
in those departments should be near enough 
so that the students can have access to them 
without too much inconvenience and loss of 
time. In the ordinary institution, however, 
most of the buildings are grouped in a com- 
paratively small area, and it is seldom more 
than five minutes' walk from the most remote 
building to the library. In a condition such 
as .this, and with the exceptions noted above, 
I am inclined to the opinion that the univer- 
sity is best served by a central library con- 
taining the main collection, and small, rigidly 
selected laboratory libraries comprising books 
which from their very nature are most useful 
in the laboratory as manuals of work. 

The arguments generally advanced in favor 
of the system are these : 

I. The instructor needs to be able to refer, 


at a moment's notice, to any book relating to 
his subject. 

2. The system enables the instructor to keep 
a more careful watch over the reading of his 
students. 

3. The best interests of the library demand 
that each division of the library shall be di- 
rectly under the eye of the men most inter- 
ested in it, that is to say, the instructors in 
the various departments; that they should 
direct its growth and watch over its interests. 

That the first and second of these argu- 
ments have great weight cannot be denied, 
but with a properly constructed library build- 
ing and most careful administration the re- 
quirements of both instructor and student can 
be met quite as well by a central system. 

It is, of course, quite impossible for each 
instructor to have in his office all the books 
necessary for his work. The duplication 
necessary for this purpose would be imprac- 
ticable even for the most wealthy university. 
He must, therefore, go from his office or class 
room to the department library and search 
for the book himself. With the confusion 
which generally reigns in a library of this 
sort, and with the lack of effective registra- 
tion of loans, this is quite often a matter of 
some difficulty. 

At Columbia University the office of each 
professor is in telephonic communication with 
the central library. When a book is wanted 
the library is notified by telephone, the book 
is found and sent out at once. Within ten 
minutes from the time that the request 
reaches the library the book is generally in 
the instructor's hands. He may lose two or 
three minutes' time, but the amount lost is 
more than compensated by the readiness with 
which others can use the books of the depart- 
ment, and by other advantages to be consid- 
ered later. At Columbia, too, the system of 
stack study rooms provides in a very satis- 
factory way for the second objection. There, 
as many of you have seen, the stacks are dis- 
tributed through a series of small rooms, the 
light side of which is supplied with tables and 
used for study rooms and for seminar pur- 
poses. If the instructor can use the depart- 
mental library for his work room, he can cer- 
tainly use this room to as good advantage, for 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


here he has the entire collection and not a 
selected few of his books. I believe fully that 
an instructor who is sufficiently interested in 
the reading of his students to watch over it 
carefully in his departmental library, will find 
that he is able to keep just as close a relation 
to it, if his students are working in a central 
library. He may be obliged to make slight 
changes in his methods, but the result ought 
to be the same. 

The third argument in favor of the depart- 
mental library system is of a different nature. 
Is the librarian or the professor best qualified 
to direct the growth and watch over the inter- 
ests of the different departments of the libra- 
ry? So far as I know, this argument is given 
more consideration at Chicago than anywhere 
else. It may be true, in certain cases, that the. 
professor has the greater qualification for this 
work, but when this is the case it argues that 
the professor is an exceptional one or that the 
university has been unfortunate in the selec- 
tion of its librarian. 

It is quite needless to say that the librarian 
should be in constant conference with the 
teaching force regarding purchases, but that 
he should delegate all of his powers of pur- 
chase in any given field, admits of the gravest 
doubt. Laude, in his recent work on the 
university library system of Germany, at- 
tributes a great deal of the success of those 
libraries to the fact that they are independent 
and autonymous institutions, enjoying a much 
greater measure of freedom than is accorded 
to any similar American institution. Too 
many professors are apt to buy books in their 
special field and slight other lines of research 
in their own subject. For example, a zoolo- 
gist, who is doing research work along the. 
lines of embryology, is very apt to overload 
the collection at that point and neglect other 
equally important lines. 

Again, very few instructors, even granting 
them the qualifications necessary for the work, 
have the time or patience for it. If the 
amount appropriated to the department is at 
all large, a considerable portion of the sum 
is quite frequently unexpended at the end of 
the year. Some interesting tables, prepared 
by Mr. Winsor for his report for the year 
1894-95, show that in seven selected depart- 


ments the amount of books ordered, including 
continuations, was only about 50 per cent, of 
the appropriation, plus one quarter, the allow- 
ance for orders not filled. While this propor- 
tion would probably not hold good in all de- 
partments or in all places, it exhibits an al- 
most uniform tendency and a tendency which 
must be corrected if a well-rounded out li- 
brary is to be secured. 

The system of departmental control is very 
sure to create a feeling of departmental own- 
ership, a feeling that the books, bought out 
of the moneys appropriated to a particular li- 
brary, should remain permanently in that 
library, and that any one from outside who 
wishes to use the books is more or less of an 
intruder. Pin any one of these men down, 
and they will admit that the books are for the 
use of all, but the feeling exists, notwith- 
standing, and is the cause of constant friction. 

The departmental library renders the books 
difficult of access. If the library is large 
enough to warrant the setting apart of a 
separate room for its use, this room can sel- 
dom be open for as large a portion of the 
day as the central library, and when it is open 
the books cannot be obtained as readily by the 
great body of the students as if they were in 
a central building. Most students are work- 
ing in several lines at once. They are com- 
pelled, by this system, to go from one room 
to another, and to accommodate themselves 
to differing hours of opening and to varying 
rules for the use of the books. Then, too, 
it frequently happens in the case of small li- 
braries that the books are kept in the office 
of the head of the department, and can only 
be consulted when he is in his office and at 
liberty. The difficulty is here greatly in- 
creased. I know of cases where even the in- 
structors in the same department have found 
difficulty in getting at the books, and the li- 
brary was, in effect, a private library for the 
head professor, supported out of university 
funds. If instructors cannot use the books, 
how can the student be expected to do so? 

There is a sentiment, false, perhaps, but 
nevertheless existing in the minds of many 
students, that any attempt to use the books 
under these circumstances is an endeavor to 
curry favor with the professor. This feeling 


GEROULD. 


49 


does not exist in connection with the use of 
the books at a central library. 

If a book in a departmental library is 
needed by a student in another department, 
he must either go to the department and put 
the custodian to the inconvenience of looking 
it up for him, or he must wait at the central 
library while a messenger goes for the book. 
His need of the book must be very pressing 
before he will do either. 

If the different fields of knowledge were 
sharply defined, the departmental system 
might be a practicable one, but such is not the 
case. The psychologist needs books bearing 
on philosophy, sociology, zoology and physics, 
the sociologist gathers his data from almost 
the whole field of human knowledge, the 
economist must use books on history and the 
historian books on economics. The system 
hampers him exceedingly in the selection and 
use of his material, or it compels the univer- 
sity to purchase a large body of duplicate ma- 
terial, and restricts, by so much, the growth 
of the real resources of the library. 

The system, it seems to me, induces nar- 
rowness of vision and a sort of specialization 
which is anything but scientific. Trending 
in the same direction is the separation of the 
books, in any given field, into two categories. 
The undergraduate may need some such se- 
lection, but any student who has gone beyond 
the elements of his subject should have at his 
command the entire resources of the library. 
The needs of the elementary student can be 
met by direct reference to certain books, or 
by setting aside the volumes required as spe- 
cial reference books and allowing free access 
to them. 

A large amount of our most valuable ma- 
terial is found in the publications of scien- 
tific and literary societies and in periodicals. 
In many cases these must be kept at the cen- 
tral library. They will be much more fre- 
quently read if the readers are using the cen- 
tral library and availing themselves of the in- 
formation given in the catalog. 

From the administrative point of view, 
there is nothing impossible in the organiza- 
tion of the departmental system, provided that 
finances of the library admit of the increased 
expenditure. As Mr. Bishop has pointed out 
in a recent number of the Library Journal. 


the element of cost seems to have been ut- 
terly left out of consideration in the recent 
discussions at the University of Chicago. It 
is possible that, with the immense resources 
of that institution, they may be able to ignore 
that factor, but most of us are compelled to 
reduce administrative expenditures to the 
lowest point consistent with good work. 

Aside from the cost of the duplication of 
books already noted, necessitated by the di- 
vision of the books among the different de- 
partments, there are the items of space and 
labor to be considered. It needs no argument 
to show that there is a great economy of 
space gained by the consolidation of all libra- 
ries, with the exceptions previously referred 
to, into one central building. An entire room 
is frequently given up to a departmental li- 
brary of three or four hundred volumes, when 
a few extra shelves and possibly a slight in- 
crease in the seating capacity of the reading 
room would accommodate it in the central 
library. The cost of maintenance, of heating 
and of lighting is also undoubtedly greater 
under the departmental arrangement. 

The greatest increase in expense is, how- 
ever, in the item of service. In order prop- 
erly to control a branch of this sort, an em- 
ploye of the library must be in constant at- 
tendance. The duties and responsibilities of 
such a position are so small that only the 
lowest paid grade of service can be employed 
with economy. The amount necessary to pay 
the salaries of such persons could, with much 
greater advantage to the whole institution, be 
used for the employment of a few specialists, 
highly trained in different lines, who would 
act as reference librarians in their respective 
fields. Our American libraries are, as a 
class, compared with those of foreign univer- 
sities, singularly deficient in this quality of 
assistance. Sooner or later we must supply 
this lack, and every move which tends in an- 
other direction must be examined with care. 

The university library exists for the whole 
university all of it for the whole university. 
In an ideal condition, every book in it should 
be available, at a moment's notice, if it is not 
actually in use. This should be our aim, and 
it should be from this viewpoint that we 
should judge the efficiency of our administra- 
tion and the value of any proposed change. 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


SUGGESTIONS FOR AN ANNUAL LIST OF AMERICAN THESES FOR THE 
DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY. 

BY WILLIAM WARNER BISHOP, Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. 


instruction and the degree of 
doctor of philosophy as its reward are 
not so novel and recent in America as to call 
for either explanation or definition. Neither 
are they so old as to require a history. Most 
of us can well remember when it became a 
common thing for American universities to 
have numerous candidates for the doctorate. 
At the present time there are several hundred 
students in our universities who are candi- 
dates for the doctor's degree and the number 
is increasing rapidly. 

A degree implies a dissertation, or, as it is 
more commonly and less correctly termed, a 
thesis. I need not here express any opinion 
as to the merits or defects of these documents 
as a class. What I wish to speak of is 
their value to university and college libraries, 
and the difficulty of discovering what dis- 
sertations are produced annually, and, for 
reference libraries, of procuring them when 
discovered. I presume the librarian who 
knows the specialist's insatiate greed for dis- 
sertations, programmen, and small pamphlets 
generally will need no words of mine to bring 
home to him the need of procuring as many 
of these documents as he can. Whatever we 
may say in derogation of doctors' disserta- 
tions and they have their faults they at 
least represent long-continued and careful 
investigation under supposedly competent di- 
rection, and the specialist must have them. 

It is a comparatively easy task to get 
him German and other foreign dissertations. 
The new ones are listed annually and the old 
ones load the shelves of the second-hand 
stores of Europe. But to find what is being 
produced here in this country is by no means 
a simple undertaking. And it behooves us, 
unless we tacitly admit that our American 
dissertations are not worth having, to take 
some steps toward bettering the present sit- 
uation. 


In order to ascertain the exact condition of 
things I have selected fifteen representative 
institutions which confer the degree of Doc- 
tor of Philosophy and have studied their re- 
quirements and conducted some correspon- 
dence with their librarians. These institu- 
tions have been selected purely as represent- 
ing various geographical and educational con- 
ditions, and omissions from the list are not 
1o be taken in malam partem. They are: (i) 
Brown, (2) Bryn Mawr, (3) California, (4) 
Chicago, (5) Columbia, (6) Cornell, (7) 
Harvard, (8) Johns Hopkins, (9) Michigan, 
tio) Nebraska, (n) Pennsylvania, (12) 
Princeton, (13) Stanford, (14) Wisconsin, 
and (15) Yale. 

The majority of these universities require 
that before the degree is conferred the thesis 
shall be printed and a fixed number of copies, 
ranging from 50 to 250, shall be deposited 
with some officer of the university or in the 
library. The statistics are as follows: 

California requires 150 copies. 

Chicago requires 100 copies. "Accepted 
theses become the property of the university." 

Columbia requires 150 copies. 

Cornell requires 50 copies. 

Michigan requires 150 copies. 

Nebraska requires 150 copies. 

Pennsylvania requires 250 copies. 

Stanford requires 100 copies. 

Wisconsin requires 100 copies. 

Two institutions, Bryn Mawr and Prince- 
ton, require the printing of the thesis, but 
make no requirement, so far as can be ascer- 
tained from the catalogs, that there shall be 
any deposit of copies. 

Johns Hopkins and Pennsylvania allow the 
thesis to be either written or printed; if 
printed, Johns Hopkins requires the deposit 
of 150 copies, Pennsylvania of 250, except un- 
der certain conditions which will appear later. 

Brown makes no requirement for deposit 


BISHOP. 


or for printing. Harvard provides that one 
copy either printed or written must be de- 
posited in the library. Yale requires that the 
"thesis must be deposited at the library for 
public inspection not later than May 1st" of 
the year in which the candidate expects to re- 
ceive the degree. 

Of these universities two only, Brown and 
California, print the titles of theses in the 
university catalog. 

The foregoing statements are taken from 
the annual catalogs for 1899-1900 of the uni- 
versities named, except in the case of Penn- 
sylvania, where the statement made in the 
catalog is supplemented from a letter received 
from the Dean. 

Although I presumed that most of the 
copies deposited in the libraries of the uni- 
versities were used for exchange, I wrote 
to the librarians of those universities which 
require the deposit of a number of printed 
copies, making inquiry regarding their sys- 
tems of exchange and provisions for the sale 
of copies not exchanged. I received replies 
from almost all. [These letters were read, 
the common condition being shown to be that 
most of the copies received by the libraries 
were exchanged with foreign institutions and 
other American universities. Varying condi- 
tions ranging from a refusal to sell any copies 
to a free distribution of copies not exchanged, 
was found to exist with regard to sale of 
theses by the libraries.] 

It will be seen from these replies that, if 
a library does not happen to be on the ex- 
change list of the university in which a thesis 
is written, and if the thesis is not printed in 
some journal or in the proceedings of some 
learned society, such a library stands very 
little chance either of learning of the pub- 
lication of a thesis or of procuring it from 
the author or from the university. That this 
is not much of an affliction in most cases I 
cheerfully admit. Still the small colleges 
which deliberately refuse to attempt gradu- 
ate work and, be it said to their honor, 


there are not a few of these and the large 
reference libraries which do not publish, have 
as much need of certain theses as the large 
universities, and they have no means of get- 
ting them easily. 

It appears to me, and I trust to you, that, 
if our American dissertations are worth any- 
thing, if they are valuable enough to preserve, 
if they are real contributions to knowledge 
and I believe that they are all of these then 
it is worth while to secure the publication of 
some list which will tell librarians and spe- 
cialists where to go to get copies, either 
from the author or from the university. It 
should not be difficult to secure co-operation 
in this matter. The number of theses printed 
and deposited in any one university in any one 
year is not large, and it certainly would not 
be a burden of alarming proportions to send 
titles to some central bureau. The difficulty 
will be to secure an editor and the funds for 
publishing the list. It would seem to me that 
some one of the large institutions whose li- 
braries publish bulletins and other matter, 
or possibly the Library of Congress might 
assume the expense as a matter of patriotic 
service to learning in the United States. And 
it might not be out of place for this section, 
should it care to follow up the matter, to 
enter into communication with them on the 
subject. It might be also, that some enter- 
prising publisher would be glad to undertake 
the task of both editing and publishit/g, if it 
could be shown him that he would thus do a 
favor to American libraries. 

One final word should be said before clos- 
ing. The inevitable delays incident to the 
publication of such a list would be more than 
offset by the delays in publishing theses. 
Many a man is called "Doctor" who has never 
received his diploma for that degree because 
his thesis remains unpublished. The laxity 
in this matter in some quarters is very great. 
It may be that such a publication of titles as 
I have proposed might perceptibly hasten the 
publication of theses. 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


OPPORTUNITIES. 


BY GRATIA COUNTRYMAN, Minneapolis {Minn.} Public Library. 


T F I were to sum up in these short moments 
the opportunities which lie before library 
workers, it would have to be an epitome of 
all that has been said at this conference and 
all previous conferences, and of all that has 
been written on library extension and influ- 
ence. Even then the opportunity which lies 
before you might not even be mentioned. 

I will not even try to enumerate the almost 
endless ways in which library usefulness may 
express itself, for these various ways are, 
after all, only different directions in which to 
use our one great opportunity of service to 
mankind. 

May we not think of a library as a dyna- 
mic force in the community, to be used for 
lifting the common level. There are so many 
forces at work in the nation pulling down 
and scattering ; but the hundreds of large and 
small libraries dotted over the country stand 
for social regeneration, stand for the build- 
ing up and perfecting of human society, stand 
for the joy and happiness of individual lives. 
And no matter how limited seems our own 
small field, it is a piece of the great domain 
of helpful activity. 

It is not always easy, after a hard and tire- 
some day of small and perplexing duties, to 
see beyond our wall of weariness. Yet noth- 
ing is more restful than to feel that we are 
contributing our part to a great work, and 
that we, in our place, are a part of one of the 
great building-up movements of the century. 

I will not soon forget what Mr. Lane said 
in his president's address at the Atlanta con- 
ference. I would like to quote largely, but 
this sentence serves. He said : "What a priv- 
ilege that we are always free to place our- 
selves at the service of another. Most pro- 
fessions are so engrossed by their own work 
that they have no time to serve the needs of 
others, but it is the business of the librarian 
to serve. He is paid for knowing how." 

It is peculiarly true that the librarian's 
business is to put himself and the library un- 
der his custody at the complete disposal of 


the people. It is his business to watch their 
interests and to think in advance for their 
needs. 

The librarian must have, in Mrs. Brown- 
ing's words, 

". . . both head and heart; 
Both active, both complete and both in earnest." 

Our opportunities, then, are not something 
which lie to one side, to be especially thought 
of, but are the very heart of our business 
of our profession. 

I have been wondering if there is not an 
element of discouragement to the librarian of 
the small library, in such a conference as this, 
or even to us who fill subordinate places in 
large libraries. We get so many new ideas, 
we get so many plans which other libraries 
are putting into operation. We know we can- 
not put them into practice, we know well 
enough that we shall go home and do just 
what we have been doing, with small quar- 
ters, with cramped revenues, with possibly 
unsympathetic trustees who take unkindly to 
our new-born enthusiasm. There seems to be 
the possibility of so much, but the opportunity 
for doing so little, and then our limitations 
seem more apparent than our opportunities. 
The assistant in the larger library says, "I 
wish I could be the librarian of a small li- 
brary, they have so much better an oppor- 
tunity for coming into close contact with the 
people," and the librarian of the little li- 
brary who does her own accessioning, cata- 
loging, record keeping, charging, reference 
work, etc., with one brain and one pair of 
hands, says, "Oh, if we were only a little 
larger library, with more money, and with 
more help, I might do so many things that 
other libraries do." 

Carlyle says, "Not what I have, but what 
I do, is my kingdom," and I take that to 
mean in library work that my opportunity is 
not what I could do if I held some other po- 
sition in some other library, but what I can do 
under present conditions with present means. 
Success does not lie with those who contin- 


COUNTRYMAN. 


53 


ually wish for something they haven't got, 
but with those who do the best possible thing 
with the things they have. "It is not so much 
the ship as the skilful sailing that assures a 
prosperous voyage." It is not so much a 
great collection of books and a fine technical 
organization as the personal character of the 
man or woman who stands as a bridge be- 
tween the books and the people. Your op- 
portunity and mine does not lie in our cir- 
cumstances, but in ourselves, and in our abil- 
ity to see and to grasp the coveted oppor- 
tunity. We are reminded of the pious darkey 
who prayed every night just before Christ- 
mas, "Dear Lord, send dis darkey a turkey." 
Christmas came dangerously near, and there 
was no prospect of a turkey. So the night 
before Christmas he grew desperate, and 
prayed, "Dear Lord, send dis darkey to a tur- 
key." That night the turkey came. Even so 
it is with our opportunities. 

There are three classes of people toward 
whom the library has a special mission : the 
children, the foreigner, and the working classes. 

i. As to the children, we have been hearing 
considerably about them in this conference. 
Mr. Hutchins in the Wisconsin meeting said 
that a good book did more good in a country 
boy's home than in the city boy's. When the 
country boy takes a book home he and all his 
family devour it, but the town boy reads his 
book and exchanges it, and no one in the 
house perhaps even knows that he has read 
it. Well, that is a subject for thought. If 
his family or teachers do not watch his read- 
ing, it becomes a serious thing for the libra- 
rian who chooses and buys his books for him. 
Perhaps the library is not large enough to 
have a children's department or to send books 
into the schools, or to do any specialized 
children's work, but it can make judicious 
selection of books, and being small can know 
individual cases among the children. It is 
not so hard to find out the children one by 
one who need some care and interest, to learn 
their names and to find out something about 
their families. They say that letters cut light- 
ly in the bark of a sapling show even more 
plainly in the grown tree. A boy whom no 
one has reached comes into your library. By 
a little watchful care he reads some wonder- 
ful life, learns some of the marvellous forces 


in God's creation, opens his eyes to the glow- 
ing sunsets or to the springing blades of 
grass; suddenly knows the dignity of human 
nature and his own growing self. His aspir- 
ations are born, his ambition is awakened, 
his life is changed. Library records have not 
one, but many such cases. 

The home library is a method of reaching 
children which is not used enough by the 
smaller libraries. Branches and stations may 
not be practicable, but a group of 15 to 25 
books taken into sections of a town by some 
friendly woman, on the plan of the home li- 
braries, could be carried out in almost any 
town. The librarian might not have time, but 
she could find people who would do it, if she 
set the work to going. 

2. As to the foreigners, Europe has used 
us for a dumping ground for considerable 
moral and political refuse. We have the 
problem of making good citizens out of much 
wretched material, and next to the children 
there is no greater opportunity for the library. 
Even the smallest library ought to study ways 
and means of getting at the foreign element. 
It would almost pay to make a canvass of the 
town, to see that these people are reached and 
that they know about the library. If books 
in their own language are necessary to draw 
them, then it is the best investment you can 
make. 

3. But in reality the library does its great 
work among the mass of common working 
people. It is the quiet side which makes no 
showing, but it has always been the telling 
side. From the common people spring most 
of our readers. They do our work, they fight 
our battles, they need our inspiration. For 
them you make your libraries attractive, for 
them you make careful selections of books 
the student does not need your pains for 
their sake you identify yourself with every 
local interest. You fix your hours for open- 
ing and closing to accommodate these work- 
ing people. You make your rules and regu- 
lations just as elastic as possible, that they 
may not be debarred from any privilege. They 
do not ask favors, but after all this great mass 
of common people whose lives are more or 
less barren and empty are the ones to which 
the library caters in a quiet, unadvertised way. 
It is the great opportunity which we scarcely 


54 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


think of as an opportunity at all. It is just the 
daily routine. Millions of people know little 
more than a mechanical life, what they shall 
eat, drink and wear. Many can touch 
their horizons all around with a sweep of 
their hands, so narrow is their circle. They 
live in the basements of their spiritual tem- 
ples, and never rise to the level of their best 
ability. They have no joy of life, of abundant 
life. The library performs a great service to 
society when it has furnished information to 
the people, when it has been an educational 
factor, but it has performed a greater one 
when it has awakened a man and put him into 
possession of his own powers. 


Well, this is not a very specific setting 
forth of the ways in which we can extend the 
work of a small library. The way must vary 
greatly with the conditions, but the spirit of 
the work runs through all conditions. If I 
should name the qualifications of a good li- 
brarian, I would give them in the following 
order, according to importance: 

1. Genuine character, with broad natural 
sympathies. 

2. Courteous, kindly manners. 

3. Education, general and technical. 

Any such librarian, with only a fairly 
equipped library, will find her opportunity at 
her hand. 


SOME PRINCIPLES OF BOOK AND PICTURE SELECTION. 
BY G. E. WIRE, M.D., LL.B., Worcester County (Mass.) Law Library. 


i. Books and pictures should be suited to 
the constituency. This may seem so trite, so 
self-evident as to need no statement, much 
less any argument to support it. But on sober 
second thought, all will agree that it needs 
constant reiteration and appreciation. All of 
us are familiar with libraries of course not 
our own in which we detect glaring incon- 
sistencies in book selection. The story used 
to be told of one library commission that in 
its first epoch it used to send the books on 
agriculture to the sea-coast, and books on 
fish curing to the hill country. This is now 
strenuously denied but there may be more 
truth than poetry in it after all. 

In the case of large, 50,000 v. libraries and 
over, less care need be taken, both on ac- 
count of expenditure of money and on account 
of worthlessness of the book itself. A few 
hundred dollars' worth of rubbish, more or 
less, does not count and almost any book 
no matter how poor comes in use some time. 
But in the case of the small, 5000 v. library or 
under, with little money to expend and the 
whole realm of knowledge to cover, it is dif- 
ferent. Of course the covering will be scan- 
ty and thin, but it will do for the first layer. 
They should buy but few books in philosophy 
and religion, more in sociology, only the 
latest and most popular in the arts and sci- 
ences, comparatively fewer in literature and 
more in history, biography and travel. 


Of course fiction, adult and juvenile, must 
also be bought and at first a disproportionately 
larger amount in many cases. Too much re- 
liance should not be placed on what some 
larger library has or on what the neighboring 
library has. 

Avoid imitation and duplication, especially 
the latter. Now that inter-library loans are 
coming in, each small library in the more 
thickly settled portions of the country may be 
able to supplement its neighbor. Travelling 
libraries should also help out the smaller li- 
braries which can ill afford to sink a large 
part of their annual book-fund in evanescent 
fiction, which soon moulds on the shelves. 

As the commissions become better organ- 
ized, they should also be able to send ex- 
pensive reference works for the use of study 
clubs, and so help the small libraries all the 
more. 

The needs of the constituency should be 
carefully studied and the most pressing should 
be attended to at first, others can wait. As 
to buying technical books for those engaged 
in manufacturing, I think a more conserva- 
tive policy is now favored. Better wait a 
while and feel your way before spending much 
on these high priced books which rapidly go 
out of date. Theoretically the operatives of a 
cotton mill should be much interested in all 
that relates to cotton,, but practically when 
their hours of drudgery are over they are 


WIRE. 


55 


more inclined to a novel, if inclined to read 
anything. And how much encouragement have 
they to read in most factories? Better begin 
with the owners, who may be on your board, 
or the superintendent, who may live on your 
street. As liberal purchases as possible 
should be made in reference books always 
selecting the latest and freshest to start on. 
For example Seyffert's "Antiquities," Bui- 
finch's "Age of fable," and Murray's "My- 
thology" will serve better than Smith's books, 
now out of date and expensive beyond all 
return for the money invested in them. More 
will be said along this line under head of 
cost. Of course in a library of this size, no 
foreign books should be bought other than 
perhaps some fiction. 

I thoroughly believe in America for Amer- 
icans. Foreigners would not buy our books 
under the same circumstances and why should 
we buy theirs? Reciprocity is good policy. 
Even in the case of English books most of 
those on geology, botany, zoology, on fishing 
and hunting, are valueless to us, by reason of 
climatic, or other local conditions. Their lo- 
cal history and antiquities are quite as un- 
profitable for most of our public libraries. 

2. As to the matter of outside experts. 
Most of us have seen bad examples of the 
work of outside experts, in fact I think we are 
safe in saying there are more bad than good 
examples. In the case of arts and sciences 
it is quite the fashion to refer the book list 
to the nearest high school or college profes- 
sor, with the idea that in his line he knows 
all there is to be known about these books. 
In some cases he is practically given carte 
blanche and his selection is bought without 
a murmur. The natural consequence is that 
in many libraries are to be found high priced 
technical works of momentary interest, fit 
only for class-room or laboratory use, too deep 
for general reading and soon out of date. 
Most of these so-called experts are not even 
competent to select works for their own de- 
partment, let alone the public library. 

Personal bias, the quarrels of investigators, 
loyalty to instructors, jealousy of other work- 
ers in the same lines are powerful factors 
which far outweigh the question of real merit. 
In New England many of the libraries are 
overloaded with good, blue, orthodox the- 


ology, bought on the suggestion and for the 
sole use of the dominie who was on the li- 
brary committee. It was a glorious oppor- 
tunity for him and it has rarely been ne- 
glected. These libraries are now really ad- 
dicted to this habit ; it has become a species 
of intoxication with them and they continue 
the pernicious practice. 

3. Choice by committee. One of the latest 
fads is selection by voting or by committee. 
This usually results in a mediocre selection, all 
the really good books or pictures being left 
out, or else a preponderance of votes for a 
few favorites. Votmg choice is seen in the 
list of books sent out each year from New 
York State Library as a result of voting by 
members of the New York State Library As- 
sociation. This is a list of the 50 best books 
for a village library from a list of 500 books, 
including fiction, adult and juvenile. Of 
course fiction takes a large per cent., while 
the remaining few books make a most patchy 
lot. The first list is too large and the last 
list is too small. Another publication by the 
Regents of the State of New York is a list 
of pictures for schools not so much selected 
as neglected by a jury of 75 persons. Between 
religious prejudice, prudishness, peace policy 
and finical art criticism only the husks of 
architecture and stately ruins are left for 
the youths of the Empire State to gaz* upon. 
Think of leaving out the "Sistine Madonna," 
"1807," "Christ in the Temple," "Queen 
Louise" and the "Horse fair." Some of these 
were omitted in cold blood because they were 
"poor and popular" and "pupils would like 
them and should not." Most of us, however, 
have gotten beyond the idea of trying to make 
people read George Eliot when they want 
Mary Jane Holmes. Nothing I have seen in 
the nature of criticism is so cold, hard and re- 
pelling as this. It is to be hoped no other 
state will follow this example, but that is 
just the perniciousness of such lists made out 
by people who are supposed to be experts, 
but who too often fail worse than common 
mortals. This whole matter of selection by 
committee is virtually begging the question of 
individual responsibility. 

4. Choice by librarian experts. Thi.s seems 
to be the most satisfactory solution of the 
problem. It is true that many if not most 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


of the existing small (5000-10,000) libra- 
ries have not or can not afford a trained li- 
brarian. But it is also true that more and 
more are employing trained people as organ- 
izers and an increasing number are retaining 
their organizer as librarian. It is their study 
and their business to know what books are 
best suited to the needs of the community. 
Even should we go beyond that into the larger 
public library, the reference library or the 
college library I still hold that the librarian, is 
the best judge of books for the library. His 
taste is sure to be more catholic, wholly un- 
biassed and he makes a more even and better 
rounded selection on the whole. In the small 
public library he is able to carefully study the 
constituency and then knowing what books 
are standard in other places he makes the 
necessary allowances for the case in hand. 
The time has, I trust, wholly gone by when the 
local editor, local clergyman, and local school- 
master have the pleasure of picking out their 
favorite books, or of ordering "standard sets" 
or the "classics" in history and literature at 
the public expense. Most of these books are 
on the shelves to-day faded but not worn, 
the leaves not even cut and usually only the 
first volume slightly used. 

Of course books in useful art and sciences 
were largely overlooked. Nowadays libra- 
ry committees are turning more and more to 
the librarian, knowing that he has ma4e a 
study of book selection and that they will get 
better results to leave it with him. This is 
as it should be and the librarian should not 
lower himself by going o.utside for assistance 
on any line. I count it as slipshod and a con- 
fession of ignorance for any librarian to 
tag around after outside "experts." Let him 
study up his subject and master it himself. 
There are only a few in which he cannot 
easily surpass outsiders, and profiting by his 
knowledge of the many, which enables him 
to do that part quickly and easily, let him 
pay more attention to the hard and less fa- 
miliar subjects. The librarian who delights in 
religion, philosophy or folklore says of lists 
on biology, botany, steam-engineering or sani- 
tation "I leave all that to Professor So and 


So of course he knows all about it." Why 
should he, more than the librarian? What is 
the librarian for, if not to know things? Is 
it not time to turn from the material things 
and concern ourselves more with a higher 
standard of scholarship and more outside 
work in our profession? And for the small 
libraries of 5000 v. or under there are the 
library commissions who are supposed to, and 
do, advise them. There is difference with the 
commissions, some are in closer touch with 
the local situation than others, some are more 
conscientious than others about costly books, 
and some are given to this "expert" business 
which 1 have named, but on the whole they 
are doing good work and bid fair to do better. 
5. Matter of cost. This should be care- 
fully considered. I hold it to be little short 
of criminal to recommend high priced books 
for libraries of limited means. By high priced 
books I mean those costing over $5 a volume. 
This of course does not apply to reference 
books. And yet in one annual list such books 
constantly appear, as not only suggestions but, 
considering the source, as recommendations 
or even commands. I am thankful the Wis- 
consin Library Commission has taken up this 
work systematically and is doing all it can to 
discourage such foolish waste of money. The 
worst example is the "Encyclopaedia Brit- 
annica" now from 25 to 10 years behind the 
times and never a satisfactory book of refer- 
ence at its best. Take De Bry's "Mycetazoa," 
it stands on the shelves of dozens of libra- 
ries, leaves uncut, totally unused, each copy 
meaning at least four dollars wasted money. 
These are only given as an example there 
might be hundreds of them. There are scores 
of books now published and more coming out 
every day on various questions of philosophy, 
sociology, science, art and particularly litera- 
ture and history priced from $i to $2.50 which 
are far superior for practical purposes to the 
heavy weight monographs at $5 a volume and 
upwards. You thus get two or three books on 
the same subject for the money, and in a 
small library this is a vital question. The 
money must bring in the largest possible num- 
ber of good books. 


HEW INS. 


57 


BOOK REVIEWS, BOOK LISTS, AND ARTICLES ON CHILDREN'S READING: 
ARE THEY OF PRACTICAL VALUE TO THE CHILDREN'S LIBRARIAN? 

BY CAROLINE M. HEWINS, Hartford (Ct.) Public Library. 


A CHILDREN'S librarian has three 
sources of reliance in the choice or 
purchase of books. They are: i, Book re- 
views in current or earlier periodicals; 2, 
Lists, graded or ungraded, for libraries; 3, 
Articles on children's reading in books or 
periodicals. 

