College and Research Libraries HARRY BACH The Snows of Yesteryear Based on information found in institutional histories, this paper calls attention to rules, regulations, and general conditions prevailing in American academic libraries of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and attempts to examine these rules, regulations, and gen- eral conditions in terms of how they affected students, faculty, and librarians. The article also touches upon library collections of that period. TonAY WHILE some libraries are rush- ing headlong into the twentieth century, and others are trying to bypass it in order to reach the year 2000 in 1969, it can be somewhat tantalizing, if not amusing, to look back on the years 1783- 1912 for an appreciation of the great or little distance we have traveled since. A library's rules and regulations and occasional statement of philosophy may mirror a period, an age, or they may merely be a reflection of the manner in which a particular library is being man- aged. At any rate, as found in various institutional histories, they may make one understand why evolution is not necessarily the answer to all problems. At Brown University in 1783 freshmen were not permitted the use of the li- brary. The other classes could use it; freshmen, however, could not. What de- termined the loan period of that time? Not demand but size of the book. Folios circulated for four weeks; quartos, three weeks; octavos, two weeks; and duo- decimos, one week.1 Students came to 1 Reuben Aldridge Guild, Early History of Brown University, Incluqing the Life, Times, and Correspond- ence of President Manning, 1756-1791 (Providence: Snow & Farnham, 1897), p. 358. Mr. Bach is Librarian of Riverside City College in California. the library four at a time when sent for by the librarian, and they could not en- ter the library beyond the librarian's table on the penalty of three pence for every offense. 2 The fine evidently · failed to place the library in a high income bracket for in 1788 the college found it necessary to raise the charge to students for the use of the library from six to twelve shillings a year. 3 Still the ap- propriation to the library several years later for the purchase, repair, and bind- ing of books decreased from $200 to $100 per annum. 4 In 1797 the library committee at Brown issued a report with a rather familiar complaint. Some books had been kept out for several years although the persons keeping them had been noti- fied. The chief offenders? A professor and a fellow. Another report issued at about the same time discussed the prob- lem of book injury by worms. 5 Perhaps if those professors had not kept those folios out for years, the worms would have had to look elsewhere for their re- past. 2Jbid., p. 412. 3 Walter Cochrane Bronson, The History of Brown University, 1764-1914 (Providence: The University, 1914), p. 111. 4 Jbid ., p. 143. 5 Ibid ., p. 145. I 301 302 I College & Research Libraries • July 1969 If at Brown books served as nourish- ment to worms, at the University of North Carolina around 1820 there were so few works which undergraduates cared to read that it was a matter of pride for the students to borrow them and then use them as deadfalls for the swarming mice. The tall tomes of St. Augustine apparently were as effica- cious in slaughtering the troublesome ro- dents as was their great author in crush- ing the religious heresies of his day. 6 Farther north, at the University of Virginia, according to regulations draft- ed in 1825, a student who defaced a volume only moderately was required to pay its full value; when he damaged it seriously, dot~ble its value; and when he lost it, three times its value. 7 The librarian at Virginia, W. H. Brocken- brough, was compelled to resign in 1835 not because he promoted the use of the library in the above manner but because, among other things, he .admitted stu- dents into the library without ticket and winked at their taking down freely any volume that appealed to their curiosi- ty.8 The usual procedure had been for students to drop their petitions for books into a box placed outside of the library door and then, when the library opened, to wait for them to be handed out like loaves of charity through the iron bars of a monastery. If a student ever did succeed in getting through the door, he was not permitted to take down a book without the written consent of the li- brarian.9 This procedure was simple, however, compared with the one in force at the College of the City of New York where as late as 1853 students desiring books had to fill out a detailed form and 6 Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina from Its Beginning to the Death of President Swain, 1789-1868 ( Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton, 1907 ), p. 406. 