'^i » Pi .>r<« BOOK OF CARNEGIE LIBRARIES T.W.KOCH m^. J* — •• «••• La A BOOK OF CARNEGIE LIBRARIES ANIiKKW CAKNKC.IK r-'ri>iii tlic oil KnintiiiL.' Nv ?r>i)n W, Alox.intlcr A BOOK OF CARNEGIE LIBRARIES BY THEODORE WESLEY KOCH THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY WHITE PLAINS, N. Y., and NEW YORK CITY 1917 Copyright, igoy, 1917 By Theodore W. Koch SRLF URL 3 «^^/a''/iin;?v1& PREFACE For the delay that has made this volume so far behind the plates which it was designed to accompany I make no apology. A combination of circumstances has prevented its earlier com- pletion, and it has seemed better to follow the lines originally laid down for the work, rather than to delay it for still further revision. Plates and text together may have at least an histori- cal value, and the library building development of the last dec- ade might well be made the subject of a supplementary volume. The list of plates printed to accompany the original portfolio is bound with the present volume, as it contains in handy form for reference the names of architects and in some cases the amount of Carnegie donations. In making up the book, however, it has seemed advisable to rearrange the plates somewhat, and the list cannot be used as an index to the illustrations. I am indebted to the publishers of the Century Magazine for their kind permission to reprint the valuable article by Mr. Mabie, and likewise to the publishers of the Criterion Magazine for the use of Dr. Bostwick's discussion of " Carnegie Libraries and Good Reading." To the many friends in the library profession who so cheerfully aided me to secure the necessary data for the description of their buildings, and to all who have helped me to bring the work to its conclusion, I give my most sincere thanks, T. W. K. INTRODUCTION The generosity of Andrew Carnegie in the library gifts, which are the greatest single benefaction in library history, has had purpose and result much broader than the mere building of public libraries. Like his rival in large giving, John D. Rocke- feller, Mr. Carnegie has sought through his giving to stimulate public spirit, to raise standards, and to provide for social better- ment, not by way of by-products, but as a chief aim. Thus he has made fundamental conditions of his library gifts, that the community should provide a site and that adequate mainte- nance, usually a tithe annually on the cost of the building should be assured, making himself a co-partner with the local citizenry in providing that people's university which in so many American cities and towns is to-day a central feature of archi- tecture and of community life. In 1907 Mr. Theodore W. Koch, in appreciation of the pub- lic spirit of Mr. Carnegie, undertook in his leisure time the pub- lic service to libraries and to the community of collecting plans and illustrations of typical or notable Carnegie buildings erected up to that date. The portfolio which resulted from that collec- tion has been a useful presentation of library architecture, but it has lacked until now the accompanying text which should explain and describe the buildings illustrated. Mr. Koch's in- creasingly engrossing labors and other circumstances prevented earlier publication of the present volume, which brings the story of Mr, Carnegie's gifts up to ten years ago. This volume in- cludes with its text the illustrations of the portfolio collection. There has been no attempt to cover the succeeding ten years, beyond brief mention of the Carnegie Corporation, organized in 191 1 to continue permanently Mr. Carnegie's benefactions and to relieve him of the personal strain of this work. It is a cor- relative of the Carnegie Foundation and of the Carnegie Insti- tution, each doing altruistic work in its separate field. Up to the year 1907 Mr. Carnegie's library gifts had provided for 1636 library buildings, covering grants of $44,545,742 — 1014, vii INTRODUCTION representing $32,734,267, in the United States, and the others dotted over England, Wales, and Scotland, Canada, South Africa, and other parts of the English-speaking world. A decade later, up to 191 7, the total grants promised by Mr, Car- negie personally, and by the Carnegie Corporation, had pro- vided for 2865 buildings amounting to $65,069,684.44, in itself an enormous fortune. It would be unfair not to recognize at this writing the part of Mr. James Bertram, first, as Mr. Car- negie's personal secretary for library purposes, and later as secretary of the Carnegie Corporation, and as the general chan- nel of Mr. Carnegie's library generosity. The earlier buildings figuring in the illustrations and de- scribed in the present volume show the development of library architecture under the early stimulus of Mr. Carnegie's gifts. In that time there was great progress, and in these later years there has been greater progress. Some features of these earlier buildings have been developed into greater usefulness and beauty, while others have not had so happy an experience, but have done their part in the evolution of the present library building, as early experiments to be discarded in favor of better methods. This is the story of all good development, and the text and illustrations of the present volume should be studied with careful discrimination as to what should be avoided and what copied or developed. In the past few years the Carnegie Corporation has worked out improved standards, especially for small library buildings, which represent a happy combination of good architecture and practical administration. It is perhaps not out of place here to emphasize the thought that a Carnegie library, while attractive in exterior, should be fundamentally of sound architecture, answering to practical needs and economy of maintenance. To-day the Carnegie name is associated with good architecture in thousands of places in this country and elsewhere, thus providing a monument more impressive, more useful, and more lasting than can be associated with any other life or name. R. R. BOWKER. Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. Andrew Carnegie i-6 A character sketch by Hamilton W. Mabie. II. Method of Giving 7-16 The "Gospel of Wealth." — Mr, Carnegie's library creed. — Colonel James Anderson of Allegheny and his Library Institute. — The Anderson Memo- rial. — Methods of giving. — President Roosevelt on Carnegie libraries. — The maintenance requirement. — The value of Mr. Carnegie's example. — quoted. — Carnegie Corporation organized. — Total benefactions to Jan, i, 1917. III. Documents Relating to the Establishment of the New York City Branches 19-33 IV. The Architecture of the Manhattan Branches . . 34-41 The nature of the branches. — The architecture a compromise. — Uniformity of design. — The general type described. — Conditions imposed by the trustees. — Text of the agreement between the architects (and trustees. V. Carnegie Libraries and Good Reading, by Arthur E. BosTwicK 42-49 The growth of the library movement. — The increase in reading. — The need for metropolitan branch libraries. — Quality of the reading done. — The per- centage of fiction. — The development of circulating libraries in New York. VI. Reaching the People 50-61 The opening of the first of the Carnegie branches in New York City. — Open- ing of the Hudson Park Branch. — ^Vork on the East Side. — The open-air reading room. The Yorkville and Rivington Street Branches. — Hudson Park, Mott Haven, and other branches. VII. The Brooklyn Branches 62-78 Report of the consulting architect. — The determination of the type of branch buildings to be erected. — The question of uniformity of style. — The number of architects and the method of their selection. — Instructions to architects. VIII. Eastern Libraries 79~94 Melrose and Clinton, Mass. — Norwalk, Conn. — Philadelphia, Pa. — Syra- cuse and Binghamton, N. Y. — Johnstown and Amsterdam, N. Y. — East Orange, N. J. IX. The Public Library of the District of Columbia . 95-103 History of the Library. — The work under way. — Children's room. — Lecture hall and study room. — Reaching out among the people. — Plans for the future. — Remarks of President Roosevelt and Mr. Carnegie at the dedicatioa ix CONTENTS CHAPTBB PAGE X. The South 104-121 The traveling library of Hagerstown, Md. — Carnegie Library of Atlanta, Ga. — Nashville and Chattanooga, Tenn. — Norfolk, Va. — Tuskegee, Ala. — Jacksonville, Florida. XI. Pittsburg 122-138 Carnegie Institute, physically the largest of the institutions founded by Mr. Carnegie. — History, of the library movement in Pittsburg. — Branch libra- ries. — The enlargement of the Institute, XII. Ohio and Michigan 1 39-1 51 Branch libraries in Cincinnati. — Development of branch libraries in Cleve- land. — Work with children at the Broadway branch. — The Miles Park and the Woodland branches. — Home libraries. — Port Huron, Michigan. XIII. Wisconsin and the Middle West 152-165 Madison, Wisconsin. — The essentials of library architecture. — Elkhart, In- diana. — Freeport and Streator, Illinois. — Kaukauna and Baraboo, Wis- consin. XIV. Iowa and the Farther West 166-182 Carnegie libraries in Iowa. — Monticello, Marshalltown, and Eldora as t}-pical of small libraries designed by Patton & Miller. — Davenport, Iowa. — Leavenworth, Kansas. — Lincoln, Nebraska. — Springfield and Sedalia, Missouri. XV. The Southwest and the Rocky Mountain Region . 