I. The children's librarian, or any librarian, 
who orders children's books from reviews 
often finds the books entirely different from 
what the description has led her to suppose. 
Even if there is no positive untruth in a no- 
tice, it is often misleading from the lack of 
a standard of comparison with the best books 
for children. 

The papers oftenest taken in a country 
household or small library are a daily or 
semi-weekly from the nearest large town or 
city, a religious weekly, and an agricultural 
weekly or monthly, sometimes all three, 
oftener only one or two, and it is from the 
notices and advertisements with quoted no- 
tices in these papers that estimates of books 
must often be formed. Libraries and library 
trustees who send book lists from such 
sources as these to a state public library com- 
mission are often surprised that they do not 
receive what they ask for, and write anxious 
inquiries as to why certain books have not 
been bought. "There surely can be no ob- 
jection to them," they say, "for we took the 
titles from reviews in the or or ," 
naming denominational papers. Now, lest 
the Children's Section should be accused 
of unfairness and denominational prejudices, 
I shall quote no reviews from these papers, 
except one which came from a leading re- 
ligious weekly taken by the household in 
whose pew I have a seat. It is of Eden Phill- 
potts' "Human boy," a series of sketches of 
English schoolboy life, which is dismissed with 
this remarkable sentence: "The scene here, 
too, is in the west, and various hunting ex- 
periences are recorded." The librarian who 


orders that book for boys greedy for big 
game will be disappointed! 

Such a mistake as this is not common, but 
reviews in both religious and secular papers 
are often perfunctory and meaningless. One 
reason of this is that many books are pub- 
lished for the Christmas trade, between the 
I5th of September and the isth of December, 
when they come into newspaper offices with 
a rush, until they are piled in stacks on the 
desk of the hapless reriewer, and hastily no- 
ticed, sometimes by title only. In a new edi- 
tion of Elizabeth Sheppard's fine, but forgot- 
ten novel, "Rumour," whose keynote is the 
quotation from "Lycidas" on the title-page, 

"Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, 
Nor in the glistering foil 

Set off to the world, nor in broad Rumour lies, 
But lives and spreads aloft in those pure eyes 
And perfect witness of all-judging Jove," 

the reviewer did not understand the meaning 
of the lines, and called the book "a good ex- 
ample of the working, influence, and effect of 
rumour." On one of our own local papers 
not long ago there was a review of Mrs. 
Barr's "Maid of Maiden Lane," which was 
referred to as the sequel to her "Beau of 
Orange River." Even in newspapers fortu- 
nate enough to command the services of spe- 
cialists for history and science, and an addi- 
tional critic for novels, the children's books 
are hastily noticed, sometimes by the young- 
est reporter in his spare minutes. In smaller 
offices the task of reviewing all books falls to 
the hard-worked editor, who is, like Jacob 
Riis, also his own "reporter, publisher and 
advertising agent," but whose sense of liter- 
ary values is often not in proportion to his 
knowledge of state politics or local reforms. 

It is unfortunate that in the newspapers of 
as high a class as the Outlook, Independent 
and Dial the notices of children's books are 
often carelessly written, and show the lack of 
a standard of comparison. In the Outlook 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


for Nov. 27, 1897, Richard Pryce's "Element- 
ary Jane," a most unchildlike book, is classed 
among books for children, and "Pansy" and 
"Elsie" are recommended in other numbers. 

In the Independent, where notices of books 
for older readers are written with discrim- 
ination, Ellis's "Klondike nuggets" is de- 
scribed : "Full of lively adventures and ex- 
citing experiences, and is told in a straight- 
forward, off-hand style just suited to the 
purpose." (Oct. 6, 1898.) There is nothing 
absolutely untrue in this, but there is noth- 
ing to guide a reader in comparing it with 
better books. One of Alger's heroes is men- 
tioned as "An admirable boy with wonderful 
ability to take care of himself" (Oct. 20, 
1898), and a book by Stratemeyer as "a stir- 
ring tale, told with enthusiasm." (Oct. 6, 
1898.) Stratemeyer is an author who mixes 
"would" and "should," has the phraseology of a 
country newspaper, as when he calls a supper 
"an elegant affair" and a girl "a fashionable 
miss," and follows Oliver Optic closely in his 
plots and conversations. 

Mrs. Cheever's "Little Mr. Van Vere of 
China," with its cheap sentiment and well- 
worn plot of a stolen child coming to his own 
at last, is commended as "well made, well 
illustrated." (Dial, Dec. 6, 1898.) A notice. 
in the religious paper mentioned above says, 
"He is a thoroughly fascinating little fellow, 
and his story is told most acceptably." One 
of Amanda Douglas's tales is spoken of as 
"A story with a fine moral influence, yet not 
preachy, in the end leaving in the reader's 
mind the sense of having been in good com- 
pany." (Independent, Dec. 15, 1898.) 

One notice of "Elsie on the Hudson" is : 
"The multitude of young people who have 
read the Elsie books, by Martha Finley, will 
eagerly welcome this volume by the same au- 
thor. It has to do with American history in 
the days of the Revolutionary war, and the 
style is simple and pleasing." In another: 
"Miss Martha Finley continues also the in- 
struction which is mixed up with that young 
woman's experiences." (Dial, Dec. 6, 1898.) 

It is, I think, the same periodical, though 
I have not been able to verify the quotation, 
which commends Harry Steele Morrison's 
"Yankee boy's success" thus : "The book is 
interesting, full of push and go. Boys will 


read it with a gusto; yet they must remem- 
ber that what this lucky Yankee boy did is 
not what they all can do." Another number 
which puts a just estimate on Master Morri- 
son as a "very unlovely and unpleasant sort 
of boy, whose impudence and enterprise 
ought later to fit him for a place on a yellow 
journal," entirely mistakes the purpose of 
Pugh's "Tony Drum," a realistic story of 
London slum life, and classes it as a book for 
boys. (Dial, Dec. 16, 1898.) 

The Outlook says of Frances Hodgson Bur- 
nett's mawkish "Editha's burglar," which was 
well parodied in Punch by Anstey in his 
"Burglar Bill": "This story of the queer, 
loving little girl and her daring and success- 
ful effort to protect her mother, and the 
equally queer burglar, is too well known in 
play and story to need comment." (Dec. 10, 
1898.) This story is in almost all library and 
school lists, even the best selected and classi- 
fied. The same number calls "Mr. Van Vere" 
"a charming story." (The adjective is used 
for four different works for young people in 
that week's grist.) 

Even Noah Brooks, in a signed article in. 
the Bookbuyer (Dec., 1898), gives praise to 
Drysdale and Stratemeyer, commends the un- 
interesting Chilhowee books, refers to Pansy's 
as "strong and helpful," and one of Amanda 
Douglas's as "rich in chastened and refined 
sentiment." He mentions Oliver P. Tunk's 
"Awful alphabet" as "a fit companion for 'A 
coon alphabet.' " Perhaps it is, but when li- 
braries and schools are circulating Jane An- 
drews's "Seven little sisters" to teach the 
brotherhood and sisterhood of all nations, and 
teachers, in the language of Professor Thurs- 
ton, of the Chicago Normal School, are "en- 
couraging each nationality to contribute the 
best it has of song, story, game, home cus- 
toms and occupations to the life of the 
school," it is wrong to buy a book for a white 
child in which black children are held up to 
ridicule, as they have been many times in 
Harper's Young People. "Blackberries" and 
"Comical Coons" are also recommended in 
the Dial (Dec. 16, 1897), where Gertrude 
Smith's "Ten little comedies," a book en- 
tirely different in spirit from her "Arabella 
and Araminta" stories ; Marion Harland's 
"Old-field school girl," which has a story of 


HEW INS. 


59 


horrible cruelty of a schoolmaster to a child, 
and is not meant for children ; the silly 
"Elaine" book, and the equally silly and some- 
times coarse "Father Goose" are favorably 
reviewed. 

The Nation's reviews of children books 
have lately not been up to the old standard, 
as for instance a review of Sydney Reid's 
would-be funny "Josey and the chipmunk" 
(Dec. 13, 1900), which is called "a perfectly 
delightful child's book, nearly as good as the 
'Alice' books, and, indeed, might be pro- 
nounced quite as good if Lewis Carroll, like 
Shakespeare, had not 'thought of it first.' " 

It will be seen by these instances that re- 
views help children's librarians very little, 
and that it is impossible under present condi- 
tions for a library to determine the worth of 
a book without seeing it. 

2. There have been in the last 25 years 
many lists of children's books by libraries, 
schools, denominational societies and other 
organizations. The earlier lists, although in- 
teresting to a student of the evolution of 
the Children's Section, have so many books 
out of print or superseded that they do not 
concern us now, except in that they are not 
made for very young children, and often have 
a profusion of material which is over the 
heads of boys and girls below, or even in, the 
high school age. Some of them are made 
from hearsay or from other book lists, with- 
out an intimate knowledge, or indeed any 
knowledge at all, of books recommended, as 
in the following instance : A paper read at a 
library meeting and afterward printed in the 
report of a state librarian describes the "li- 
brary ladder" as "a list of books beginning 
with a tale of adventure. From this the 
reader's attention will be drawn to the next 
in order, leading on and out, until finally the 
child will be unconsciously delving into the 
mysteries of science; for example, we could 
first take Butterworth's Indian story, 'The 
wampum belt' ; next, Brooks's 'Story of the 
American Indian' ; from this lead to Ban- 
croft's 'Native races/ and finally various 
United States histories." 

Any one who has ever seen the five pon- 
derous volumes of Bancroft's "Native races 
of the Pacific States" knows that although it 
has some value as a work of reference, not 


as a history, for older readers, it is entirely 
useless as a stepping-stone for children, who 
can easily go without its aid from Brooks's, 
or better, Grinnell's "Story of the Indian" to 
a good one-volume United States history, or 
even to John Fiske or Parkman. It is no 
more meant for boys and girls than the other 
thirty-four volumes on the history of the 
Pacific coast completed by Bancroft and his 
corps of assistants. 

Some tests of a library or school list are: 
Are the books in it chosen for their perma- 
nent value? Has the maker of the list read 
them? Will it tell an overworked teacher or 
librarian what the best modern straight- 
forward stories in simple English are, the 
best life of Lafayette without any long words 
like "evacuation," or the best account of a 
salamander in language that a child of 10 can 
understand? A list for teachers is not a help 
in choosing books for children, unless from 
the point of view of child-study, which has 
another place than on the shelves of a chil- 
dren's room. 

"In one list the "Dotty Dimple" and 
"Flaxie Frizzle" books are recommended for 
the third-reader grade. Children who are in 
this grade cannot read the ungrammatical 
baby-talk easily, and if they could it would 
demoralize their English. 

Another has for the seventh grade a part 
of the "Library of wonders," translated from 
the French, and out of date 20 years ago. 
Teachers should be careful in buying books 
of popular science that they are modern, and 
also written in a style that makes them at- 
tractive to boys and girls. In a long experi- 
ence in libraries I have never found that boys 
and girls liked the "Library of wonders." 

A third, for children under 10 years of age, 
includes Miss Plympton's "Dear daughter 
Dorothy," and even in one of the best and 
most recent graded lists it is annotated as a 
"story of devotion and comradeship between 
a father and his young daughter." Now 
"Dear daughter Dorothy" is the best speci- 
men I have ever seen of a kind of book to be 
kept out of libraries and homes, the story of 
a little eight-year-old girl, who has the en- 
tire control of the $1200 earned yearly by her 
father, a bookkeeper with literary aspira- 
tions. He is arrested on a charge of em- 


6o 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


bezzlement, found guilty in the face of his 
daughter's testimony, but at last acquitted 
through the confession of the real criminal* 
and he and that important little personage, 
Dorothy, who takes all hearts by storm, sail 
for England escorted to the ship by a crowd 
of admiring friends, including the judge who 
sentenced him. 

The next list has Mrs. Burnett's "Little 
Saint Elizabeth," a morbid tale, and with it a 
reproduction of "Prince Fairyfoot," a story 
which the author read when she was a child 
in a book that she never could find again. 
In order to understand the pertness and flip- 
pancy of her style in this story, one has only 
to compare it with the original, reprinted 
within a few months in Frances Browne's 
"Wonderful chair," or "Granny's wonderful 
chair," as it is called in one edition. A few 
lines in the simple, direct English of the old 
fairy tales, are expanded by Mrs. Burnett 
into eight or 10 pages, with attempts at wit 
and allusions to unhappy married life, which 
should be kept out of books for children. 

The same article in the Nation which gives 
high praise to "Josey and the chipmunk" 
thinks "The wonderful chair" prosy, but I 
have tested it on children who do not enjoy 
stories unless they are simply told, and have 
found that it holds their attention. 

Books on differences of religious belief, 
books written in a style or on subjects beyond 
the years of boys and girls, scientific books 
that are inaccurate or out of date, books that 
make children despise their elders, or have an 
overweening sense of their own importance, 
and books that are cheap, slangy, flippant, or 
written in bad English, dialect or baby-talk, 
should have no place in a school list, and 
books on poor paper and in poor type ard bind- 
ing should also be kept out. There are books 
that tell stories of wholesome, well-bred chil- 
dren ; fairy tales in the simple, old*- fashioned 
style; out-of-door books that are not dull or 
aggressively instructive; and selections from 
the best poetry to choose, from. There is 
room yet for the right kind of histories that 
are interesting without being babyish, and ac- 
curate without being dull. 

Lists are often made in entire ignorance of 
the limitations of the children who are to use 
the books recommended in them. A well- 


intentioned paper suggests for children of 
eight or over Ebers' "Uarda" and Thiers' 
"French Revolution" as attractive historical 
works. In science it mentions Hooker's books, 
which are quite out of date, and in biography 
Lockhart's Scott and Forster's Dickens, which 
not one boy or girl in a hundred would read 
through, great as is their charm. Bryce's 
"American commonwealth" is also named. 
This list has either been made up from books 
that the compiler has heard of as classics, or 
else she is not in the habit of associating on 
familiar terms with boys and girls, even of 
high school age. This paper recommends 
Sophie May for very young children, and 
also the "Story of liberty," which a mother 
in the New York Times says is in the library 
of her daughter of eight. This is a mother 
who would not allow a child to read Scott's 
novels till 14 or 15, and thinks Dickens too 
sad for even that age ! 

The hundred books recommended in the 
St. Nicholas for March, 1900, made up from 
many competing lists, are nearly all good. A 
few, like Mrs. Richards' "Captain January," 
Mrs. Wiggin's "The Birds' Christmas Carol," 
and Munroe's "Through swamp and glade" 
have no permanent value. If one of Mun- 
roe's books is to be included it should be 
"The flamingo feather," or "Derrick Ster- 
ling," both of which are well worth reading 
many times and are great favorites w?th chil- 
dren. The defect in the list is the same just 
spoken of, that too many of the books are for 
boys and girls from 10 to 14 years old of 
bookish families, and that little attention is 
paid to younger or less carefully trained chil- 
dren. 

One list puts into the first primary grade, 
or fourth year of school, for children nine 
or 10 years old, Abbott's "Cyrus," "Darius," 
"Xerxes," and other heroes, and Fiske's "War 
of independence," all of which are entirely 
beyond the grasp of 499 children out of 500 
under 12 or 14. Lists should be shorter, and 
not too closely divided. A division, "Easy 
books," should include whatever children need 
until they can read without difficulty, and 
should contain books like Longman's adapted 
stories from the "Blue fairy book" and the 
earlier volumes of the "Ship" English his- 
tory, Baldwin's "Fifty famous stories retold" 


HEW1NS. 


61 


and Eggleston's "Great Americans for little 
Americans." 

In one case where books are not classified 
by grade, Horace Bushnell's "Woman suf- 
frage," Hinsdale's "President Garfield and 
education," and Wright's "Industrial evolu- 
tion of the United States" are in the same 
class with Emilie Poulsson's "Through the 
farmyard gate," with no discrimination as to 
the age for which any one of the four is in- 
tended. Three are beyond the understanding 
of boys and girls below high school age, and 
if in school libraries should be for teachers 
only, and the fourth is a book of kindergar- 
ten stories. 

A book which is often commended by teach- 
ers and librarians is Coffin's "Story of liber- 
ty," which I said nearly 20 years ago "is so 
fierce in its Protestantism and so bloody in 
its details that it causes pain to many a sensi- 
tive child." The pictures are too horrible for 
a child to see, and the book, like any other 
which wars against any form of religious 
belief, should not be allowed in a public 
school. 

Some lists admit the "Elsie" books, tear- 
fully sentimental and priggish, where the 
heroine is held up as a saint and martyr for 
refusing to obey an entirely reasonable re- 
quest of her father, and where money, fine 
clothes, and love-making at an early age hold 
too prominent a place. 

In one list, one of Mayne Reid's books is 
annotated, "To read carefully any volume of 
this author is to acquire a considerable knowl- 
edge of the trees, the flowers, the animals, 
the insects, and the human creatures existing 
in the region where the story takes place." 
In Mayne Reid's "Desert home" maple sugar 
trees are tapped in the autumn and yield 
nearly a hundred pounds of sugar. Emer- 
son's "Trees and shrubs of Massachusetts" 
states that although sap will flow in summer 
and early autumn, it has but little saccharine 
matter. Mayne Reid's stories as stories are 
delightful for children to read, but should 
never be used as aids to geography lessons. 

One library offers its boy-and-girl readers 
Bushnell's "Moral uses of dark things," Mrs. 
Campbell's "Problems of poverty," Ely's 
"Labor movement in America" and Shinn's 
"Mining camps." 

The lists made by James M. Sawin, of 


Providence, are good and suggestive, but bet- 
ter for older than younger children, includ- 
ing, however, for beginners in reading some 
excellent old favorites like Mrs. Pollen's 
"Twilight stories," and for children a little 
older a book that ought to be in print, Paul 
de Musset's "Mr. Wind and Madam Rain." 

The Milwaukee list for children under 10 
is good for the most part, but includes "Dear 
daughter Dorothy" and "Editha's burglar." 

Mrs. Whitney's list of "Books not usually 
selected by young people" (first published in 
the Bulletin of Bibliography} is for the most 
part beyond the grammar-school age, includ- 
ing such books as Sismondi's "Literature of 
the south of Europe" and Ragozin's "Vedic 
India." It is unclassified, good and not too 
American. 

The Buffalo Public Library lists are the 
best that I have found, thoroughly practical, 
well chosen, and in the pamphlet entitled 
"Classroom libraries for public schools" well 
graded as far as one can judge. The grading of 
schools varies so much in different cities that it 
is impossible unless one knows exactly what 
"four" or "eight" or ''nine" represents to say 
whether books are suitable for it. A list of 
this kind cannot be made without a thorough 
understanding between librarian and teachers, 
a thorough knowledge of the condition of the 
schools and the home-life of the children on 
the part of the librarian, and a knowledge of 
books on the part of the teachers. 

The graded and annotated list from the 
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is for teach- 
ers, not children, and has many suggestive 
notes, but will bear weeding. 

Many lists are almost entirely American, 
and seem at first sight narrow and one-sided. 
A little thought and knowledge of the condi- 
tions under which they are made shows the 
cause of this apparent fault. City lists are 
made for schools which are full of children 
of newly-arrived emigrants, whose first de- 
sire, as soon as they can read English at all, 
is to know something of the great free coun- 
try to which they have come. It is to supply 
this demand that many simple United States 
histories and historical stories relating to this 
country have been put upon the market in the 
last five years, almost to the exclusion of 
other books of the kind. Teachers and libra- 
rians should remember in making lists that 


62 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


there are other countries in the world, and 
good histories of them, like Longmans' "Ship" 
series. 

The books suggested by public library com- 
missions are usually published in this coun- 
try, partly for the reasons that it is easier to 
find them, that they are cheaper than imported 
books, and that they are in demand in small 
libraries. The New York State Library lists 
are of this kind, and the books for chiMren 
are carefully chosen as far as they can be 
from this country alone. 

With regard to scientific books for children, 
the Springfield (Mass.) City Library has 
printed a short list of books on science and 
useful arts that children really enjoy. This 
list has been prepared by the children's libra- 
rian in connection with the supervisor of 
science in the Springfield public schools and 
an out-of-town librarian. The list is the best 
I have seen, but is open to criticism on ac- 
count of one or two of the books being out 
of date. The list for third-grade teachers 
compiled by Miss May H. Prentice for the 
Cleveland Library is excellent for supple- 
mentary reading and nature-stories and po- 
ems. 

3. The value of articles on children's read- 
ing is variable, but a fair specimen may be 
found in the Contemporary Review for June, 
where H. V. Weisse states in his "Reading 
for the young" that a generation ago the num- 
ber of published books was small, magazines 
were high in tone, and in the realm of juve- 
nile literature Ballantyne was "monarch of all 
he surveyed." On account of the limited 
supply of children's books, boys and girls 
were thus driven to standard authors. "Now 
magazines and so-called 'historical stories' are 
issued in such quantities that young people 
read nothing else. They should be trained to 
better things, and teachers and mothers should 
read to their children and see that they read 
good books for themselves, if need be reward- 
ing for a clear reproduction of the sense of 
any good book, never punishing for a failure 
to understand, at first hearing or reading, that 
which involves 'a new form of mental effort.' " 
We have all heard something like this before ! 
Even Agnes Repplier, with her charm of 
style and her denunciation of the "little Phar- 
isee in fiction," and the too-important Rose 
in Bloom in contrast to the well-kept-under 


Rosamond, makes few suggestions of books 
which are good for children to read. 

The reading lists in the New York Times 
are based on the experience of the writers, who 
have often been precocious, over-stimulated 
children of bookish families without com- 
panions of their own age, and have no idea 
of the needs, wants and limitations of the 
public library children of to-day, many of 
whom have few or no books at home. "I 
have quite a library," wrote one such child. 
"I have three books, Longfellow's poems, a 
geography, and a book of fairy tales." 

A dreamy boy like "The child in the libra- 
ry" of a recent Atlantic Monthly and the 
keen little newsboy who snatches a half hour 
after school is over and he has sold his papers 
to spell out a simple life of Columbus or the 
"Story of the chosen people" have little in 
common, and need different books, but they 
both need the very best of their kind. 

A book reviewer or maker of book lists for 
children should have an intimate knowledge 
of the best books which have been written 
for them, and the unconscious training which 
this knowledge gives in good taste and a 
critical sense of style. He (or she) should 
have also the intimate knowledge of all sorts 
and conditions of children and their limita- 
tions that a teacher or a settlement worker 
or a wise mother has. More than 20 years 
ago, in the meeting of the American Library 
Association in Boston, Mrs. Kate Gannett 
Wells said: "I would like to have mothers 
prepare lists, whose headings should vary 
from any yet given ; such as : books that 
make children cry; books of adventure for 
unexcitable and unimaginative children; un- 
lovesick novels." 

The best reviews of childen's books ever 
written in this country were the work of a 
woman and a mother Lucy McKim Garri- 
son, who, in the earlier volumes of the Na- 
tion, put into her work broad-mindedness, 
high ideals, and an understanding of children. 
It is such work as this that should be a 
model for the reviewers and a guide to the 
librarians of to-day, and one of the most im- 
portant duties of the Children's Section is to 
insist upon higher standards, both in review- 
ers and through them in the writers of chil- 
dren's books, and upon trained critical knowl- 
edge in the makers of children's lists. 


TAYLOR. 


BOOKS FOR CHILDREN: 


I. FICTION, II. FAIRY TALES, III. SCIENCE. 


TT seems to have been fairly demonstrated 
that we have as yet no proper standard 
of values to guide us in the selection of chil- 
dren's books. Reviews fail : they either do 
not evaluate the book at all, or they lack ap- 
preciation of it or of the children who are to 
read it or both. Book lists fail, as a rule, 
through eagerness to get something printed 
before we know what to print. Articles upon 
children's reading fail because the people who 
have written them are not always familiar 
with children's books or are not acquainted 
with the "public library child." We turn to 
the books themselves, but, having no stan- 
dard of values, how shall we judge? How 
are we to know whether a book is good or 
poor? 

It is not possible to reduce the apprecia- 
tion of literature whether books for chil- 
dren or for all time to an exact science. 
It is difficult to conceive of any formula for 
the evaluation of books in general or the books 
of a particular class which would not fail 
again and again when applied to the individ- 
ual book through the medium of a personal 
judgment. We shall not attempt, therefore, 
to answer the questions which form the sub- 
stance of our topic. We have endeavored 
merely to state a question which to all chil- 
dren's librarians seems to be of paramount 
importance, trusting that we may eventually 
reach a partial solution of this problem by 
bringing the thought of many minds to bear 
upon it. 

This collective paper, or, more properly, this 
collection of ideas upon different classes of 
books, requires a word of explanation. The 
contributors were not asked to prepare papers 
but to furnish ideas and opinions, which 
should form the basis for discussion of the 
general principles of selection and of indi- 
vidual books in the several classes considered. 
The purpose was to present briefly the prin- 
ciples that should apply in each class, and to 
emphasize these by citation of specific books. 


I. FICTION. 

We were recently asked to make out a list 
of a dozen books suitable as prizes for a 
Sunday-school class of boys and girls from 
12 to 16 years of age. We studied a long and 
carefully prepared list of stories written for 
girls of this age and supposed to include what 
was most desirable. Assuming that the girls 
had read Mrs. Whitney and Miss Alcott, we 
did not consider them, and we found not one 
story which we could recommend as possess- 
ing permanent interest and literary value. 
There were many books which girls read and 
like but they did not reach a fair standard 
for this purpose. We filled out the desired 
number for the girls with books written for 
older readers. Far different was our experi- 
ence with the books for the boys. It was only a 
matter of choice between a large number, both 
suitable and desirable, and yet the lists which 
we consulted had been compiled by the same 
hand. 

In making selections of books for her read- 
ers, the children's librarian encounters at the 
first step this difference in the quality of the 
books written for boys and those written for 
girls. Judged purely by the standard of taste, 
she must reject the greater proportion of 
those written for girls. When she finds so 
few that reach her standard she may blame 
herself for ignorance of the better books, but 
she must ultimately reach the conclusion that 
whatever her own shortcomings there is a 
lack of desirable books for girls. However, 
another most important factor comes into the 
case on the reader's side of the question. If 
the librarian is going to meet the needs of 
her readers she must understand what they 
are instinctively seeking in books, and she 
must enlist herself on the side of human na- 
ture. She will find at once that a distinct 
division in the reading of boys and girls- 
springs from the fact that, generally speaking, 
the mental life of the boy is objective, that 
of the girl subjective. The boy seeks action* 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


in fiction, the girl is attracted by that which 
moves her emotionally or relates itself direct- 
ly to her own consciousness, and the last thing 
that either of them cares about is the literary 
value of the book. Hundreds no doubt 
thousands of our college graduates look 
back to the period when, according to their 
sex, the "Oliver Optic" series, or the "Elsie 
Dinsmore" series, played a very important 
part in their existence. The love of adventure 
in the boy gave the charm to the books. Ad- 
venture he must have, whether he finds it in 
the tinsel setting of Oliver Optic or the re- 
fined gold of Robert Louis Stevenson. And 
the magnet in the nature of the girl draws to 
herself something helpful even from Martha 
Finley ; otherwise, she would not speak of the 
"Elsie" books as "beautiful": there is some- 
thing in them which to her represents "beau- 
ty." Nevertheless, while justly condemning 
the Oliver Optic and the Elsie books as cheap, 
tawdry things, the librarian must seek among 
better authors the holding quality on the na- 
ture of the child which these books possess. 
She must search for books in which these ele- 
ments of interest are incarnated in what we 
call literature books which, while rivalling 
these in attraction, will at the same time re- 
fine and broaden the taste of the reader. 

Now, the lovers of Oliver Optic and Mrs. 
Finley do not take kindly to the classics and 
as, in the modern stories for young people, 
few will pass muster as literature, all that 
the librarian of to-day can do is to use 
her judgment and discrimination among those 
the writers have provided. The boys are 
readily turned from Oliver Optic to Henty, 
Tomlinson, Jules Verne, and on to "Ivanhoe," 
but with the girls the case is hard. The girl 
tells us that she likes stories about boarding- 
school. It is a capital subject: in the hands 
of a writer sympathetic with girls, of fertile 
nagination and vigorous power of charac- 
terization, boarding-school life affords ma- 
terial for most entertaining combinations 
but the literature of the boarding-school has 
yet to be written. The average boarding- 
school story has three main characters the 
attractive, impulsive heroine, always getting 
into trouble; the cruel, cold-blooded, unscru- 
pulous rival, habitually dealing in falsehood. 


and the teacher who is singularly devoid of 
discernment or intuition. The heroine inevit- 
ably falls into the snare of the rival, and 
things are usually set right all around by a 
death-bed scene although actual death is 
sometimes averted. "Louie's last term at St. 
Mary's" is one of the better stories of this 
kind, and Mrs. Spofford's "Hester Stanley at 
St. Mark's" is fairly well written, with a 
touch of the charm of the author's personali- 
ty. "Chums," by Maria Louise Pool, is one 
of the worst of its kind, where envy, hatred, 
and malice run riot through the pages and 
the actors in the story are wholly lacking in 
vitality. The experiences of Miss Phelps's 
"Gypsy Breynton" and Susan Coolidge's 
"Katy" are as satisfactory pictures of board- 
ing school life as we have; and Helen Dawes 
Brown's "Two college girls" is a good story. 
"Brenda, her school and her club," by Helen 
L. Reed, is a^ recent valuable addition to books 
for girls. 

In stories of home life Miss Alcott still 
easily takes the lead, with Susan Coolidge and 
Sophie May following in merit and populari- 
ty. The boys have an excellent story of home 
life in Rossiter Johnson's "Phaeton Rogers." 
The setting is perfectly simple, every day sur- 
roundings, but the characters have the abound- 
ing vitality that keeps things moving. The 
entertaining succession of events proceeds di- 
rectly and naturally from the ingenuity and 
healthy activity of the young people grouped 
together. The book is a model in this respect 
as well as in the use of colloquial English 
which never loses a certain refinement. Every 
boy, while reading "Phaeton Rogers," finds 
himself in touch with good companions and 
this is true as well, in Charles Talbot's books 
for boys and girls. 

The most important books for boys are the 
historical stories, appealing at once to th-; 
hero worship and the love of adventure com- 
mon to boyhood; at the same time they should 
give a good general idea of history. The 
story in historical setting is, also, most de- 
sirable for girls in that it balances the too 
subjective tendency; it carries the mind of 
the reader beyond the emotional condition of 
the heroine indeed the heroine has no time 
to study her own emotions when brought into 


TAYLOR. 


vital relation with stirring events. Apart 
from the value of the historical facts im- 
parted is the indirect but more valuable habit 
of mind cultivated in the girl reader. Vivid, 
stirring, absorbing stories for girls can be and 
should be written in this field, which is prac 
tically unlimited. Miss Yonge has done some 
good service here. ''The prince and the pau- 
per" and the "Last days of Pompeii" are also 
illustrations of the kind of work that should 
be done they are both strong in the direct 
interrelation between the imaginary charac- 
ters and real history and both appeal alike 
to the boy and the girl. 

Books written with a direct moral purpose 
seldom achieve popularity with boys and yet 
one of the most popular of all their books is 
"Captains courageous," which is of the high- 
est moral value though without one line of 
religious preaching in its pages. Here the 
boys are in touch with a real, living character, 
acted upon and developed, through the mould- 
ing pressure of life itself from first to last 
the aim of the story is the boy; and yet the 
moral outcome is simple, natural, inevitable 
and manly; it appeals to the common sense 
which is strong in boys. 

Now when a woman writes for girls on the 
subject of the transformation of a frivolous 
butterfly into a girl of sense, instead of giving 
us character and action with a moral outcome, 
we have a religious setting with the action of 
the story and the conduct of the characters 
bent in every direction to illustrate the mo- 
tive of the story the religious idea. 

The plastic nature of the young girl wrought 
upon by life, fresh faculties brought into ac- 
tivity by the hard knocks of fate or the sun- 
bursts of good luck although these things 
are happening every day in the real life ot 
young girls, we yet await the writer who will 
put them into literature without sentimentaliz- 
ing. What we want is the novel simplified ; the 
story told directly, without byways of descrip- 
tion or analysis ; where healthy young people, 
neither saints nor prigs, nor creatures of af- 
fectation, jealousy, or malice, are acted upon 
by life and each other in a natural fashion. 

Let boys and girls be brought together as in 
real life ; brothers are a good element in girls' 
stories, and love affairs need not be excluded, 
if handled with delicacy, common sense and 


true feeling. Many books classed as noveU 
are merely stories simply and clearly told, in- 
tended for older readers, but far better far 
young girls than the stories usually written 
for them. Miss Jeanie Gould Lincoln's sto- 
ries and Mrs. J. G. Austin's historical novels, 
some of Mrs. Barr's and Mrs. Oliphant's 
novels and a wide range of other interesting, 
well-told stories can be substituted, if care 
and discrimination are used in the selection. 
Fortunately, too, many girls of twelve a?e 
ready for Dickens and other standard writers. 

However it is not only through the emo- 
tions that these aspirations and desires are 
ministered to when the writer can develop 
this emotion into spiritual enthusiasm or 
when she portrays a character of active spir- 
itual force, she has put something valuable 
into the life of the reader. Here, as always, 
it is the personality of the writer the soul 
back of the words that most counts, and it is 
just this quality of true spirituality which 
gives value to Mrs. Whitney's stories, in spite 
of their wordiness, lack of proportion and 
forced symbolism; as it is the genuine good- 
ness and pure idealism of Miss Mulock which 
forms the very atmosphere in which her char- 
acters move. 

While it is impossible to offer a practical 
guide to the selection of books a few sugges- 
tions can be made. In the religious stories, 
for instance, there must be discrimination be- 
tween those encouraging morbid self-exam- 
ination or religious sentimentalizing, and those 
cultivating optimism and the perception of 
true values and ideals. 

In books of adventure the dividing line 
would fall between, on the one side, those sto- 
ries where the hero is actuated by pure love 
of adventure or where the adventure is worth 
while in itself as in "Foul play"; and, on 
the other side, those stories where the hero 
is merely seeking to exploit himself and in 
which the tendency might be to incite boys 
to reckless escapades for the sake of notoriety. 