7 Philip Alexander Bmce, History of the University of Virginia, 1819-1919 (New York: Macmillan, 1920- 1922) , II, 201. 8 Ibid. , p. 200. 9 Ibid., p . 202. get it countersigned by at least three members of the faculty! Even then the student could borrow only one book at a time. 10 In 1871 at the University of Wisconsin the library was open for half-an-hour beginning at two o'clock on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. But gentlemen only could use the library on two of these days and ladies only on the other two. 11 Students rebelled at the regulation forbidding a reader to exam- ine any book unless it was handed to him by the attendant in charge. The University Press noted that . the same rule prevailed at the Milwaukee House of Correction.12 The faculty of the University of Pitts- burgh, at its weekly meeting on March 23, 1877, decided to clamp down on the hippies of the day by decreeing that in the library there should be I No loud talking II No unnecessary whispering III No leaning back in chairs IV No spitting of tobacco juice V No studying except by librarians The strange fifth rule meant that only the students who were acting as librar- ians were permitted to study in the room where the books were arranged on shelves; other students had to take their books elsewhere. 1 3 Under the system that prevailed at the College of the City of New York in 1884 few students read in the library it- self. There were only three long tables available for readers. Places at these tables were usually occupied by "shiver- ing or insouciant" delinquents who had been sent for some act of disorder or 10 S. Willis Rudy, The College of the City of N ew York, a History 1847-1947 (New York: City College Press, 1949), p. 49. 11 Merle Curti, The University of Wisconsin, 1848- 1925 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1949), p. 349. 12 Ibid. , p. 350. 1 3 Agnes Lynch Starrett, Through One Hundred and Fifty Years, the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1937), p. 155. insubordination, and who, on presenting the written charges against themselves · at the Office, had been ordered to "go right out there and sit in the Library."14 At the same institution the librarian's fervor to protect the students' morals provoked a sharp protest from the col- lege newspaper. Certain standard works of supposedly questionable content, such as Fielding, Smollett, and Boccaccio, were removed from the shelves "on ac- count of their pretended immorality." The Collegian conceded in its editorial column that it might be proper for the faculty to supervise carefully the read- ing of members of the freshman class, but it objected strenuously to any at- tempt to censor the reading of juniors and seniors. 15 Where did that leave the sophomores, we may wonder? The Daily Cardinal of the University of Wisconsin testified that on the morn- ing of September 20, 1892, between nine and ten, every available seat in the reading room was taken and a good many students were standing up to read. Patrons of the library also grumbled about the disturbing noises from the ad- joining hall, used for military drill. The executive committee of the Board of Re- gents, having "carefully investigated" the complaint, declared that they could not believe readers were seriously inconven- ienced by the noise and that, in any \ case, military instruction was too impor- tant an affair to be "crippled."16 Georgetown University was no excep- tion to the then prevailing general rule of turning the library into a major ob- stacle course for the student. According to Durkin, in the middle 1890s it was almost as difficult for a student to bor- row a book as for him to borrow the Saint Jerome Bible.17 "Philosophers" 14 Rudy, op. cit., p. 141. 1 5 Ib id ., p. 142. 16 Curti, op. cit., p. 654. 17 Joseph T. Durkin, Georgetown University : the Middle Y ears, 1840-1900 {Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1963), p. 153. Snows of Yesteryear I 303 were allowed in the library on W ednes- day and Saturday only. Students of the other classes were not allowed to enter the library at all. They had to obtain their books through their teachers.18 At the University of Arkansas, as late as 1912, a student was allowed to take out but one book at a time. 1 9 It is not surprising therefore that Dur- kin would declare that: Logically, the practical exclusion of the . . . student from a free and close contact with books other than the assigned ones should have made the results of his train- ing incomplete and inefficient. By a nar- row regimentation of his reading, he was deprived of one of the most valuable ex- periences of a scholar-the formation of an intimate acquaintance with as much as pos- sible of the written records of the best minds. He was never given an opportunity . . . to form his independent taste in read- ing. Not only was he not taught the right methods of using a library, most of the time the library was, for him, out of bounds. 