183-193 Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. — Cheyenne, Wyoming. — Colorado Springs. XVI. California 194-206 San Diego. — Oakland. — Alameda. — San Jose. — Riverside. — Pomona. — Santa Ana. XVII. Library Planning 207-220 Responsibility of the library board. — Necessity for cooperation between architect and librarian. — First work must be done by the librarian. — Con- siderations entering into the planning of the library. — Circular of information issued by the Carnegie Corporation. — The essentials of a small building. — Mr. John Cotton Dana's views. — Location of the stacks. — Location of the librarian's room. — The question of the auditorium. — Planning for a 1^20,000 building. — Planning for a 1^50,000 building. — Conclusion. Index to Text 221 Index to Plates 225 Appendix — List of Plates An index of illustrations will be found at the end of the volume. A BOOK OF CARNEGIE LIBRARIES CARNEGIE LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER I ANDREW CARNEGIE A Character Sketch by Hamilton W. Mabie.* SOCIETY is fast becoming richer than was foreshadowed in the most audacious dreams of the past. Measured by the standards of to-day, Croesus was a person of very moderate fortune ; and the revenues of kings are of small ac- count compared with the incomes of the leading capitalists of the twentieth century. There are those who think that the recent production of wealth is abnormal and who are predicting a return to the old scale of values in the near future. There are, however, no signs of any reduction of energy, any decline of force, any exhaustion either of the genius which creates wealth or of the material out of which wealth is developed. There are, on the contrary, many things which indicate that society is in the early stages of a wealth-producing period, the like of which has not only not occurred before, but has never been anticipated by the most sanguine men of affairs. Great changes will un- doubtedly be made in the methods of distribution of wealth, but there will be no diminution in its production. Historic proc- esses are now bearing the slow fruitage of time in the opening up of the entire globe, the drawing together of races in free competition in the field of the world, the discovery of the magi- cal power of co-operation and combination and their application to commerce and trade on a great scale, and, above all, the ap- plication of science to business in all departments, from the uses of chemistry in manufacturing to the uses of electricity in swift communication and conveyance of goods. ^ From the Century Magazine, October, 1902, pp. 956-958. I I CARNEGIE LIBRARIES It is probable that the severest test to which society is to be subjected lies before it in the opulence of the near future, and there is good ground for the forebodings of those who fear that in the greatness of their material fortunes the spiritual fortunes of men will suffer permanent eclipse. The great races have been great by virtue not of possessions, but of ideas, convic- tions, and character; and in this respect it is not dogmatic to afifirm that history will repeat itself. The problem of the near future will be to keep the spirit in. command of the body, the mind superior to the hand, the idea supreme above the material which gives it concrete expression. That problem will not be solved by any form of asceticism, by the preaching of poverty, by repression of the full and free play of human energy. Safety lies not in the mutilation of man as God made him, but in persuading him to accept a true scale of values, a real appraisement of his possessions. A complicated problem is never solved by going backward ; it is solved by going forward. Society will not be saved by making it poor, but by making it strong. So long as the genius of man has such subtle powers of insight, discovery, and adaptation, and so long as the earth on which he lives supplies him so abundantly with force, material, and method, it is as idle to ask him to limit production as to invite him to commit suicide; he works, and he will work with an increasing skill, by the law of his nature, and he will grow rich by the law of the world in which he works. The only real question, therefore, is, What shall he do with his wealth? This question is probably more fundamental than any polit- ical or economical question now in discussion, and Mr. Car- negie's answer to it has made him one of the foremost men of his time. It is significant that the emphasis of interest in Mr. Carnegie's case has shifted from his wealth to the uses he is making of it ; from the material with which he works to the idea which he is expressing through it. He represents a new order of men in the world, and the instinctive feeling that a man's fortune is his private affair and that it betrays a lack of delicacy to speak of it has given place to a recognition of the public aspects of great fortunes when, by organization, they constitute the basis of a new group of forces in society. The great modern capitalist is not and cannot be a private person ; he is, by virtue of his power and his responsibilities, as much and as legitimately 2 ANDREW CARNEGIE a public man as the Czar of Russia, the Prime Minister of Eng- land, or the President of the United States. He is no longer simply an employer of labor: he is also the controller and man- ager of the vast accumulations which numberless private persons have intrusted to him. His property is the security of countless small investments ; his integrity and capacity are elements in the well-being of the community. When great capitalists began to appear there was a great deal of idle and, in many cases, of vulgar curiosity about their habits of life, their amusements and occupations. That kind of curi- osity will always exist, and is now the chief stock in trade of cheap newspapers which denounce the rich in leaded editorials and surrender page after page to minute and impertinent accounts of the dress, food, amusements, and dissipation of the same class. Rational interest has shifted, however, from the making of for- tunes to their use — from accumulation to distribution. In the development of the phase of modern life which has produced the great capitalist, Mr. Carnegie has been a signifi- cant figure. He was one of the first in point of time to arrive at the position of a great man of wealth by modern standards ; to acquire a fortune so vast that its possession gave him histor- ical prominence. His success was the more dramatic because it was achieved by the use of so few tools at the start ; it had no visible foundations of inherited capital, organization, or oppor- tunity; it rested solely on the character and force of the man; on his insight into the possibilities of the means, the openings, and the men about him ; on his courage, steadiness, power of combination, and sustained force of intellect. The foundations of Mr. Carnegie's success were laid in his personality, and the work was done in large measure by his ancestors. He is often spoken of as the conspicuous example of the self-made man. If by self-made is meant the making of a powerful person in will, intelligence, and practical force with slight accidental aids from circumstances, Mr. Carnegie is self- made ; but if the phrase carries with it the idea of complete organization of character and mind without contribution from others, Mr. Carnegie is not self-made. To the making of every powerful man many agencies contribute : ancestry, racial ten- dencies, general conditions, local opportunities. No man suc- ceeds without help from others ; no man becomes great in any 3 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES field of endeavor by isolated growth ; all development is aided by co-operation ; every success is social in its conditions if not in its origin ; and, therefore, every success ought to be inter- preted in terms of social service. No man secures anything for himself in isolation, and no man has a moral right to enjoy in isolation the thing he secures. Mr. Carnegie made his fortune by virtue of qualities in his own nature and with little aid from without ; so far as outside help was concerned, he is a striking example of how much a man can accomplish with no tools except those which nature puts into his hands. In the new and greater stage of his career, Mr. Carnegie is now rendering his most distinctive service to the com- munity by his interpretation of the uses and responsibilities of wealth. When the immense sums which he has given and will give for educational purposes in one form or another are added up and the total set down in figures, the imagination of the country will be impressed and its sense of obligation quickened ; but in the long run it will probably appear that the greatest service rendered by Mr. Carnegie was not his vast beneficence, but his attitude toward his success, his recognition of the social element in great enterprises, his return in kind to the community which made his rise to affluence and power possible. The real test of a man comes when the necessity for work is past and he is able to give himself to the things for which he cares. It has often happened that a man has arrived at fortune and ease only to disclose the emptiness of his soul, the poverty of his ideals. It is the way in which Mr. Carnegie has met this test which has made him so interesting a figure of late years, and has revealed, as his years of active business life could not reveal, the variety and range of his interests, the deep springs of youth and activity in his nature. For this endowment of imagination, vivacity, spiritual