In the purchase of books one must consider 
the range of the average reader, but in rec- 
ommending books to the individual boy and 
girl, appreciation of differences in tempera- 
ment and culture is indispensable. 

WINIFRED L. TAYLOR, 
Pratt Institute Free Library, Brooklyn, N. Y. 


66 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


II. FAIRY TALES. 

FAIRY tales must appeal to the love of the 
marvellous, and must yet be told with a sim- 
plicity that precludes all doubt of their reali- 
ty in the mind of the child, no matter how 
improbable the circumstances to our prosaic 
minds. The language must be simple and dig- 
nified. To write a fairy tale, one must first 
of all be a poet, at least must have the poetic 
instinct. The child very early absorbs the 
idea of rhyme. He is sung to sleep with era 
die songs, and soothed by jingles, and he does 
not soon outgrow their influence. 

These tales from the librarian's standpoint, 
fall naturally into two classes : the folklore 
legends adapted for children (in which, re- 
gardless of classification, we include mytho- 
logical tales) and the purely literary, im- 
aginative story. 

Fairy tales derived from folk-lore. 

Fairy tales derived from folk-lore stories 
drifted down from the childhood of the world, 
were not originally written for children, and 
perhaps for this very reason, they have claimed 
them for their own. They are not "the artless 
appeals to all little masters and misses who 
are good or intend to be good" of John New- 
bery's time. They have a naturalness which 
these first books printed especially for chil- 
dren lack ; the moral is not too strongly urged. 
Different versions of the old, old tales re- 
flect in a measure the manners and customs 
of the country in which they are collected. 
Fairies are stolid or clever, mischievous or 
amiable, according to the characters of the 
people to whom the stories were told. 

To this class belong the Grimm brothers' 
"Household tales," "Icelandic tales," edite<! 
by Mrs. A. W. Hall (tales in which it is 
the princess or the peasant maiden who res- 
cues the prince, instead of being rescued) ; 
the Norwegian tales of Asbjornsen and Moe. 
the Grimm brothers of the far North. The 
collections of Lang, Baring-Gould ; and Cruik- 
shank, because of illustrations ; Miss Mulock's 
"Book of fairies" and William Canton's "True 
annals of fairyland" should be in all libraries. 

Collections of tales derived from Greek and 
Roman mythology, such as Kingsley's "He- 
roes," Hawthorne's "Wonder book" and "Tan- 
glewood tales," may also be considered as 
fairy tales derived from folk-lore. 


One of the most exquisitely told of the old 
Greek fairy tales is that of "Eros and Psyche," 
adapted by Paul Carus from Apuleius. The 
story appeals to children, regardless of the 
religious significance indicated in the preface 
of the book. 

"Fairy tales from far Japan," translated by 
Susan Ballard, is excellent, particularly -the 
story of the "Magic mirror," which is also 
found in a charming set of booklets published 
in Tokio, in English. This set is called ihe 
"Japanese fairy tale series," the type, paper 
and colored illustrations being all of Japanese 
manufacture. 

"Fairy stories from the little mountain." 
by John Finnemore, is a good collection of 
Welsh stories as is Frere's "Old Deccan day*" 
of Indian folk-lore. 

"Wigwam stories," edited by Mary Cath- 
erine Judd, are told by Indians, or adapted 
from ethnological reports and original sources. 

Mabie's "Norse stories retold from the 
Eddas," Keary's "Heroes of Asgard," "The 
wonder-world stories" of Marie Pabke and 
Margery Deane, Scudder's "Book of folk tales" 
and Wiltse's "Folk-lore and proverb stories," 
both of the latter for the youngest readers, 
the Countess d'Aulnoy's fairy tales, the col- 
lections of Laboulaye and the immortal tales 
of Perrault, we cannot afford to be without, as 
well as Howard Pyle's "Wonder clock" and 
"Pepper and salt," which retain the old-time 
flavor and are much enhanced by the author's 
illustrations. 

Literary fairy tales. 

Hans Christian Andersen's stories, while 
based often upon tradition, are excluded by 
Hartland from the list of pure fairy tales and 
classed as literary. Yet even the old, old 
fairy tales cannot, with justice, rival his in the 
hearts of the children. Their feeling for him 
has been expressed by John White Chadwick, 
in writing of another : 

"But as I muse. I seem at heaven's door 
To hear a sound which there I heard before. 
When Danish Hans that way did softly wend 
A sound of children making merriest din 
Of welcome, as the old man entered in." 

Mary S. Claude, in "Twilight thoughts," has 
shown herself a graceful follower in the foot- 
steps of Andersen. Such stories create a ten- 
derness for plants and animals not easily ef- 
faced. 


SARGENT. 


It detracts nothing from the interest of the 
story that what a child calls a fairy tale we 
call literature. Even Dr. Johnson recognized 
that "babies do not want to hear about babies." 
It is a great pity that a child should never 
meet the knights of the Round Table, or the 
Charlemagne legends half history, half ro- 
mance or the Homeric tales, outside the 
dissecting room of a literature class. Small 
wonder that a child who heard them there for 
the first time should exclaim with considera- 
ble animus, "I like to read, but I hate lit- 
erature." 

Here is a good field for the "story hour" so 
successfully introduced in the Carnegie Li- 
brary, Pittsburgh. That edition which fol- 
lows most closely the original, or is told in 
graphic clear-cut English, such as Morris uses 
in the "Earthly paradise" or the "Life and 
death of Jascn," or Butcher and Lang's trans- 
lation of the Odyssey, is the best. Such a 
version read aloud is infinitely better than 
the best dilution by any well-meaning atten- 
dant. Skip judiciously, but do not weaken the 
story. It is not only the plot but the charm 
of style which we wish to introduce. The ar- 
gument may of course first be given, that the 
child be put in sympathy with the situation. 

Modern fairy tales. 

A good modern fairy tale is a rare article. 
One rnay search far and long before finding 
it. If it is not worth reading twice, it is not 
worth reading once. In many of these mod- 
ern tales there is an atmosphere of haste 
wholly lacking in the good old tales. Fairy- 
land has a government of its own, where 
neither time nor space has value. It lies "east 
of the sun and west of the moon." 

One of the best collections is "Granny's 
wonderful chair," by Frances Browne in 
the American edition "The wonderful chair." 
It is well written, the interest is well kept up, 
and the language is befitting the subject. The 
surest way to test a poor fairy tale is to first 
read one of unqestionable merit, and to get 
thoroughly into its atmosphere. 

Good modern fairy tales. 

"Princess Use," by Marie Petersen; a 
gracefully told story of a discontented moun- 
tain brook. 

"Mopsa the fairy," by Jean Ingelcw, and 


"The little lame prince," by Dinah Maria 
Craik. 

"Lob-lie-by-the-fire," by Mrs. Ewing, and 
"At the back of the North wind" and "The 
Princess and Curdie," by George Macdonald. 

The average modern fairy tale is a jumble 
of impossibilities, with no continuity of inci- 
dent, well enough or poorly written, according 
to the ability of the writer. 

"The magic fruit garden," by Marion Wal- 
lace Dunlop, is an illustration of this kind. 
Two very small children, in abbreviated pina- 
fores, are studying their Monday lessons ; one 
is writing an essay on Perseverance, the other 
is copying geographical names. By the il- 
lustrations, one may judge the children to be 
of kindergarten age. It is not surprising that 
they fall asleep, and, to dreamland sent, meet 
with adventures enough to make the strongest 
head whirl a case of literary delirium trem- 
ens. 

"Snow garden," by Elizabeth Wordsworth, 
is on the whole a good collection; the sto- 
ries, however, are of unequal merit. 

"The other side of the sun," by Evelyn 
Sharp, is of negative goodness. The witches 
and wizards are mild and amiable, especial 
care evidently being taken that no child should 
be kept awake at night. It does no harm for 
children occasionally to shiver and shake as 
poor Hans in the Grimm collection longed to 
do. The author's satisfaction at the expres- 
sion the "wymps wimpled" is insisted upon 
a little too frequently. 

"Fairy folk of Blue Hill," by Lily F. Wes- 
selhoeft, is of especial interest to children 
about Boston, since it accounts for the granite 
quarries and pudding stone of the region. It 
is smoothly written and is not spoiled by 
slang or pertness. 

"Summer legends," by Rudolph Baumbach. 
The stories are not altogether fairy tales nor 
are they written for the youngest readers. 
7'hey are gracefully written although they lose 
somewhat by translation. The book is in 
some parts amusing and all the stories are 
peopled with the wonderful creatures of fairy- 
land. 

Other tales seem invented only for the 
purpose of forcing religious sentiment, or 
pointing a moral in inverse proportion to the 
size of the reader. Their authors seem some- 


68 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


times to have reached Mark Twain's conclu- 
sion that ''every one being born with an equal 
amount of original sin, the pressure on the 
square inch must needs be greater in a baby." 

"Pixie and Elaine stories," by Carrie E. 
Morrison, is a mixture of fairy tale i. id re- 
ligious story. The author speaks in her pre- 
face of the stories having been carefully 
pruned. One shudders at thinking what they 
must have been before, with such chapters as 
"The Elaines' picture of heaven," and "The 
pixie transforms an Elaine" left in. 

"New book of the fairies," by Beatrice 
Harraden, is marred by the suggestion of cru- 
elty to animals. In one story, in place of rub- 
bing the Aladdin lamp, that what one wishes 
may happen, one must pull the black cat's tail. 
It is gratifying to reflect that black cats have 
iheir own peculiar method of retaliation for 
such experiments. 

Burlesque fairy tales. 

Burlesque fairy tales are the most atrocious 
of all. They are apt to be broad in their hu- 
mor, full of fin de siecle jokes or puns, and 
modern allusions which mar the poetry of the 
tale if there is any in it, and create an appe- 
tite for facetiousness in books. "Lips wag- 
ging, and never a wise word," one is tempted 
to say with Ben Jonson. . . . Copyright fees 
should be trebled on this class of books. 

Under this head come : 

"The book of dragons," by E. Nesbit. 

"Here they are !" by James F. Sullivan ; 
full of modern allusions and puns. 

"The pink hen," by Cuthbert Sterling ; a 
sort of "continuous performance." The pink 
hen is hatched from a forgotten Easter egg. 
is driven from the barnyard by her associates 
and forced to seek her fortune. She links her 
fate with that of a little girl who has escape.'l 
from an ogre, and together they redeem a 
prince from the curses of bad fairies. The 
pink hen is continually punning, and the prince 
while still in the cradle is addicted to smoking. 

It is hard to tell how the author of Jewett's 
"More bunny stories" would classify them. 
We hope not as fairy tales. They are poor 
from any point of view. The bunnies might 
as well be ordinary children as anything. 
They go to lawn parties, play golf, dance the 
Virginia reel, go to West Point, tell folk-lore 


stories, repeat Bible verses and say their 
prayers. We are sometimes asked for a Sun- 
day book. For one who must have a special 
book for that day, this might possibly answer ; 
it is certainly full of moral reflections an'l 
pious sentiment ; but there is no reason at 
all for reading it on Monday or Tuesday or 
Wednesday. The story closes with a wedding 
where the happy bunnies are united under a 
bridal bell, while the strains of the march 
from "Lohengrin" float in the air. 

Humor is not early developed in all chil- 
dren, which is perhaps why a great many do 
not care for "Alice in Wonderland," and for 
Stockton's fairy tales "The bee man of 
Orn," "The griffin and the minor canon," etc. 

Laura E. Richards' "Chop-chin and the 
golden dragon" must also be classed as hu- 
morous. It is not as good as the Toto sto- 
ries. 

Animal folk-lore. 

Animal folk tales as exemplified in Joel 
Chandler Harris's stories, "Little Mr. Thim- 
ble-finger," "Mr. Rabbit at home," "Daddy 
Jake," "Uncle Remus," "Story of Aaron," etc., 
are excellent. Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit, the 
black stallion and all the animal characters 
are quite as much realities to the children as 
Buster John, Sweetest Susan and the Litlle 
Master. 

Ortoii's "Evening tales," follows the same 
general line. 

Kipling, too, in the "Jungle books" has won 
the hearts of the children, and here there is 
no hint of the "garlic flavor," mentioned by 
Higginson. 

Fraser's "Mooswa" also belongs to this 
class. 

A common practice in modern fairy stories 
is for the author to open the tale in this way: 
A child falls asleep and enters fairyland via 
the dream country. Often the child has bce.n 
sent to bed for some misdemeanor, as in the 
"Dream fox story book," by Mabel Osgood 
Wright, or has fallen asleep over his tasks, 
as in the case of the "One-eyed griffin," by 
Herbert E. Inman, the fairy tales being offered 
by way of consolation; a reprehensible prac- 
tice in itself, besides putting one out of touch 
with the real fairyland. It is too conspicu- 
ously "make believe" and leads one to suspect 
that the author has little confidence in his 


SARGENT. 


69 


own production. As "good wine needs no 
bush," so a good fairy tale needs no introduc- 
tion or apology. In the real fairyland one 
cannot easily be Ungraceful. 

Nature fairy tales. 

Nature fairy tales are more than apt to be 
failures, and often include a great deal of pert- 
ness and cheap talk, in their effort to teach 
by stealth. .(Charles Lamb writes to Cole- 
ridge in regard to Goody Two Shoes in this 
way : "Think what you would have been now, 
if, instead of being fed with tales and old 
wives' fables, you had been crammed with 
geography and natural history.") 

A conspicuous example of the faults of this 
class of story is found in "Sylvia in flower- 
land," by Linda Gardner. The heroine is in- 
troduced as a high-school girl, well-advanced 
in Latin and mathematics, and amply able to 
supplement very largely the information which 
the flowers give her about themselves. Linda 
strolls into the fields and is told all sorts of 
facts about the habits of plants by the flow- 
ers. The story where the author forgets to 
interject puns is interestingly told, certainly 
enough so to attract a girl of fourteen, who 
has any fondness for flowers. Besides the 
numerous puns, such glaring sentences as the 
following, condemn it. "I don't know who 
you mean." "Why it is a nasty nettle" ! said 
Sylvia. "Nasty, yourself," ejaculated the net- 
tle sharply, "why do you come shoving against 
me?" 

McCook's "Old farm fairies," gives what 
Mrs. Malaprop calls "a supercilious knowl- 
edge" in its attempt to interest children in in- 
sect life, by introducing different insects in the 
form of pixies, brownies and fairies. While 
it has not the faults of "Sylvia in flowerland," 
the information is mainly crowded into foot- 
notes and appendices, which as a rule are 
carefully avoided by children. 

Mabel Osgood Wright's "Tommy Anne'' 
and "Wabeno" are more successful ; but the 
same amount of energy spent in making the 
facts of nature interesting in themselves 
would be preferable. 

While not assuming an absolute censorship 
in this department, the principle of natural 
selection may be applied in discarding such 
books as are characterized by the faults here 
cited, that we may do our share towards 


discouraging a taste for facetiousness, flip- 
pancy and poor style in literature. For while 
these modern, sham, soulless fairy tales soon 
Jose themselves in the overwhelming mass of 
printed matter, in their brief existence they 
have time to accomplish considerable harm. 
Far better to encourage re-reading the im- 
perishable tales, than to gratify an insatiable 
desire for more. Did not we ourselves again 
and again shed fresh tears over Cinderella's 
hard late, or gasp with bated breath while 
watching with Sister Ann for that distant 
speck on the horizon? If children are dif- 
ferent to-day, it is partly because we are 
helping to make them so. 

ABBY L. SARGENT, 
Medford (Mass.} Public Library. 
III. SCIENCE FOR CHILDREN. 

IN the selection of books for children's li- 
braries it is necessary to understand the dif- 
ference between the aims and methods of the 
old education and the new. 

Until recently the schools have centered 
their work about man, studying his language, 
literature, methods of reasoning, and the man- 
ner in which he has partitioned off the earth 
into countries. No importance whatever was 
attached to his physical surroundings, which 
form so great a factor in his life and by wfiich 
he is so profoundly affected. In history, the 
study of dates, battles and leaders was all 
that was required. In geography, the work 
was almost exclusively confined to a descrip- 
tion of the earth, the location of mountains, 
rivers, cities, and political divisions. Before 
the establishment of the national Weather 
Bureau there was scarcely any public inter- 
est manifested in the phenomena of the at- 
mosphere and its relation to various weather 
elements. Many of us can recall from our 
own experience the picture of the earth di- 
vided into zones, but why such a division was 
made did not come up for consideration. 

What are we now aiming to do for the 
child? We are looking beyond the mere cul- 
tivation of memory; and we desire to in- 
crease the child's point of contact with the 
world, to bring him into closer relationship 
with the life about him, to broaden his sym- 
pathies and to develop the powers of observa- 
tion and reason. In so far as we are able 
to accomplish these results, we shall make him 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


happier by enabling him to understand the 
great laws that govern the universe. The child 
is learning that the facts of history are the re- 
sults of causes, that they are the wot king out 
of great principles and that by the compari- 
son of the past with the present he may be 
able to judge of the future. From a study cf 
the physical features of the earth ne learns 
that slopes determine the course of rivers and 
that cities are dependent for their growth 
upon physical environment. The considera- 
tion of the weather enables him to understand 
the state of the atmosphere about him, its 
effect on climate, the cause of storms, and the 
different action of solar energy on air, land, 
and water, which renders possible life upon 
the earth. Science demands an investigation 
of the growth and habits of plants and ani- 
mals, the relationship of one form to another, 
the function and adaptation of parts, the effect 
of surroundings, while form and structure are 
results, not ends. 

We want to lead the child from results 
back to causes. The possession of a vast 
number of facts, unrelated among themselves, 
is valueless and even harmful, for the child 
does not look upon nature as a whole. Na- 
ture-study, perhaps more than any other sub- 
ject, leads the child into sympathy with his 
environment. He observes carefully and 
thoughtfully and thus the individual is de- 
veloped. From personal contact with nature 
he gains the power of accurate observation, 
correct thinking and judgment; thus strength- 
ening his moral character. If this is the effect 
of nature-study upon the development of the 
child, the question comes to the librarian 
What principles shall guide me in the selec- 
tion of books that the library with which I 
am connected may be of assistance in accom- 
plishing these results, and meet the demand of 
modern education? 

A book for children should be attractive. 
The exterior should present a harmony of 
color and tasteful decoration. The text should 
be printed with clear type upon good paper 
and should be well illustrated. Colored plates 
are preferable, provided the coloring is good, 
otherwise uncolored illustrations are far more 
desirable. The text should be clear, simple, 
and scientifically correct. 

The new scientific book differs from the old. 


The old style book gave dead results, no sym- 
pathy in or interest for life was aroused, no 
suggestions were given for first-hand observa- 
tions of nature, consequently the book failed 
to stimulate a desire for personal investigation 
that could be verified by the recorded wcrk 
of others. The new scientific book not only 
gives results but a detailed account of the 
methods employed in obtaining those results. 
The reader is interested in trying the same 
experiments, gains a sympathy and interest in 
the wonderful life history of a plant, bird, or 
insect, develops a tenderness for life and feds 
that all nature is a sympathetic unit. 

Within the last few years the interest that 
has been aroused throughout the country in 
"nature-study," has caused a great demand for 
this class of books. Writers and publishers 
have hastened to meet the demand and as a 
result the market has been flooded with books 
that were made to sell. Too often the writers 
have not been scientific persons, and as a re- 
oult the books have been mere compilations, 
or were not true to facts. They lacked the 
true spirit of science. Other authors have not 
separated the element of fiction from that of 
science, thinking that the child could only he 
interested in nature by means of a story. The 
writer of this paper does not believe that sci- 
ence books should be made story books. 
"Tenants of an old farm," by McCook, is a 
good illustration of the combination of the 
science and story element. The author is a 
naturalist and whatever facts are presented 
may be accepted as being as nearly correct 
as it is possible to make them since they rep- 
resent the results of careful personal obser- 
vation. The author himself did not believe 
that the truths of nature were so unattractive 
that they needed to be woven into a story in 
order that the book might find its way to the 
general reader. Then why did he employ this 
method ? He was persuaded by his friends to 
change the original plan of the book and pre- 
sented it, after much hesitation, in its pres- 
ent form. The book has thereby lost much 
of its usefulness. 

Another element that many authors have 
employed to a greater or less extent is per- 
sonification. That the value of a book is les- 
sened thereby and its power over the reader 
greatly decreased, is beyond question. There 


HOLMES. 


rray be some excuse for a limited amount of 
personification in the treatment of bees, wasps, 
or ants, but the majority of forms of plant 
and animal life does not need the human 
factor in order to make clear life-relationships. 
Grant Allen, in his "Story of the plants," has 
described the use of the stamens and pistils 
as "how plants marry" and the modes of fer- 
tilization as "various marriage customs." Al- 
len Gould, in "Mother Nature's children," 
speaks of the "snakehead" fish and its young 
as "Mr. and Mrs. Snakehead and their ba- 
bies" and of the seed-vessels of plants as 
"ways the mother plants have of cradling 
their babies." This method of treating na- 
ture's truths does not make the facts any 
clearer to the child; it only tends to diminish 
the grandeur of that truth. Some writers 
have considered it desirable to embody the 
thought in terms that are already, or are sup- 
posed to be, familiar to the child, that he 
may be able to grasp the truth. The author 
forces upon the child a double task, since 
he must first get the thought as it appears 
and then search for the concealed fact. This 
process is not liable to be successful. Mrs. 
Dana, in "Plants and her children," uses the 
term "sweet stuff" for nectar, "watery-broth" 
foi the cell-sap of plants. The food of plants 
is spoken of as the "plant's bill of fare," and 
in experssing the fact that the crude ?ap 
which is taken up by the roots needs to he 
converted into elaborated sap before it may 
be used as food, she says "When the watery 
broth is cooked in the sun, the heat of the 
sun's rays causes the water to pass off through 
the little leaf mouths. Thus the broth :s 
made fit for plant food." Must not the child 
possess some scientific knowledge before he 
will be able to understand the author's mean- 
ing? "Plants and her children" is a valua- 
ble book, but would not its merits be greatly 
enhanced if the scientific facts were told in 
simple language? They certainly have inter- 
est enough in themselves to be attractive to 
the child. Books like Hooker's "Child's book 
of nature" should be discarded. They rep- 
resent the old scientific thought. No sympa- 
thy or interest in life is aroused, no relation- 
ships are suggested, no adaptation to environ- 
ment is shown, no incentive is given for per- 
sonal observation. Why should we cling to 


the old when a book can be obtained that will 
more nearly satisfy our needs ? 

There is often a great difference in the in- 
dividual merits of books by the same author. 
Mabel Osgood Wright's "Birdcraft" is val- 
uable, while "Tommy Anne and the three 
hearts" and "Wabeno" are the reverse. The 
last two represent a type of book that should 
not be included in a science library. Thj 
fairy and story element so greatly exceeds the 
scientific as to render the books absolutely 
valueless, nor are they a success from a lit- 
erary standpoint. No book in which the au- 
thor wanders from one subject to another, 
in such rapid succession that the reader has 
difficulty in following the thought, or is FQ 
vague that an effort must be made to under- 
stand the topic treated, can be of much prac- 
tical value. The greater number of the Ap-. 
pleton's "Home reading books" possess little 
merit. The selections were not written for 
children; they lack simplicity, are not attrac- 
tive and are too technical. The article "The 
life of plants" in "Plant world" would re- 
quire two or three readings by an adult in 
order to understand what the author was 
discussing. The best books in this series 
are Weed's "Insect world" and Holden's 
"Family of the sun" and "Stories of great as- 
tronomers." Such books as Fanny Bergen's 
"Glimpses at the plant world," Carpenter's 
"Geographies," Kearton's "Our bird friends," 
and Weed's "Stories of Insect life" represent 
the style of book that the elementary science 
of to-day demands. We do not wish to make 
scientists of the children, but by means of the 
best books on nature-study we would prepare 
the way for elementary science. Nature-' 
study is not science, for science is classified 
knowledge. So far as possible let the !<- 
ments of personification and fiction be omitted, 
do not select books that are too technical or 
vague, that are not well illustrated, and that 
are not true to science. 

Then our libraries will contain books that 
will incite the self-activity of the child and 
arouse the spirit of investigation; books that 
will stimulate observation and inculcate a 
spirit of tenderness and love for all life. 
ELLA A. HOLMES, Assistant curator, 
Children's Museum of the Brooklyn Institute 

of Arts and Sciences. 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


BULLETIN WORK FOR CHILDREN. 
BY CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH WALLACE, Hazelwood Branch, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. 


*HPHE primary object of bulletin work is to 
direct the attention of the children to 
the books. The bulletin, like a poster, at- 
tracts the eye, arouses interest in a subject, 
and advertises the books treating of it. By 
means of picture bulletins interest may be 
awakened in topics before unnoticed ; the chil- 
dren are curious to learn more about the pic- 
tures displayed, their curiosity is further ex- 
cited by the short descriptive text, and as a 
result books relating to the subject are read. 
Thus, without rousing the children's suspic- 
ions, we are able to guide their reading. 

The second object is the cultivation of the 
children's appreciation for pictures. If we can 
catch the eye by attractive pictures, we may 
add to the children's store of ideas, and aside 
from broadening their knowledge, bring them 
under the beneficent influence of beauty. Pic- 
tures of Aesthetic value placed in a children's 
room in which harmony of decoration, fur- 
niture, and arrangement have been considered, 
exert a vitally refining influence. When we 
realize how painfully lacking in refinement 
are many of the homes of the children who 
visit the library, how blinded are their e.yes 
to beauty because of their sordid surround- 
ings, we shall then see how essential it is to 
enrich their lives by every means of cultiva- 
tion appropriate to our field of work. 

Whatever we may do in bulletin work must 
accord with the high standard of taste evi- 
denced in all of the fittings of a dignified 
library. While we are to aim to attract the 
children by bulletins which are simple and 
childlike in spirit, we must keep a sharp look- 
out that in our effort to please them our 
bulletins do not become tawdry and fussy in 
style. We are to meet the children on their 
level and yet educate their taste to a higher 
standard. 

The first practical consideration of bulletin- 
making is the collection of material. Pictures 
may be obtained from a variety of sources. 
Old magazines, book announcements, publish 
ers' catalogues, book covers, book plates, rail- 
road guides, advertising sheets, posters, spe- 
cial prints, etc., form the main sources of 


supply. In addition to a stock of good-toned 
gray mounting-board for regular use, colored 
mounting-board may be employed as a suita- 
ble background for colored prints, or to ex- 
press the main idea of the bulletin a deli- 
cate shade of green making an effective mount 
for certain pictures for bulletins on "Spring." 

The choice of subject is of supreme impor- 
tance. We should study the children whom 
we are trying to benefit, that we may discover 
their tastes and learn their interests. We may 
select a subject in line with the course of 
school study. This serves not only to illustrate 
a subject in which the children are already in- 
terested, but is an incidental means of making 
known to the teacher and pupils the useful- 
ness of the library in furnishing reading sop- 
pi ementary to the school studies. We tnay 
bulletin a subject of transient interest, thus 
informing the children along this particular 
line; or, we may choose a topic which by the 
novelty of its presentation, may arouse in- 
terest in an unfamiliar subject, providing we 
make sure in choosing that we relate the un- 
known to the known. We always have a 
chance. of illustrating some one of the univer- 
sal interests of childhood. Spring and au- 
tumn exhibits, bulletins on birds, flowers, and 
animals, certain anniversaries, etc., invariably 
prove attractive to children. The bulletins 
should be such as to satisfy a catholicity of 
taste and cover a wide range in age and un- 
derstanding. But whatever be one's choice of 
subject, let it be carefully thought and wrought 
out, definite in plan and purpose, and worthy 
the necessary expenditure of time, material, 
and effort. 

It is well to read thoroughly on a subject 
before attempting to plan a bulletin. The 
reading of sketchy accounts in children's 
books is not a sufficient preparation for this 
work. It is better to turn to more substantial 
sources that we may penetrate the meaning 
of the subject for the children, and reflect 
this in the selection and arrangement of the 
pictures in the text, and in the talks with the 
children about the bulletin. We may thus 
reinforce the message of the bulletin and lead 


WALLACE. 


73 


the children to the best book where the in- 
formation they are seeking may be found. 

The explanatory text of the bulletin should 
be direct and simple. Accuracy of statement 
is essential ; this is especially important in 
scientific subjects. Experiment has proved 
that a concise and simple account will be read, 
when a longer statement is passed unnoticed. 

Poetry may be appropriately introduced to 
illustrate the thought of the bulletin. We 
should select the very best poems which will 
serve the purpose, making sure they are sim- 
ple and clear enough in meaning to be readi- 
ly understood by the children. In bulletin 
work we have an opportunity to acquaint Uie 
children with the choicest poetry. In addi- 
tion to displaying pictures which please the 
eye, we may also present word-pictures, thus 
making a double appeal to the mind. 

An annotated book list is of great service 
in connection with the bulletin. This enables 
the children to gain an idea of the subject 
matter of the various books, and, if the notes 
are attractive, induces them to read a book 
which otherwise might be ignored. In teach- 
ing the children the use of lists we are also 
preparing them for independent work later. 
The books, it possible, should be placed on a 
shelf near the bulletin, that they may be con- 
spicuous and easily accessible. 

No matter how beautiful the collection of 
pictures, nor how happy the choice of sub- 
ject, a bulletin will not be successful unless 
it is well executed. Technical skill is also 
necessary in carrying out the idea. Not only 
should the bulletin direct attention to books 
but it should nourish aesthetic taste as well. 
Form is as important as subject. Slipshod 
mounting, unequal margins, untidy work in 
general, detract from the appearance of the 
bulletin, and are most disastrous object les- 
sons to children. 

We must collect only material which is 
worth while and even from this select with the 
greatest care. Sometimes it may be necessary 
to make use of weak or faulty prints in refer- 
ence work, if a subject is sparingly illustrated, 
but such material should be reserved for this 
purpose rather than posted on bulletins. 

There is danger in exhibiting more than 
one bulletin at a time exception being made, 
of course, for such bulletins as illustrate all'.cd 
subjects, thus forming an exhibition. The 


display of too many pictures on any one bul- 
letin is equally inadvisable. Have we not all 
of us at times felt oppressed and confused by 
the seemingly endless array of pictures at a 
large art exhibit? The mind is overtaxed in 
the effort to grasp it all. Knowing the pa- 
tience with which little children study a pic- 
ture, even dwelling on the smallest detail with 
delight, it would be better to choose with dis- 
crimination, and avoid bewildering the minds 
of the children, and fatiguing their attention 
by a large collection of pictures. A miscel- 
lany of pictures or bulletins defeats its one 
purpose that of making a definite impres- 
sion which should lead to further investiga- 
tion of a subject. 

The arrangement of the bulletin should 
make its central thought and object apparent. 
A bulletin on Lincoln's life if properly ar- 
ranged could easily tell the story of the ex- 
periences between the log-cabin and White 
House. The pictures should have some logi- 
cal grouping, whether by succession of events, 
or according to some natural relationship, 
as bringing a collection of wild flowers 
together in the order of their appearance, 
birds and animals by families, etc. 

Concerning the composition of the bulletin, 
we may borrow the rules of pictorial com- 
position and adapt them to bulletin purposes. 
According to John C. Van Dyke, "Pictorial 
composition may be defined as the proportion- 
ate arranging and unifying of the different 
features and objects of a picture. . . . There 
must be an exercise of judgment on the part 
of the artist as to fitness and position, as to 
harmony of relation, proportion, color, light ; 
and there must be a skilful uniting of all the 
parts into one perfect whole." In a bulletin 
as in a picture there must be a center of in- 
terest. We should strive to effect this by 
selecting for this purpose a picture which has 
earned its place, because it best suggests the 
subject, or because pictorially, either through 
tone or color, it best adapts itself to the prin- 
ciples of composition. The other pictures 
should be grouped accordingly, always taking 
account of the subject and artistic value of 
each in placing them. The bulletin should 
be built up architecturally as well, letting the 
heavy pieces support the light. Such a pic- 
ture as Rosa Bonheur's "Ploughing" should 
not surmount Breton's ''Song of the lark." 


74 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


Color has its legitimate place in bulletin 
work as children are keenly alive to its at- 
tractiveness. It is because they are so sensi- 
tive and impressionable in this regard that our 
responsibility is proportionately greater; this 
alone should make us most discreet and care- 
ful in its use. Van Dyke cautions us in rhe 
following terms : "Beware of your natural 
taste, beware of bright pictures for they are 
generally bad." He tells us "That 'color' 
does not mean brightness alone ; and that a 
'colorist' is not one who deals in flaming 
colors with the recklessness of a crazy-quilt 
maker, but one who justly regards the re- 
lationship, the qualities, and the suitableness 
of his colors one to another. . . .'' Harmony 
strives to associate colors which are congenial 
to each other; however, it cannot be compre- 
hended in the abstract. We bring to our bul- 
letin work the results of our previous stand- 
ards of taste, be these high or low. But 
we may raise our standards by holding 
ourselves receptive to the influence of art, 
whether it be decorative, ceramic, textile, 
or pictorial, and appropriate the lessons 
which it teaches in blending color into 
harmony. The love of prime colors is char- 
acteristic of primitive man, while the appre- 


ciation of the neutral tones is the acquirement 
of civilization. Intellectual development con- 
forms to the epochs of racial progress. Chil- 
dren love crude and elementary colors. But 
while we make concession to their taste we 
should also educate it to an appreciation of 
the refined in color. 

The question of economy often arises in 
connection with bulletin work. Are bulletins 
sufficiently useful and effective to pay lor the 
outlay of time and money? In a system of 
central and branch libraries this is not so 
serious a problem as the same bulletin may be 
of service in the various libraries. The ten- 
dency toward extravagance would appear in 
the excessive quantity of bulletins exhibited, 
rather than in the expensive quality of any 
one of them. Certainly we should strive to 
be economical in the sense of planning the 
material without loss or waste, but "whatever 
is worth doing at all is worth doing well," 
and the main question is, are bulletins worth 
doing at all? The bulletin justifies itself 
by the results it accomplishes in calling 
attention to subjects, guiding the reading, 
circulating books, and increasing the chil- 
dren's observation and enjoyment of pic- 
tures. 