2o If the concept of the library as an intel- lectual workshop had not yet won its way into the academic world of the nineteenth century, how did the librar- ian and his collection fare? A 1783 Brown University reguiation required the librarian to "enter down" in the receipt the title and size of the book taken out and the time when it was taken and returned. Furthermore, he was expected to keep the room neat and clean. 21 The trustees of the University of Georgia, realizing that one of the best ways of promoting knowledge was through a library, appropriated $1,000 for books and scientific apparatus in 1800 and sent a professor of mathemat- 1 8 Ib id. , p . 155. 19 Harrison Hale, University of Arkansas, 1871-1948 {Fayetteville: U Diversity of Arkansas Alumni As- sociation, 1948), p. 207. 20 Durkin, op. cit., p. 155-156. 21 Gould, op. cit., p. 358. 304 I College & Research Libraries • July 1969 ics on a purchasing trip to London. The professor, howe:ver, bought more appa- ratus than books, so that the library was forced in 1806 to resort to a lottery to raise $3,000 for books. 22 Professor of moral philosophy and metaphysics, Calvin Park of Brown, as early as 1815 had a very progressive view of the function and needs of a col- lege library. "A Library, not to be retro- grade, must keep pace with the progress of science and of other similar institu- tions. The college Library ought there- fore to have an annual appropriation for its regular increase."23 Nineteen years later the library committee at Brown urged that it was of great importance that books be selected in conformity with some approved plan, so that the ''Library may present a view of the progress and attainment of the human mind ."24 The librarian's salary at the Univer- sity of Virginia in 1815 amounted to fifty dollars; but the position had distinct fringe benefits. The incumbent was en- titled to dormitory space free of rent. Furthermore, he was at liberty to use the volumes in his custody without being liable for the regular charge.25 He was expected to be on hand in the library once a week, and to remain at least one hour to receive all books returned, and to give out all those that were request- ed.26 Wertenbaker, the man who had the position in 1835, in addition to be- ing librarian was also postmaster, secre- tary of the faculty, and local agent of the firm of Street & Sanxey, the Rich- mond stationers. 27 At Amherst, the trustees in 1826 in- structed the librarian, Professor W orces- ter, who was receiving the sum of forty 22 E. Merton Coulter, College Life in the Old South (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1951) , p. 39-40. 23 Bronson, op. cit., p. 165. 24 Ibid. , p. 221. 25 Bruce, op. cit., p. 198. 26 Ibid., p. 202. 27 Ibid. , p. 200. dollars a year for his services, to prepare a catalog which disclosed some lament- able weaknesses in the collection. Help arrived in 1829 from an unexpected quarter. John Trappen of Boston, a fa- natical foe of tobacco and alcohol, of- fered the undergraduates $500 if they would form an association pledged against the use of ardent spirits, wine, opium, and tobacco. The students formed the association but rejected the money, asserting with noble vehemence that they were not to be bribed into vir- tuous habits. Mr. Trappen, however, not to be outdone in magnanimity, sent the $500 anyway. 28 At Minnesota, President Falwell had the library collection moved to a room near his office and for fifteen years doubled as president and librarian. 29 This was quite an improvement over the first president of the University of North Carolina who kept the University Li- brary in an upstairs bedroom of his house for twenty years, or the librarian of Co- lumbia who resolutely fought every ef- fort of the faculty to add a book in order to turn back half his appropriation un- used.30 At the University of Mississippi in 1877, as part of an economy drive, the Board decided to require the duties of librarian to be performed by the janitor! Exactly a year later it formalized the decision through the election of the jani- tor-librarian. This combination remained in effect until 1882, when standards were lowered once more and the offices were again separated! 31 Academic libraries of that period were 28 Claude Moore Fuess, Amherst, the Story of a New England College (Boston: Little, Brown & Com- pany, 1935), p. 104. 29 James Gray, The University of Minnesota, 1851- 1951 ,(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1951 ), p. 528. 3o Morris Bishop, A History of Cornell (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1962) , p. 108. 