energy, he owes as much to his ancestry as for his sagacity, energy, and thrift. He comes of a race of extraordinary capacity for dealing with affairs and of extraordinary capacity for living by ideas — a race which not only strikes hard and works hard, but which puts the same force into emotional and moral life ; combining in the same person the keenest shrewdness, the clearest judgment, and the capacity for absolute surrender to a great passion or a great cause. Scot- land has been the home of " lost causes and impossible loyal- 4 ANDREW CARNEGIE ties"; and Scotland has also been, taking into account her size and her population, a country of unique spiritual and intellect- ual influence ; the home of thinkers, scholars, poets, romancers ; with universities which are the organized opportunity of the poorest, and a poetry which is the possession of the humblest and the most unlearned. The vast generosity of Mr. Carnegie to literature and scholar- ship — for the library is the storehouse of literature and the open door to scholarship — is not a matter of impulse and did not take its rise in suggestion from without. Love of poetry and learning came to him by inheritance. His youth knew the spell and the inspiration of Burns and Shakespeare and those noble old ballads in which the idealism, the passion, and the tragedy of Scottish life found such moving and dramatic expression. Self- made in his independence of material help, Mr. Carnegie was singularly fortunate in the ancestral influences which penetrated and enriched his nature far below the region of his practical activity and efficiency, that deeper part of him which has found expression in these later years, and has asserted its priority of spiritual importance over the executive side of his character. This background of early life, becoming constantly more distinct in Mr. Carnegie's later career, must be taken into ac- count in any attempt to explain the man, but can only be lightly touched here. In a Scottish home of the kind from which Mr. Carnegie came there are to be found not only the qualities which command success in affairs, but the higher qualities which weigh and measure success in terms of spiritual values. Among those vigorous, honorable, thrifty Scottish folk, with their keen native sagacity and their equally keen appreciation of learning, of poetry, of the finer things of the spirit, several figures may be recalled : a father endowed with the gift of imagination, poetic in temperament, eloquent in speech, passionately interested in all movements for the betterment of his kind ; ^ a mother from the Highlands, with the Celtic sensibility and fire, an inexhaustible store of old ballads in her memory; an uncle who became a foster-father, and who has but recently gone to his rest, feeble with the weight of years but of an unbroken courage and that ^ The father was one of three Dunfermline weavers who pooled their book possessions and thus instituted the first library in that town. The son has recently presented a handsome library building to this his native place, having already built a technical school and other municipal buildings there. 5 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES sweetness which is the flower of a lifelong rectitude and a life- long cherishing of the traditions, the songs, the spiritual im- pulses of a race whose labors and hardships have never lacked the illuminating touch of the imagination. This uncle, who loved liberty because it is the heritage of brave souls, in the dark days of the American Civil War stood almost alone in his community for the cause which Lincoln represented. He loved education with the passion of an ardent nature, eager to open the doors of opportunity, and his happiest hour came when Mr. Carnegie endowed a school for manual training in the Scottish town in which he lived and attached his name to it. His work- ing hours knew the constant solace of poetry, and he taught the boys growing up about him the songs of Burns, the Scottish ballads, and the plays of Shakespeare as they learned their crafts. " I made myself a boy that they might be mien," he once said, recalling the days, when, as they worked together, they imper- sonated the actors in the great stories of Scottish history and tradition. His eyes kindled when the old songs were sung, and his youth came back to him as, with undimmed memory and unspent feeling, he recited the hnes which he carried in his heart. A beautiful figure, this old uncle, venerable and yet touched with the spirit which knows not age, in deep sympathy with the upward movement of the world, and one in heart with the struggle for larger opportunities everywhere. In the light of the memory of such an ancestry it is easy to understand why Mr. Carnegie has ceased to be an organizer of industry and has become an organizer of opportunity, and is now, on a scale un- practised before, transmuting fortune into knowledge, thought, freedom, and power. CHAPTER II METHOD OF GIVING Heracles refusing to help the carter who did not put his owti shoulder to the wheel, and Carnegie, turning from the submerged tenth, to devise means for encouraging the swimming tenth, — these are the ancient and modern expressions of the same eterrtal truths that, in this life at least, by works are ye saved, and he that will tiot work neither shall he eat. — Whitelaw Reid. The "Gospel of Wealth" — Mr. Carnegie's Library Creed — Colonel James Anderson of Allegheny and his Library Institute — The Anderson Memorial — Methods of Giving — President Roosevelt on Carnegie Libraries — The Maintenance Requirement — The Value of Mr. Carnegie's Example — Some Doubts and Criticisms — Popular Misconceptions — Mr. Horace White Quoted — Carnegie Corporation Organized — Total Benefactions to Jan. i, 1917. I N the North American Review for June, 1889, Mr. Carnegie published an article on " Wealth " which attracted marked attention both in England and America, calling forth com- ments and criticisms from Gladstone, Grover Cleveland, Car- dinal Gibbons, Cardinal Manning, Bishop Potter, Rabbi Adler, and others. At the request of the editor, Mr. Carnegie con- tributed to the December number of the Review a second article, in which he pointed out what were in his j'udgment the best fields for the use of surplus wealth and the best methods of admin- istering it for the good of the people. The two articles, slightly revised and co-ordinated, are reprinted as the title essay of his book, " The Gospel of Wealth, and other Timely Essays." In his first paper Mr. Carnegie had said that " the main con- sideration should be to help those who will help themselves ; to provide part of the means by which those who desire to improve may do so ; to give those who desire to rise the aids by which they may rise ; to assist, but rarely or never to do all. Neither the individual nor the race is improved by almsgiving. Those worthy of assistance, except in rare cases, seldom require assistance." 7 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES This thought was continued in his second paper. " The first requisite for a really good use of wealth by the millionaire who has accepted the gospel which proclaims him only a trustee of the surplus that comes to him, is to take care that the purposes for which he spends it shall not have a degrading, pauperizing tendency upon its recipients, but that his trust shall be so administered as to stimulate the best and most aspiring poor of the community to further efforts for their own improvement." Mr. Carnegie's answer to the question. What is the best gift which can be given to a community? is that in his judgment " a free library occupies the first place, provided the community will accept and maintain it as a public institution, as much a part of the city property as its public schools, and, indeed, an adjunct to these." Mr. Carnegie, in explaining his reason for having decided upon the building of libraries as the field for the distribution of his money, said : " I think it fruitful in the extreme, because the library gives nothing for nothing, because it helps only those that help themselves, because it does not sap the foundation of manly independence, because it does not pauperize, because it stretches a hand to the aspiring and places a ladder upon which they can only ascend by doing the climb- ing themselves. This is not charity, this is not philanthropy, it is the people themselves helping themselves by taxing them- selves." " It is, no doubt, possible," says Mr. Carnegie, " that my own personal experience may have led me to value a free library beyond all other forms of beneficence. When I was a working-boy in Pittsburg, Colonel Anderson of Allegheny — a name that I can never speak without feelings of devotional gratitude — opened his little library of four hundred books to boys. Every Saturday afternoon he was in attendance at his house to exchange books. No one but he who has felt it can ever know the intense longing with which the arrival of Sat- urday was awaited, that a new book might be had. My brother and Mr. Phipps, who have been my principal business partners through life, shared with me Colonel Anderson's precious gen- erosity, and it was when revelling in the treasures which he opened to us that I resolved, if ever wealth came to me, that it should be used to establish free libraries, that other poor boys might receive opportunities similar to those for which we were indebted to that noble man." 8 METHOD OF