REFERENCE WORK WITH CHILDREN. 
BY HARRIET H. STANLEY, Brookline (Mass.) Public Library. 


PRELIMINARY to preparing this report, 
a list of 15 questions was sent to a num- 
ber of libraries in different parts of the United 
States, from 24 of which replies were received. 
So far as space would permit, the facts and 
opinions obtained have been embodied in this 
paper. 

Reference work with grown people consists 
in supplying material on various topics ; we 
consider it sufficiently well done when the 
best available matter is furnished with as lit- 
tle cost of time and trouble to the inquirer as 
is consistent with the service we owe to other 
patrons of the library. To a certain extent 
this statement is true also of reference work 
with children, but I think we are agreed that 
for them our aim reaches further reaches 
to a familiarity with reference tools, to know- 
ing how to hunt down a subject, to being able 
to use to best advantage the material found. 


In a word, we are concerned not so much to 
supply information as to educate in the use 
of the library. Seventeen of the 24 libraries 
reporting judge children to be sent to them 
primarily, if not wholly, for information. One 
of the first steps towards improving and de- 
veloping reference work with children will 
have been taken when the teacher appreciates 
the larger purpose, since the point of view 
must materially affect the character and scope 
of the work. Another forward step is far 
the library to have definitely in mind some 
plan for accomplishing these ends. What- 
ever the plan, it will in likelihood have to be 
modified to accord with the teacher's judg- 
ment and needs, but a definite proposal ought 
at least to give impetus to the undertaking. 

Six libraries state that a considerable part of 
the inquiries they receive from children are 
apparently prompted by their individual inter- 


STANLEY. 


75 


ests, and not suggested by the teacher. These 
inquiries relate chiefly to sports, mechanical 
occupations and pets. This paper is confined 
to the discussion of reference work connected 
with the schools. 

Library facilities. 

In selecting reference books for the pur- 
pose, certain familiar ones come at once to 
our minds. Beyond those there have been 
suggested : Chase and Clow's "Stories of in- 
dustry," "Information readers," Brown's 
"Manual of commerce," Boyd's "Triumphs 
and wonders of the iQth century," Patton's 
"Resources of the United States," Geo- 
graphical readers, Youth's Companion geo- 
graphical series, Spofford's "Library of his- 
toric characters," Larned's "History for ready 
reference," Ellis's "Youth's dictionary of 
mythology," Macomber's "Our authors and 
great inventors," Baldwin's "Fifty famous 
stories," "Riverside natural history," Wright's 
"Seaside and wayside," bound volumes of the 
Great Round World, and text-books on va- 
rious subjects. 

A dictionary catalog will be useful in teach- 
ing the child to look up subjects for himself. 
If a separate catalog is provided for children, 
the question arises whether it is wiser to fol- 
low closely the A. L. A. headings or to modify 
them where they differ from topics commonly 
asked for by children or used as headings in 
text-books. This question suggests also the 
advisability of a modified classification for a 
children's library. 

Last and not least, children should have 
room and service adapted to their needs, so 
that they may not constantly have to be put 
aside in deference to the rightful demands of 
adult readers. 

So far as the writer knows, the Public Li- 
brary of Boston was the first library to open 
a reference room expressly for children, well 
equipped and separate from the children's 
reading room or circulating department, and 
from the general reference department for 
adults. 

Choice of topics. 

Many libraries report that they find the 
topics habitually well chosen. The gist of the 
criticisms is as follows : 

(a) The teacher should make clear to the 


child just what he is to look up and how to 
ask for it. An eastern library furnishes this 
incident : 

"I want a book about flowers." 

"Do you want a special flower?" 

"Yes, I want the rose." 

A book on the cultivation of roses is handed 
her. Her companion, looking over, exclaims, 
"Why, she wants the Wars of the roses!" 
The same librarian was invited to provide 
something on American privileges; whether 
social, religious, political, or otherwise, the 
child did not know. 

(b) The teacher should be reasonably sure 
that there is on the topic something in print, 
in usable shape, that can be gotten at with 
a reasonable amount of labor. 

(c) The subject when found should be 
within the child's comprehension. The topic 
Grasses is manifestly unfit for children, since 
grasses are difficult to study, and the descrip- 
tion of them in encyclopedias and botanies is 
too technical. An eight-year-old had to in- 
vestigate the Abyssinian war. Pupils under 
16 were assigned the topic Syncretism in the 
later pagan movement. A western librarian 
was asked by some girls for Kipling's "Many 
inventions" and "Day's work." Both were out. 
"Well, what other books of Kipling's on agri- 
culture have you?" "Why, Kipling hasn't 
written any books on agriculture; he writes 
stories and poems." "But we have to debate 
on whether agriculture or manufacturing has 
done more for the welfare of the country, and 
we want a book on both sides," 

(rf) The topic should be definite and not 
too broad, and should be subdivided when 
necessary. The briefest comprehensive de- 
scription of Rome is probably that in Champ- 
lin's "Persons and places," where the six 
columns, already much condensed, would take 
more than an hour to copy. A young girl 
came to find out about Italian painters. None 
of the several encyclopedias treated them 
collectively under either Italy or Art. Mrs. 
Bolton's book of 10 artists includes four Ital- 
ians, but it takes some time and skill to dis- 
cover them, as the fact of their nationality 
does not introduce the narrative. How should 
a sixth grade pupil make a selection from 
the 60 painters in Mrs. Jameson's book? 
Three names were furnished by the librarian, 
and the child made notes from their biog- 


7 6 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


raphies. The next day she returned and said 
she hadn't enough artists. 

(e) The question should preferably be of 
such nature that the child can be helped to 
find it rather than be obliged to wait while 
the librarian does the work. One inquiry 
was, "What eastern plant is sometimes sold 
for its weight in gold?" This is not in the 
book of "Curious questions." 

(/) The topic should be worth spending 
time upon. The genealogy of Ellen Douglas 
will hardly linger long in the average mem- 
ory. 

Use made of the material by the child. 
Suppose the topic to be good and suitable 
material to have been found; for older chil- 
dren there are two good ways of using it 
one to read through and make notes on the 
substance, the other to copy in selection. 
Children need practice in doing both. The 
first method suits broad description and nar- 
ration, the second detailed description. There 
seems to be a prevailing tendency to copy 
simply, without sufficient neglect of minor 
points, a process which shouUl be left to the 
youngest children, since it furnishes little 
mental training, uses a great deal of time, 
keeps the writer needlessly indoors, and fos- 
ters habits of inattention, because it is easy to 
copy with one's mind elsewhere. The neces- 
sity for using judgment after the article has 
been found is illustrated by the case of some 
children who came for the life of Homer. 
Champlin, in about a column, mentions the 
limits within which the conjectures as to the 
time of Homer's birth lie, the places which 
claim to be his birthplace, and tells of the 
tradition of the blind harper. The children, 
provided with the book, plunged at once into 
copying until persuaded just to read the col- 
umn through. "When you finish reading," I 
said, "come to me and tell me what it says." 
They came and recounted the items, and only 
after questioning did they at all grasp the 
gist of the matter, that nothing is known 
about Homer. Even then their sense of re- 
sponsibility to produce something tangible was 
so great that they would copy the details, 
and from the children who came next day I 
judged that the teacher had required some 
facts as to time and place and tradition. 
While it is true that we learn by doing and it 
is well that children should rely upon them- 


selves, it is evident that young pupils need 
some direction. Even when provided with 
sub-topics, they often need help in selecting 
and fitting together the appropriate facts, 
since no article exactly suits their needs. 
About half of the reporting librarians are of 
the opinion that it is the teacher's business to 
instruct pupils in the use of books ; they con- 
sider the library to have done its share when 
the child has been helped to find the ma- 
terial. The other half believe such direction 
as is suggested above to be rightly within the 
librarian's province; several, however, who 
express a willingness to give such help, add 
that under their present library conditions it 
is impracticable. We can easily see that time 
would not permit nor would it be otherwise 
feasible for the teacher to examine every col- 
lection of notes made at the library, but there 
ought to be some systematic work where the 
topics are thoughtfully chosen, the librarian 
informed of them in advance, and the notes 
criticised. A moderate amount of reference 
work so conducted would be of greater ben- 
efit than a large quantity of the random sort 
which we now commonly have. Five libra- 
rians state that they are usually given the 
topics beforehand. Several others are pro- 
vided with courses of study or attend grade 
meetings in which the course is discussed. 
Systematic instruction in the use of the library. 
While a general effort is being made to in- 
struct children individually, only a few libra- 
ries report any systematic lessons. In Prov- 
idence each visiting class is given a short de- 
scription of books of reference. In Hartford 
an attempt at instruction was made following 
the vacation book talks. In Springfield, 
Mass., last year the senior class of the litera- 
ture department was given a lesson on the 
use of the library, followed by two practice 
questions on the card catalog. In one of the 
Cleveland branches talks are given to both 
teachers and pupils. At the Central High 
School of Detroit the school librarian has for 
the past three years met the new pupils for 40 
minutes' instruction, and test questions are 
given. A detailed account of simi'.ar work 
done in other high school libraries is to be 
found in the proceedings of the Chautauqua 
conference. Cambridge has given a lecture 
to a class or classes of the Latin school. In 
the current library report of Cedar Rapids, 


STANLEY. 


77 


la., is outlined in detail a course of 12 les- 
sons on bookmaking, the card catalog, and 
reference books. The librarian of Michigan 
City, Ind., writes : "Each grade of the schools, 
from the fifth to the eighth, has the use of 
our class room for an afternoon session each 
month. Each child is assigned a topic on 
which to write a short composition or give a 
brief oral report. When a pupil has found 
all he can from one source, books are ex- 
changed, and thus each child comes into con- 
tact with several books. At these monthly 
library afternoons I give short talks to the 
pupils on the use of the library, the reference 
books, and the card catalog, accompanied by 
practical object lessons and tests." At Brook- 
line our plan is to have each class of the 
eighth and ninth grades come once a year to 
our school reference room at the library. The 
teacher accompanies them, and they come in 
school hours. The school reference librarian 
gives the lesson. For the eighth grade we 
consider the make-up of the book the title- 
page in detail, the importance of noting the 
author, the significance of place and date and 
copyright, the origin of the dedication, the 
use of contents and index. This is followed 
by a description of bookmaking, folding, sew- 
ing and binding, illustrated by books pulled 
to pieces for the purpose. The lesson closes 
with remarks on the care of books. The 
ninth grade lesson is on reference books, and 
is conducted largely by means of questioning. 
A set of test questions at the end emphasizes 
the description of the books. In these lessons 
the pupils have shown an unexpected degree 
of interest and responsiveness. The course 
brought about 400 children to the library, a 
few of whom had never been there before. 
These were escorted about a little, and shown 
the catalog, charging desk, bulletins, new 
book shelves, etc. Every one not already hold- 
ing a card was given an opportunity to sign a 
registration slip. The following year the 
eighth grade, having become the ninth, has 
the second lesson. With these lessors the at- 
titude of the children towards the library has 
visibly improved, and we are confident that 
their idea of its use has been enlarged. 

Bibliographical work. 

The inquiry was made of the reporting li- 
braries whether any bibliographical work was 


being done by the high school. The question 
was not well put, and was sometimes mis- 
understood. Almost no such work was re- 
ported. At Evanston, 111., one high school 
teacher has taught her class to prepare bib- 
liographies, the librarian assisting. At Brook- 
line we have ambitions, not yet realized, of 
getting each high school class to prepare one 
bibliography a year (we begin modestly) on 
some subject along their lines of study. Last 
May the principals of two grammar schools 
offered to try their ninth grades on a simple 
bibliography. The school reference librarian 
selected some 60 topics of English history 
Bretwalda, Sir Isaac Newton, East India 
Company, the Great Commoner, etc. Each 
bibliography was to include every reference 
by author, title and page to be found in the 
books of the school reference collection of 
the public library. The pupils displayed no 
little zest and enjoyment in the undertaking, 
and some creditable lists were made. Obser- 
vation of the work confirmed my belief in its 
great practical value. Pupils became more 
keen and more thorough than in the usual 
getting of material from one or two refer- 
ences on a subject. Such training will smooth 
the way and save the time of those students 
who are to make use of a college library, and 
is even more to be desired for those others 
whose formal education ends with the high 
or grammar schools. 

The practice of sending collections of books 
from the public library to the schools is be- 
coming general. When these collections are 
along the lines of subjects studied, it would 
seem as if the reference use of the library by 
pupils might be somewhat diminished there- 
by. No doubt it is a convenience to both 
teacher and pupils to have books at hand to 
which to refer. The possession of an inde- 
pendent school library also tends to keep the 
reference work in the school. But in neither 
case ought the reference use of the public li- 
brary or its branches to be wholly or mate- 
rially overlooked, since it is on that that 
pupils must depend in after years, and there- 
fore to that they must now be directed. We 
recognize that the people of modest means 
need the library. As for the very well-to-do, 
the library needs them. Other things being 
equal, the pupil who has learned to know and 
to know how to use his public library ought 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


later so to appreciate its needs and so to rec- 
ognize the benefits it bestows that he will be 
concerned to have it generously supported 
and wisely administered. 

Even we librarians claim for our public 
collections no such fine service as is rendered 
by those private treasures that stand on a 
person's own shelves, round which ' our pas- 
time and our happiness will grow.' 1 Books 
for casual entertainment are more and more 
easily come by. But so far as our imagina- 
tion reaches, what private library will for 
most readers supplant a public collection of 
books for purposes of study and reference? 


Is it not then fitting that we spend time and 
effort to educate young people to the use of 
the public library? Do not the methods for 
realizing this end seem to be as deserving of 
systematic study as the details of classifica- 
tion and of cataloging ? We have learned that 
to bring school authorities to our assistance 
our faith must be sufficient to convince and 
our patience must be tempered by a kindly ap- 
preciation of the large demands already made 
upon the schools. Have we not yet to learn 
by just what lessons and what practice work 
the reference use of the public library can 
best be taught to children? 


VITALIZING THE RELATION BETWEEN THE LIBRARY AND THE SCHOOL. 

I. THE SCHOOL. 

BY MAY L. PRENTICE, City Normal School, Cleveland, 0. 


"V7" EARS ago a little girl ran down a country 
road to meet the light wagon returning 
from town with the purpose of climbing into 
the back and so getting a ride. Without turn- 
ing, the wise elder brother spoke from the 
driver's seat: "I wouldn't undertake that if I 
were you." And over his shoulder a breath- 
less but dignified voice answered, "But I 
have already undertooken it !" 

A similar answer might reasonably be ex- 
pected from the library to any well-meant but 
tardy advice from the school-side in regard to 
the vitalization of the relation between the 
school and the library. It has already been 
accomplished, and comparatively small thanks 
are due to the school for its doing. 

Graded lists of books, special lists of ma- 
terials for occasions, library league work, the 
establishment of school branch libraries, all 
these have been the work of the library in a 
much larger measure than of the school. 

However, there are many teachers who 
share the library's buoyant faith in the bless- 
ing which books bring. These have been first 
to appreciate all which the library has offetrd 
them. They have accepted all that has been 
offered them and asked for more. They have 
circulated library books through their own 
schools, sometimes at considerable cost and 
trouble to themselves, and for years have 
done all in their power to make their pupils 
wise and discriminating patrons of the libra- 


ry. That the children of their care and love 
might have life and have it more abundantly 
'that is why they have done these things. 

These teachers are comparatively few. 

That it is any function of the school to give 
joy to its children is an idea of slow growth. 
A child's school-time is usually thought of as 
preparation for living and not as living itself. 
Hence the rebuke of the teacher to the rhild 
who interrupts the "nature-lesson" to Wow 
the thistle-down which waves over his head, 
or to watch the bee which booms against the 
window-pane, or the hawk which floats lazily 
against the blue sky. Life is such a wild, wil- 
ful, irregular thing. Quietude, prudent inac- 
tion, is so much safer. 

So with books. It is the old search for 
life, life, more abundant life for knowledge 
of it, for entrance into it which sends the 
child to the fairy-story, the boy to the tale 
of adventure, the young girr to the story of 
romance, the older man and woman to the 
realistic novel. And it is the instinctive feel- 
ing of the teacher and parent that life is a 
dangerous force and difficult of control which 
has made school and home look askance upon 
reading which the child finds too enjoyable. 

There is another feeling or belief which lies 
back of our doubt of work or study or read- 
ing which is too enjoyable. It is in regard to 
the part which love of ease plays in human 
enjoyment. Love of ease is strong in human 


PRENTICE. 


79 


nature, and the man who tries to get his 
knowledge of human life mainly through the 
novel has indeed sought a short-cut to his 
end which will bring him but a short dis- 
tance on his way. This is not the time nor 
place for the discussion of the value of fiction, 
but undoubtedly we are inclined to believe 
that man's indolence is a strong factor in 
man's enjoyment of certain lines of reading, 
and indolence is a bad thing. Therefore, we dis- 
trust the value of such reading. Whether we 
like or dislike it, however, we are obliged to 
admit that fiction is a permanent form of lit- 
erature, that our children will read it, and that 
the question for us to settle is shall it be good 
or poor. 

What, then, has the teacher to do? Two 
things : To be the atmosphere from which the 
child breathes in love for and delight in pood 
books. This is first. All things in the way of 
learning are possible after this. Second, To 
be the pupij's guide and director in what may 
be called his "laboratory practice" with Looks. 

The Autocrat, mellowest of men of ideas, 
once suggested that every college and univer- 
sity should have a professorship of books. 
The Autocrat was an ingrained aristocrat, al- 
though one most mild and kind. The true 
democratic idea is that a professorship of 
books should be established in every school- 
room. 

But how shall the blind lead the blind? 
How shall the teacher who herself never has 
learned to know, to enjoy, and to choose good 
books guide others to do so? 

The library is a storehouse of great thought, 
an unfailing source of healthful recreation, 
but also the library is the mine in which the 
practical man and woman, the lawyer, the 
machinist, the scientist, the teacher, must dig 
deep for information, if he is to keep near the 
head in his own line of work. 

So far, as I have said before, nearly all 
organized effort to teach the teachers along 
these lines has come from the library. Cer- 
tain normal school and college librarians have 
done much, but to a large extent the work 
has been on sufferance. Odds and ends of the 
students' time and attention have been given 
to it. 

The desirable thing is that the study of juv- 
enile literature and the use of the library shall 
take equal rank with other studies in the prep- 


aration of prospective teachers; that the nor- 
mal school, the pedagogical department of the 
college and university, the teachers' summer- 
school and institute, shall recognize this sub- 
ject in their curricula. 

The practical side of library use its use 
for information is easily seen by the public, 
and schools for teachers can quite readily 
be induced to make room for the course of 
study suggested. 

In the Cleveland City Normal Training 
School an attempt to carry out such a course 
of study has been made. A term's work is 
given in juvenile literature and the use of the 
library. Moreover, this subject is placed upon 
an equality with the philosophy of teaching, 
history of education and psychology. 

As yet the work is not thoroughly organ- 
ized. We feel, however, that some things of 
value have been already accomplished. 

In a twelve-weeks' term a class of 116 
prospective teachers (the junior class of the 
school) have taken notes on a series of talks 
on reference books. They have learned some- 
thing of the comparative value of various 
standard encyclopaedias, gazetteers, diction- 
aries and indexes, and they have been sent to 
the public library a half-day at a time to do- 
work which required the use of these. 

For instance, a study of the life of Robert 
Louis Stevenson was made for the purpose of 
giving a talk on the subject to fifth-grade 
pupils. The students were required to look 
up all the available material in the library, 
looking not only in the printed and card 
catalogs for individual and collective biogra- 
phy, but in the various indexes Poole's, the 
Annual, the Cumulative for magazine arti- 
cles. They were required to select the four or 
five articles found most valuable and to es- 
timate their comparative value for the pur- 
pose in hand, making definite statements of 
the points of value. They were required to 
make careful and well-worded notes from the 
best material available, either books or peri- 
odicals, always giving the source, and to read 
these notes in class subject to the criticism of 
their instructor and school mates. And, last- 
ly, they were required to write the story of 
Stevenson's life as they would tell it to the 
children. 

Careful instruction in the use of the printed' 
and card catalogs and of indexes had pre- 


8o 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


ceded this assignment. We were fortunate in 
possessing quite a large number of issues of 
the Cumulative index unbound. It was thus 
possible to place one of these in the hands of 
each student during instruction on the sub- 
ject. This was a considerable aid. 

There was too much work with the less- 
used ready-reference books. Next year the 
number will be largely reduced. 

A study of fairy stories was made. An at- 
tempt was made to find a philosophical basis 
for the love of children for fairy stories. An 
attempt was made to discriminate between the 
good and the bad fairy story. Felix Adler's 
"Moral instruction of children" was helpful 
here, but the study of the fairy stories at 
first hand is still more helpful. 

The following books were read by the 
whole class: 

(1) Alcott's "Little women." Lessons were 
given on reading it with the children. 

(2) Mara L. Pratt's "History stories," 
vol. 3. 

(3) Eggleston's "First lessons in American 
history." The Pratt and Eggleston books 
were read in succession for the purpose of 
contrasting them. A yet better contrast would 
have been Baldwin's "Fifty famous stories. ;> 

(4) Frau Spyri's "Heidi." Some of our 
girls read this story in the original German 
but most in the translation published by 
Ginn & Co. It is a charming story of a 
breezy little maiden whose home was in the 
Swiss Alps, and one of the rather scarce de- 
sirable books for the fourth grade. 

(5) Mrs. Burnett's "Sara Crewe." This 
was read as a type of the "child novel" and 
for the sake of a study of the charms, dan- 
gers and benefits of this class of books. 

(6) Howard Pyle's "Men of iron" was 
read as a study of the worthy historical story. 

The following outline was given the stu- 
dents as an aid in judging the books read: 
Outline to aid in estimating a juvenile book. 

1. Written when? By whom? For children 

or adults? [e.g., "Robinson Crusoe" 
and "Gulliver's travels" were written 
for adults.] If for children, of what 
age? (Consider both manner and mat- 
ter.) 

2. Essential purpose of the book: Recrea- 

tive? Instructive? Moral? Is the rec- 
reation afforded wholesome? The in- 


struction reliable? The moral lessons 
sound ? 

3. Style: Is it clear? Correct? Beautiful? 

Suitable ? 

4. If a story, What is the strongest charac- 

ter in it? The most effective passage? 
Give reasons for thinking so. Is it 
true to. life? 

5. Is the book a creator of ideals ? How so * 

Along what lines ? 

An effort was made that there should be 
no formal adherence to this outline. Papers 
on the books read were required in which the 
outline could not be used. For example, 
after reading "Men of iron" the students were 
required to write, in class, a paper on "The 
education of a boy in chivalry" based on the 
story of Myles Falworth. 

The oral discussions of these books were 
often very animated. 

Each student was also required to hand 
in an annotated list of at least 20 books ac- 
tually read by the student and judged by 
her suitable for the grade in which she is to 
train. An oral discussion of these lists took 
place, and the student in many cases was 
required to justify her judgment, and to 
answer questions in regard to the books read. 

Some of these lists were very cheering. 
One excellent list for the sixth grade, with 
very original annotations contained 60 in- 
stead of 20 books actually read, and 30 taore 
which the student had listed to be read at 
her convenience. 

Not all of the lists were of that character. 
A list for the third grade recommended "Gul- 
liver's travels, by Gulliver" as a valuable aid 
in geography. 

The instance is eloquent of the value of a 
course of study which results in the illumina- 
tion or the elimination of such a student. 

Much remains to be worked out, but a be- 
ginning has been made. 

Ours is one instance of the awakening of the 
school to the value of the privileges which 
the library gives it. And as the reward of 
doing work well is invariably to have more 
work to do, from the school fully awakened 
the library shall receive its exceeding great 
reward in more work to be done. 

Except for the hearty co-operation of the 
Cleveland Public Library the little experiment 
here outlined could not have been undertaken. 


WARREN. 


81 


VITALIZING THE RELATION BETWEEN THE LIBRARY AND THE SCHOOL. 

II. THE LIBRARY. 

BY IRENE WARREN, Librarian University of Chicago School of Education. 


'"THE establishment of the Library Section 
of the National Educational Associa- 
tion was proof that the thoughtful librarians 
and school men of this country believed that 
an effective co-operation between public 
schools and public libraries was possible. In 
many states library sections of the state teach- 
ers' associations have been formed. Many 
public libraries have for some time past sys- 
tematically sent both books and lists of books 
to the public schools. 

No sooner had this been done than libra- 
rians and teachers both saw that they had 
made but a beginning, and the next steps, 
and, indeed, the present needs, are to bring 
about a more intelligent use of both books and 
libraries and to place larger and better ar- 
ranged collections within easy access of the 
pupils. Rarely do the teachers find the libra- 
ries adequate to the reference work or the 
collateral reading they wish the pupils to do. 
The funds are seldom sufficient to keep the 
libraries up to date. There is no one person 
in the school who knows how to organize and 
administer the library, and therefore whatever 
work the teachers do in this line is at a greater 
expense of both time, energy and material 
than it would be were it done by one having 
had a library training. The school buildings 
are frequently closed to the students shortly 
after the school session, usually by five o'clock, 
and always on holidays and during vacations. 
Most of the pupils' reading and research must 
therefore be done in the one or two books 
which he carries home with him. The Buffalo 
Public Library made another step in organiza- 
tion when it offered to take the collections of 
books from any of the public schools in the 
city and in return mend, rebind, catalog, clas- 
sify them, furnish such schools as agreed to 
this arrangement with the books they needed, 
either from their own collections or from 
that of the public library, and appoint two 
attendants to look after the school work. 

The public school began with the one cen- 


tral school in the community, but it soon 
found that it must establish branches if it 
reached all of the children of the city. To- 
day there is no town of any considerable size 
but has its central school with a high school 
usually, and its branches on the north, east, 
south and west sides. The public library, 
following the public schools, has found that 
it cannot reach the people of the community 
unless it delivers books to the various parts 
of the town, and moreover establishes branch 
reading rooms where at least reference books 
may be consulted and magazines read. 

As in the history of the schools, so in the 
history of the libraries, provision was first 
made for the mature student. Educators have 
been slow to see that they should begin with 
the child before he has established habits of 
thought and action. Not until the public li- 
brary is considered a vital factor in the edu- 
cational scheme of a city can it hope to secure 
its best results, nor is this possible when the 
central library and its few branches are re- 
moved, as at present, from the public schools. 
The libraries and the schools should be 
housed in close proximity to do the most ef- 
fective work. 

It is with keen interest that the experiment 
in New York City is being watched. It cer- 
tainly seems as if the most economical ar- 
rangement would be to have the branch of 
the public library so placed in a school build- 
ing that the students would have free access 
to it, and the public also, not only during 
school hours but public library hours. It 
seems the logical duty of the board of edu- 
cation to furnish the few necessary reference 
books that are in continual demand in every 
school room and also the sets of books which 
are used for supplementary reading. It does, 
on the other hand, seem that the public li- 
brary can furnish a larger general collection, 
in better editions and keep them in better 
condition for less money and with better re- 
sults than can the public schools. 


82 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


The already crowded curriculum in most 
of our public schools made many an educator 
hesitate when a course in library economy 
was suggested. One can indeed see a time 
not far distant, it is hoped, when such a 
course will not be thought necessary. Such 
a time will be when instructors have awak- 
ened to a much greater appreciation of the 
value and use of bibliography and the need of 
training students in this line. Along with 
this will develop a desire in the student to 
keep his own references and material so 
arranged that he will be able to use them 
easily. There will still be considerable of 
a general bibliographical character, hand- 
books, etc., which would be of value in all 
subjects and yet perhaps be overlooked by the 
specialists, that could be called to the students' 
attention through such a pamphlet as was re- 
cently compiled by Mr. Andrew Keogh, of 
Yale University Library, under the title, 
"Some general bibliographical works of value 
to the students of English." 

There is a phase of library economy that 
every teacher should know, and which it 
seems must always have its proper place in 
the curriculum of the normal school. That 
is the knowledge of how to obtain books. 
Every teacher should know what the laws of 
his state are regarding the establishment and 
maintenance of the public library and the 
public school library, and how these laws 
compare with those of other states. He should 
know what aid he can gain through the trav- 
elling library system, should he be in a vil- 
lage or country district, and the possible co- 
operation between the public library and the 
public schools should he be assigned to a city. 
Just as the public schools are finding that they 
must adapt their curriculum to the needs of 
the children of a certain district or class, so 
the public library has the same lesson to learn. 
The Carnegie Public Library of Pittsburgh 
has been one of the first to recognize this in 
the establishment of home libraries. It has 
thus reached a class of children that could be 
reached in no other way, and why should not 
the public library as well as the public school 
aim to reach these less fortunate children? 

The subject of children's literature should 
be a serious one with every teacher of chil- 
dren. The best writers for children, best 


illustrators, and best editions should be part 
of the normal school student's knowledge 
when he completes his course and goes out to 
teach. It is a great problem with him now 
how he shall keep this information up to date, 
when there are hundreds of books coming out 
even.- year and his school-room duties absorb 
so much of his time. Here is the librarian's 
opportunity to be of great aid to the public 
school teacher by issuing lists of the best 
children's books on various subjects, exhibit- 
ing them in the library from time to time, and 
to the schools for trial, as so many libraries 
are now doing. In the country districts the 
library commissions must supply this infor- 
mation through annotated lists. 

It has been shown in a number of schools 
that children love to make books, and that the 
making of books quite successfully lends itself 
to the constructive work as carried on in the 
schools of to-day. The materials for this 
work are not so costly as to make it impos- 
sible for the average school. Every child at 
the completion of the graded schools should 
know the value of a title-page, the use of the 
preface and introductory notes, the difference 
between the table of contents and the index, 
the best books in the several subjects which he 
has studied, and where and how he can obtain 
more books on these subjects later, should he 
wish them. It would doubtless be a great 
surprise to one who has not tried the experi- 
ment to ask the pupils in our graded and high 
schools even, for such simple information as 
the author, title and date of the text-books 
they are using daily. 

If the suggestions in this paper be accepted, 
and most of them have already been success- 
fully tried, it will be seen at once how great 
is the importance of having trained librarians 
in our normal schools and institutions of 
higher learning. The time has now come in 
a number of cities which we hope is prophetic 
of the future, when the public library stands 
equally important as an educational institu- 
tion with the public school, each supplement- 
ing the other in work and still distinct in 
function and administration. It is therefore 
necessary that our teachers should be trained 
to use libraries, and that our librarians should 
be acquainted with the great educational 
movements of the day. 


HUNT. 


OPENING A CHILDREN'S ROOM. 


BY CLARA WHITEHILL HUNT. Newark (N. 7.) Free Public Library. 


T N writing this paper on the opening of a 
children's room, I am presupposing the fol- 
lowing conditions: That in a library whose 
work with the children has been confined to 
the general delivery desk, and the divided at- 
tention of clerks whose time an adult public 
would monopolize, there is to be set aside a 
commodious apartment to be known as the 
Children's Room; that, considering this work 
of enough importance to demand such a de- 
partment, the trustees are prepared to sup- 
port it by a reasonable outlay for new books, 
necessary and convenient furnishings, and es- 
pecially by placing in its charge one who, by 
natural fitness and special training they be- 
lieve to be so thoroughly capable of super- 
vising the work, that she is to be given a free 
hand in deciding both how the room is to be 
made ready for opening, and how managed 
after it is opened. This being the case, I 
imagine the children's librarian, with opening 
day a few weeks or months ahead, planning 
her campaign with such wise foresight and 
attention to the smallest detail that, in the 
rush of the first weeks, there may be the least 
possible wear and tear on nerves and temper 
from petty inconveniences which assume gi- 
gantic proportions when one is hurried and 
tired, and the smallest amount of undoing 
and beginning over again as time goes on. 

It is difficult to be clear in speaking of fur- 
nishings without something more than verbal 
description for illustrating mistakes and ex- 
cellences, but so much power can be lost by 
not having the parts of the machine properly 
fitted and well oiled that how to furnish the 
children's room becomes one of the most im- 
portant topics under this subject 

To begin with, the children's librarian must 
cultivate, if she does not already possess, the 
architect's faculty of seeing a completed struc- 
ture in a flat piece of paper marked off by 
lines labelled 20 ft., 50 ft., etc. If 20 ft. does 
not mean anything to her she would do well 
to take a tape measure to an empty lot and 


measure off the exact dimensions of her room 
to be, until she can see its floor space clearly. 
She should live in her room before its ex- 
istence, locating every door and window, the 
height of the windows from the floor, every 
corner and cupboard, the relation of her room 
to the other departments of the library. In 
proceeding to furnish the room she will learn 
what to adopt and what to avoid by visiting 
other children's rooms and asking if the tables 
and chairs are the correct height, if the exit 
is satisfactorily guarded, what working space 
is necessary for a certain circulation, whether 
the electric light fixtures are easily broken, 
and many other things. If she cannot make 
such visits, her knowledge of children and a 
study of conditions in her own library will 
answer. 

Limited to a small space the children's 
room is nevertheless a circulating department, 
a reading room, a reference room, perhaps a 
repair room, and a cataloging department all 
in one; and if the children's librarian has not 
had actual work in each of these departments 
of her library, she should serve an appren- 
ticeship at the receiving and charging desks, 
the registration desk, the slip rack, not only 
for the sake of knowing the routine of each 
department, but for studying improvements in 
planning her furnishings. The registration 
clerk will tell her that she has not enough 
elbow room, that the application drawers are 
too narrow or too heavy; the attendants at 
the charging desk find every present arrange- 
ment so satisfactory that they advise exact 
reproduction. Armed with pad and tape 
measure the children's librarian notes all these 
points. 

