LIBRARIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 1 209 regulations. The extent to which the Library is used is, as might be expected, very considerable. To the late Mr. O. Rich, formerly consul for the United States at Valencia, and afterwards of London; to Jonathan Goodhue, an eminent and most respected New York merchant; to M. Vattemare; and, above all others, to the lamented Theodric Romeyn Beck, LL.D., so long Secretary to the Regents of the University, this Library is indebted for its rapid progress, its excellent selection and comprehensiveness, and its liberal accessibility. BOOK IV. Chapter III. Congressional and State Libraries. ry of NEW JEE s. [1824.]* of ISDIANA. Of at Indianapolis. [1825.] [9] of MASSA CHUSETTS, at Boston. [1826.] New Jersey possesses a State Library, organized in 17.] State Libra 1824, at Trenton, which, though still small, is in pro- sex, at Trenton. gress. That of Indiana was founded in 1825; is also, as yet, of inconsiderable extent, but it now increases at the rate of 250 volumes per annum on the average, and is widely accessible both as a consulting and a lending Library. Massachusetts established its State Library, at Boston, by a law of March, 1826, which enacted that "all books and MSS. belonging to the Commonwealth, and now in any of the departments of the State House, shall be collected, deposited, and arranged.. in the room ... called the Land Office." During the eleven years from 1838 to 1848 inclusive, the annual appropriation for the purchase of "such books, MSS., and charts, as tend to illustrate the resources and means of improvement of this Commonwealth, or of the United States," was about £80 a-year, and the 1 Rules and Regulations subjoined to the Catalogue of the New York State Library (1850), 1055-1059. Vol. 11. 14 BOOK IV. number of volumes added to the Library during that Congressional period was 4680. Chapter III. and State Libraries. [10] State Li brary of MARY LAND, at Anna polis. [1827.] The collection includes many books of great value— such as Audubon's American Birds; Hamilton's Collection of Antiquities; Botta's Monuments de Ninive; the Acta Historica Ecclesiastica nostri temporis, printed at Weimar, between the years 1741 and 1774;—some of which are the results of the system of international exchange. But its greatest treasure is the series of Records of the General Court of Massachusetts, commencing in 1629, and extending to October, 1777. These Records contain the entire legislative history, and much of the religious history of Massachusetts, between these periods. No books in the Library, it is said, are consulted more frequently or with more interest. It is fortunate, therefore, that the volumes thus extensively used are only authenticated transcripts, the originals of which are preserved in the Archives of the Secretary of State. 1 Of the remaining State Libraries my mention must be very brief. They are all in their infancy, but several of them evince such a sense of the public value of institutions of this kind, on the part both of the authorities and of the citizens at large, as cannot fail to insure their progress. Maryland established its State Library in 1827, which now contains about 15,000 volumes, and has an annual income of £100 for new purchases. Missouri had the misfortune to lose its Library by fire 1 Bibliotheca Sacra, July, 1850, 177, 178 [Article by the late B. B. Edwards.] MINOR STATE LIBRARIES. 2 211 BOOK IV. Chapter III. and State Libraries. ry of MISSOURI, at Jefferson City. [1828.] [12.] Of VIRGJNIA, Richmond. [1828.] TUCKY, Frankfort. [1834.] in 1837, eight years after its foundation. Measures were taken for the formation of a new collec- Congressional tion, which, in 1849, contained 4637 volumes,1 and now contains about 6000. The State Library of Vir- 11.1 State Libra ginia dates from 1828, and contains about 15,000 volumes. That of Kentucky was founded in 1834. It contained, in 1849, about 8000 volumes, and now contains nearly 10,000. Maine began its State Library [13.] of KEN in 1836, and has now 15,500 volumes. Here also considerable advantages appear to have been derived from [14] of MAINE. M. Vattemare's system of exchanges. As to the use of the Library, "probably 2500 persons," it is stated, consult it each year. The State Library of Connecticut is of still more recent formation. In an able report addressed by the State Librarian, Mr. Trumbull, to the General Assembly, in 1855, it is remarked: "As yet [15] of CoNConnecticut has only the beginning of a Library, .... far from being adequate to supply necessary books of reference to the Legislators, Judges, State Officers, and others who have occasion to resort to it. Its increase has been necessarily very slow, having been mainly dependent on exchanges with other States, on the receipt of public documents and other works distributed by Congress, and (since 1849) on the operations of the system of international exchange, for which the State is largely indebted to the good offices and untiring exertions of M. Vattemare, now the accredited agent of the State for that end."3 The Report 1 Jewett, Notices, etc., 181. 2 Ibid., 166. Report, etc., Hartford, 1855, 5. at Augusta. [1836.] NECTICUT, at [1850.] BOOK IV. Chapter III. proceeds to point out the various classes of books, the Congressional collection of which most merits the care of the Legislature; and is likely to open a new and prosperous era in the annals of the Library. and State Libraries. CHAPTER IV. THE TOWN LIBRARIES OF THE UNITED STATES. We are as old a nation as the English, although we LANDOR, Imaginary Conversations (Washington and THOSE who have followed this historical summary thus far, will have, I think, no difficulty in assenting to the assertion which preceded it, that the provision of Libraries in the United States is-all things fairly taken into account-a very honourable one. But we now approach a quite new epoch in the history of American Libraries, which bids fair, if it but proceed as it has begun, to eclipse all preceding efforts in this direction. The Libraries whose progress we have been reviewing, however well stored, generously supported, and liberally managed, are, in almost every instance, dependent for their maintenance on the fluctuating and BOOK IV. Chapter IV. |