of its ratable polls, in the year next preceding that in which such appropriation shall be made; and may also appropriate annually, for the maintenance and increase of such Library, a sum not exceeding twenty-five cents for each of its ratable polls in the year next preceding that in which such appropriation shall be made; 3. "Any Town or City may receive in its corporate capacity, and hold and manage any devise, bequest, or donation, for the establishment, increase, or maintenance of a Public Library within the same." 1 The first town to take action under this Statute was New Bedford, by whose Council a Free Library was established, in August, 1852. The proprietors of a Subscription, or "Social Library," transferred their collection to the new foundation, which was opened for public use on the 3rd of March, 1853, with about 6000 volumes. This number has been, within about three years, increased to 9000; and in their fourth Report the Trustees are enabled to affirm that "it is undoubtedly true that no Act of the municipal authorities of New Bedford has reached with its recreative and improving operation so large a part of our population, and probably none has ever met so universally and deeply the approbation of the people.... A Free Public Library is the crowning glory of the system of public education, which has been from our earliest history the pride of Massachusetts."? 1 First Annual Report, [1853], 4. 2 City Documents of New Bedford [1856], No. 6, 4. BOOK IV. Chapter IV. Libraries. [2.] Free Public BOOK IV. Chapter IV. 13.] Astor Free Library of the York. In a Report of the preceding year there is a passage bearing on a point which is always interesting in connection with the present subject-that of the selection of books: "While care has been taken," say the Trustees, "that no publication injurious to the public morals should find a place upon our shelves, we have endeavoured to divest ourselves, in our efforts to place before our fellow-citizens the means of a more extensive and genial culture, of all narrow and sectarian partialities. In this respect we are gratified to be able to state that no difference of opinion has for a single moment interrupted the harmony and unanimity of our proceedings."1 Whilst the "Old Bay State" was beginning to form City of New Town Libraries, by wise and foreseeing Legislation, aided by the munificence of merchants who may, without any flattery, be said to be "as princes in the earth;" that munificence unaided was providing, in the chief city of the "Empire State," a Library on the largest scale and of the widest accessibility. John Jacob Astor, a native of the little village of Waldorf, near Heidelberg, was brought to London whilst yet a mere youth. By dint of great industry and frugality, he found himself, at the close of the American war, in possession of a small sum which he invested in merchandise suited to the New York market. On his voyage thither he formed an acquaintance with a furrier-a countryman of his own—and, by his advice, invested the proceeds of his venture in 1 Documents of 1855, 80, 81. the fur trade. "He began his career," says his friend and biographer, "of course, on the narrowest scale, but he brought to the task a persevering industry, rigid economy, and strict integrity. To these were added an aspiring spirit that always looked upward; a genius bold, fertile, and expansive; a sagacity quick to grasp, and convert every circumstance to its advantage, and a singular and never wavering confidence of signal success." With the good fortune that so often attends sagacious activity, Mr. Astor again found himself in London at a critical occasion;-at the period, namely, when a treaty was concluded which, for the first time, opened a direct commercial intercourse between Canada and the United States. He entered immediately into a contract with the North-West Company for furs. In the course of thirteen or fourteen years he had amassed means enough to launch the gigantic commercial enterprise known as the "American Fur Company" (afterwards the "South-West Company”), with a capital of one million of dollars, wholly furnished by himself. With that episode in the history of this enterprise, the splendid though unsuccessful attempt to establish an American colony beyond the Rocky Mountains, Mr. Washington Irving has made all the world familiar. To have failed in a great project, which undoubtedly aimed as much at public as at private advantage, and to know that such failure resulted mainly from the supineness of the people and of the government in the furtherance of their own interests, would, perhaps, have 1 Washington Irving, Astoria, 11 [Edition of 1851]. BOOK IV. Chapter IV. deterred most men from busying themselves much about the public thereafter. With Mr. Astor, however, it was otherwise. Whether or not the precise channel which his munificence has chosen was the result of any reflection upon the share that popular ignorance may have had in the ill fortune of the greatest enterprise of his life, is but matter of conjecture. Be that as it may, his foundation at New York is the noblest contribution towards the dispelling of popular ignorance, and the facilitating of mental culture, which any American citizen has yet left behind him. In a codicil, dated 22nd August, 1839, to his last Will, Mr. Astor says: "Desiring to render a public benefit to the City of New York, and to contribute to the advancement of human knowledge and the general good of society, I do, by this codicil, appropriate four hundred thousand dollars (£80,000 sterling) out of my residuary estate to the establishment of a Public Library in the City of New York, ..... to the intent that the said amount be.. disposed of, as follows, namely: 1. In the erecting of a suitable building for a Public Library; 2. 'In furnishing and in supplying the same from time to time with books, maps, charts, ...... furniture, and other things appertaining to a Library for general use, upon the most ample scale and liberal character; 3. 'In maintaining and upholding the building, and other property, and in defraying the necessary expenses of... the accommodation of persons consulting the Library.' free of expense, "The said Library is to be accessible at all reasonable times and hours, for general use, to persons resorting thereto.... .... I further direct BOOK IV. Chapter IV. Libraries. that a sum, not exceeding 75,000 dollars (£15,000) may be expended in the erection of a building for the Library; 120,000 dollars (£24,000) may be expended in the purchase of books, and the residue shall be invested as a fund for the maintaining and gradually increasing of the Library." Mr. Astor proceeded to name the first Trustees (Washington Irving, W. B. Astor, Daniel Lord, James G. King, Joseph G. Cogswell, Fitz-Green Halleck, Henry Breevort, Samuel B. Ruggles, Samuel Ward, and Charles Astor Bristed), in addition to the Chancellor of the State of New York, and the Mayor of the City, for the time being, who are always to be Trustees, ex officio. The Trustees. were incorporated by an Act of the Legislature of the Incorporation of 18th Jan., 1849, and it was enacted that all the property of the Corporation, real and personal, "shall be exempt from taxation in the same manner as that of the other incorporated Public Libraries of this State," and that "the said Trustees shall, in the month of January of every year, make a Report to the Legislature for the year preceding, of the condition of the said Library, of the funds, and other property of the Corporation, and of its receipts and expenditures during each year."1 ... Mr. W. B. Astor, the son of the founder, shortly afterwards presented to the Library the sum of 12,500 1 Jewett, Noties, etc., 88-91. the Astor Trust. |