The problem how with a minimum of help 
to "run" all departments, to see all parts of 
the room, to keep your eye on the entrance 
so as to nip in the bud any tendency to bois- 
terousness as the children come in, and to 
watch the exit so that no book goes out un- 
charged, how to keep all unfinished work out 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


of the children's reach but to give them per- 
fectly free access to the books, in short, how 
to arrange your working space so that one 
person on a moderately busy day can attend 
to all these things, may be answered, I think, 
in this way. All wall space will sooner or 
later be needed for books. Taking an oblong 
floor space (dimensions proportionate to size 
of room and circulation) and surrounding 
this by a counter 30 inches high and two feet 
wide, is a simple way of accomplishing these 
things. The counter opposite the entrance is 
the receiving and charging desk; at another 
place it is the registration desk; books after 
"slipping" are piled in another part ready for 
return to shelves ; books waiting to be marked 
occupy a fourth section ; the catalog case, no- 
tices to children, call-slip holders, etc., stand 
on the counter. The space under the counter 
is available for supply cupboards and drawers. 
The height of the counter is such that a 
grown person sitting in an ordinary chair 
works comfortably behind it, but it is so low- 
that no small child feels frowningly walled 
out in standing on the other side. Thus all 
the work of the room is concentrated and 
supervision is easy. A few details are worth 
noticing. First, don't let the carpenter give 
you drawers instead of cupboards. Drawers 
are wasteful of room for packing supplies, 
and of time in hunting for them. Next, have 
the cupboard doors slide, not swing, open, for 
economy of your working floor space. Under- 
neath registration and charging desks leave 
space empty for your feet. Just under coun- 
ter near the registration desk have a row of 
drawers, sliding easily but fastened so they 
cannot fall out, made of the exact size to hold 
your application blanks and cards, with guide 
cards. A work table within the counter will 
be necessary. 

In addition to this working space, every 
large children's room should have a locked 
closet, or better still, a work room opening 
from it. In busy times things will accumu- 
late which must be kept out of reach, and it 
would not be sensible to take valuable space 
out of the children's room to hold such ac- 
cumulations until you have time to attend to 
them. 

The height of the children's chairs and 


tables seems to have reached a standard in 
children's rooms tables 22 and 28 inches high, 
with chairs 14 and 16 inches to go with them. 
I think it best to have very few tables of the 
smaller size, for tall boys take the strangest 
delight in crouching over them, snarling their 
long legs around the short table legs and try- 
ing, apparently, to get a permanent twist to 
their shoulders. Small children do not stay 
long, and it is less harmful, if necessary, for 
them to sit in a chair a little too high than to 
compel large children to spend a holiday after- 
noon with bodies contorted to fit a small 
chair and table. 

By all means have the electric light fixed 
in the center of the table so that each child 
gets an equal share of light, and have the 
connections so made that jarring the table 
and the movements of restless feet will not 
put the fixtures out of order. Be very care- 
ful not to have the shade so high that the 
glare of the lamp instead of the restful green 
shade is opposite the child's eyes. 

When you see a chair that you like, find 
out before purchasing whether it is very eas- 
ily tipped over. You will know why. if you 
are not wise, on some rainy day, when the 
room is full of readers and the reports of 
chairs suddenly knocked over sound like a 
fusillade of cannon balls. 

Leaving this hasty and most unsatisfactory 
discussion on getting the place ready for 
opening, I would say a word about getting 
the books ready not about buying a large 
quantity of new, and putting the old into the 
best possible condition of repair and cleanli- 
ness, for that will naturally be done. But 
from experience I know that the moment is 
golden for weeding out, never to return, au- 
thors you think objectionable. 

Suppose a girl reads nothing but the Elsie 
books. Very likely one reason is that she 
knows little about any other kind. In a 
printed catalog with a scattering "j" between 
many titles of adult books it is easier to 
make lists of numbers from the long sets of 
prolific writers, and those excellent authors 
who have produced only a few books for 
children are oftenest overlooked. Suppose in 
the process of moving the Elsie books are left 
behind. The little girl comes into the beau-' 


HUNT. 


tiful new children's room. She sees the shin- 
ing new furniture, the pictures, the comfort- 
able tables and chairs and book cases so 
planned that any child can reach any book. 
She finds that there is perfect freedom for 
every child in this room that no stern 
Olympian comes and says, "Don't do this," 
and "You can't have that," and "Those books 
aren't for you," but that among all these 
hundreds of fresh new covers she may take 
her pick, may sit anywhere, or stand or kneel 
as she chooses. Do you imagine that, as these 
unaccustomed delights sink into her mind, 
any child is going off in a huff when she finds 
one author is lacking, if the children's libra- 
rian uses any tact in introducing her to others 
adapted to her tastes? I have been asked for 
Alger and Optic and Elsie, of course, though 
much less often than I anticipated, but I am 
perfectly certain that I have never lost a 
"customer" because I did not display these 
wares. One little girl exclaimed in doleful 
tones, "Oh, haven't you the Elsie books? 
Oh, I'm terribly disappointed ! I think those 
are grand books !" But in spite of this tragic 
appeal her curiosity and interest proved 
stronger than her disappointment, and I have 
the satisfaction of seeing a more wholesome 
taste develop in a child who must have been 
on the high road to softening of the brain and 
moral perversion from association with the 
insufferable Elsie. If you once put these 
books on the open shelves, however, aid later 
attempted the weeding out process, a howl 
would arise which would not be silenced 
without consequences which I, for one, would 
not like to face. 

Furniture and books are comparatively sim- 
ple matters to make ready, but to prepare 
your assistant or assistants for opening day 
and the time that follows is harder. The ex- 
ternal preparation for the rush of the first 
weeks consists in drill in the routine to be 
observed. Assigning a place and certain 
duties to each person, foreseeing as far as 
possible all questions that may arise and 
making sure that each attendant understands 
what to do in any case, having a place for 
everything, and everything in its place, and 
every person knowing what that place is, so 
that there will be no frantic search for an 


extra set of daters when a long line of people 
stands waiting this also requires only fore- 
sight and firmness. But so deeply to imbue 
your chief assistant with your spirit and prin- 
ciples of management that she will not simply 
obey your directions, but be inwardly guided 
by your desires, and there may be no break 
in the steady march to a definite end this 
demands that rare species of assistant who 
is born, not made, for the position, and a 
leader who possesses strength, tact, contag- 
ious enthusiasm, a likeable personality, and 
other qualities difficult to attain. 

This brings us to the consideration of what 
the guiding principles of the new department 
are to be a question which must be pon- 
dered and settled by the children's librarian 
before making the external preparations. If 
the senior members of the American Library 
Association, the librarians-in-chief, would 
consider the children's room of enough im- 
portance to give us their ideas of what it 
should stand for, what its scope should be, 
the result might be more uniformity of 
thought among members of the library pro- 
fession in this regard, and a more sensible 
attitude toward the children's room in the 
library. Between those who, on the one hand, 
take themselves so very seriously, pondering 
with anxious care what probable effect on the 
child's future career as a reader the selection 
of a blue or a green mat for mounting the 
picture bulletin would have, and those who 
look upon the children's room merely as an 
interesting plaything, driving the big boys 
away in disgust by encouraging visitors who 
exclaim, "Oh, what cunning little charrs and 
tables ! Why, you have a regular kindergar- 
ten here, haven't you?" from either point 
of view, the discussions on children's rooms 
in libraries seem almost to lose sight of 
the very word library and all it carries 
with it. 

The children's room is only one room in a 
great dignified library. As the newspaper 
room, the catalog room, and all the rest are 
fitted up with furnishings suited to their pe- 
culiar needs, so the children's room is fur- 
nished with tables and chairs and books 
suited to its constituents. Apart from this, 
all its management and spirit should corre- 


86 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


spond as closely as possible to that of the 
other departments. The same dignity, the 
same freedom, the same courteous attention 
to every want without fussy attentions which 
by grown people would be called intrusiveness 
should prevail. Make the selection of books 
what it should be, provide guides and cata- 
logs, perfectly clear but not patronizingly 
written down, show the children that you are 
always willing to respond in every way to 
their questtions, and then let them alone ! 

Some one has asked me to speak on the 
question of discipline. After the first two or 
three weeks, if one begins properly, there 
will be no such question. Allowing some- 
thing for the noise of small feet which have 
not learned to control themselves as they will 
later on, and expecting more "talking over" 
an interesting "find" than is common with 
adults, one should aim for library order. 
Teach the children what a library reading 
room means. If in the first days there is a 
disposition on the part of any boy to be rough 
or unruly, or if a group of girls make a visit- 
ing-and-gum-chewing rendezvous of your 
tables, don't waste any time in Sunday-school 
methods of discipline, trying to keep a hold 
on the child at any cost to the library. A 
sentence in a report of Pratt Institute chil- 
dren's room is worth adopting as a guiding 
principle. "The work of the children's room 
should be educative, not reformatory." Give 
one decided warning and then if a child does 
not behave, send him out at once. Do not be 
afraid of seeming stern at first. The fascina- 
tions of the room are such that a child who 
has been turned away for disobedience comes 
back a subdued and chastened young person 
and your best friend forever after; then with 
your aim and your firmness early settled, you 
will have no more thought of discipline than 
the reference librarian with his tables full of 
studious adults. After the first a little care 
about the way a child enters the room will be 
all that is necessary. Your courteous man- 


ner, low tones, a little reminder about caps 
and clean hands while discharging his book, 
will give him the cue as to what is expected, 
and he will have a pride in living up to what 
is expected of him as a gentleman, not de- 
manded of him as a child under authority. 

Many other points will engage the thought 
of the children's librarian, for example, what 
shall be the attitude of the children's room 
toward the other departments whether it is 
to encourage the children to make use of the 
adults' reference room, to take out cards in 
the main delivery department, and get into 
the way of reading standard works from sug- 
gestions of the children's librarian ; or wheth- 
er the line of separation is to be rigid and she 
will be jealous of their "graduating" from her 
care. How to prepare the public, especially 
the school-teaching public, for the opening, so 
as to secure their hearty co-operation from 
the beginning is worth constant effort. The 
question of blanks and forms for the chil- 
dren's room is a minor matter which is after 
all not a small thing. To make as few 
changes as possible in the forms already in 
use, so that any assistant from the main de- 
livery room can in emergencies quickly take 
up the clerical work of the children's room 
without needing to learn a new routine may 
save much confusion should the children's 
staff all happen to be stricken with grippe at 
the same time! 

Beginning early to plan, profiting by other 
people's mistakes, getting the routine of each 
department at one's finger tips, foreseeing 
every probable obstacle and removing each in 
imagination, beforehand, proceeding with 
calmness and common sense, thus the new 
machinery will move as smoothly during 
opening weeks as if it had been running for 
years, and, as "well begun is half done," 
every thought given to preparation while the 
room exists only on paper will have a far- 
reaching effect on the permanent influences of 
the children's room. 


COLE. 


REPORT ON GIFTS AND BEQUESTS TO AMERICAN LIBRARIES; 1900-1901. 

BY GEORGE WATSON COLE. 


HTHE period covered by this report is from 
June i, 1900, to July i, 1901, and in- 
cludes all gifts and bequests of $500 or more, 
as well as nil gifts of 250 volumes and over, 
given by any single individual. A few gifts 
have been included which fall below these fig- 
ures where the importance or value of the gift 
seemed to require mention. This report has 
been increased by the addition of over 50 
gifts, information of which was received too 
late to be inserted before its presentatior to 
the Waukesha conference. A few others, 
which have been announced since July i, have 
aiso been inserted. 

Much of the information here given has 
been obtained by a careful examination of the 
Library Journal and Public Libraries. Com- 
munications were sent to all the state library 
commissions, several state library associa- 
tions and clubs, and to the librarian of libra- 
ries known to have 50,000 volumes or more. 
The responses to these communications have 
been quite general, and the information con- 
tained in the replies has been embodied in 
this report. The thanks of the compiler are 
herewith extended to all who have assisted 
him in collecting the material for this list. 

It was suggested by Miss Hewins in 1896 
that it would be desirable to have the library 
commission of each state appoint some libra- 
rian, or library trustee, who should be re- 
sponsible for the collection of information 
regarding the gifts and bequests made within 
his state. Judging from the replies received 
this year the suggestion has never been car- 
ried out. 

Following the example of my predecessor, 
I wish to emphasize the importance of the 
suggestion, and would further recommend 
that the information so gathered be divided 
as nearly as possible into the following 
classes : 

1. Buildings, giving value or cost ; 

2. Sites, giving value or cost; 

3. Cash for buildings, with accompanying 

conditions, if any; 


4. Cash for sites, with accompanying condi- 

tions, if any; 

5. Books, pamphlets, periodicals, prints, 

maps, etc., giving number of each kind, 
with value or cost of the whole, if 
known ; 

6. Cash for books, etc., with accompanying 

conditions, if any; 

7. Cash for endowment funds, giving pur- 

pose for which income is to be ex- 
pended; 

8. Cash to be expended, with specified pur- 

poses for which it is to be spent; 

9. Cash given unconditionally; 

10. Miscellaneous gifts, specifying their na- 
ture and value. 

It will be observed that the first four of the 
above headings relate to gifts of real estate, 
which should also include gifts for fixtures of 
any kind, such as plants for lighting, heating, 
and ventilation; mural decorations, such as 
frescoes; furniture, so constructed as to be 
an essential part of the building; landscape 
gardening, etc. The remaining headings in- 
clude books, endowment funds for various pur- 
poses (excepting building funds and the other 
objects just mentioned), and gifts of money 
for administration, current expenses, etc., etc. 

Then, too, information should be given as 
to whether a gift has been offered, accepted, 
or received. 

It seems desirable that information relating 
to such old and moribund libraries as have 
been absorbed or merged with newer and 
more vigorous institutions should somewhere 
find a record. As such transfers are usually 
made as gifts, there seems to be no more 
suitable place for such a record than in the 
annual report of Gifts and Bequests. It is 
to be hoped that, in the future, the tables of 
statistics issued from time to time by the state 
library commissions, the U. S. Bureau of 
Education, and others will contain a record 
of the final disposition of such libraries. 

In the report of Gifts and Bequests made 
by Mr. Stockwell, a year ago, covering a pe- 


88 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


riod of two years, there were given 458 sep- 
arate gifts, amounting to over $10,500,000, 
and distributed among 36 states and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. This report, covering 13 
months, includes 482 separte gifts, amount- 
ing to $19,786,465.16, and is distributed as 
follows: 468 in 39 of the United States, 10 
in the British provinces, and three in Scot- 
land. To tliat princely philanthropist, Mr. 
Andrew Carnegie, we are indebted, during 
the past year, for gifts reaching the enormous 
aggregate of $13,704,700, over $12,500,000 of 
which was given for the erection of library 
buildings. In every case the gift, except where 
otherwise specified, was made upon the con- 
dition that the city or town receiving it should 
furnish a site for the building and appropriate 
yearly for the maintenance of the library a 
sum equivalent to 10 per cent, of the gift. 

The most notable gifts of the year are due 
to the ever-increasingly generous hand of Mr. 
Carnegie. That to the city of New York of 
$5,200,000, for the erection of 65, or more, 
branch libraries, is probably the largest li- 
brary gift ever made at one time to a single 
city. His gift of $1,000,000 to the city of St. 
Louis for library buildings and an equal sum, 
placed in trust as an endowment fund, for 
the Carnegie libraries at Braddock, Du- 
quesne, and Homestead, Pa., occupy the sec- 
ond and third positions, by reason of their 
amounts. His recent gifts of $750,000 each to 
the cities of Detroit and San Francisco, though 
announced since July i, have been included in 
this report. Mr. Carnegie's gifts during the 
year number 121 ; 112 in the United States, six 
in Canada, and three in Scotland. One hundred 
and seven of these gifts in the United States 
were for library buildings. Of the remaining 
five, amounting to $1,028,000, one of $25,000 
will probably be used for a building. 

The transfer of the John Carter Brown 
Library to Brown University by the trustees 
of the estate of the late John Nicholas Brown, 
recently announced, is one of the most im- 
portant library events of the year. This li- 
brary contains, if not the finest, at least one 
of the finest collections of early Americana 
in this country, and possesses many books 
not to be found in any other library on this 
side of the Atlantic. Its collector, after whom 
it is named, was a competitor with Lenox, 


Brinley, and other early collectors of Amer- 
icana for many a choice nugget which Henry 
Stevens and other European dealers had se- 
cured for their American patrons. The li- 
brary is estimated to be worth at least $1,000,- 
ooo, and the gift carries with it two legacies, 
one of $150,000 for a library building, and an- 
other of $500,000 as an endowment fund for 
its increase and maintenance. 

The gift of four public-spirited citizens of 
St. Louis, who have j.ointly contributed $400,- 
ooo to lift an incumbrance on the block to be 
used for the new Carnegie library in that city, 
is a noble example of public spirit, and one 
of which the friends of that city may justly 
feel proud. 

The collection of Oriental literature of 
Yale University has been enriched by the gift 
of 842 Arabic manuscripts, many of which 
are extremely rare. The collection covers the 
whole range of Arabic history and literature, 
dating back to the I2th and I3th centuries. 

This collection, formed by Count Landber?, 
was purchased by Mr. Morris K. Jesup, of 
New York, at a cost of $20,000, and was pre- 
sented by him to the university library. This 
library has also received, as a bequest, the 
private library of the late Prof. Othniel C. 
Marsh, consisting of about 5000 volumes and 
10,000 pamphlets, dealing mainly with pa- 
laeontological subjects. 

The New York Public Library Astor, 
Lenox, and Tilden foundations through 
the generosity of Mr. Charles Stewart Smith, 
has come into possession of a large and val- 
uable collection of Japanese engravings and 
chromo-xylographs, formed by Captain Brink- 
ley, of the Japanese Mail. 

I regret that I do not have the pleasure TO 
record any addition, during the year, to the 
Publication Fund of the American Library 
Association. The Publishing Board is much 
hampered by lack of funds from carrying on 
its important work. If some philanthropically 
inclined person would present a fund, say 
$100,000, upon condition that all publications 
issued from its income should bear the nam-i 
of the fund, it would not only be of inesti- 
mable benefit to the cause of libraries, but 
would also be a most enduring monument to 
its donor. 

An examination of the following list will 


COLE. 


89 


disclose other gifts worthy of special mention 
if space permitted. The main list has been 
arranged alphabetically by states, as being the 
most convenient for reference. A tabulated 
summary, arranged by the geographical sec- 
tions of the country, will show how widely 
scattered have been the benefactions of the 
year, extending from Alabama in the south 
to Montreal in the north, and from Bangor 
in the east to "where rolls the Oregon" in the 
iar west. 

ALABAMA. 

Montgomery. Public Library. Gift of $50,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

Gift of books forming its library, from the 
Montgomery Library Association. 

Tuskegee. Tuskegee Normal and Industrial 
Institute. Gift of $20,000. for a library 
building, from Andrew Carnegie. The 
building will be erected entirely by student 
labor. 

CALIFORNIA. 

Alameda. Public Library. Gift of $35,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Berkeley. University of California. Gift of 
$10,000, as a fund for the purchase of 
books for the law library, from Mrs. Jane 
Krom Sather, of Oakland, Cal. 

Gift of $1000, from Col. E. A. Denicke. 

Gift of about 2500 volumes, being the pri - 
vate library of the late Regent, A. S. Halli- 
die, from Mrs. M. E. Hallidie. 

Fresno. Public Library. Gift of $30,000 for 
a public library building, from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

Napa. Public Library. Gift of $20,000, for 
free public library building, from George 
E. Goodman. 

San Francisco. Public Library. Gift of $750,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

Gift of building and fixtures for Branch Li- 
brary, No. 5, estimated to cost $20,000, 
from Hon. James D. Phelan, Mayor of San 
Francisco. 

San Jose. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Stanford University. Leland Stanford Uni- 
versity. Gift of $2000, $1000 for books on 
sociology and $1000 for books on bibliog- 
raphy, special gift from Mrs. J. L. Stanford. 

COLORADO. 

Grand Junction. Public Library. Gift of 
$8000, increased from $5000, for a library 
building, from Andrew Carnegie. 

Leadville. City Library Association. Gift of 
$100,000, for a public library, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 


Ouray. Walsh Library. Gift of a library 
building, costing $20,000, from Thomas F. 
Walsh. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Branford. Blackstone Memorial Library. 
Bequest of $100,000, from Timothy B. Black- 
stone, of Chicago, founder of the library. 

Daniclsonville. Edwin H. Bugbee Memorial 
Building. Bequest of $15,000, for the erec- 
tion of a building, also the donor's private 
library and cases, from Edwin H. Bugbee. 

Derby. Public Library. Gift of a fully 
equipped public library building, by Col. 
and Mrs. H. Holton Wood, of Boston, the 
city to agree to maintain the library and 
raise a book fund of $5000, to which sum 
the donors will add an equal amount. 

Gift of $12,000, raised by popular subscrip- 
tion, towards book fund, from interested 
citizens. Nearly $75 was given by public 
school children. 

Gift of $5000, towards a book fund, from 
Col. and Mrs. H. Holton Wood. 

Gift of 900 volumes, from Derby Reading 

Circle. 
Greenwich. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, 

as an endowment, from wealthy New 

Yorkers. 
Hartford. Case Memorial Library, Hartford 

Theological Seminary. Gift of $2000 

towards fund for purchase of periodicals, 

from Mrs. Charles B. Smith. 

Gift of $500 for book purchases, from Miss 
Anna M. Hills. 

Gift of 365 volumes, pertaining to missions, 
from Rev. A. C. Thompson, D.D. 

Public Library. Gift of $5000, from F. B. 
Brown. 

Kensington. Library Association. Gift of 

$10,000, for a new library building, from S. 

A. Galpin, of California. 
Litchfield. Wolcott Library. Bequest of 

$1000, from ex-Governor Roger Wolcott, 

of Boston, Mass. 
Middletown. Wesleyan University. Gifts of 

$3604, to be added to Alumni Library Fund. 

Gift of $483, to be added to the Hunt Li- 
brary Endowment. This addition has been 
increased to $1000 by the reservation of the 
income of the fund. 

New Haven. Yale University. Gift of $10,- 
ooo, for a fund for the Seminary library 
in the department of Philosophy, from Mrs. 
John S. Camp, of Hartford, Conn. 

Gift of $1500, a contribution towards an 
administration fund, from Charles J. Har- 
ris. 

Gift of $1300, for purchases in the depart- 
ment of Folk-music, from an anonymous 
donor. 

Gift of $1000, for purchases in department 
of English literature, from Edward Wells 
Southworth, of New York. 

Gift of $500, a contribution towards an 
administration fund, from the Hon. Wil- 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


liam T. Harris, U. S. Commissioner of 
Education. 

Bequest of about 5000 volumes and 10,000 
pamphlets, forming the private library of the 
testator, from Prof. Othniel C. Marsh. 

Gift of 842 Arabic manuscripts, collected 
by Count Landberg; bought for $20,000 by 
Morris K. Jesup and presented by him to 
the University. Many of these Mss. are 
very rare. The collection covers the whole 
range of Arabic history and literature, dat- 
ing back to the I2th and I3th centuries. 

Gift of a collection of musical manuscripts, 
number not stated, from Morris Steinert. 

Norivalk. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

South Norwalk. Public Library and Free 
Reading Room. Bequest of $1000, for per- 
manent fund, from R. H. Rowan. 

Southington. Public Library. Gift of $5000, 
towards a library building, from L. V. 
Walkley. 

Torrington. Library Association. Bequest 
of $100,000, by Elisha Turner. From this 
amount is to be deducted the cost of the 
library building, about $70,000, which was 
being erected by the testator at the time of 
his death. 

Wallingford. Public Library. Gift of libra- 
ry building, cost value not stated, from the 
late Samuel Simpson, as a memorial to his 
daughter. 

Windsor. Library Association. Gift of $4000, 
towards a library building fund, from Miss 
Olivia Pierson. 

GEORGIA. 

Atlanta. Carnegie Library. Gift of $20,000, 
for furnishings and equipment of new 
building, from Andrew Carnegie. 

Travelling Libraries for Schools. Gift of 960 
volumes for 16 travelling libraries for coun- 
try schools, for that number of counties in 
the state, from the Hon. Hoke Smith. It is 
planned to have each library remain in a 
school for about two months. 

ILLINOIS. 

Aurora. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, for 
a public library building, from Andrew Car- 
negie, the city to furnish a site and guaran- 
tee $6000 a year maintenance. 

Centralia. Public Library. Gift of $15,000, 
for public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie, the city to provide a site and 
$2000 yearly for maintenance. 

Chicago' John Crerar Library. Bequest of 
$1000, from the late President, Huntington 
W. Jackson. 

Rush Medical College. Gift of 4000 vol- 
umes of medical and surgical books, from 
Dr. Christian Fenger. This gift contains a 
practically complete collection of German 
theses for the past fifty years. 

University of Chicago. Gift of $30,000, to 


endow the history library, from Mrs. Delia 
Gallup. 

Decatur. Public Library. Gift of $60,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Young Men's Christian Association Libra- 
ry. Gift of $500, from Miss Helen Gould, 
of New York. 

Dixon. Dodge Library. Gift of a valuable 
and extensive collection of art books, value 
and number not stated, from George C. 
Loveland. 

Evanston. Northwestern University. Gift of 
$750, for the purchase of books in political 
economy, from Norman Waite Harris, of 
Chicago. 

Gift of $543.50, to be known as the "Class 
of '95 Library Fund," the income of at 
least 4 per cent, to be used for the increase 
of the university library, from the class of 
1895. 

Public Library. Gift of $5000, toward li- 
brary site fund, from William Deering. 

Free port. Public Library. Gift of $30,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Galesburg. Knox College. Gift of $50,000, 
for a library building, from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

Public Library. Gift of $50,000, for pub- 
lic library building, from Andrew Carne- 
gie. The city already appropriates $6000 
for library maintenance. 

Grossdale. Public Library. Gift of $35,000, 
for public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Havana. Public Library. Gift of $5000, for 
a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Jacksonville. Public Library. Gift of $40,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

Kewanee. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Lake Forest. Lake Forest College. Gift of 
the Arthur Somerville Reid Memorial Li- 
brary building; cost about $30,000, from 
Mrs. Simon Reid. 

Lincoln. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

May-wood. Public Library. Gift of $100, be- 
ing surplus campaign funds remaining after 
the election, from Republican Committee 
of that town. 

Pekin. Public Library. Gift of $10,000, for 
a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. The city has appropriated $1500, 

Gift of a site for the proposed Carnegie 
library building, value not stated, from 
George Herget. 

Rock Island. Public Library. Gift of $10,- 
ooo, for book stacks and furniture, from 
Frederick Weyerhauser, of St. Paul. 


COLE. 


Rockford. Public Library. Gift of $60,000, 
for a new public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie, the city to furnish site and 
"not less than $8000" yearly for mainte- 
nance. 

Springfield. Public Library. Gift of $75,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. The City Council appropriated 
$10,000 annually in hope that the gift might 
be increased to $100,000. The library will 
be known as the "Lincoln Library." 

Streator. Public Library. Gift of $35,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Sycamore. Public Library. Gift of a libra- 
ry building, to cost about $25,000, from 
Mrs. Everill F. Dutton, as a memorial to 
her late husband, Gen. Everill F. Dutton. 

Waukegan. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. The city already appropriates 
$2000 for library maintenance. 

INDIANA. 

Crawsfordsville. Public Library. Gift of 
$25,000, for a public library building, from 
Andrew Carnegie. 

Wabash College Library. Gift of the 
original manuscript of "The prince of In- 
dia," from General and Mrs. Lew Wallace. 

Elkhart. Public Library. Gift of $30,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. The city, in advance, has 
pledged $3500 yearly for maintenance. 

Elwood. Public Library. Gift of $1000, 
through the local Women's Club, from 
President Reid, of the American Tin Plate 
Co., of New York. 

Gift of $200, the results of a benefit, from 
The Women's Club. 

Fort Wayne. Public Library. Gift of $75,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

Goshen. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, for 
a library building, from Andrew Carnegie, 
the city to furnish $2500 yearly for main- 
tenance. 

Indianapolis. Butler College. Gift of $20,- 
ooo, for a library building, also a site for 
the same, from Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. 
Thompson, in memory of their daughter. 

Public Library. Gift of 275 volumes on 
music, in memory of her son, Harry S. 
Duncan, deceased, from Mrs. Ella S. Dun- 
can. This collection includes musical scores 
of the most famous operas and oratorios, 
as well as the best critical works on music. 

Lafayette. Public Library. Gift of property, 
valued at $15,000, from Mrs. Robert R. 
Hitt, of -Illinois. 

Logansport. Public Library. Gift of a fine 
library of historical material relating to the 
Mississippi Valley, collected by the late 
Judge Horace P. Biddle. This collection 
wag the result of 60 years of historical re- 


search, and contains originals of maps, 
drafts, etc., of great value. 

Madison. Public Library. Gift of $20,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Marion. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, for 
a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. A site was purchased some time 
ago, and the offer was promptly accepted. 

Michigan City. Public Library. Gift of $500, 
for books, from Mrs. J. H. Barker. 

Muncie. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, for 
a public library building, from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

Gift of $6000, from the heirs of an estate, 
name not given. 

New Harmony. Workingmen's Institute 
Public Library. Bequest of $72,000, from 
Dr. Edward Murphy. In the final settle- 
ment the amount may exceed these fig- 
ures. 

Peru. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, for 
a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. The city already appropriates 
$2700 yearly for library maintenance. 

Portland. Public Library. Gift of $15,000, 
for public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Wabash. Public Library. Gift of $20,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Gift of 5000 volumes, from Woman's Li- 
brary Association. The library has been 
turned over to the city to be maintained as 
a public library. 

Washington. Public Library. Gift of $15.- 
ooo, for a public library building, from 
Andrew Carnegie. 

IOWA. 

Burlington. Public Library. Gift of $20,000, 
from Philip M. Crapo. 

Cedar Rapids. Public Library. Gift of $50,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from An- 
drew Cam Tie. 

Centerville. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, 
for a public library building and site, from 
ex-Governor F. M. Drake, on condition 
that a two mills tax be laid for the per- 
petual and proper care of the property. 

Davenport. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, 
for a public library building, thereby in- 
creasing former gift to $75,000, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

Dubuque. Carnegie- Stout Free Library. Gift 
of $50,000, from Andrew Carnegie, on con- 
dition that the Young Men's Library As- 
sociation be made the nucleus of a free 
public library, and that the city furnish a 
site and maintain the institution. 

Gift of a suitable site for the library build- 
ing offered by Andrew Carnegie, valued at 
$17,000, from F. D. Stout, given in mem- 
ory of his father. 

Fayette. Upper Iowa University. Gift of 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


$25,000, which will be devoted to library 
purposes, probably for a new building, from 
Andrew Carnegie. 

Fort Dodge. Public Library. Gift of $30,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

Grinnell. Stewart Library. Gift of a new 
library building, costing $15,000, from Joel 
Stewart. 

Gift of a site for new library building, 
value not stated, from The Congregational 
Church. 

Gift of $4000, for books, raised by popular 
subscription by the citizens of Grinnell. 

Iowa Falls. Public Library. Gift of a pub- 
lic library building, if the city will provide 
a suitable site, from E. S. Ellsworth. 

M t. Vernon. Cornell College. Gift of $40,7 
ooo, for a library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. Conditions, if any, not stated. 

Mitscatine. Public Library. A new library 
building, to cost about $30,000, by P. M. 
Musser, provided the city vote to establish 
and maintain the library. 

KANSAS. 

Dodge City. Railroad Library and Reading 
Room. The Atchison. Topeka, and Santa 
Fe Railroad Co. are fitting up a library and 
reading room at this place for its em- 
ployes. 

Fort Scott. Public Library. Gift of $15,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Kansas City. Public Library. Bequest of 
about $6000, from Mrs. Sarah Richart. 

Lawrence. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

KENTUCKY. 

Lexington. State College. Gift of $50,000, 
from President James K. Patterson. 

LOUISIANA. 

New Orleans. Public Library. Gift of $10,- 
ooo and a valuable collection of books, from 
Abram Holker. 

MAINE, 

Bangor. Public Library. Bequest of $18,- 
347.26, towards the building fund, from A. 
D. Mason. 

Gift of building site, costing $7500, from 
Nathan C. Aver. 

Belfast. Free Library. Gift of $3000, as a 
fund for the purchase of books on history 
and biography, in memory of Albert Boyd 
Otis, from Albert Crane. 

Brunswick. Bowdoin College. The new li- 
brary building, given by Gen. Thomas H. 
Hubbard, of New York City, reported last 
year, at over $150,000, will cost over $200,- 
ooo. 

Bequest of $2000, from Captain John Clif- 
ford Brown, of Portland. 


Gift of $1200, from an unknown donor, 
through a Boston friend. 

Fairfield. Public Library. Gift of a library 
building, to cost between $8000 and $10,000, 
from E. J. Lawrence. 

Farmington. Public Library Association. 
Gift of $10,000, for a public library build- 
ing, from Hon. Isaac Cutler, of Boston, 
Mass. 

Lewiston. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

MARYLAND. 

Cumberland. Public Library. Gift of $25,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

Hagerstown. Washington County Free Li- 
brary. Gift of $50,000 and accrued interest 
$1250, from B. F. Newcomer, of Balti- 
more, the town to furnish a site for build- 
ing, which will cost about $25,000. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Amherst. Amherst College. Gift of $500, to 
form a fund for the purchase of Spanish 
books, from Hon. John S. Brayton, of Fall 
River, Mass. 

Bolton. Parker Library. Devise of a dwell- 
ing house and one-half acre of land, on 
condition that within one year from the 
allowance of the will the town shall estab- 
lish a free public library to be known as 
the Parker Library, from Louisa Parker. 

Boston. Lang Memorial Library. Gift of a 
free public library of musical scores, 
founded by B. J. Lang, as a memorial to 
Ruth Burrage. 

Public Library. Bequest of $4000, from 
Abram E. Cutter. 

Gift of 599 volumes of text-books used 
in the public schools of Boston, from the 
Boston School Committee, in co-operation 
with the publishers. 

Gift of 597 volumes, relating to music, 
scores, etc., from Allen A. Brown. 

Gift of 576 volumes, relating to music, in- 
cluding operas, oratorios, collections of 
school and college song books, etc., from 
The Oliver Ditson Co. 

Cambridge. Harvard University. Bequest 
of $10,000, to increase fund, already estab- 
lished by him, for purchase of works of 
history, political economy, and sociology, 
from ex-Governor Roger Wolcott. 

Gift of $1250, for purchase of books relat- 
ing to the history of the Ottoman Empire, 
from Prof. A. C. Coolidge. 

Gift of $800, for the purchase of books on 
ecclesiastical history in the Riant Library, 
from J. Harvey Treat, of Lawrence. 