GIVING Colonel James Anderson established in 1850 the " J. Anderson Library Institute of Allegheny City," which was open for the free circulation of books at stated hours on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The bookplate which Colonel Anderson had devised for his institute, with a collection of tools for its most charac- teristic feature, shows clearly that the founder's intention was to furnish reading for the mechanics and working-men who made up the largest part of the community. It has the apt motto : " Take fast hold of instruction : let her not go, for she is thy life." (Proverbs, chapter 4, verse 13.) The Anderson Library was closed shortly after its founder's death in 1861, not perhaps so much on account of lack of pubHc interest in keeping it open as owing to the all-absorbing interest in the Civil War. The books were boxed up and stored in the basement of the city hall until shortly after the close of the war, when they were entrusted to the charge of the recently organized Allegheny Library Association. In 1871 the manage- ment of the Association was placed in the hands of the board of school controllers, who, during the next year, were empow- ered to appropriate from the school funds a sum of money for the maintenance of a free public library. When the Carnegie Free Library was organized in 1890, it was generally expected that the Public School Library would be merged into the new institution, but there were unfortunately legal difficulties which prevented the amalgamation. The Public School Library now numbers 26,000 volumes, including about four hundred books from the original Anderson Library. Mr. Carnegie has on several occasions paid fond tribute to Colonel Anderson's memory, and on June 15, 1904, there was unveiled in Allegheny as a gift from him a lasting memorial to the man who inspired the great steel king with the idea of his library crusade. The monument is at the corner of the Carnegie Library lot and consists of a portrait bust by Daniel Chester French. In front of the large granite slab which supports the bust is the figure of an iron-worker, who sits bared to the waist, upon an anvil, and rests from his labor long enough to glance at the large open book which he holds on his knees. Mr. Carnegie does not care to be known as a philanthropist, whom he defines as one who not only gives his wealth, but 9 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES also follows it up by personal attention. The claims upon Mr. Carnegie's time and the wide area over which his benefactions have been spread have not permitted of his carrying out the second stipulation to any great extent. Yet it must be said that he has followed with very keen interest and wise counsel the development of many of the institutions which owe their exist- ence to his liberality, notably those in and around Pittsburg which serve the large communities immediately interested in and dependent upon the works and industries by means of which Mr. Carnegie's wealth was largely acquired. Mr. Carnegie has expressed great admiration for the method of giving employed by Mr. Enoch Pratt, of Baltimore, who not only gave to his city the library which bears his name, but also watched constantly over its growth and development, sharing with the trustees the burden of the many problems which beset them from time to time, helping with practical suggestions and cheering all by his optimism. On the occasion of the formal opening of the magnificent library building which Mr. Carnegie had presented to the District of Columbia, he said with genial modesty: "It is so little to give money to a good cause and there end," then turning to the commissioners and trustees, " and so grand to give thought and time, as these gentlemen have done." " It seems to me that the man has a right to call himself thrice blessed," said President Roosevelt on this occasion, "who has in him the combined power and purpose to use his wealth for the benefit of all the people at large in a way that can do them real benefit, and in no way can more benefit be done than through the gift of libraries such as this, — a free library, where each man, each woman, has the chance to get for himself or herself the training that he has the character to desire and to acquire. Now, of course, our common school system lies at the foundation of our educational system, but it is the foundation only. The men that are to stand pre-eminent as the representa- tives of the culture of the community must educate themselves, and the work done by this library is interesting because it repre- sents one side of the way in which all this self-educational work in a community must be done. "Mr. Carnegie," continued the President, " neither you nor any one else can make a man wise or cultivated. All you can lO METHOD OF GIVING do is to give him a chance to make himself so, to add to his own wisdom or his own cultivation, and that is all you can do in any- kind of genuine philanthropic work. The only philanthropic work is work that helps a man to help himself This is true in every way, socially and sociologically. The man who will sub- mit or demand to be carried is not worth carrying. [To this Mr. Carnegie ejaculated, * Hear ! Hear ! '] Every man of us needs help, needs more and more to be given the chance to show forth in himself the stuff that is in him, and this kind of free library is doing in the world of cultivation, the world of civilization, what it should or may do for the great world of po- htical and social development; that is, it is as far as may be equalizing the opportunities, and then leaving the men them- selves to show how able they are to take advantage of those opportunities. To quote an expression that I am fond of, this sort of gift is equally far from two prime vices of our civilization, hardness of heart and softness of head." At the dinner given in Mr. Carnegie's honor, April 7, 1902, by the Society of American Authors, Mr. Melvil Dewey, re- sponding to the toast, " The immeasurable service Mr. Carnegie has rendered public libraries," said : " If Mr. Carnegie were investing every few days in stocks, men would begin to look very carefully into the condition of the stocks he bought. He has been investing every little while for the past few years in libraries, and I believe that he has done it with the same ideas that made him in an age of steel invest in steel and make the best steel in the world, and then command the markets of the world for it. His wisdom has done five times as much as his wealth in the conditions he has put with his gifts." The conditions referred to are the well-known proviso that the community accepting the offer of a library building furnish a site and agree to supply an annual maintenance fund of at least ten per cent of the amount of the gift. The percentage was higher in some of Mr. Carnegie's earlier offers, but I know of only one case where it was lower, and I have it from one of the trustees of that particular institution that they regret that Mr. Carnegie was ever persuaded to make an exception in their case. They find it impossible to administer the library properly on a five per cent basis, and yet they are unable to persuade the city fathers to increase the grant. To the fact that the II CARNEGIE LIBRARIES communities are expected to maintain and develop the many free libraries which are scattered over Great Britain, Mr. Car- negie attributes most of their usefulness. " An endowed insti- tution," he claims, " is liable to become the prey of a clique. The public ceases to take interest in it, or, rather, never ac- quires interest in it. The rule has been violated which requires the recipients to help themselves. Everything has been done for the community instead of its being only helped to help itself, and good results rarely ensue." " I do not want to be known for what I give," said Mr. Car- negie on one occasion, " but for what I induce others to give." An interesting list could be made of gifts to Carnegie libraries. It would include not only tracts of land, but furnishings and endowments for the libraries, as well as books and pictures and well-equipped museums. But, of course, the main value of a gift of this kind is not represented by its sum total in dollars and cents, but rather in the civic interest which it arouses in the object of the gift. Many a citizen's attention was first called to the fact that there was a public library in his town by the dis- cussion of a Carnegie grant in the local papers. Moreover, the fact that one town has a Carnegie library is an incentive to its less intellectual or less enterprising neighbor to provide equally good library facilities for its citizens; and more than one com- munity has been spurred to action in this matter by seeing what was being done by its rivals. A study of the map of Carnegie libraries in the United States will show many of these centres of influence. In speaking of Mr. Carnegie's princely and un- paralleled gift to New York City, shortly after it had been announced, Mr. Melvil Dewey said that it had " so struck the popular mind that it would do more good to library interests in general by the resulting thought and discussion than by the inestimable direct service to New York itself It has given new courage and strength to every library worker in the world, and we are all profoundly grateful." Some honest doubts have been expressed in regard to this Carnegie library deluge. "Of course, every town ought to have a library," remarked the Boston Transcfipt in an editorial under date of November 28, 1902. " There does not exist a municipalfty in the United States but knows that its equipment is incomplete without a library. Moreover, there is not one that would not 12 MR. CARNEGIE IN HIS I'KIVAIK I.lllKAKV l; 1 i'HNSlON I'HoTo. i!V Ai-i:\. IUdso.n. I'll IM.i K(. COLONEL JAMES ANDKRSON (1785-186.) From an oil painting' in the office of the warden. Western Penitentiary, Alle),'heny, I'^nnsylvania ALLEGHENY, TENNSVLVANLV SMITHMYER i I'LL^, AKclUlLi_K,. Washington, D- c. Copyright, 1905, by DEI RoIT I'L'bLISHI.NC CuMI'ANV CITY HALL SQUARE AND THE CARNEGIE LIRRARY Henry Bacon. Akchh i;ci — Da.nu-i. (.ui.mek Ikii.nch. Scilflik 1 MONUMENT IN MEMORY OF COLONEL JAMES ANDERSON .