31 James Allen Cabaniss, A History , of the University of Mississippi (University: University of Mississippi Press, 1949), p. 95. often richer in museum pieces than in books that were actually usable. George- town in 1847 failed to have so much as one single novel on the shelves.32 The University of Arkansas, when it opened its doors in 1872, did not even have a library. 33 It was sixteen months after Ohio State opened before any specific appropriation was made for its library.34 Dr. Gregory, the librarian at the Uni- versity of Illinois complained that noth- ing "was more vexatious than the Trus- tees' failure to keep the collection abreast of the times."35 His library at Urbana toward the end of the century contained only about 20,000 volumes.3 6 There were men, however, who did appreciate the importance of the li- brary. President Malcom of Bucknell for instance, stated that "it is of great consequence that our University at Lew- isburg should possess a noble library .... Without a respectable library, there can be no respectable College."37 Beloit of the 1870s even anticipated libraries of the 1950s and 1960s with its encourage- ment of individual initiative in study which transformed the library-winter months excepted-into an increasingly vital element in college work. as At the University of Kansas the incon- venience to the members of the faculty from the lack of library facilities is vivid- ly represented in Chancellor Fraser's re- port dated 1873. He says: The books needed by the students are at present furnished out of my private li- brary. Other professors in the institution likewise give to their students the use of 32 Durkin, op. cit., p. 153. 33 Hale, op. cit., p. 206. 34 James E. Pollard, History of Ohio State· the Story of Its First S eventy-Five Years, 1873~1948 (Col urn bus: Ohio State University Press, 1952), p. 65. 35 Allan Nevins, Illinois (New York: Oxford, 1917), p. 73. 36 Ibid. , p. 114. 37 J, Orin Oliphant, The Rise of Bucknell University ( ;;w York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1965) , p. 61. Edward Dwight Eaton, Historical Sketches of Beloit College (New York: A. S. Barnes, 1928), p. 153. Snows of Yesteryear I 305 books which are not to be found in the ~ery limited and defective library belong- mg to the University. Without an ade- quate supply of good books, bearing on the subjects of textbooks, the student can- - not be trained to habits and methods of critical literary and philosophical research. Narrowness, superficiality and dogmatism are almost sure to be results of the method of instruction that limits the student's knowledge of a subject to the contents of a single book.39 At Cornell the librarian reported that in 1877 the library had added only 448 volumes, of which 376 were gifts and 56 continuations, leaving 16 as the number of new books purchased within the year. In 1878 and 1879 the same story repeat- ed itself with but slight variations in the numbers. 40 Still, by 1891, Cornell had what was regarded as one of the finest college library buildings in the country. !t cost $227,000 and had a stack capac- Ity of 400,000 books but no serious toilet facilities for male readers.4t At the University of Arizona, by 1900, books and magazines could be reached only by way of sixteen-inch aisles which presented a problem to some. The read- ing room was a space about twenty feet square. 42 Four years later, fortunately, President Babcock could report that the new library had been accepted. At the dedication the dirt floors in a work room one level of stacks, and three classroom~ were politely ignored by the local press covering the event. 43 The old libraries of the nineteenth century with their seemingly ludicrous rules and regulations and not so ludi- crous budget problems have all but dis- ~ Wi~son Sterling, Quarter-Centennial History of the Umverstty of Kansas, 1866-1891 (Topeka: George w. Crane, 1891 ), p. 108. • 40 Waterman Thomas Hewett, Cornell University, a Htstory (New York: University Publishing Society 1905), p. 364. ' 41 Bishop, op. cit., p. 271. 42 Douglas D. Martin, The Lamp in the D esert· the Story. of the University of Arizona (Tucson: Univ~rsity of Anzona Press, 1960), p. 72. 43 Ibid., p. 85. 306 I College & Research Libraries • July 1969 appeared. Our conscious link to the past, if not entirely submerged, seems at least to be very, very weak. Librarians are acutely aware of the needs of the pres- ent, and less acutely aware perhaps of the needs of the future. They may be rightly proud of how far they have come in so little time. Yet, somehow the ques- tion must occur whether or not in their present glory they may be as blind to the ludicrous aspects of some of their policies and procedures, rules and regu- lations as colleagues of the last century were to theirs. • •