Gift of $500, for purchase of books relat- 
ing to Scandinavian subjects, from Mrs. 
Emil E. Hammer. 

Bequest of 1920 volumes, mainly English 


COLE. 


93 


and French literature, from Edward Ray 
Thompson, of Troy, N. Y. 

Gift of 700 volumes from the library of 
James Russell Lowell, to form the Lowell 
Memorial Library for the use of the Ro- 
mance Departments of the University, from 
various subscribers. 

Gift of 549 volumes, the library of Al- 
phonse Marsigny, from The J. C. Ayer 
Company, of Lowell. 

Gift of 317 volumes, belonging to the libra- 
ry of her late husband, from Mrs. John E. 
Hudson. 

Bequest of 250 volumes of Sanskrit and 
other Oriental works, from Henry C. War- 
ren, Esq. 

Public Library. Bequest of 550 volumes, 
consisting chiefly of Maine and New Hamp- 
shire local histories, genealogies, etc., from 
Cyrus Woodman. 

Gift of a collection of art works, valued 
at about $500, from Nathaniel Gushing 
Nash. 

Clinton. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, for 
a public library building, from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

Conivay. Field Memorial Library. Gift of 
a library building to cost $100,000, as a 
memorial to the donor's father and mother, 
from Marshall Field, of Chicago. It will 
also be endowed by Mr. Field. 

Fairhaven. Millicent Library. Gift of Fair- 
haven Waterworks, valued at from $100,- 
ooo to $125,000, and producing an annual 
income of about $8000, from Henry H. 
Rogers. 

Groveland. Public Library. Bequest of $5000, 
from J. G. B. Adams. 

Hinsdale. Public Library. Bequest of $5000, 
to be known as "Curtice fund," the income 
to be used for the purchase of books, from 
John W. Curtice, of Washington, D. C. 

Lynn. Free Public Library. Gift of a li- 
brary building, erected largely from the be- 
quest of Mrs. Elizabeth Shute. 

Gift of large mural painting, by F. Luis 
Mora, from Joseph N. Smith. 

Gift of copy in marble of the Venus of 
Milo, from Charles W. Bubier, of Provi- 
dence, R. I. 

Gift of a bronze bust of the late Charles 
J. Van Depoele, from his family. 

Maiden. Public Library. Gift of $125,000, 
to be known as the Elisha and Mary D. 
Converse Endowment Fund, from Hon. 
Elisha D. Converse. "The income from 
this fund will be 'used freely in any direc- 
tion in which it may conduce to the wel- 
fare of the library.' " 

Milton. Public Library. Bequest of $2000, 
from ex-Governor Roger Wolcott, of Bos- 
ton, Mass. 

Newburyport. Public Library. Gift of $20,- 
ooo, for the purchase of books, from John 
Rand Spring, of San Francisco. 


Bequest of $4500, from Stephen W. Mars- 
ton, of Boston. 

Bequest of $3000, from E. S. Moseley. 

North Adams. Public Library. Gift of fur- 
nishings and decorations of children's room, 
value not stated, from William Arthur Gal- 
lup, as a memorial to his children. 

Petersham. Public Library. Bequest of $12,- 
ooo, from Lucy F. Willis. 

Plymouth. Public Library. Gift of a new 
library building, to cost about $20,000, from 
the heirs of the late William G. Russell, 
of Boston, as a memorial to their father 
and mother. 

Salem. Public Library. Bequest of $10,000, 
from Walter S. Dickson. 

Somerville. Public Library. Gift of $4000, 
from Mrs. Harriet Minot Laughlin, in 
memory of her father, Isaac Pitman, the 
first librarian of the institution, the income 
to be used for the purchase of "works of 
art, illustrative, decorative, and otherwise." 

Springfield. City Library. Bequest of abont 
$70.000, from the estate of David Ames 
Wells, of Norwich, Conn., his son David 
Dwight Wells having died June 15, 1900, 
without issue. One-half of the income is 
to be expended for publications on eco- 
nomic, fiscal, or social subjects. 

Gift of 450 volumes, from Miss Frances 
Fowler. 

Sunderland. Public Library. Gift of $10,- 
ooo, for a library and its equipment, from 
Jchn L. Graves, of Boston. 

Swansea. Public Library. Bequest of a li 
brary building, cost not stated, from Frank 
Shaw Stevens. 

Woburn. Eunice Thompson Memorial Libra- 
ry. By his last will Jonathan Thompson, 
of Woburn, left a plot of ground and the 
residue of his estate for the erection and 
maintenance of a suitable building by the 
city, to be known by the above name. Value 
of bequest about $70,000. 

Worcester. American Antiquarian Society. 
Gift of $3000, for a fund, the interest of 
which is to be expended for literature re- 
lating to the Civil War of 1861-65. This 
fund is in memory of Hon. John Davis, 
President of the Society from 1853-54, and 
was given by John C. B. Davis, of Wash- 
ington, D. C, Horace Davis, of San Fran- 
cisco, and Andrew McF. Davis, of Cam- 
bridge. 

Clark University. Bequest of $150,000, 
from Jonas G. Clark, for the erection and 
maintenance of a library. 

MICHIGAN. 

Albion. Albion College. Gift of $10,000, to 
be devoted to a library building, as a me- 
morial to the donor's daughter, Lottie T. 
Gassett, from Mrs. C. T. Gassett. 

Ann Arbor. Ladies' Library Association. 
Bequest of $3000, from Mrs. L. M. Palmer. 


94 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


University of Michigan. Gift of about 
1600 volumes, belonging to the library of 
the late Prof. George A. Hench, from his 
mother, Mrs. Rebecca A. Hench. The 
greater number refer to Germanic philology. 

Delray. Public Library. Gift of property, 
valued at $15,000, for a public library, from 
The Solvay Process Company, of that place. 

Detroit. Public Library. Gift of $750,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Gift of 477 volumes and 1932 pamphlets, 
from the heirs of the late Gov. John J. Bag- 
ley. "This collection was notable in being 
almost wholly available, useful, and val- 
uable to the library." 

Gift of 418 volumes and 1435 pamphlets, 
from Herbert Bowen, formerly a member 
of the Library Board. "All were of a his- 
torical character, mostly local and relating 
to Michigan, or institutions and localities 
in the state." 

Grand Rapids. Public Library. Gift of $150,- 
opo, for the erection and furnishing of a 
library building, from Martin A. Ryerson, 
of Chicago, the city to provide site and 
maintenance. The offer was made Feb. 14, 
IQOI, and was at once accepted by the 
Mayor. 

Iron Mountain. Public Library. Gift of 
$15,000, for a public library building, from 
Andrew Carnegie. 

Ishpeming. Public Library. Gift of $20,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Jackson. Public Library. Gift of $70,000. 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. The city already appropriates 
$7000 yearly for library support. 

Marquette. Public Library. Gift of $5000, 
toward a new library building, from an 
anonymous donor. 

Muskegon. Hackley Public Library. Gift of 
$25,000, for a new two-story stack room, 
from Charles Henry Hackley. 

Sault Ste. Marie. Public Library. Gift of 
$30,000, for a public library building, from 
Andrew Carnegie. 

MINNESOTA. 

Cloquet. Public Library. Gift of a site for 
a library building, valued at $2500, from 
Cloquet Lumber Company. 

Duluth. Carnegie Library. Gift of $25,000, 
for a new library building, in addition to 
a former gift of $50,000, from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

Mankato. Public Library. Gift of $40,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Minneapolis. Public Library. Gift of $60,- 
ooo, for the erection of a branch library 
building, from ex-Governor J. S. Pillsbury. 

5*. Cloud. Public Library. Gift of $25,000. 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 


Gift of $2000, towards the purchase of a 
site for the new Carnegie library building, 
from J. J. Hill, of St. Paul. 

St. Paul. Public Library. Gift of $500, for 
purchase of children's books, from various 
friends of the library. 

Gift of their library of 430 volumes, from 
St. Paul Teacher's Association. 

Gift of 38 photographs of paintings, two 
pictures and a large cast of the Victory of 
Samothrace, from four donors. 

Sleepy Eye. Dyckman Free Library. Gift 
of $8000, being the cost of the completed 
library building, from F. H. Dyckman. 

MISSISSIPPI. 

Natchez. Fisk Library Association. Gift of 
$25,000, from Mrs. Christian Schwartz, on 
condition that the Association raise an ad- 
ditional $10,000. 

Gift of site, valued at $3000, and a library 
building, to cost $10,000, from Mrs. Chris- 
tian Schwartz. 

Yazoo. Public Library. Gift of a library 
building, to cost $25,000, as a memorial to 
the late Gen. B. S. Ricks, from his widow. 

Gift of $1000, from Mrs. K. C. Gardner. 

MISSOURI. 

De Soto. Railroad Library. Gift of $1000, 
for a library for railroad employes, from 
Miss Helen Gould, of New York. 

Hannibal. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, 
for the erection of a library building, to be 
known as the John H. Garth Public Libra- 
ry, from Mrs. John H. Garth and her 
daughter, Mrs. R. M. Goodlet. 

Jefferson City. Public Library. Gift of $25,- 
ooo, for a new library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie, upon condition that the city 
secures a site and appropriates $3000 a 
year for the maintenance of th library. 

St. Joseph. Free Library. Bequest of $20,- 
ooo, from Jarvis Ford. 

5"*. Louis. Public Library. Gift of $1,000,- 
ooo, for public library buildings, from An- 
drew Carnegie, provided the city will con- 
tribute the site and appropriate $150,000 
yearly for the support of the library. 

Gift of $400,000, to lift incumbrance on 
block to be used for the new Carnegie Li- 
brary, from four St. Louis citizens. 

South St. Joseph. Public Library. Gift of 
$25,000, for a public library building, from 
Andrew Carnegie. 

NEBRASKA. 

Crete. Public Library. Gift of $10,000, for 
a public library building, from T. H. Mil- 
ler, provided the city furnish a site ap- 
proved by the donor. 

Lincoln. University of Nebraska. Bequest 
of 2000 volumes, of history, literature, and 
works on education, forming the library of 
the donor, from Simon Kerl, of Oakland, 


COLE. 


95 


Neb. The books are never to be loaned 
outride the library rooms. 
South Omaha. Public Library. Gift of $60,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

Derry. Benjamin Adams Memorial Library. 
Bequest of $10,000, for the erection of a 
town-hall and public library building, from 
Benjamin Adams. 

Hanover. Dartmouth College. Bequest of 
$10,000, as a library fund for the Depart- 
ment of Philosophy, from Mrs. Susan A. 
Brown. 

Pittsfield. Public Library. Gift of a library 
building, to be erected, value not stated, 
from Josiah Carpenter, of Manchester. 

Rindge. Ingalls Memorial Library. Gift of 
$1000, as a fund, the interest to be used 
for the benefit of the library, from the Hon. 
Ezra S. Stearns. 

NEW JERSEY. 

Jersey City. Free Public Library. Gift ol 
819 volumes and 381 pamphlets, forming 
the medical library of the late Dr. S. W. 
Clark, from his widow. 

Montclair. Public Library. Gift of $30,000, 
for public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Newark. Free Public Library. Gifts of 1125 
periodicals and pamphlets, from three per- 
sons. 

Perth Amboy. Public Library. Gift of $20,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from 
Andrew Carnegie. The city already ap- 
propriates $1200 yearly. 

Gift of a site for a public library building, 
value not stated, from J. C. McCoy. 

Gift of $1000, with which to purchase books 
when needed, from Adolph Lewisohn. 

Princeton. Princeton University. Gift of 
$50,000, for library maintenance, from 
anonymous donor. 

Gifts of cash aggregating at least $16,000, 
from various sources. 

Gift of $5000, for library of Germanics, 
from the class of 1891. 

Bequest of 2739 volumes and 860 pam 
phlets, from Prof. William Henry Green. 

Gift of looo volumes, from the library of 
the late Dr. Samuel Miller, presented by 
Samuel Miller Breckinridge. 

Gift of 310 volumes, from D. H. Smith, 
of New York. 

Gift of 255 volumes, from Prof. Henry 
Van Dyke. 

Trenton. Public Library. Gift of books, 
forming the Women's Christian Temper- 
ance Union Library, to the Public Library. 

Gift of about 2500 volumes, comprising 
books in "A. L. A. catalog" not already 
in library, from Ferdinand W. Roebling, 
president of the board. 


NEW MEXICO. 

Albuquerque. Free Public Library. Gift of 
a two-story brick building, valued at $25,- 
ooo, on condition that it be used forever 
as a public library and that $1000 additional 
be raised by the citizens, from J. S. Rey- 
nolds. 

Gift of $2000, for the purchase of books, 
raised by popular subscription. 

NEW YORK. 

Albany. Young Men's Association Library 
Pruyn Branch Library. Gift of building, 
furniture, and equipment, cost about $20,- 
ooo, from Mrs. William G. Rice, in memory 
of her father, the late Chancellor J. V. ll 
Pruyn. 

Gift of $525, from various persons. 
Angelica. Free Library. Gift of $12,000, for 

a library building, from Mrs. Frank Smith. 

Gift of a building lot for a library build- 
ing, value not stated, from Frank S. Smith. 

Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Library. Bequest 
from Mr. James A. H. Bell of sixteen- 
seventy-fifths of his estate. This bequest 
is estimated to be worth about $10,000. Mr. 
Bell also left the library 1523 volumes, col- 
lected since he gave his library of 10,425 
volumes, three years ago. 

Long Island Historical Society. Gift of 
$6500. This amount was raised by popular 
subscription, and is to be known as the 
"Storrs Memorial Fund," the income to be- 
devoted to the increase of the library. 

Bequest of $1000, the income to be ex- 
pended in "the enlargement of the depart- 
ment of ecclesiastical history," from Rich- 
ard S. Storrs, D.D., late President of the 
Society. 

Caldwell, Lake George. Dewitt C. Hay Li- 
brary Association. Bequest, valued at 
about $13.300. consisting of 100 shares of 
Anier. Bank Note Co. stock, 35 shares of 
C. M. and St. Paul R. R. stock, and $2000 
in Duluth and Iron Range R. R. stock, 
to be held in trust, the income to be spent 
for new books, pictures, and objects of art, 
from Mrs. Marietta C. Hay, of Tarrytown, 
N. Y". This library is established in mem- 
ory of the donor's husband. 

Catskill. Public Library. Gift of $20,000, 
for public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Cohoes. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, for 
public library building, from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

Glovcrsville. Public Library. Gift of $25,- 
ooo, for new library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. The city already appropriates - 
$3000 for library maintenance. 

Greene. Public Library. Gift of $30,000, for 
a public library building, from William H. 
and James H. Moore, founders of the Dia- 
mond Match Co., of Chicago. 

Hempstead, L. I. Public Library. Gift of 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


$25,000, for a public library building, from 
v x \ x Andrew Carnegie. 

0- Homer. Public Library. Gift of $10,000, for 
^ the erection of a public library building, 

from George W. Phillips. 
Ithaca, Cornell University. Gift of $12,000, 
as an endowment fund for the Flower 
Veterinary Library, the income alone to be 
used for the increase of the collection, from 
Mrs. Roswell P. Flower. 

Gift of $1126, as a contribution toward 
printing the catalogue of the Dante collec- 
tion, from Willard Fiske. 

Bequest, estimated at about $2000, from 

C. H. Rowland, class of 1901. This is to 
form an endowment fund, the income to be 
used for the purchase of works in the English 
language for a circulating library for the use 
of students and officers of the university, 
and is not payable until after the death of 
the testator's father, who is still living. 

Gift of $575, for the increase of the White 
Historical Library, from the Hon. Andrew 

D. White. 

Gift of 330 volumes, from the family of the 
late Prof. S. G. Williams. 

Gift of 300 volumes, from Theodore Stan- 
ton, class of '76. 

Johnstown. Public Library. Gift of $20,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie, the city to furnish site and 
appropriate $2500 yearly for maintenance. 

Middletown. Thrall Library. Bequest of 
$3ii5OO, with which a fine library building 
has been erected, from Mrs. S. Marietta 
Thrall. 

Mount Vernon. Public Library. Gift of $35,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from 
Andrew Carnegie. , 

New Rochelle. Public Library. Gift of $25,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. The city must furnish site 
and a yearly maintenance of $4000. 

New York City. American Geographical So- 
ciety. Gift of $4455 to building fund, from 
various persons. 

Am. Institute of Electrical Engineers. 
Gift of Latimer Clark collection of electri- 
cal works, 6000 v., from Dr. S. S. Wheeler. 

American Museum of Natural History. 
Gift of 4539 volumes, pamphlets, etc., on 
Natural History, including 73 maps, of a 
value of not less than $4200, from Gen. 
Egbert L. Viele. 

Gift of 3166 volumes of Bibles, dictionaries, 
travels, cyclopaedias, etc., valued at $6500, 
from N. Y. Ecumenical Council. 

Gift of 243 volumes and 33 pamphlets, 
handsomely bound and valued at $2000, 
from Frederick A Constable. 

Gift of 45 rare volumes on Mineralogy, 
valued at $250, from Ernest Schernikow. 

Association of the Bar. Gift of $10,000, 
received Jan. i, 1001, source not given. 

Columbia University. Gift of $10,000, from 


"A Friend of the University," for additions 
to the library. 

Gift of $5000, from "A Friend of the Uni- 
versity .(another friend), for special pur- 
poses. 

Gift of $2250, with which to complete the 
library's set of English Parliamentary Pa- 
pers, from the Hon. William S. Schermer- 
horn. 

Gift of the "Garden Library" of 2279 vol- 
umes and 145 pamphlets, consisting of 
works by Southern authors or bearing on 
Southern history, from The New York 
Southern Society. 

Deposit of the library of the Holland So- 
ciety, consisting of books and pamphlets, 
mostly in the Dutch language, many of 
which are rare. 

General Theological Seminary. Gift of 
2700 volumes, a part of the library of the 
Rev. B. I. Haight, D.D., from C. C. Haight, 
Esq. 

Gift of looo volumes, a part of the library 
of the Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, D.D., from 
Prof. William B. Potter. 

Gift of books, number not stated, to the 
value of $3850, from the Society for Pro- 
moting Religion and Learning in the State 
of New York. 

Mechanics' Institute Library. (General 
Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen.) 
Bequest of $5000, from <estate of Charles 
P. Haughan. 

New York Free Circulating Library. (New 
York Public Library.) Bequest of $20,- 
ooo, from Oswald Ottendorfer. 

Bequest of $11,250, from Proudfit Estate. 
This library is now absorbed by the New 
York Public Library Astor, Lenox, and 
Tilden Foundations. 

New York University. Gift of over 1200 
volumes, from the library of the late Prof. 
Ezra Hall Gillett, D.D., from his two sons. 

Public Library Astor, Lenox, and Til- 
den Foundations. Gift of $5,200,000, for 
the erection of 65 branch library buildings, 
the city to furnish the sites and guarantee 
the maintenance of the libraries, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

Gift of 1304 volumes, from the Union 
League Club. 

Gift of 738 volumes, from Hon. Robert 
P. Porter. 

Gift of 592 volumes, from the Misses Ely. 

Gift of 497 volumes, from Mrs. Gertrude 
King Schuyler. 

Gift of 393 volumes, from estate of S. V. 
R. Townsend. 

Gift of ;<43 volumes, from Dr. R. G. 
Wiener. 

Gift of 287 volumes, from H. V. and H. 
W. Poor. 

Gift of 280 volumes, from Edmond Bru- 
waert. 

Gift of 923 groups of steel engravings, all 


COLE. 


97 


"engravers' proofs," chiefly the works of 
the donor's father, from James D. Smillie. 

Gift of a large and valuable collection of 
Japanese engravings and chromo-xylo- 
graphs, formed by Captain Brinkley, of the 
Japan Mail, from Charles Stewart Smith. 

New York Society Library. Bequest of 
$1000, from Maria B. Mount. 

Bequest of $20,004.86, from Charles H. 
Contoit; 'uring the previous year $137,000 
was paid to the library by this estate. 

Union Theological Seminary. Gift of 559 
volumes, from the library of the late presi- 
dent, Roswell Dwight Hitchcock, LL.D. 

Gift of 519 volumes, from the library of the 
late Prof. Ezra Hall Gillett, D.D., from his 
two sons. 

Washington Heights Free Library. Gift 
of $1700 by Andrew Carnegie towards com- 
pleting sum required by conditional gift 
for new building. 

Young Men's Christian Association. Gift 
of $5000, to prepare catalogue of circulating 
library, from Frederick E. Hyde. 

Newark. Gift of a library building, costing 
nearly $25,000; also, $1000 to send out trav- 
elling libraries in the neighborhood and the 
salary of the librarian for a year, from Mr. 
Henry C. Rew, of Evanston, 111. 

Niagara Falls. Public Library. Gift of $50,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from 
Andrew Carnegie, the city to furnish a site 
and a yearly maintenance of $7000. 

Oxford. Public Library. Gift of a public li- 
brary, from children of the late Eli L. Cor- 
bin. 

Oyster Bay, L. I. Public Library. Gift of 
$1000, towards a public library building, by 
Andrew Carnegie. No conditions were at- 
tached to this gift. 

Peekskill. Public Library. Gift of the old 
Henry Ward Beecher residence, fully 
equipped for a public library, from Dr. 
John Newell Tilton. 

Port Jervis. Public Library. Gift of $20,000, 
for public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie, the city to furnish site and ap- 
propriate $3000 yearly maintenance. 

Gift of plot of ground for library site, 
value not stated, from Peter E. Farnum. 

Rochester. Reynolds Library. Gift of 900 
volumes of United States public documents, 
from Hon. Charles S. Baker. 

St. George, S. I. Arthur Winter Memorial 
Library of the Staten Island Academy. Gift 
of $500, from Andrew Carnegie, without 
conditions. 

Schenectady. Public Library. Gift of $50,- 
ooo, for a public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. The city council had al- 
ready appropriated $5000 a year for library 
maintenance provisionally in hope of secur- 
ing a Carnegie gift. A site is under con- 
sideration, at a probable cost of $14,000. 

Gift of $15,000, with which to purchase a 


site for the new Carnegie library, from the 
General Electric Company. 

Syracuse. Public Library. Gift of $260,000, 
for a new library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie, the city to furnish site and guar- 
antee $30,000 yearly for maintenance. 

Watertown. Flower Memorial Library. Gift 
of $60,000, from Mrs. Emma Flower Tay- 
lor, for a public library to commemorate 
her father, the late Governor Roswell P. 
Flower. 

Yonkers. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

Charlotte. Public Library. Gift of $20,000, 

for public library building, from Andrew 

Carnegie. 
Durham. Trinity College. Gift of $50,000, 

for a library building, from James K. 

Duke, president of the American Tobacco 

Co. 
Raleigh. Olivia Raney Memorial Library. 

Gift of 5000 volumes, also services of a 

trained librarian to organize the work, from 

Richard B. Rancy. 

NORTH DAKOTA. 

Fargo. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, for 
public library building, from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

OHIO. 

Akron. Public Library. Gift of a building 
for the public library, to cost not less than 
$50,000, from Col. George T. Perkins. 

Gift of library of music (1898), valued at 
$600, name of donor not stated. 

Ashtabula. Public Library. Gift of $15,000, 
for public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Bucyrus. Memorial Library. Gift of $500, 
for purchase of books, from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

Canton. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, for 
public library building, from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

Gift of property, valued at $10,000, from 
W. W. Clark. 

Cincinnati. Natural History Library. Gift 
of $60,000, for a new library building, name 
of donor not stated. 

Gift of 14,000 volumes, donor not named. 

Public Library. Gift of $1000, for the pur- 
chase of books for the blind, raised by pop-, 
ular subscription. 

Gift of 500 volumes in raised type for the 
blind, name of donor not given. 

Gift of 416 volumes and 1600 pamphlets, 
from H. L. Wehmer. 

University Library. Gift of 6782 volumes : 
the Robert Clarke collection. 

Cleveland. Adelbert College, of Western Re- 
serve University. Gift of $15,000, name of 
donor not given. 


9 8 


WAVKESHA CONFERENCE. 


Case Library. Library property condemned 
by U. S. government for new public build- 
ing; award, including damages, fixed at 
$507,000. 

Cleveland Hardware Co.'s Library. Gift 
of 300 volumes, from famous people all over 
the world, many with autographs. 

Medical Library Association ; The Vance 
Library. Gift of 2000 volumes, from Drs. 
Dudley P. Allen and A. C. Hamman. 

Public Library. Gift of 306 bound and 217 
unbound volumes, on Oriental religions, 
folk-lore and allied subjects, from John G. 
White. 

Columbus. Public Library. Gift of $1000, 
for maintenance of the Kilbourne alcove; 
also 750 volumes, from James Kilbourne. 

Conneaut. Public Library. Gift of $100,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Delaware. Ohio Wesleyan University. Gift 
of 4179 volumes, including the complete li- 
brary of the late Prof. Karl Little, from 
Prof. John Williams White, of Harvard 
University. 

Gambier. Kenyon College Library. Gifts of 
$15,000, names of donors not given. 

Geneva. Platt R. Spencer Memorial Library. 
Gifts of $1577, names of donors not given. 

Granville. Dennison University Library. 
Gifts of $525, names of donors not given. 

Greenville. Public Library. Gift of $15,000, 
for public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie, a yearly maintenance of $2000 
required. The site has already been secured. 

Hamilton. Lane Free Library. Gift of $500, 
donated by citizens. 

Marietta. Marietta College. Gift of 18,712 
volumes, from his private library, by Hon. 
R. M. Stimson ; to be kept together and in 
reasonable repair. The collection is es- 
pecially rich in Americana relating to the 
Mississippi Valley. 

Massillon. McClymonds Public Library. 
Gift of library building, valued at $20,000, 
name of donor not given. 

Gift of $10,000, as an endowment for 
books, name of donor not given. 

Painesville. Public Library. Gift of new li- 
brary building, neither value nor name of 
donor given. 

Gift of 385 volumes, name of donor not 
given. 

Sandusky. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, 

for a public library building, from Andrew 

Carnegie. 
Shelby. Public Library. Gift of property 

valued at $6500, for a public library, from 

Daniel S. Marvin. 
Steubenville. Carnegie Public Library. Gift 

of $50,000, for a public library building, 

from Andrew Carnegie. 
Toledo. Public Library. Gift of $1800, from 

Mr. Hardy. 

Gift of $1000, from Mrs. J. R. Locke. 


Gifts of 1223 volumes, names of donors not 
given. 

Van Wert. Brumback Library. Gift of new 
library building, costing about $50,000, from 
family of the late John S. Brumback, thus 
carrying out his intentions in completing and 
furnishing it and presenting it to the 
county. 

Wooster. University Library. Gift of a $35,- 
ooo library building, from H. C. Frick, of 
Pittsburg, Pa. "This beautiful building is 
fitted up with the latest improvements." 

Youngstown. Reuben McMillan Free Li- 
brary. Bequest of $5000, received from 
Charles D. Arms. 

OREGON. 

Portland. Library Association. Gift of $25,- 
050, from the three daughters of the late 
Henry Failing. 

Bequest of $2500, the income to be used 
for maintenance of the donor's private li- 
brary of nearly 9000 volumes, also be- 
queathed to this institution, from John Wil- 
son. 

Bequest of his private library of nearly 
9000 volumes, valued at $2500. from John 
Wilson. This library is rich in art works 
and examples of early printing, and is to 
be kept as a separate collection for refer- 
ence only. 

Gift of $1100, for work of cataloging the 
Wilson Library, provided for by private 
subscription, by the directors. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Braddock, Duquesne, and Homestead. Car- 
negie Libraries. Gift of $1,000,000, from 
Andrew Carnegie. This amount has been 
placed in trust with the Carnegie Company, 
of Pittsburg, the income of which is to be 
devoted to maintaining the above libraries, 
founded by Mr. Carnegie. It will be dis- 
tributed from time to time, according to the 
work done or needed. 

Carbondale. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Duquesne. See Braddock. 

Easton. Lafayette College. The Van Wickle 
Memorial Library building, erected at a 
cost of $30,000, from a legacy of Augustus 
S. Van Wickle, of Hazleton. Pa. 

Public Library. Gift of $50,000, for a pub- 
lic library building, from Andrew Carnegie. 
The gift was declined March 14, 1901, be- 
cause of maintenance requirement, and 
afterwards accepted (April n) on assur- 
ance that the site would be given to the city. 

Gift of money to purchase a site for the 
building offered by Mr. Carnegie, amount 
not stated, raised by popular subscription. 

Homestead. See Braddock. 
Huntingdon. Gift of $20,000, for a public li- 
brary building, from Andrew Carnegie. 


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99 


Idlewood. Chartiers Township Free Library. 
Gift of $1500, for the purchase of books, 
from Andrew Carnegie. 

Newcastle. Public Library. Gift of $30,000, 
for public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. If the yearly maintenance is 
made $4000 the gift will be raised to $40,- 
ooo. Gift rejected, June 27, 1901. 

Philad^fhia. Academy of Natural Sciences. 
Bequest of about $500,000, from Dr. Robert 
B. Lamborn. Though bequeathed to the 
academy, its library will be benefited by the 
bequest. 

Bequest of about $75,000, and a valuable 
collection of botanical books and dried 
plants, from Charles E. Smith. The library 
will be benefited by this bequest. 

College of Physicians. Gifts and bequests 
amounting to $27,500 towards a "Library 
Endowment Fund," raised through the ef- 
forts of the president of the college, Dr. 
W. W. Keen, within a period of eighte;n 
months, as follows : 

Trustees of the William F. Jenks Memorial 

Fund, $7000. 

Mr. William W. Frazier, $5000. 
Estate of Esther F. Wistar, $5000. 
Mrs. William T. Carter, $5000. 
Dr. William W. Keen, $1000. 
Charles C. Harrison, $1000. 
J. Percy Keating, $1000. 
Major Luther S. Bent, $1000. 
John H. Converse, $1000. 
George H. McFadden, $500. 

Gift of 2466 volumes, from Dr. J. M. Da 
Costa. 

Gift of 1500 volumes, from Dr. John 
Ashurst, Jr. 

Gift of 272 volumes, from the daughters 
of the late Dr. William T. Taylor. 

The Franklin Institute. 844 volumes and 
899 pamphlets, relating to iron, coal, min- 
ing, railroads, and statistics, from the la:e 
Charles E. Smith, at one time president of 
the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Co. 

Free Library. Bequest of 1215 volumes 
and 1806 unbound books, pamphlets and 
magazines, through Stevenson Hocklcy 
Walsh, from Mrs. Annie Hockley. 

Gift of 464 volumes, for H. Josephine Wid- 
ener Branch Library, from Mr. P. A. B. 
Widener. 

Gift of 245 volumes, from estate of George 
B. Roberts. 

Gift of several volumes in embossed type 
for the blind, from Dr. David D. Wood. 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Gift 
of $5000, from Mrs. Mifflin Wistar. 

Gift of $2041, from Miss Ellen Wain. 

Gift of $500, from Carl Edelheim. 

Library Company of Philadelphia. Gift 
of 900 volumes, from the Hon. Richard 
Vaux. 

Gift of 406 volumes, from Henry Carey 
Baird, Esq. 


University of Pennsylvania. Gift of $1730, 
to be spent in purchase of philosophical 
books, from Class of 1889. 

Gift of $615, for purchase of files of botan- 
ical periodicals, from Robert B. Buist. 

Gift of about 2500 volumes exceedingly 
valuable in works of Travels and Archaeol- 
ogy, from the heirs of Robert H. Lamborn, 
and the Academy of Natural Sciences. 

Gift of 1300 volumes, secured at Hunter 
sale, from contributions of friends of the 
University. 

Phoenixvillc. Public Library. Gift of $15,- 
ooo, for public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

Reading. Public Library. Gift of $2000, 
for purchase of books, from friends. 

Gift of 681 volumes, from same source. 

Gift of 356 volumes, forming his library, 
from Henry S. Comstock. 

Sharon. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, for 
a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Washington. Washington and Jefferson Col- 
lege. Gift of $10,000 (added to the $50,000 
given by her husband, William R. Thomp- 
son, for a new library building), from Mrs. 
Mary Thow Thompson, of Pittsburg. The 
building will cost $40,000, the balance, $20,- 
ooo, will be held as a book fund, the in- 
come only to be spent. Mr. Thompson's 
gift is intended as a memorial to his 
mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Donaldson Thomp- 
son. 

Gift of $30,000, towards the erection and 
maintenance of a new library building, from 
W. P. Thompson, making in all from Mr. 
and Mrs. Thompson $60,000. 

Wilkinsburg. Public Library. Gift of $50,- 
ooo, for public library building, from An- 
drew Carnegie. 

RHODE ISLAND. 

Central Falls. Adams Library. Bequest of 
$35,000 from Stephen Ludlow Adams, as a 
special trust for the establishment of a li- 
brary, to be named as above ; $25,000 to be 
spent on building, the income of $10,000 for 
its maintenance. 

Newport. Redwood Library. Bequest of 
$1000, from Miss Martha Maria Anderson. 

Bequest of $5000, to be paid at the expira- 
tion of three years, from Johr Nicholas 
Brown. This is to be used as a fund, the 
income to be used for the purchase of 
books. 

Bequest of $2000, from Mrs. Orleana El- 
lery Redwood Pell (Mrs. Walden Pell). 

Gift of 316 volumes on angling and hunt- 
ing, from Daniel B. Fearing. 

Providence. Brown University. By the will 
of the late John Nicholas Brown it is pro- 
vided that the John Carter Brown Library 
of Americana previous to 1801, the esti- 
mated value of which is at least $1,000,000, 
shall be maintained as a permanent ma- 


1OO 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


morial. The testator sets aside $150,000 
for a building and $500,000 as an endow- 
ment fund for its increase and maintenance. 
This library and its endowments have been 
presented, by the trustees of the estate, to 
Brown University. 

Gift of $1000, for purchase of American 
poetry and drama, at the McKee sale, from 
William Goddard, Chancellor of the Uni- 
versity. 

Gift of over 250 volumes on international 
law, from William Vail Kellen, a trustee 
of the University. 

Public Library. Bequest of $10,000, from 
Ada L. Steere. 