^iife .-S#v BOOK-PLATE OK THE ANDERSON LIBRARY rroin which Mr. Carnei^ie borrowed books in liis boyhood METHOD OF GIVING have a library sooner or later by its own efforts, unless the hope of a gift from Mr. Carnegie leads it to defer the matter indefi- nitely." That a community should put off the establishment of a library indefinitely because of being disappointed in its expec- tation of a Carnegie grant is hardly credible. It requires some active canvassing to secure the offer — generally a ballot on the subject and a guarantee of a suitable maintenance fund. If the guarantee is sufficient and the finances of the community seem to warrant the annual expenditure of the amount involved, Mr. Carnegie usually makes the grant. The refusals have, I am inclined to think, been more frequent from the towns than from Mr. Carnegie, the offer usually having been made in response to the request of some private individual or from a body of library trustees. Mr. Carnegie has very rarely taken the initiative in these matters. The majority of the communities in the United States which have shared Mr. Carnegie's bounty are in the newly settled parts of the country, in places which have been harassed by demands for the more pressing public improvements, such as good roads, schools, churches, courthouses, sewerage, lighting and water supply systems, and Mr. Carnegie has simply put them that much forward by giving them the advantages of a library home. He thus directs attention to their library needs, but does not supply them. He supplies merely convenient accessories for the administration of a library, not the library itself — the shell and not the kernel. The books and the hbrary spirit must come from the people themselves. This, as already pointed out, has been his policy from the first. Whether the library is to bear fruit depends upon the community. It is conceivable that a community may through a mistaken pride rush into this matter before season, that it may seek the offer of a Carnegie grant before it is prepared to properly take care of a Hbrary. But Mr. Carnegie has foreseen the danger of an ambitious community overreaching its legitimate ends and his secretary and financial agent have required full statements as to the population and income of a community before enter- taining its proposition. In not a few cases Mr. Carnegie has not granted the full amount asked for, because it was felt that in accepting the larger sum the community would be binding itself to do more than it should undertake. 13 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES Mr. Carnegie has never thrust his gifts upon a community, nor has he ever willingly stood in the way of any one else giv- ing a library to a community. I recall one instance where, in response to a request for aid, he offered to furnish money for a library building, but withdrew his offer when he heard that a former citizen desired to present a library to his native town. In notifying the prospective donor of his action, Mr. Carnegie congratulated him upon the opportunity of which he had availed himself. There is a popular misconception to the effect that all these libraries which Mr. Carnegie has scattered over the land bear his name, that he has erected them simply as so many monu- ments to himself. The direct opposite is true. He makes no stipulation as to the name the library shall bear. The great majority of them are known as the Public Library of the town which supports them. Most of the gifts have been made to libraries already in existence at the time of the offer, corporate institutions the names of which no one would think of changing simply because they had been given a new home. This is as it should be. As one ardent library worker in Montana put it, " You would not give a child the name of a man who gives him a suit of clothes ; no matter how good a suit it might be, he would bear his father's name." Naturally there is usually some tablet or inscription on the building stating that it was erected through the generosity of Mr. Carnegie. Common courtesy would require some such acknowledgment of so great a gift. Certain library boards have acknowledged their indebtedness by inserting the words "Carnegie building" as a qualifying phrase under the name of their library. On the other hand, when any particular library has been called into being through the agency of Mr. Carnegie's princely liberality and the recip- ients of his bounty have wished to do him special honor they have named the library after him. But this has followed and not preceded the gift. At the dedication of the Carnegie Library of Beloit College, January 5, 1 905, Mr. Horace White of the New York Evenmg Post spoke as follows of Mr. Carnegie's library work: " In the fall of 1891, Cornell University dedicated her library building, which still holds high rank among similar structures 14 METHOD OF GIVING in this country. The principal address on the occasion was delivered by President Oilman of Johns Hopkins University. The speaker made some opening remarks on the general growth and progress of public libraries. ' Witness,' he said, ' the noble gifts of the Astors, of Bates, Peabody, Rush, Lenox, Tilden, Newberry, Crerar, Chittenden, and many more.' It was a well-deserved tribute that he paid to the memory of these benefactors of their kind. All of the gifts to which Dr. Oilman referred were made in the latter half, and most of them in the last quarter, of the nineteenth century. Yet more work has been done in this country for free libraries since the date of Dr. Oilman's address thirteen years ago than had been done in our whole previous history, and one man has done more of it than all others put together." Mr. Carnegie's benefactions to libraries continued to grow with ever-increasing momentum, and in 191 1 Mr. Carnegie made provision for its continuance on a permanent basis. Carnegie The first step was to secure the passage in the New corporation -T . , T r of New York. York state Legislature, on June 9, 191 1, of an act authorizing the incorporation of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. On Friday, November 10, of the same year, eight men met in Mr. Carnegie's house, accepted the charter, adopted a constitution and by-laws, and elected the following officers: President, Andrew Carnegie ; vice president, Elihu Root; treas- urer, Robert A. Franks ; and secretary, James Bertram. To this corporation Mr. Carnegie transferred, for the purposes specified in the charter, first mortgage gold bonds of the United States Steel Corporation for the sum of $25,000,000, par value, which sum was shortly after increased to $125,000,000. All business relating to the erection of hbrary buildings, either public or in educational institutions, as well as a number of Mr. Carnegie's personal charities, was transferred to the Corporation as rapidly as possible, and has since been administered by that body. The charter under which the Corporation operates, reads as follows : CHARTER The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : Section i. Andrew Carnegie, Elihu Root, Henry S. Pritchett, William N. Frew, Robert S. Woodward, Charles L. Taylor, Robert A. Franks, James 15 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES Bertram and their successors, are hereby constituted a body corporate by the name of Carnegie Corporation of New York, for the purpose of receiving and maintaining a fund or funds and applying the income thereof to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding among the people of the United States, by aiding technical schools, institutions of higher learn- ing, libraries, scientific research, hero funds, useful publications, and by such other agencies and means as shall from time to time be found appropriate therefor. Section 2. The corporation hereby formed shall have power to take and hold, by bequest, devise, gift, purchase or lease, either absolutely or in trust, for any of its purposes, any property, real or personal, without limitation, as to amount or value, except such limitation, if any, as the legislature shall here- after impose, to convey such property, and to invest and reinvest any principal and deal with and expend the income of the corporation in such manner as in the judgment of the trustees will best promote its objects. It shall have all the power and be subject to all the restrictions which now pertain by law to membership corporations as far as the same are applicable thereto and are not inconsistent with the provisions of this act. The persons named in the first section of this act, or a majority of them, shall hold a meeting and or- ganize the corporation and adopt a constitution and by-laws not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of this State. The constitution shall prescribe the qualifications of members, the number of members who shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at meetings of the corporation, the number of trustees by whom the business and affairs of the corporation shall be managed; the qualifications, powers, and the manner of selection of the trustees and officers of the corporation, and any other provisions for the management and disposition of the property and regulation of the affairs of the corporation which may be deemed expedient. Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately. Five other funds have been organized by Mr. Carnegie at various times, and their presidents are, by virtue of their offices, members of the Board of Trustees of the Corporation. The Board as organized in 191 1 was as follows: Andrew Carnegie, New York ; Elihu Root, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D. C. ; William N. Frew, President, Board of Trustees of The Carnegie Institute of Pitts- burgh ; Robert S. Woodward, President of The Carnegie Insti- tution of Washington, Washington, D. C. ; Henry S. Pritchett, President of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, New York; Charles L. Taylor, President of The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, Pittsburgh, Pa. ; Robert A. Franks, New York; James Bertram, New York. There have been few changes in the Board of Trustees since incorporation. William N. Frew died in 1914 and was succeeded by S. H. Church, President of the Board of Trustees of The Carnegie Institute, of Pittsburgh. John A. Poynton is now a member of 16 NEW YORK DOCUMENTS the Board, and Robert A. Franks holds the double office of vice president and treasurer. For the guidance of library committees, especially in small towns, who may have lacked time or opportunity to study library planning, the Carnegie Corporation sends to all com- munities to which library grants have been voted, a suggestive memorandum called " Notes on the Erection of Library Bild- ings,"^ illustrated with diagrams showing six types of libraries which have been found satisfactory in operation. To quote from this memorandum: The amount allowd by Carnegie Corporation of New York to cover the cost of a Library Bilding is according to a standard based on (a) the popu- lation which is to pay the tax for carrying on the library, and (I) a specified minimum revenue from such tax. The donation is sufficient only to provide needed accommodation and there wil be either a shortage of accommodation or of money if this primary purpose is not kept in view, viz. : to obtain for THE MONEY THE UTMOST AMOUNT OF EFFECTIV ACCOMMODATION, CON- SISTENT WITH GOOD TASTE IN BILDING. The amount allowd is intended to cover cost of the bilding, complete and redy for use with indispensible furniture and fixtures, and including archi- tect's fees. . . . The bilding should be devoted exclusively to (main floor) housing of books and their issue for home use ; comfortable accommodation for reading them by adults and children. (Basement) Lecture room ; necessary accommoda- tion for heating plant ; also all conveniences for the library patrons and staff. Experience seems to sho that the best results for a small general library ar obtaind by adopting the one-story and basement rectangular type of bilci- ing, with a small vestibule entering into one large room sub-divided as required by means of bookcases. It has been customary with the Carnegie Corporation to re- quire assurance that at least ten per cent of the grant made to cover the cost of the building will be appropriated annually by the community benefited, for the maintenance of the library. The tendency of many communities to assume that when this requirement had been met the city or town had done its full duty by the library, led the League of Library Commissions in 191 5 to enter into correspondence with the Carnegie Corpora- tion, to ascertain whether the latter would be willing to make a more definite statement to the effect that this ten per cent maintenance fund is to be regarded merely as the minimum possible for support. ' Simplified spelling is used in all Carnegie communications. 17 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES Mr. J. I. Wyer, Jr., in a memorandum submitted to the Carnegie Corporation on November 15, 191 5, on behalf of the League of Library Commissions, wrote : 1. The amount of money required effectively to maintain a public library, expressed in terms of per cent of the building cost, varies not only according to the part of the country, but the adequacy of a 10^ income varies with the difference in initial cost of library buildings. For example, it costs more than half as much to maintain a Hbrary in a $10,000 building as to maintain a library in a $20,000 building. 2. The inadequacy of a lo*^ maintenance sum is most apparent with very small libraries in buildings costing from $5,000 to $15,000. Is the Carnegie Corporation willing to add to its printed matter sent to committees applying for library buildings, to incorporate in its correspondence, to include in its annual report, or to print as a separate leaflet to be furnished to library com- missions, a statement to the effect that while 10^ of the cost of the building has seemed a fair maintenance requirement for the country as a whole, yet it is well understood that owing to local conditions this sum will in hundreds of instances be wholly insufficient to develop the public library to its fullest use- fulness ; that the Carnegie Corporation is glad to emphasize the fact that the 10^ maintenance requirement is considered by it merely as a minimum, with the knowledge and expectation that in order to make the fullest use of the building and library the amount appropriated for library support must eventually exceed this sum? Co-operating with the League of Library Commissions in its endeavors to secure increased and adequate support for libraries, the Corporation has adopted the Commission's tentative sugges- tion, and has printed the correspondence passed between the two as a separate leaflet, which is mailed as an enclosure with each promise of a library building, as well as to all who have received Carnegie buildings in the past. The library grants made in the United States and Canada during 1916 amounted to $1,241,888. The total library gifts to December 31, 1916, granted either by Mr. Carnegie personally or by the Carnegie Corporation, amounted to 2749 public library buildings, representing $61,293,485.17, and 116 college Hbrary buildings, representing $3,776, 199.27, making the amazing record of 2865 buildings and $65,069,684.44. Of this $61,293,485.17 set aside for public library buildings, the sum of $13,135,354.91 was promised by the Carnegie Corporation. 18 CHAPTER III DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW YORK CITY BRANCHES I. Letter of Mr, Carnegie New York, 12th March, 1901 Dr. J. S. Billings, Director, New York Public Library Dear Mr. Billings: OUR conferences upon the needs of Greater New York for Branch Libraries to reach the masses of the people in every district have convinced me of the wis- dom of your plans. Sixty-five branches strike one at first as a large order, but as other cities have found one necessary for every sixty or seventy thousand of population, the number is not excessive. You estimate the average cost of these libraries at, say, $80,000 each, being $5,200,000 for all. If New York will furnish sites for these Branches for the special benefit of the masses of the people, as it has done for the Central Library, and also agree in satisfactory form to provide for their maintenance as built, I should esteem it a rare privilege to be permitted to furnish the money as needed for the buildings, say $5,200,000. Sixty-five libraries at one stroke probably breaks the record, but this is the day of big operations and New York is soon to be the biggest of cities. Very truly yours, ANDREW CARNEGIE 2. Letter to the Mayor Trans7nittmg the Offer of Atidreixj Carnegie THE TRUSTEES OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR, LENOX, AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS Office of the Secretary 32 Nassau Street New York, 15th March, 1901 Hon. Robert A. Van Wyck, Mayor, &c., &c. Dear Sir : By direction of the Board of Trustees of The New York Pubhc Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations, I have 19 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES the honor to hand you herewith a copy of a letter which we received, through our Director Dr. John S. Billings, from Mr. Andrew Carnegie, on the 13th inst, the day of his sailing for Europe. You will observe that Mr. Carnegie offers to bear the expense of building a large number of branch libraries, at an estimated total cost of five million two hundred thousand dollars, pro- vided the City will furnish the necessary land, and provided satisfactory arrangements can be made for the maintenance of these branches. There are no other conditions. I am instructed to say that if the City authorities look with favor upon the general plan, our Board of Trustees will hold itself in readiness to co-operate, in every way possible, in fur- thering the beneficent purposes which are the object of Mr. Carnegie's munificent offer. It is understood that Mr. Carnegie's offer is intended to apply to the entire City. The methods and agencies of administering branches in Boroughs other than Manhattan