Gift of $3000, to be invested and income 
used for purchase of books. The name of 
the donor is not made public. 

SOUTH DAKOTA. 

Aberdeen. Alexander Mitchell Library. Gift 
of $15,000, for public library building, from 
Andrew Carnegie. Mr. Carnegie requests 
that the library be called after his friend, 
Alexander Mitchell. Accepted March 20, 
1901. 

Sioux Falls. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

TENNESSEE. 

Chattanooga. Public Library. Gift of $50,- 
ooo, for library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. It is reported that the amount 
of the gift will be raised to $100,000, pro- 
vided the city agrees to appropriate $10,000 
yearly. 

Jackson. Public Library. Gift of $30,000, for 
public library building, from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

Memphis. Cossitt Library. Bequest of 942 
volumes and 423 pamphlets especially strong 
in social science and history, from Gen. 
Colton Greene. 

TEXAS. 

Dallas. Public Library. Gift of over noo 
volumes, from various persons, at a book 
reception, held Dec. n, 1900. 

San Antonio. Carnegie Library. Collection 
of books, valued at $3500, from San An- 
tonio Library Association. To be turned 
over to the Carnegie Library on the com- 
pletion of its building, and provided that the 
city contribute $50 a month towards ex- 
penses uncil so turned over. 

Waco. Public Library. Gift of $1000, by 
Andrew Carnegie, towards the library. 

UTAH. 
Ogden. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, for 

a public library building, from Andrew 

Carnegie. 
Salt Lake City. Free Public Library. Gift 

o,f $75,000, to erect a free public library 

building, ?nd a building site worth $25,000, 

from John Q. Packard. 


VERMONT. 

Middlebury. Middlebury College. Gift ~>f 
the Starr Library building, erected from a 
bequest of $50.000, from Egbert Starr, of 
New York City. 

Windsor. Library Association. Bequest of 
$2000, from Charles C. Beaman, of New 
York. 

VIRGINIA. 

Hampton. Hampton Normal and Industrial 
Institute. Gift of a new library building, 
cost not stated, as a memorial to Collis P. 
Huntington, from Mrs. C. P. Huntingtpn. 

Lexington. Washington and Lee University. 
Bequest of his law library (1884), made 
available by death of his widow, from 
Prof. Vincent L. Bradford, of Philadelphia. 

Norfolk. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Seaboard Air Line Travelling Libraries. 
Gift of $ioco, from Andrew Carnegie. 

Richmond. Public Library. Gift of $100,000, 

for a public library building, from Andrew 

Carnegie. 
Winchester. Public Library. Bequest of 

$250,000, from Judge John Handley, of 

Scranton, Pa. 

WASHINGTON. 

Seattle. Public Library. Gift of $200,000, 
for a new library building, to replace the 
one destroyed by fire Jan. 2, 1901, from An- 
drew Carnegie, on condition that the city 
make a guarantee to provide $50,000 yearly 
for maintenance and improvement. 

Tacoma. Public Library. Gift of $50,oo.>. 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. Accepted with the proviso that 
$7500 will be appropriated for maintenance 
annually if the gift is increase! to $75,ooo. 
A site has already been selected. 

WEST VIRGINIA. 

Wheeling. Public Library. Gift of $75,ooo, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

WISCONSIN. 

Appleton. Public Library. Gift of $663.54, 
from directors of Prescott Hospital. 

Gift of $500, for furnishing room, from 
women's clubs. 

Ashland. Vaughn Library. Bequest of the 
Vaughn Library, valued at $60,000; also 
property which will give it an income of 
$1200 a year, from Mrs. Vaughn-Marquis, 
of Chicago. 

Bequest of 540 volumes, from Mrs. E. 
Vaughn-Marquis. 

Columbus. Public Library. Gift of $1300, 
$1000 for endowment and $300 for imme- 
diate use. from Mrs. C. A. Chadbourne and 
F. A. Chadbotirne. 

De Pere. Public Library. Gift of $2000, to- 
wards furnishing a library of 10,000 vol- 


COLE. 


IOI 


times and upwards, if accepted before Sep- 
tember, 1902, from A. G. Wells. 
Green Bay. Kellogg Public Library. Gift of 
$20,000, for public library building, from 
Andrew Carnegie, the city to furnish site 
and $2500 yearly for maintenance. 

Gift of a building site for new Carnegie 
Library, worth $2000, from Bishop Mess- 
mer. 

Janesville. Public Library. Gift of $30,030, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. The city council voted March 19, 
1901, to appropriate $3500 yearly for main- 
tenance. 

Bequest of $10,000, for a public library 
building, from F. S. Eldred. 

Kenosha. Gilbert M. Simmons Library. Gift 
of a library building and furniture, costing 
about $150,000, from Z. G. Simmons, in 
memory of his son, Gilbert M. Simmons. 

Gift of $20,000, for purchase of books, 
from Z. G. Simmons. 

La Crosse. Washburn Library. Gift of the 
Albert Boehm collection of stuffed birds, 
valuable but cost not stated, from citizens 
of the city. 

Lake Geneva. Public Library. Gift of 750 
volumes, from several ladies. 

Lake Mills. Public Library. Gift of $1000, 
in addition, for building, from L. D. Fargo. 

Gift of $1700, for building site, from citi- 
zens of the place. 

Madison. Free Library Commission. Gift of 
$35, for German travelling library, from 
citizens of Milwaukee. 

University of Wisconsin. The Germanic 
Seminary Library, comprising 1700 vol- 
umes, relating especially to Germanic phi- 
lology and literature ; purchased from a 
fund of $3146, raised by German-American 
citizens of Milwaukee and presented Jan. 
I, 1899. 

Gift of $2645 for purchase of books for 
School of Economics and Political Science, 
from gentlemen in New York, Milwaukee, 
Madison, and other Wisconsin cities. 

Gift of $2350, for the purchase of books 
for School of Commerce, from five citizens 
of Milwaukee. 

Gift to the Germanic Seminary Library of 
268 volumes, from the house of F. A.. 
Brockhaus, of Leipzig. 

Marshfield. Public Library. Gift of $2500, 
one-fifth to be expended annually for five 
years for books, from W. D. Connor. 

Menomonie. Memorial Free Library. Gift 
of about $jooo, for running expenses pend- 
ing settlement of the estate of Captain A. 
Tainter, from his son and daughter, L. S. 
Tainter and Mrs. Fanny Macmillan. 

Milwaukee. Law Library. Bequest of $10,- 
ooo, one-half for endowment and one-half 
for the purchase of books, from A R. R. 
Butler. 

Public Library. Gift of $10,000, for a col- 


lection of books on literary subjects, from 
Mrs. A. A. Keenan, as a memorial to her 
husband, the late Matthew Keenan. 
Oconomowoc. Public Library. Gift of $1500, 
toward library building, from Mrs. P. D. 
Armour. 

Gift of $1500, toward library building, from 
Mrs. P. D. Armour, Jr. 

Gift of $1500, toward library building, 
from Mrs. Bullen. 

Oshkosh. Harris-Sawyer Library. Bequest 
of $75,000, toward new library building, 
from Marshall Harris. 

Bequest of $25,000, towards new library 
building, from Philetus Sawyer. The be- 
quests of Mr. Harris and Mr. Sawyer were 
supplemented by $50,000 from the city. The 
Harris bequest of $75,000 was made in 1805 
by Mrs. Abby S. Harris, to carry out the in- 
tentions of her husband. It was made on 
condition that within three years an equal 
amount should be raised for the same pur- 
pose. The bequest of $25,000 by Hon. Phi- 
letus Sawyer was made to assist in raising 
the latter amount, the balance of which was 
secured by the issue of city bonds. $90,000 
remains as a trust fund. 

Gift of paintings, valued at $5000. from 
Leander Chpate. 

Racine. Public Library. Gift of $10,000, to- 
wards a public library, from citizens of that 
city. 

Sheboygan. Public Library. Gift of $25,000, 
for a public library building, from Andrew 
Carnegie. 

Gift of $1000, or his salary of $500 per an- 
num for two years, for a site for library 
building, from the mayor, Fred Dennett. 

Stanley. Public Library. Gift of $12,000, 

$8000 for building and $4000 for equipment, 

from Mrs. D. R. Moon. 
Superior. Public Library. Gift of $50,000, 

for a public library building, from Andrew 

Carnegie. 

Gift of $5500, for a library building site, 
from citizens of the town. 

Waukesha. Carroll College. Gift of $20.000, 

for a library endowment fund, from donor 

whose name is not given. 
Whitewater. Public Library. Gift of $3000, 

for a memorial collection of books, from 

Mr. and Mrs. D. S. Cook. 


NOTE. Foreign gifts include: For British prov- 
inces, Vancouver Public Library, $50,000 from An- 
drew Carnegie For Canada, McGill University of 
Montreal four gifts ($14,000, $1500, $1000, $500) for 
various purposes; Ottawa Public Library, $100,000 
from Andrew Carnegie; Windsor Public Library, 
$20,000 from Andrew Carnegie; Sidney Public Li- 
brary, $15,000 from Andrew Carnegie; Winnip_eg 
Public Library, $100,000 from Andrew Carnegie; 
Halifax Art School and Public Library, $75,000 from 
Andrew Carnegie For Trinidad, Cuba, bequest for 
public library from Mary B. Garret For Scotland, 
Glasgow district libraries, 100,000 from Andrew 
Carnegie; Greenock, 5000 from Andrew Carnegie; 
Hawick, 10,000 from Andrew Carnegie. 


102 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


SUMMARY BY STATES OF GIFTS AND BEQUKSTS. 


1 Western Division. N. Central Division. Southern Cen. Div. S. Atlantic Div. N. Atlantic Division. ,. 


No. 


Gifts in money. 


Money for 

buildings. 


Books. 


Miscellaneous. 


Carnegie gifts. 


9 

4 

2 

44 

10 
38 

74 
IS 

45 


$6,300 

11,000 

2,000 
280,550 
533,000 
199,887 

138,030.86 
73,000 

1.635,906 


$145,847-36 
10,000+ 
50,000 
500,000 
175,000 
154,000 

6,025,655+ 
50,000+ 
385,000+ 


$50,000 


6,508 v. + 
5 66v.+ + 
6,265 v. + 
10,000 pm. 
39,737 v. 
178 pm. 
7,623 v. 
2,366 pm. 
13,149 v. 
2,705 pm. 


art works, etc. 


35,000 


842 mss.+ 
engravings. 


50,000 
5,808,300 
50.000 
1,216,500 


New York 


New Jersey 


Pennsylvania 


dried plants. 


3 


36,250 


50,000 


35,000 


6 


351,000 


150,000 
75,000 
70,000 


law library. 


151,000 
75,000 

30,000 


3 


5,000 v. 


services. 


20,000 


960 v. 


30,000 


Kentucky 


X 

3 

3 

4 
i 

3 


50,000 


Tennessee 


80,000 

70,000 
38,000 


943V. 
433 pm. 
yes. 


80,000 
70,000 


36,000 

10.000 


re* 

1,100 V. + 


i ,000 


1,000 


'Ohio 


39 

22 

29 
14 

40 
IO 

14 

7 


69,403 

94,700 
33,893.50 

3,000 

9.993-54 
500 
34,000 

21,000 


1,002,000 

370,000+ 
685,000 
1,090,000 

543.700 
163,500 
307,000+ 
1,475,000 
50,000 
40,000 
70,000 
40,000+ 


49,553 V. + 
1,817 pm. 

5,275 T. + 
4,000 V. + 
3,495 V. 
3,367 pm. 

3,258 V. 

43<> v. 


380,000 
350,000 

615,000 
885,000 

300,000 
90,000 
330,000 
1,050,000 
50,000 
40,000 
60,000 
40,000 


ms. 


Illinois 


M ichigan 


paintings, etc. 
art works, etc. 


Minnesota 


South Dakota 


Nebraska 


3 

4 


3,000 T. 


Kansas 


6,000 


3 

a 


138,000 

35,000 


108,000 


3,000 


Utah 


35,000 


Idaho 


350,000 


4 

10 


38,650 
13,000 


905,000 


2,500 v. 


865,000 


Cuba 


public library. 


British Provinces 


10 

3 


3,800 


374,000 
575,000 


360,000 
575,000 


Scotland 


SUMMARY BY SECTIONS OF COUNTRY. 


North Atlantic Division 

South Atlantic Division 
South Central Division 


331 
14 


$2,867,573.86 

377,350 
86,000 


$7,395,502.26+ 

365,000 
189,000 


63,848 V.++ 

15,249 pm. 

9 6ov.++ 
3,043 v.H f- 


artworks, mss., 
engravings, etc. 
services. 


$7,199,700 
391,000 


North Central Division 


185 


343,489.04 
43,650 


5,835,200+ 
1,433,000 


433 pm. 
67,011 v.-l |- 
5,184 pm. 


art works, mss., 
etc. 


3,880,000 


468 


$3,616,962.90 


$15,217,703.36+ 


145,361 V.-j f- 


Cuba 


20,856 pm. 


i library. 


2,800 


374,000 


Scotland 


575,000 


482 


$3,619,762.90 


$16,166,702.26+ 


$13,704,700 


Total Gifts and Bequests to American libraries from all sources, $19,786,465.16, 145,361 volumes, and 20,856 
pamphlets. The above figures do not include several buildings and other gifts, the value of which was not 
stated. Statistics of this nature must ever remain mere approximations until some uniform system of gathering 
them is devised and carried out. 


HARRISON. 


103 


REPORT OF THE A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD. 
BY JOSEPH L. HARRISON, Treasurer, Librarian of The Providence (R. I.} Athenaeum. 


jN accordance with the requirement of the 
* constitution I have the honor to present 
herewith the report of the Publishing Board 
for the year 1900. The table of the financial 
operations of the board is essentially a tria' 
balance, but divided into two sections to 
bring out more clearly the condition of the 
board's undertakings. The first section 
shows in the last two columns the net bal- 
ance of loss or profit on each of our publi- 
cations, June, 1901. In general it is true that 
our book publications, except the "List of sub- 
ject headings," have not brought in what was 
expended on them, while our card publica- 
tions have more than offset these losses by 
their profits, for although the final balance 
of all these accounts shows an excess of ex- 
penditures over receipts of $830.74, yet it 
should be noticed that the two largest items 
in the expense column, $476.84 and $1290.02 
are on account of publications which have 
not yet begun to bring many returns, viz., 
the second edition of the "A. L. A. index" 
and the "Portrait index." If these are left 
out of consideration our other publications 
show a net profit to date of $927.12. The 
second section of the table shows what means 
we have in hand or can count upon. The un- 
paid bills ($24i.6>f$369.S2-f $16.50), $627.71, 
are just about offset by the amount of bills 
and subscriptions due us, $636.82; leaving 
the cash balance, $823.64, plus the amount 
sunk in publications, $830.74, to represent the 
sum still remaining in our hands of money 
appropriated to our use by the trustees of the 
Endowment Fund or received from other 
sources, $1617.08, plus the sum of the bal- 
ances still standing on the old membership 
accounts, $46.41. It should be remembered 
that the office expenses of the year having 
been heavier than usual, over $1800, have not 
been all charged to the account of our differ- 
ent publications, but a balance of $345-55 has 


been allowed to remain, reducing by so much 
the balance on this account of the previous 
year. 

As a complement and supplement to the 
table the following statements concerning the 
board's publications and work may be of in- 
terest : 

Books. 

A. L. A. proceedings. The board has in 
stock at its headquarters, io l / 2 Beacon street, 
Boston, nearly 2000 copies of the conference 
proceedings, covering the years from 1882 to 
date. There are a very limited number of 
copies of the years 1882, 1886, 1892, and 1893, 
and it is suggested that libraries desiring to 
complete sets in order to bind the proceedings 
by themselves would do well to give the mat- 
ter early consideration. 

Annotated bibliography of line art. The 
"Bibliography of fine art," prepared by Mr. 
Sturgis and Mr. Krehbiel and edited by Mr. 
lies, which has become so favorably known 
because of the value of its descriptive, crit- 
ical and comparative notes, was among the 
board's publications transferred to Messrs. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., of Boston (now the 
regular publishers of the board), in January, 
1900, and may be obtained directly from them. 
The sales of the book, last year amounting to 
84 copies, are gradually reducing the deficit 
incurred in its publication, which at the end 
of the year amounted to less than $400. 

Books for boys and girls. The little, inex- 
pensive, paper-covered handbook which bears 
this title, with its carefully annotated lists, 
prepared by Miss Hewins, of the Hartford 
Public Library, for the home use of fathers, 
mothers and teachers, continues in such ac- 
tive demand that less than 700 copies are now 
left of an original edition of 3000. It re- 
mains in the hands of the Publishing Board. 

Library tracts. Messrs. Houghton, Mif- 
flin & Co. have published for the board dur- 


IO4 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


ing the year three library primers, an edition 
of 1000 of each tract being printed. The first, 
"Why do we need a public library?" was 
compiled by a committee of the A. L. A. 
This was followed by "How to start a public 
library," by Dr. G. E. Wire, of the Worcester 
County Law Library, and "Travelling libra- 
ries," by Mr. Frank A. Hutchins, secretarv 
of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission. 
They have been well received, and others o.i 
practical library subjects will follow as soon 
as possible. A very low price has been fixed 
for the tracts, and it is hoped that they will 
be generously used by clubs, commissions and 
individuals interested in promoting the ad- 
vancement of library interests. 

List of books for girls and women and their 
clubs. This carefully selected Hst of some 
2100 books "worthy to be read or studied by 
girls and women" should now be ordered di- 
rectly of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 
Nearly 300 copies, including parts, were sold 
during the year, showing a continued though 
not increased demand. 

List of French fiction. Nearly 1000 copies 
of this convenient list, chosen and annotated 
by Madame Cornu, of Montreal, and Mr. 
Beer, of New Orleans, were sold during the 
year, reducing the stock on hand at the board'i; 
Beacon street office, where it can still be ob- 
tained, to less than 500 copies. 

List of subject headings for use in diction- 
ary catalogs. "Subject headings" continues f 
be one of the most lucrative publications of 
the board. Nearly 300 copies were sold in 
1900, and the accounts of the year show a 
balance in its favor of nearly $500 Since the 
demand for the book comes almost exclu 
sively from libraries, it still remains in the 
hands of the Library Bureau, where orders 
should be sent. 

Reading for the young. Sargent's "Read- 
ing for the young" is offered by Messrs. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. in three forms: the 
original edition, compiled by Mr. John F. 
Sargent; the "Supplement," compiled by Mis-, 
Mary E. and Miss Abby L. Sargent ; and the 
original and supplement bound together. 
During the current year the original edition 
has become exhausted. It is probable that 
a limited number of copies will be printed 


at once to supply the immediate demand and 
that a reprint, with additional matter, will be 
undertaken in the near future. 

Printed cards. 

Current books. It need simply be stated 
under the head of "Printed cards for current 
books" that the entire reorganization of this 
part of the board's work has been the subject 
of active discussion during the year, and that 
the proposed plans for carrying it on more ef- 
fectively will be fully explained to the con- 
ference by Mr. Fletcher, chairman of the 
Publishing Board. It may be appropriately 
added that, as in past years, the thanks of 
the Association are due to the publishers for 
their courtesy in sending books, and to Miss 
Browne for her earnest work in getting the 
cards to subscribers with under often ad- 
verse conditions most commendable prompt- 
ness. 

English history. The annotated cards on 
English history continue to be printed at i 
loss. Mr. W. D. Johnston has been re-en- 
gaged, however, to edit the cards for the cur- 
rent year, and it is hoped that in the end their 
usefulness will be found to justify the work, 
at least to the extent of making them self- 
supporting. 

Periodical and society publications. The 
Publishing Board is now printing cards for 
nearly 250 periodical and society publications. 
During 1900, 28.43 titles, or more than 170,000 
cards, were sent out. This represents the 
largest single item of the board's work and 
an expenditure of more than $1700, which is 
nearly met by receipts from the sales. 

Miscellaneous sets. The board has now 
printed 16 of the so-called "Miscellaneous 
sets," which are, together with the years cr 
volumes covered, as follows : American As- 
sociation for the Advancement of Science 
Proceedings, 1875-1898 ; American Historical 
Association Papers, 1885-91, v. 1-5; Amer- 
ican Historical Association Reports, 1889- 
98; New York State Museum Bulletin, 
1892-98, nos. 1-23; Massachusetts Historical 
Society Collections, 1792-1899; Old South 
Leaflets series 1-4 ; Smithsonian Institution 
Annual reports, 1886-96; Smithsonian In- 


HARRISON. 


105 


stitution Contributions to knowledge, 1862- 
97; Smithsonian Institution Miscellaneous 
collections, 1862-97; U. S. Bureau of Ethnol- 
ogy Annual reports, 1879-95; U. S. Na- 
tional Museum Annual reports, 1886-95 J LT. 
S. National Museum Bulletin, 1875-98, and 
(books) Depew, "One hundred years of 
American commerce"; Authors Club, "Li- 
ber scriptorum"; Shaler, "United States of 
America." 

These sets simply cover the back numbers 
of what are now grouped in the board's wor< 
as "periodicals and society publications" 
completed works like "Liber scriptorum," of 
course, being excepted. Subscriptions to 
these periodicals and publications as currenc 
continuations begin with the date of the re- 
ceipt of the subscription, so that unless one 
has been a subscriber from the beginning 
there will of necessity (because of the limited 
number of the cards printed) be a break be- 
tween the last year covered by the "Miscel- 
laneous set" and the beginning of the sub- 
scription. 

The sets have met with a warm welcome 
from the libraries, and the board is prepared 
to print cards during 1901 for the following 
additional sets, providing a sufficient number 
of orders are received to justify the work: 
American Academy of Political and Social 
Science Annals, 1900 to date; American 
Economic Association Economic studies, 
1896-97; American Economic Association 
Publications, 1887-96; Bibliographica, 1895- 
97; Bureau of American Republics Publi- 
cations ; Columbia University Studies in His- 
tory, Economy and Public Law, 1891-96; 
Johns Hopkins University Studies in History 
and Political Science, 1883-98; U. S. Geolog- 
ical Survey Bulletins, 1884-98; U. S. Geo- 
logical Survey Monographs, 1882-98; U. S. 
Geological and Geographical Survey of the 
Territories Reports, 1875-90; U. S. Geo- 
logical and Geographical Survey of the Ter- 
ritories Miscellaneous publications, 12 nos. 

These brief statements show concisely the 
bibliographical work which the Publishing 
Board has completed and is now carrying on, 
and for which it needs the continued moral 
and financial support of the libraries of the 
Association. 


In preparation and under consideration. 

Other important work is in active progress. 
The "Literature of American history," being 
edited by Mr. Larned, and for which Mr. lies 
has so generously donated $10,000, is well 
along, and may be announced as a fall book. 
Under Mr. Fletcher's direction work on the 
second edition of the "A. L. A. index" has 
advanced rapidly, and the book will be ready 
for distribution before the end of the year. 
Mr. Dewey has promised that the long-delayed 
"Supplement" to the "A. L. A. catalog," be- 
ing edited, as was the original, by Mrs. Sa- 
lome Cutler Fairchild, will be out this sum- 
mer. It is expected that active work on the 
"Portrait index" will be continued, and that 
under the editorship of Mr. Lane and Miss 
Browne the index will be pushed to rapid 
completion. 

Among the pieces of valuable work under 
consideration, on which the board hopes soon 
to be able to take final and definite action, 
may be mentioned Mr. Teggart's "Handbook 
of libraries of the United States," an "Index 
to library periodicals," a "Bibliography of ref- 
erence books," cards to current books recom- 
mended by the Wisconsin Free Library Com- 
mission and the Massachusetts Library Club 
index to the Massachusetts public documents. 

In conclusion it remains to express the deep 
and sincere regret with which the board ac- 
cepted the resignation of Mr. William C. 
Lane as its secretary and treasurer, tendered 
in December of last year on account of ill 
health and after a long period of most earnest, 
faithful and valuable service, and to repeat 
here the suggestion with which he closed his 
report to the Montreal conference, a sugges- 
tion made, it must be remembered, after years 
of closest attention to the workings of th? 
board : 

"The desirability of taking some definite 
steps toward putting the work of the Publish- 
ing Board on a broader and stronger basis 
is as evident as ever. In addition to the ef- 
ficient service rendered by the assistant sec- 
retary, the Publishing Board could with ad- 
vantage employ a portion, say half, of the 
time of a capable man who should combine 
business judgment and alertness with bib- 
liographical tastes and knowledge of library 


io6 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


interests. The time has come when both for 
its own sake and in justice to those who serve 
it the Publishing Board should have sal- 


aried officers. To make the change success- 
fully, however, requires a better financial con- 
dition than it yet has." 


STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS, JANUARY i TO DECEMBER 31, 1900. 


PUBLICATIONS. 


Copies 
sold 
in 
1900. 


Copies 
on hand 
Dec. 3 x, 
1900. 


Balances, Jan. i, 1900, 
being excess of ex- 
penditures or re- 
ceipts to date. 


Operations, 
Jan. i to Dec. 31, 
1900. 


Balances, Dec. 31, 
1900, being excess 
of expenditures or 
receipts to date. 


Spent. 


Received. 


Expenses. 


Receipts. 


Spent. 


Received. 


A. L. A. Proceedings 


3 

1 88 
84 
991 
jio7 
| 218 pts. 
i 6orig. 
-( 32Suppl. 
( 24compl. 
296 


1829 

643 
209 
44 
474 
4064 pts. 
24 
899 
5 
55 

9174 


$13-47 
4'5-87 

- 418.58 

242.84 
728.94 

41-85 


$5-56 
Sisi 

297.85 

467-37 
16.41 

438.37 


$1.24 
66.19 

44-i7 
225.00 
561.08 
719.16 
134.00 
'795-75 
"35-48 
"5.15 


$2.00 
8.60 
47 5 
20.64 

66.19 

48.39 
390-36 

860.39 
55-76 
1688.26 
644.67 

41.20 


$4*87 
368-37 

370.19 

467.84 
1290.02 

6i'.8 3 
83*95 


I6. 3 a 
29-15 

474-04 

6o8!6o 

330.88 
367-34 


Books for boys and girls 


Bibliography of fine art 


List of French fiction 


Books for girls and women . . 
Reading for the young 


List of subject-headings 
A. L. A. index, 2d edition.... 


Current book cards 


English history cards 


Periodical cards 


i7<>,344 


Miscellaneous sett 


894 


Totals 


.... 


$1861.55 


$1164.07 
697.48 


$4007.22 


$3873-96 
133-36 


$2647.07 


$1816.33 
830.74 


General balance 


.... 


$1861.55 


$1861.55 


$4007.32 


$4007.22 


$2647.07 


$2647.07 


OTHER ACCOUNTS. 


Bal. Jan. i, 1900. 


Operations of 1900. 


Bal. Dec. 31, 1900. 


Dr. 


Cr. 


Dr. 


Cr. 


Dr. 


Cr. 


General expense and income account 


$1960.48 
49- 5 
455-00 

69.41 


$345-55 
2.84 
MI3-23 
159.12 
69.41 
3019.67 
2717.26 


$2-15 

1327-75 
175.62 
241.69 
3296.69 
2816.44 


$82 3 '.6 4 
636.82 


$1617.08 
46.41 
369.52 
16.50 
241.69 


$1100.66 
736.00 


Due to Publ. Board on bills and subscriptions 


$1836.66 


.... 


$1460.46 
830.74 


$2291.20 


697.48 


$8534-14 


$2S34-4 


.... 


$2291.20 


$2291.20 


FIRST SESSION. 


107 


THE PROCEEDINGS. 
WAUKESHA, Wis., THURSDAY, JULY 4 WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1901. 


FIRST SESSION* 

(METHODIST CHURCH, WAUKESHA, THURS- 
DAY EVENING, JULY 4.) 

PUBLIC MEETING. 

The meeting was called to order at 8.15 by 
President CARR, who announced that the 
American Library Association would take up 
the program prepared for its 23d annual meet- 
ing. The president then introduced ANDREW 
J. FRAME, of Waukesha, who extended a cor- 
dial welcome to Waukesha on behalf of the 
local committee, referring to the advance 
made in library development throughout Wis- 
consin, largely through the efforts of such men 
as Senator Stout, of Menominee, and Z. G. 
Simmons, of Kenosha, and the enthusiasm of 
the state commission. 

Mr. CARR then delivered the 
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 
(See p. i.) 

The subject 

WHAT MAY BE DONE FOR LIBRARIES 

was presented by three speakers, T. L. MONT- 
GOMERY presenting 

WHAT MAY BE DONE BY THE CITY, 

(See p. 5), 
Dr. E. A. BIRGE reviewing 

WHAT MAY BE DONE BY THE STATE, 

(See p. 7), 
and HERBERT PUTNAM outlining 

WHAT MAY BE DONE BY THE NATION, 

(See p. 9.) 
Adjourned at 10 p.m. 

SECOND SESSION. 

(ASSEMBLY ROOM, FOUNTAIN SPRING HOUSE, 

FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 5.) 
President CARR called the meeting to order 
at 10.25, and announced that the usual reports 
of officers and committees would be taken up 
in due order. 

* Preceding this first general session of the Asso- 
ciation, an informal social reception had been held at 
The Fountain Spring House, Wednesday evening, 
July 3; and during Thursday, July 4, there were 
meetings of the A. L. A. Council, special committees, 
etc. 


The PRINTED REPORT OF I9OO MEETING was 

approved as presented and distributed. 

The AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION, as ap- 

proved at the Montreal meeting was sub- 
mitted for ratification, and was adopted. It 
provides that in section 17, line 10, of the 
constitution the words "of the association," 
shall be stricken out, thus making the final 
sentence of that section read as follows: "It 
may, by a two-thirds vote, promulgate recom- 
mendations relating to library matters, and 
no resolutions except votes of thanks and on 
local arrangements shall be otherwise pro- 
mulgated." 
F. W. FAXON presented his 

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 

During the 13 months since the Association 
met at Montreal the number of new members 
added has been 167.* Including with the new 
those who have rejoined (for they are prac- 
tically new members), we have over 225, the 
largest year's increase in the history of the 
A. L. A. The system of giving to each per- 
son who joins an accession number, and after 
a lapse of membership for one or more years 
reverting to the old number when he again 
joins, is not to my mind quite fair to the 
regular continued membership. One of the 
charter members, to take an extreme case, 
may, after paying dues for 1876 only, come 
in again this year by paying for 1901 and yet 
appear on a par with the 1876 members who 
have faithfully kept up their membership for 
25 years. Those rejoining members should 
be included with the total of new names 
added. There is a chance here for our sta- 
tistician to devise a better system of accession. 
In March, 1901, the active membership reached 
the looo mark, an achievement which may well 
be recorded at the opening of a new century. 

In January 4000 copies of preliminary an- 
nouncements were mailed to members, and 
others supposed to be interested. The sec- 
retary compiled for this purpose a card cata- 

* From the close of the Montreal meeting to close 
of Waukesha meeting the total new members joined 
were 280. 


io8 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


log of names, including in it members of all 
the state associations and local clubs. 

In May a new handbook (68 pages and 
cover) 3^4 x 534 i n -> practically following the 
size of last issue, was sent out, giving list 
of members, officers and committees, statisti- 
cal tables, lists of state and local library asso- 
ciations and state library commissions, nec- 
rology for the year, and other information of 
value to members and of use in extending the 
work of the A. L. A. 

An edition of 4500 was printed at an ex- 
pense of $160.60, and about half were mailed, 
in connection with circular no. 2 regarding 
the Waukesha meeting. The remainder should 
suffice for the coming year, with a small sup- 
plement to include the new members, and 
the by-laws to be passed at Waukesha, thus 
completing the new constitution. 

Early in June the final announcement was 
sent out, with private post card enclosed, re- 
questing advance registration. This was en- 
tirely successful, 476 persons registering for 
attendance, up to June 28. A printed list of 
these, for distribution at the early sessions of 
the meeting, will, it is confidently expected, 
more than justify the expense of its compila- 
tion. (800 copies, 24 pages, same size as 
handbook, $32.75.) 

2000 copies of program (16 pages, hand- 


book size) were printed and a copy mailed to 
each person who registered for attendance at 
the meeting, and to all members of the As- 
sociation. 

The secretary's expenses for the year, ex- 
clusive of handbook, will be about $400, the 
chief items being postage and printing. This 
seems justified, as it has been the means of 
increasing the income of the A. L. A. by 
more than the amount expended. 

Number of letters and postcards written 
during the year 956, number received about 
1000. 

Gifts to the A. L. A. during the year have 
included : 

Current issues of the New York Public Li- 
brary Bulletin, and the Library Journal, from 
the publishers. 

Reports of the Bristol meeting of the L. A. 
U. K., from the Honorable Secretary. 

Report of the trustees of the Public Libra- 
ry of Victoria, Australia, 1900. 

Catalogue of books on art, from the New- 
castle-uppn-Tyne Library. 

Statistics of labor, Conn., Report, 1901. 

World Almanac, 1901. 

Annual reports of several American libra- 
ries, including Philadelphia Free, Haverhill 
Public, Somerville Public, and Bowdoin Col- 
lege libraries. 

In closing I wish to thank all upon whom I 
have called for information or help, for the 
promptness and cordiality of their response. 


GARDNER M. JONES presented the 
TREASURER'S REPORT. 