and The Bronx may well be left to be settled hereafter. I am further instructed to say that, in communicating Mr. Carnegie's proposal to our Board, Dr. Billings accompanied it with the following statement : " In the conferences referred to by Mr. Carnegie, the sug- gestions which I have made have related mainly to a free public library system for the Boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx. " I have stated that such a system should include the great central reference library on 42d Street and 5th Avenue, about 40 branch libraries for circulation, small distributing centres in those public school buildings which are adapted to such pur- pose, and a large travelling library system operated from the central building. Each of the branch libraries should contain reading rooms for from 50 to 100 adults, and for from 75 to 125 children, and in these reading rooms should be about 500 vol- umes of encyclopaedias, dictionaries, atlases, and large and im- portant reference books. There should be ample telephone and delivery arrangements between the branches and the central library. To establish this system would require at least five years. The average cost of the branch libraries I estimated at from $75,000 to $125,000, including sites and equipment. The cost of maintaining the system when completed, I estimated at $500,000 per year. The circulation of books for home use alone in these Boroughs should amount to more than 5,000,000 of volumes per year, and there should be at least 500,000 volumes 20 NEW YORK DOCUMENTS in the circulation department, with additions of new books and to replace worn-out books of at least 40,000 per year, " With regard to the other Boroughs of Greater New York, I have made no special plans or estimates, but have said that about 25 libraries would be required for them. " The following are some of the data which I have furnished Mr, Carnegie. The population figures are those of the last census : "Boston, with 560,892 people, has 15 branch libraries and reading rooms and 14 delivery stations, and appropriates $288,641 for Hbrary purposes, being at the rate of over 50 cents per head of population, and of about 2 5/10 one-hundredths of one per cent on the assessed value of property. "Chicago has 1,698,575 people, 6 branch libraries and 60 delivery stations, besides stations in the public schools, and ap- propriates 1^263,397 for Hbrary purposes, being at the rate of 15 5/10 cents per head of population, and seven one-hundredths of one per cent of the assessed value of property. " Buffalo has 352,387 people, and appropriates 1^145,238 for library purposes, being at the rate of 41 cents per head of pop- ulation, and five one-hundredths of one per cent on the assessed value of property. " New York City (Borough of Manhattan and The Bronx) has 2,050,600 population, and appropriates $183,935 ^or library purposes, being at the rate of 8 9/10 cents per head of popula- tion, and 6/10 one-hundredths of one per cent on the assessed value of property. "Greater New York has 3,437,202 population, and appropri- ates $299,663 for library purposes, being at the rate of 8 4/10 cents per head of population, and 8/10 one-hundredths of one per cent on the assessed value of property. " The contract made by the City of Buffalo with the Buffalo Public Library under the provisions of Chapter 16 of the Laws of 1897 of the State of New York, is worth careful examination in connection with the question of how best to provide for maintenance of a free public library system for New York City." I am very respectfully yours, G. L. RIVES, Secretary 21 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES 3. An Act to Authorise and Empower the City of New York to Establish and Maintain a Free Public Library System Passed April 26, 1901 Laws of 1901, Charter 580 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : 1 H.OOK 11 AN ONK HUNDKII) AND TWENTV-lIl IH STREKT BRANCH CO >■ O > o < n > oi o > NEW YORK CITY BRANCHES Bahi;. Ci"iK iS; W ILI, ARii, AK' miki 1> MOTT HAVEN BRANCH. 569 EAST ONK HUXDRKD AND FORTIETH STREET, CORNER OF ALEXANDER AVENUE C'AKKI Ki; .V; HA^riM.S. AKi HI U-A l> 1S66 WASHINGTON AVENUE Second Floor Tinki) ]"ioiiK BASKMI-NT I IK^I II.UOR MOI T HAVEN I'.RAN( H, M.W VUKK REACHING THE PEOPLE So they marched on till those in front reached the desk upstairs in the children's department; beyond this they could not go until they secured cards of admission. In a few moments every inch of open space was filled, upstairs, straight on down the stairs, and in the adult department on the first floor. Do you, gentle reader, know the New York boy and girl of from ten to sixteen? If you do, you do not need to be told that the situa- tion was a difficult one j for our children, be they, as in this case they were, largely of foreign parentage, are strongly imbued with the American spirit of going forward. Each child was bent upon having a book. No matter to them that they had not registered, that their parents objected to their taking books, that their references had refused to sign for them — such trifling details did not even interest them ; a book they must and would have ! " It goes without saying, I hope, that one of the things we always try to do is to welcome the children. We want not only to give them helpful reading, a pleasant place where they may sit and read, but our aim is that the library may be a bright spot in their lives, may hold a loving place in their hearts — may stand in their minds for courtesy, kindness, and sympathy. But can you welcome a child when five hundred are waiting and each one persistently refuses to stir an inch till you give him a book? " Can you take an entirely sympathetic attitude toward a little girl who has brought with her the only toy she owns, a box of beads, and is yelling at the top of her lungs because it is upset and the rest of the children are grabbing the beads or stamping on them, according to which they consider the most fun? " And then the long conversations you are forced to hold with each applicant. " ' What is your name? * " * Anthony.' " 'Anthony what?' " ' Ma'am ? ' " * What is your last name? ' " ' Teacher, he's punchin' me.' " ' What is your last name ? ' '" Jimmy O'Grady.' " ' You said your name was " Anthony." ' " ' Yes, 'um, it is ; it 's James Anthony O'Grady.* " ' Well, your card is not here ; come back to-morrow.* Then, 'Why don't you go on and let the boy behind you come to the desk?' 53 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES " ' Please, teacher, look for Tony — I write it Tony 'cause that 's what they call me.' " And sure enough, there it is. Of course this conversation varies, but it is inevitable and it is wearing. " The children who were not admitted to the shelves were sent out, and instead of going home joined the crowd in the rear. After the first ten minutes of the ' rush ' we kept the children in a sort of doubled-up Hne, and only admitted one when we sent one out. " Late in the afternoon the policeman at the door sent word to know what he should do ; he could not keep the children out any longer. I asked why not, and he said : ' My arms have given out, they're numb.' " * Your arms,' I said ; ' how strange ! ' " * Yes, ma'am, and your arms would give out too if you 'd had fifteen children hanging on each of them for two hours. No change except every minute it 's different children. It would be easier if it was the same ones ; they claw so when they change.' " One little incident paid for much work and worry. A little girl of about ten, slim and dark-eyed, looked so distressed that her reference had not signed for her that we allowed her to go in to see the books. She stood for a moment in the dazzling sunlight from one of the big windows ; then stretched out her arms as a bird might its wings, and on the tips of her toes flew from window to window, pausing at each in the sunshine, then stopped in front of the fairy tales with a smile of utter childish content." As another witness to the work being done by these branch libraries on the East Side in reaching the people, an account by Isaac N. Marcosson ^ of the condition there met with may be pressed into service : " In the crowded foreign districts of New York City the Car- negie Free libraries are making American citizens out of the young boys and girls. I spent an afternoon recently at the free library on Tompkins Square, in the very heart of the Hungarian section. It stands out among the dark, low tenements, giving an aesthetic distinction to the whole community. But it gives more than this. It is not only a place where books are given out and where men, women, and children may come to read where it is bright and light and clean. It has entered into the very life and character of the whole district. Here come the mothers with their stories of suffering and distress to find comfort and sympathy and help 1 World s Work, April, 1905. 