Balance on hand, Jan. i, 1900 (Montreal conference, p. 107) $54 75 

RECEIPTS, JAN.-DEC., 1900. 
Fees from annual members : 
From 3 members for 1898 
From 61 members for 1899 
From 780 members for 1900 
From 12 members for 1901 

856 members at $2 $1712 oo 

Fees from annual fellows : 
From i fellow for 1899 
From 9 fellows for 1900 

10 fellows at $5 50 oo 

Fees from library members : 
From i library for 1899 
From 29 libraries for 1900 

30 libraries at $5 150 oo 

$1912 oo 

Life membership : 
Alfred Hafner 
Emma R. Neisser 

2 life memberships at $25 $50 oo 

Interest on deposit, New England Trust Co n 64 

Donation i oo 


$2029 39 


SECOND SESSION 109 


PAYMENTS, JAN.-DEC., 1900. 
Proceedings, including delivery : 

Jan. 15. Publishers' Weekly, balance on printing and binding Atlanta 

Proceedings ........................................... $142 92 

Publishers' Weekly, delivery Atlanta Proceedings ............ 66 87 

Mar. 17. Publishers' Weekly, cartage ................................ 50 

Oct. 2. Publishers' Weekly, Montreal Proceedings and delivery ...... 88134 

- $1091 03 
Stenographer : 

June 30. J. H. Kenehan ............................................ $3075 

July 7. G.D.Robinson ............................................ 7369 

-- $104 4* 
Secretary and conference expenses : 

April 24. F. H. Gerlock & Co., printing handbook .................... $59 oo 

F. H. Gerlock & Co., circulars, etc ......................... 35 25 

May 29. Henry J. Carr, postage, etc ................................ 11290 

June 30. F. H. Gerlock & Co., programs and circulars ................ 3775 

July 24. Henry J. Carr, travel secretaries' expenses .................. 6792 

Oct. 18. F. W. Faxon, stamped envelopes, etc ....................... 1560 

Dec. 12. F. W. Faxon, salary, on account ............................ 5000 

- 1378 42 
Treasurer's expenses : 

May 29. Gardner M. Jones, postage, etc ............................. $1400 

Oct. 2. Salem Press Co., printing bills, etc ......................... 550 

Gardner M. Jones, stamped envelopes, etc .................. 46 85 

Dec. 24. Gardner M. Jones, expenses .............................. 31 55 

- $97 go- 
Trustees of the Endowment Fund, life membership for investment .................. $50 oo 

$1721 79 

Balance on hand, Dec. 31, 1900 : 
Deposit in New England Trust Co., Boston .................... $201 55 

Deposit in Merchants' Bank, Salem, Mass ..................... 106 05 $307 60 

J2Q29 39 

From Jan. i to July i, 1901, the receipts During the year 1900, 208 new members 

have been $1650.00 and the payments $781.32, joined the Association and seven died. 
the balance on hand July i being $1176.28. GARDNER M. JONES, Treasurer. 

The membership, hence the income, of the The following report of audit was appended : 
Association is increasing from year to year, The Finance Committee have performed 

but it should be borne in mind that increased the duties laid down in the constitution ; they 

membership means increased expenses. The have examined the accounts of the trueasurer, 


sectary and treasurer are obHged ,o ask for "" 


more money for postage, stationery, printing, 

etc., and it is only by the most rigid condensa- JAMES L. WHITNEY, J 

tion that the recorder is able to keep our con- CHARLES K. BOLTON, t Finance Committee. 

ference Proceedings within our means. 
The number of members in good standing 

on Dec. 31, 1900, was as follows: 

Honorary members ................ 3 I. Eleanor Arnold Angell (A. L. A. no. 

Perpetual member ................. I 1631, 1897) assistant librarian American So- 

Life fellows ....................... 2 ciety of Civil Engineers, New York City. 

Life members ..................... 34 Born Jan. 23, 1874 ; died in New York City 

Annual fellows (paid for 1900) ...... 9 May 18, 1900. Miss Angell graduated from 

Annual members (paid for 1900) ---- 796 the Pratt Institute Library School in 1896 

Library members (paid for 1900) ---- 29 and was a member of the Pratt Institute Li- 

brary staff until July, 1897. From Dec., 

874 1897, to the time of her death she was as- 


no 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


sistant librarian of the American Society of 
Civil Engineers. 

2. Hon. Mellen Chamberlain (A. L. A. no. 
335. 1879) ex-librarian, Boston Public Libra- 
ry. Born in Pembroke, N. H., June 4, 1821 ; 
died in Chelsea, Mass., June 25, 1900. He was 
graduated from Dartmouth College in 1844, 
taught school at Brattleboro, Vt, entered the 
Harvard Law School in 1846, was graduated 
and admitted to the bar in 1849. In the same 
year he took up his residence in Chelsea and 
began the practice of law in Boston. He held 
several municipal offices and was a member 
of both houses of the state legislature. From 
1866 to 1870 he was an associate justice of the 
Municipal Court of Boston, then chief justice 
of the same court until his resignation in 1878. 
He was librarian of the Boston Public Libra- 
ry from Oct. i, 1878, to Oct. i, 1890. Dur- 
ing his administration the library's collection 
of Americana was largely increased and the 
preliminary plans for the new building were 
developed. The remainder of his life was 
devoted to literary and historical work. Judge 
Chamberlain was recognized as one of the 
foremost students of American colonial his- 
tory and his collection of autographic docu- 
ments relating to American history was one 
of the finest in the country. This collection was 
deposited in the Boston Public Library in 
1893 and became its property on the death 
of Judge Chamberlain. 

(See "Brief description of the Chamberlain collec- 
tion of autographs," published by the Boston Public 
Library.) 

3. Henry Barnard (A. L. A. no. 104, 1877.) 
Born in Hartford, Ct., Jan. 24, 1811 ; died July 
5 1900. He graduated from Yale College in 
1830 and in 1835 was admitted to the bar. 
From 1837-40 he was a member of the Con- 
necticut legislature and during his term of ser- 
vice advocated reforms in insane asylums, pris- 
ons and the common schools. From 1838 to 
1842 he was secretary of the board of school 
commissioners in Connecticut ; from 1842 to 
1849 school commissioner of Rhode Island; 
from 1850 to 1854 state superintendent of the 
Connecticut schools, and from 1857 to 1859 
president of the State University of Wiscon- 
sin. From 1865 to 1867 he was president of St. 
John's College, and from 1867 to 1870 U. S. 
Commissioner of Education. He wrote and 
compiled many educational books and edited 
several educational periodicals, the most impor- 


tant being the American Journal of Education. 
In 1886 he published a collected edition of his 
works comprising 52 volumes and over 800 
original treatises. Dr. Barnard received the 
degree of LL.D. from Yale and Union in 1851 
and from Harvard in 1852. He was always 
greatly interested in libraries. In 1823 or 1824 
he served as assistant librarian and made his 
first donation to the library of Monson Acade- 
my, and from 1828 to 1830 was librarian of 
the Linonian Society of Yale College, giving 
twice the amount of the small salary back to 
the library in books. During his connection 
with the legislature and common schools of 
Connecticut, 1837 to 1842, the district school 
library system was established and the power 
of taxation for libraries was given to every 
school society in the state. During his 
sojourn in Rhode Island he started a library 
in every town in the state. He joined the 
A. L. A. in 1877, and was made an honorary 
member at Chicago in 1893. He attended the 
conferences of 1876, 1877, and 1893. 

{"National cyclopedia of American biography," vol. 
i; L. /., 4:289.) 

4. Enos L. Doan (A. L. A. no. 1909, 1899), 
librarian of the Wilmington (Del.) Institute 
Free Library. Born in Indiana about 40 years 
ago; died in Wilmington, Dec. 18, 1900. He 
was a graduate of Haverford College and was 
for several years connected with the Friends' 
School in Wilmington, first as teacher and 
later as assistant principal and principal. In 
the spring of 1899 he resigned that office to 
accept the appointment of librarian of the 
Wilmington Institute Free Library. He had 
previously been active in the development of 
the library, and as chairman of the library 
committee had aided in the reorganization of 
the former subscription library into a free 
public library. 

(L. ]., Jan., 1901.) 

5. Josiah Norris Wing (A. L. A. no. 585, 
1886), librarian New York Free Circulating 
Library. Born near Lynchburg, Va., Sept. 
29, 1848; died in New York City, Dec. 20, 
1900. His father, E. N. Wing, was engineer 
of the East Tenn. and Va. R. R. He was 
a Union man and after the siege of Knoxville 
removed to New York City. Here young 
Wing attended the public schools and entered 
the College of the City of New York, but be- 
fore the close of the first year he became a 


SECOND SESSION 


III 


clerk in the Mercantile Library. He was 
connected with the library for 13 years and 
became first assistant librarian, but his un- 
ceasing work and devotion to details injured 
bis health and he was obliged to retire from 
active work. In 1880 he took charge of the 
library department of Charles Scribner's 
Sons, for which his library training well fittecl 
him. In April, 1899, he was elected chief 
librarian of the New York Free Circulating 
Library. During the years he was in the 
book business Mr. Wing kept in close touch 
with library interests. He was a member of 
the A. L. A. for 14 years, and was almost 
from its beginning an active member of the 
New York Library Club. He had been treas- 
urer of the New York Library Association for 
seven years, holding that office at the time of 
his death. He was also prominent in book 
trade organizations and in various civic re- 
form movements in New York City. He was 
always ready to give help and service in any 
good cause and he will be missed by many 
friends among librarians and bookbuyers. 

(Publishers' Weekly, Dec. 29, 1900; L. J., Jan., 
1901.) 

6. Huntington Wolcott Jackson (A. L. A. 
no. 884, 1890), president board of directors of 
the John Crerar Library. Born in Newark, 
N. J., Jan. 28, 1841 ; died in Chicago, Jan. 3, 
1901. He attended Phillips Academy, Ando- 
ver, Mass., and entered Princeton College. 
At the end of his junior year he enlisted in 
the army, where he secured rapid promotion. 
After a year at the Harvard Law School and a 
year spent in European travel and study, he 
finished his studies in Chicago and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1868. He practiced law in 
Chicago and in 1888 was elected president of 
the Chicago Bar Association. Mr. Jackson 
was a warm and trusted friend of the late 
John Crerar. At Mr. Crerar's death he 
was, with Mr. Norman Williams, one of the 
executors of the will and a co-trustee of 
the John Crerar Library, then to be founded. 
For many years Mr. Jackson was chairman 
of the committee on administration and prac- 
tically all of the details of administration were 
passed upon by him and some quite important 
changes were made by him. Mr. Jackson 
was a member of the A. L. A. from 1890 tm- 
til his death, but there is no record of his 
attendance at any conference. 

(See Report of John Crerar Library, 1900.) 


7. Robert Grossman Ingraham (A. L. A. mx 
2t>5. 1879), librarian of the New Bedford 
(Mass.) Free Public Library. Born in New 
Bedford, Feb. n, 1827; died there March 3^ 
1901. The New Bedford Free Public Library 
was instituted in 1852 and Mr. Ingraham was 
chosen its first librarian, then taking up the 
work to which he gave nearly half a century. 
Under his management the library grew from 
its nucleus of 5500 volumes to 72,000 volumes, 
and the strength and good proportions of the 
collection are due to his scholarship, unspar- 
ing labor, and discernment of local needs. 
For many years Mr. Ingraham had little or no 
assistance in the library, yet for more than 30 
years he cataloged every book added to its- 
shelves. He kept in touch with changes 
in library administration and was not pre- 
vented by conservatism from adopting those 
which his good judgment approved. Mr. In- 
graham was a man of retiring disposition and 
simple tastes, a hard student with a marvel- 
lous memory. In addition to his great fund of 
general information, and knowledge of the 
books in his library, he was thoroughly posted 
in everything relating to the history of New 
Bedford, and had few equals in his knowledge 
of mosses and liverworts. He devoted his life 
to his library and his fund of erudition was 
always at the service of every one who sought 
his assistance. 

(See W. R. L. Gifford in L. J., April, 1901.) 

8. Eugene Francis Malcouronne (A. L. A. 
no. 1973, 1900) , for the last 10 years secretary- 
treasurer and librarian of the Fraser Insti- 
tute Free Public Library, of Montreal, .ijcti 
April ii, 1901. Mr. Malcouronne will be 
pleasantly remembered by many who attended 
the Montreal conference. 

The treasurer's report was accepted. 
C. C. SOULE read the 

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE ENDOWMENT- 
FUND. 

To the Secretary of the American Library 
Association. 

I submit herewith a report of the receipts 
and expenditures from the date of last re- 
port, June 6, 1900, to July i, 1901, together 
with a schedule of assets, and an estimate of 
income for the ensuing year. 

There are no donations to report. The per- 
manent fund has been increased by the fees- 
for three (3) life memberships, $75 in all. 

In March, 1901, the mortgagor on a loan of 


112 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


$1000, bearing interest at six per cent., and 
falling due Aug. i, 1903, asked leave to pay 
off the mortgage. He was allowed to do so 
on paying $53.97, being the difference between 
the six per cent, he was to have paid, up to 
maturity of the mortgage, and the four per 
cent, which the trustees can expect to get on 
reinvestment of the $1000 repaid. This re- 
payment to the fund has been kept in bank 
until after this conference. If not needed by 


the Publishing Board as a loan, it can be in- 
vested at, say, four per cent. Of the $2102.18 
now on deposit, subject to check, $655.04 'is 
on interest account, available for expenditure 
as the Council may direct. (In addition to 
this, $301.03 income may be expected during 
the year 1901-2.) $1437.14 is on principal ac- 
count to be invested as opportunity offers. 

CHARLES C. SOULE, 
Treasurer A. L. A. Endowment Fund. 


1900, June 6. 

1901, March 8. 

1901, March 5. 
June 21. 


ENDOWMENT FUND STATEMENT, JUNE 6, igOO-JULY I, IQOI. 

Cash account Received. 
Balance on hand, ........ 

Repayment of mortgage loan, . . . . . . 

For permanent fund life memberships. 
E. P. Thurston, ...... $25.00 

S. H. Ranck, . . . . . . . 25.00 

B. C. Steiner, ....... 25.00 


1900, 
1901, 


June 28. Inter 
" 29. 
Aug. 14. 
Oct. i. 
Dec. 27. 
Jan. 14. 
Feb. 6. 

March 8. 
Apr. 6. 
June 26. 
" 29. 


On interest account. 
Interest mortgage loan, 

International Trust Co.'s deposit, 
Mortgage loan, 


Brookline Savings Bank deposit, 
Mortgage loan, . 

Int. Trust Co., . . . 

Mortgage loan, 


International Trust Co. deposit, 


1901, Jan. 
Apr. 


14. 
18. 


Paid out. 

Interest added to deposit in Brookline Savings Bank, 
Rent of safe box for securities, . . . 


$40.80 

10.00 


$619.27 

IOOO.OO 


$75.00 


$75.00 


6.82 


30.00 


24.50 


75.00 


40.80 


30.00 


6.82 


53-79 


24.50 


75.00 


16.48 


458.71 


$2152.98 


1901, July I. Balance on deposit with International Trust Co., Boston, 

Assets. 
Loan on mortgage at T&, due Oct. I, 1902, ...... 

" " " St " Jan. 24, 1902, . . . . . . . 

Deposit with Brookline (Mass.) Savings Bank, 4$ interest .... 

" " International Trust Co., Boston, 2# " . . . 

Total, 

[Of this amount $6187.94 is principal, to be left intact, $665.04 is interest, avail- 
able for use.] 

Liabilities, none. 

Annual expense, $10 for safe deposit box. 

Available for appropriation bv the Council, 1901-1902. 

Cash on hand July I, 1901 (interest account), . . . . . 

Interest on $700.00 @ {%, . . . , . . . . 

" " 3000.00 @ 5^, ......... 

" " 1050.80 @ 4^, . . . . . .' . . 

(If no part of the principal is needed as a loan by the Publishing Board, add also) 
Interest on (say) $1500.00 invested at 4#, . 

Estimated total, 


50.80 
$2102.18 

$700.00 
3000.00 
1050.80 
2102.18 

$6852.98 


$665.04 

49-00 

150.00 

42.03 

$906.07 
60.00 


$966.07 


SECOND SESSION 


The following report of audit was ap- 
pended : 

At the request of Charles C. Soule, treas- 
urer of the Endowment Fund, we have ex- 
amined his accounts and securities, and find 
evidence of investment of $3700 in mortgage 
loans, of deposit of $1050.80 in the Bjookline 
(Mass.) Savings Bank, and of $2102.18 in the 
International Trust Company, of Boston. We 
also find his accounts correctly cast, with 
proper vouchers for all expenditures. 
JAMES L. WHITNEY, ) of the 

CHARLES K. BOLTON ) Finance Committee 

Mr. SOULE: In submitting this report, I 
would call the attention of the Association to 
the fact that the permanent fund is not as 
large as it ought to be. If you will remem- 
ber, the attempt at collection, made with much 
vigor at first, had to be abandoned on ac- 
count of general financial trouble through the 
country. No systematic effort has since been 
made to increase the fund. The work of the 
Association would be very much furthered if 
this fund were large enough to provide $5000 
or $6000 of income, so that the Association 
could have two or three, or one or two, per- 
manent paid officers, with a good allowance 
for travelling and incidental expenses. If any 
of you should be asked where an amount of 
say $100,000 could be placed with advantage 
to the general library cause, I hope you will 
bear in mind the inadequate funds of the As- 
sociation. 

The report was accepted. 

In the absence of W. L. R. GIFFORD, chair- 
man, the secretary read the 

REPORT OF THE CO-OPERATION COMMITTEE. 

The exhaustive report on co-operative cat- 
aloging rendered by the Co-operation Com- 
mittee of last year has disposed for the pres- 
ent, so far as this committee is concerned, of 
the most important subject which has of late 
years been brought to its attention. 

Dr. Richardson reports that the index to 
theological periodicals is progressing rap- 
idly, and will probably be published before the 
next conference of the A. L. A. The index 
will cover the years 1891-1900, and will in- 
clude all the standard theological periodicals, 
of Poole rank and upwards, in all languages 
of which there are representatives in Ameri- 
can libraries, together with many references 
to theological articles in general periodicals, 


in all not less than 25,000 references. It will 
be an alphabetical subject index like Poole, 
but will differ from Poole in giving regular 
author-title entry, and will be more biblio- 
graphical in character through the select ref- 
erences to general periodicals. A feature of 
the index will be a very brief definition of each 
subject. Dr. Richardson has at present seven 
clerks engaged in the work, and is pushing it 
as fast as possible. 

The dictionary of historical fiction, in prep- 
aration by the Free Library of Philadelphia, 
is making satisfactory progress, and will 
probably be issued within the coming year. 
Since the announcement was made at the At- 
lanta conference that this dictionary was in 
preparation there have been many inquiries 
concerning it, and the prospect of its publi- 
cation will be welcome. 

The committee has received no new infor- 
mation during the past year in regard to plans 
for bibliographical work, and it would em- 
phasize the recommendations of previous 
years that all such plans be reported promptly 
to the committee, so that they may be pub- 
lished in its annual report. 

WILLIAM L. R. GIFFORD, Chairman. 

In the absence of C. H. GOULD, chairman, 
C. W. ANDREWS read the 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN DOCUMENTS. 

The committee begs to report, with con- 
siderable confidence, that this is positively its 
last appearance in connection with the list 
of French government serials, which has 
been long in course of compilation and publi- 
cation. This work is now in its final stage, 
and as it will soon be in the hands of the re- 
viewer, to say much in regard to it at present 
seems hardly necessary. Two points, how- 
ever, require a word: 

1. Recognizing the difficulties in the way of 
attaining anything like completeness in an 
enumeration of this nature, the committee 
deliberately decided to omit certain docu- 
ments in favor of others. Thus it happens 
that no reference is made to the legislative 
proceedings of the several Revolutionary As- 
semblies, nor to other publications of equal 
importance. 

2. In addition to enumerating documents, 
this list indicates particular libraries where 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


they may be consulted. It was, of course, 
unnecessary, even had it been possible, to 
mention all the libraries in the country which 
possess sets more or less complete. But it is 
hoped that the libraries chosen are so widely 
distributed as to save a would-be reader from 
undertaking a long journey when a shorter 
one would serve. 

Such other features as call for notice will 
be referred to in the preface. 

It would, however, be unbecoming if the 
committee failed now to recognize and thank 
Miss Adelaide R. Hasse for the pains and 
labor she has bestowed upon the list. She has 
co-operated with the committee from the first, 
and to her and to Mr. Andrews the commit- 
tee is under special obligations. 

The committee would further report that it 
now has on hand a considerable amount of 
raw material for a German list similar to the 
French ; and it is hoped that progress may be 
made in arranging this during the present 
summer. 

Respectfully submitted, 

C. H. GOULD, Chairman. 

W. I. FLETCHER read the 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TITLE-PAGES AND IN- 
DEXES OF PERIODICAL VOLUMES. 

Your committee have understood their busi- 
ness to be the preparation of a note to be 
addressed to the publishers of periodicals, set- 
ting forth the views of librarians in regard to 
the issue of title-pages, etc., with periodicals. 
They, therefore, submit as their report the 
accompanying draft of such a note, with the 
recommendation that it be sent to the publish- 
ers of all leading periodicals, and that a com- 
mittee on this subject be continued, to receive 
and act upon any correspondence that may be 
called out. 

THORVALD SOLBERG, ) 
W. I. FLETCHER, j 

Note to publishers of periodicals, as to the furnish- 
ing in proper form of title-pages and contents. This 
note was drawn up by a Committee of the American 
Library Association and was approved by the Asso- 
ciation. 

As a result of much dissatisfaction among 
librarians with the irregularities and uncer- 
tainties connected with the issue, by publish- 
ers of periodicals, of title-pages and "con- 
tents" of volumes, the American Library As- 
sociation has had a special committee consid- 


Committee. 


ering the subject with a view to drawing up a 
suitable memorial to j)e presented to^such pub- 
lishers, looking to the securing of more uni- 
formity and propriety in this matter. After 
mature consideration the committee have pre- 
pared the following recommendations as em- 
bodying the minimum of improvement which 
may reasonably be hoped for. 

1. Title-pages and tables of contents should 
always accompany the number completing a 
volume, and not the first number of a new 
volume. [They should be stitched in, and not 
sent loose.] There are several cogent reasons 
for this recommendation : 

(a) In many cases it is a serious detriment 
to the usefulness of a set in a library, if a 
completed volume cannot be bound until the 
receipt of the next number. 

(6) More important is the need that the 
numbers of a volume shall constitute the vol- 
ume in its entirety, so that as they are bought 
and sold there shall not be the necessity of 
handling also another number belonging to a 
different volume in order to complete the first. 
Now that libraries are buying periodical sets 
and volumes in such large numbers for use 
with Poole's and other indexes, it is of great 
importance to the book trade, as well as libra- 
rians, and must have a real bearing on the 
business interests of the publishers, that this 
matter, often trifled with, shall receive due 
attention. Publishers must come to feel that 
if it is necessary (which it generally proves 
not to be) to delay a completing number a 
day or two in its issue in order to insure its 
completeness in this respect, the delay is 
abundantly compensated for. 

2. Title-pages and contents should be fur- 
nished with every copy of the issue of a com- 
pleting number. We earnestly believe that by 
inserting title-pages and contents in all cases 
publishers will at once put a premium on the 
preservation and binding of their magazines, 
suggesting it to many who otherwise would 
not think of it. In the long run the demand 
for back numbers to make up volumes must 
more than compensate for the extra expense 
of putting in the additional leaves. 

The policy of sending title-pages and con- 
tents only to those calling for them is sui- 
cidal, as it results in flooding the market with 
numbers from which volumes cannot be made 
up and by destroying the hope of making up 
sets weakens the demand which would other- 
wise exists for volumes and numbers of the 
periodical in question. 

If an alphabetical index, in addition to a 
table of contents, is furnished, which is the 
preferable practice, the former should be 
paged to go at the end of the volume. When 
such an index is furnished, and no table of 
contents, the index should be printed to fol- 
low the title-page. 

3. As to the form in which title-pages and 
contents should be issued: they should be 


SECOND SESSION 


printed on a two-, four-, or eight-leaved sec- 
tion, separate from other printed matter, 
either advertising or reading. Nothing is 
more important in binding volumes to stand 
the hard wear of our public libraries than that 
none of the earlier leaves in the volume shall 
be single leaves pasted in. One of the great- 
est abuses of the book trade at present is the 
disposition to have title and other preliminary 
leaves pasted in. Librarians find to their cost 
(what is not so obvious to the book manufac- 
turer) that this does not work. An absolute 
requirement for good bookmaking is that the 
first and last portions of the book especially 
shall be good solid sections no single leaves, 
nor do most librarians or owners of private 
libraries like to include advertisements, in or- 
der to secure these solid sections for binding. 
We feel sure that it is abundantly worth while 
for the publishers to squarely meet this de- 
mand. 

4. Admitting that there may be cases in 
which it is practically impossible to furnish 
title and contents with the completing num- 
ber of a volume, we would recommend for 
such cases that such a separate section as has 
been described be made and furnished with the 
first number of the new volume, stitched in 
at its end, not at its beginning. The last- 
named practice is likely to cause more trouble 
to librarians than any other that is common, 
as it is difficult to remove the section without 
making the number unfit to place in the read- 
ing room. 

We would like to call the attention of period- 
ical publishers to the difficulties arising from 
the common practice of printing some first or 
last leaves of reading matter on the same sec- 
tion with some pages of advertising. Most 
librarians prefer to remove the advertising 
leaves before binding the magazines. The 
practice referred to makes it necessary to 
bind in some advertising leaves or else take 
off and paste in single leaves of reading mat- 
ter, sometimes three or four in one place, 
which is very inimical to good binding. Pub- 
lishers are advised to have all advertising 
pages printed on separate sections if possible. 

Desiring to meet, so far as possible, the 
views of publishers in regard to the matters 
referred to above, the committee will be 
pleased to hear from any to whom this note 
may come. 

Mr. FLETCHER: The committee have cor- 
responded with some of the magazine pub- 
lishers, and if any are disposed to consider 
what is here proposed an ideal system, your 
attention may be called to the fact that several 
of our magazine publishers are carrying it 
out. For instance, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 
I am not mentioning them as superior to 
others; others might be mentioned but in 


their reply to a tentative letter Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co. say that "in all of our publica- 
tions every one of these recommendations is 
strictly carried out." They took pride in re- 
plying to us that they believed they were do- 
ing exactly what we wanted and several 
other publishers. 

G. M. JONES: I understand the report to 
recommend that title-pages and indexes be 
fastened into the last number of the volume. 
Now it seems that in many cases it would be 
very much better to have them left loese. 
The case is this: In almost all public libra- 
ries of any size periodicals are put into some 
kind of a binder. On many accounts binders 
which perforate are the best, but we do not 
wish to perforate title-page and index, if we 
can help it, especially the title-page, and I 
would like to inquire why the committee con- 
sidered it so essential that the title-page and 
index should be fastened into the number? 

Mr. FLETCHER: These questions were all 
considered by the committee, and I would say 
when I first drew up my suggestion on this 
point it was that title-page and index should 
be sent loose; but I found an overwhelming 
argument against that, when we came to con- 
sider that they were desired to be with every 
completing number; that those completing 
numbers are sold to the people in railroad 
trains and elsewhere and are coming into the 
second-hand periodical market, where we 
must look for many to make up our sets. Now 
as to the point which Mr. Jones has spoken of. 
If the magazine is to be perforated to be put in 
the binder, as the completing number is to have 
the title and index, as we proposed, in a sep- 
arate section, it can be removed by undoing 
the stitching, or sewing, if it is sewed. That 
can be done before it is put into the binder. 
Of course there is no necessity for ruining . 
the stitching in its entirety. There may be 
some little objection there, but it is so slight 
that it seemed to the committee entirely 
counterbalanced. 

Mr. JONES : Mr. Fletcher's reply is perfect- 
ly satisfactory on that point. 

W. S. BISCOE : One other suggestion : Do 
I understand from Mr. Fletcher, if there is a 
table of contents, that the index be put after 
the title-page? 

Mr. FLETCHER: No, the suggestion is that 


ri6 


WAUKESHA CONFERENCE. 


if there is an alphabetical index and a table 
of contents, the index should be planned and 
arranged at the end of the volume, but that 
if only an index is furnished, and no table of 
contents, that would be in accordance with 
the usual practice in such cases the index 
should go, like a table of contents, after the 
title-page. 

Mr. BISCOE : If there is no table of contents 
the alphabetical index is to go after the title- 
page ? It seems to me desirable that it should 
always go at the end of the volume. 

Mr. FLETCHER: I am very glad that point 
has been called attention to. I should like it if 
Mr. Biscoe would suggest an amendment. 
According to the report, when such an index 
is furnished, and no table of contents, the 
index should be printed to follow the title- 
page. We might say : if an alphabetical index 
is furnished, it should be paged to go at the 
end of the volume. 

T. L. MONTGOMERY: Was not the commit- 
tee's report to provide for the printing of the 
alphabetical index in the place of a table of 
contents, thereby making it one section? 

Mr. FLETCHER: The advantage of that 
would be that there would be something to go 
with the title-page to make up the section. 
The title-page should be part of a section for 
binding as a separate section. I wonder if 
most of the librarians present haven't had the 
same exasperating experience which I have 
so often had with those title-pages which are 
separate leaves, and have to be pasted into 
the volume. There is hardly any practice so 
vicious in bookmaking as having the title- 
page pasted in. It almost always pulls out 
before the book is in any other respect at all 
dilapidated. 

A. G. JOSEPHSON : I would suggest that the 
committee recommend that both a table of 
contents and an index should be furnished. 

Mr. FLETCHER: The committee would en- 
tirely agree to that, and it could very easily 
be done. If an alphabetical index, in addi- 
tion to the table of contents, is furnished, a 
practice to be preferred might be to consoli- 
date them. 

Pres. CARR: I think, Mr. Fletcher, you 
should be able to modify your report, before 
printing, to incorporate those suggestions. 

F. W. FAXON: If the committee is trying 


to get at an ideal arrangement, it might be 
well to suggest that the publishers of maga- 
zines have some one who knows something 
about the contents make the index. We have 
a magazine in Boston that persists in index- 
ing articles under "a" and "the," and proper 
names under "John" and "James." But if 
the committee is trying to get a rule that the 
publishers will be most likely to adopt, it 
seems to me they might suggest that the in- 
dex be published in each concluding number 
of a volume, even though the index is put in 
place of that many pages of text. Of course 
it would not do to suggest that these pages be 
taken out of advertising, but as the text usual- 
ly costs the magazine something, publishers 
would probably be willing to devote four of 
the pages they would have to pay for to an 
index, which would cost them much less. 

Mr. FLETCHER: I think it would interest the 
Association to know of an example that Mrs. 
Fairchild sent me some time ago of the way 
these indexes are made. Some periodical in 
New York had an article on motive power 
for the canals, and in the index it appeared 
under "Mule, Must the Canal Go?" 

The report was approved and referred to 
the Council. 

In the absence of Dr. J. S. BILLINGS the 
secretary read the 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON "INTERNATIONAL 
CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE." 

Your committee begs to report that the final 
conference of delegates of the various govern- 
ments for the purpose of considering an In- 
ternational Catalogue of Scientific Literature 
was held in London on June 12 and 13, 1900, 
and, as intimated in the report of your com- 
mittee last year, owing to the failure of Con- 
gress to make it possible for delegates with 
power to attend, no representatives of the 
United States were present. Mr. Herbert 
Putnam, Librarian of Congress, who was vis- 
iting England at the time was informally in 
conference with various members of the Royal 
Society and rendered effective service in en- 
abling them to reach a conclusion. 

The conference decided to undertake the 
issuing of the Catalogue provided 300 com- 
plete subscriptions were received by October 
ist, the quota of the United States in this 
being 45. During the summer the Smith- 


SECOND SESSION 


117 


sonian Institution issued a circular to Ameri- 
can libraries and universities and learned so- 
cieties and scientific men, announcing the fact, 
with the very gratifying result of the sub- 
scription to the equivalent of over 70 complete 
sets for a period of five years. 

A meeting of the International Council to 
finally arrange for the beginning of the work 
was held in London on December 12 and 13, 
1900, at which the necessary financial arrange- 
ments were agreed to, the Royal Society ad- 
vancing certain sums and agreeing to act as 
publisher, and being authorized to enter into 
contracts, etc. Doctor H. Foster Morley 
was elected director and offices were secured 
at 34 and 35 Southampton street, Strand, 
London, W. C. The initial work has begun. 
The preparation of a list of periodicals to be 
indexed and a more careful revision of the 
schedules was the first work to be done. Thus 
far the periodical lists for Germany, Great 
Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, 
Japan. Portugal, Canada, India and Ceylon 
have been printed. That for the United 
States is expected to be ready for transmis- 
sion to London about August ist. 

In the absence of any provision, the Smith- 
sonian Institution is carrying on the work 
for the United States, although with very in- 
dequate force. It would be very desirable if 
legislation could be had to enable the Smith- 
sonian Institution to prosecute this work more 
vigorously and without drawing upon its own 
funds. 

J. S. BILLINGS, Chairman. 
CYRUS ADLER, Secretary. 

Pres. CARR: Dr. Hosmer has, I think, a 
communication to make that is of concern to 
us all. 

MEMORIAL TO JOHN FISKE. 

Dr. HOSMER : Mr. President, and Ladies and 
Gentlemen : 

We meet here in the midst of beautiful sur- 
roundings, but with considerable discomfort. 
Perhaps we hardly make it real to ourselves 
that this is in our country a time of calamity. 
Never in the course of a somewhat long ex- 
perience, can I remember so many fatalities 
from the terrible heat of the summer. The 
newspapers have come to us from day to day 
with the list of victims from the great cities, 
and this morning comes in intelligence of a 


death which touches us librarians very close- 
ly the death of John Fiske. He died yes- 
terday at Gloucester, Mass., overcome by the 
heat; and I think it entirely right to say that 
in the death of John Fiske comes the extinc- 
tion of the greatest force in American litera- 
ture at the present moment. John Fiske, while 
not a member of our association, was at one 
time a librarian ; he had a great interest in the 
Association; he was the personal friend of 
many of its members. It is perhaps quite 
right to say that no author at the present 
time is so frequently in the mouths and in the 
hands of the librarians. It has been thought 
fitting by the executive committee that we 
should make an exception in his case, and 
that there should be some formal mention of 
his passing. I regret very much that the time 
is so brief. What I have to say must be un- 
considered. 

In several directions, John Fiske was a great 
writer. First as regards the doctrine of evo- 
lution, the great idea which has come to the 
world in our day. What a great and solemn 
thing it is! The slow process through the 
lapse of ages from the monad to that which 
crawls, then to that which swims, then to 
that which flies, until we come at last to that 
which walks erect with brow expanded broad- 
ly to the light of heaven ; the slow increment 
of intelligence in the brain, as species be- 
comes merged in constantly higher species; 
the extension of infancy, with its beautiful 
sequence of humanity, of love, of spirituality. 
This has come to be accepted by scientific 
minds as the path which the divine energy 
chooses to follow in the wor