54 REACHING THE PEOPLE from the librarians; here assemble the young men who work all day and study half the night, educating themselves and eager to rise out of the sordid conditions in which they live. The children come from dirty homes with clean hands. Standing in line to get books, and respecting the rights of the children who have come before them, is giving them a moral discipline. The little ones carry the methods of the school-room to the library, for they raise their hands and say ' Teacher ' before asking for a book. " Many incidents enliven the daily round of these East Side libraries. One day a child came in. ' Teacher,' she said, holding up her hand, ' I want Lamb's Feet. ' " ' Lamb's Feet,' said the librarian, * You must be mistaken. There is no such book.' " But the child insisted that her school teacher had told her to get it. It turned out that she wanted Lamb's Tales. " Another child said that she wanted a book on woman's suffer- ings. The librarian gave her a medical book. " ' That ain't what I want,' replied the child. * My mother said it was about votes.' She wanted a book on woman's suffrage. " The children are required to give references when they get a card. The meaning of the word ' reference ' is a stumbling block to many. One day a librarian overheard one boy explaining the meaning of the word to another, as follows : " ' A reference is the fellow that sticks up for you,' *' Tragedies, too, lurk in these places. A short time ago a thumb-marked postal card reached the Tompkins Square Library. Written in pencil in a child's hand was this inscription: ' My sister does not want any more books. She is dead.' " What is happening at Tompkins Square Library is happening at the East Broadway Library in the heart of the Ghetto, and at a half dozen other Carnegie Libraries in New York City. Every- where they are entering intimately into the life of the people, broadening them and making them better men and women and children." Perhaps the most interesting branches, at least to the student of social conditions, are on the East Side. Here one can see the process of Americanization going on day by day. Take a walk through the length and breadth of this section and see the swarms of children growing up in the quarter, attending its school'^, playing in its streets and now being taught to read in these branch libraries which are at their very doors. One who is not ac- quainted with the conditions in New York might, on looking at the directory of these branches, think that some of these were 55 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES rather close to one another. A visit to the neighborhood will dispel any such thought. What would be close for any less populous city is sparsely scattered for New York with its tene- ments soaring to the sky. A mile of New York " East Side " streets houses from five to ten times as many people as would be found within the same distance in an average American city. The congestion of this quarter led the authorities to introduce an innovation in the Rivington Street branch which has met with exceptional success ; the open-air reading room on the roof of this library has proved a blessing to many a tired worker and an invitation to numerous children to patronize the institution. In the first summer month during which it was opened, two thousand men and about the same number of boys and girls climbed to this roof garden with their books in preference to taking them to their crowded tenements. The total attendance for the first season was 7,483 readers, and this number was quad- rupled within the next four years. As a result roof gardens were provided for the St. Gabriel's Park, Hamilton Fish Park, and Seward Park and Columbus branches. About one half of the roof is usually used for these roof-garden reading rooms, which are protected by a balustrade, covered with flower boxes. There are overhead awnings and suspended drop lights for the use of readers in the evening. Tables and chairs are given a coat of water-proof paint. There is the usual supply of magazines and daily papers. Readers are expected to have their books charged at the desk downstairs before bringing them up to the roof garden. While at the Rivington Street branch the propor- tion of adult to juvenile readers is almost equal, the majority of those making use of these roof-gardens at the Hamilton Fish Park and St. Gabriel's Park branches are children, who are allowed to go up to the roof only during the day. On busy days a children's assistant is placed in charge, and picture books are distributed, and occasionally story hours are held on the roof. Strict discipline is maintained just as in the regular rooms of the library. At the Rivington Street branch serious students have availed themselves of the opportunity offered of a quiet place for reading in the open air. " It would be useless for me to say that the intellectual needs of the East Side increase as time goes on," said the Ubrarian of 56 REACHING THE PEOPLE an East Side branch, " for the simple reason that there never has been a time when the people there were not absolutely- hungry for knowledge. If there was a library on every block it would be largely attended. Just to give a few figures: the reading room attendance for one year at Rivington Street was 50,710; at Chatham Square, 25,822; at Bond Street, 46,751, and the circulation of books for home use by classes at the three branches was respectively 77,163, 200,973, and 1 13,963 volumes. What is read at these places? The very best books obtainable on every subject. Generally speaking, there is less fiction demanded than science, biology, travel, everything that tends toward accurate information in regard to the world's work — knowledge rather than entertainment. There is a constant de- mand for works on socialism, — not the rose water and pink tea type, concerning which hundreds of volumes come from the press every month, but the real words of those who know." The Yorkville Branch, the first to be erected in Greater New York from Mr. Carnegie's gift of $5,200,000, was formally opened December 13, 1912. It stands on the south side of East 79th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, and has on its five floors 14,680 square feet. " It must not be supposed," wrote Dr. A. E. Bostwick, at that time in charge of the circulating branches of the New York Public Library, " that the new building is regarded by those who have planned it as ideal for its purposes. A library in a crowded street must make the best of adverse conditions. To make use of the type that is coming to be preferred for the small library — the type somewhat picturesquely named 'the butterfly' by Mr. Eastman, in allusion to its central body flanked by its equal wings — a considerable plot of ground is necessary, not less than 100 feet front. This the price of land makes prohibitive over a large part of Manhattan Island. The typical branch building in the crowded parts of the city will have to stand on two city lots — say from 40 to 50 feet front — and its departments, instead of being spread out as much as possible on one floor, must be piled one above the other. In other words, we must not look to the butterfly for our model, but to the caterpillar — the caterpillar standing erect on its tail. " Experience in branch work in New York City indicates that the necessary departments in a New York branch are the gen- eral open-shelf room for adults, with circulating-desk and some reading-tables; the children's department; and the newspaper 57 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES and periodical reading room. The best place for each of these is obviously the ground floor. Equally obvious, however, is the fact that in a building such as we have indicated only one of them can be so located, and that the other two must struggle even for second place. There are arguments in favor of every possible arrangement ; it is not even likely that the same will be adopted in all of the future Carnegie buildings. In the one under consideration the adults have been placed on the ground floor, the children on the second floor, and the readers on the third, under the large skylight. In the basement are the heat- ing apparatus (direct-indirect hot-water system), the receiving and packing room and space for storage. The janitor's apart- ment is placed in a half-story, above the third, situated in the rear and opening out on the roof. It is invisible from the street. The small collection of reference books is placed in the rear of the ground floor, separated from the general adult department only by a railing. On the third floor the staff room has been placed and there is space here not only for the general reading room but for such other departments as future experi- ence may suggest. The light here is chiefly from above (the small front windows serving only for ventilation) and the walls will be suitable for exhibitions of pictures, etc. " The architectural features of the building are not due to a single hand. The general or typical arrangement of the front was fixed upon, after several conferences, by a commission of New York architectural firms appointed by the library trustees. These firms decided on the general type of building, and to this type the plans of the Yorkville branch conform. To this type, also, future plans must conform, except when the conditions are rural rather than urban. This does not mean that the buildings will all look alike, for plenty of room for individual taste has been left. It means, in the words of one of the architects, that the Carnegie buildings * will all tell the same story but will tell it in different words.' The three arches on the ground floor, for instance, \\hich are one feature of the type, may be treated in a variety of ways. In the case of the Yorkville building the entrance has been placed in one of the side arches, opposite the stairway — an arrangement which, although a departure from symmetry, is not only more convenient but, according to some authorities, is more sound from an architectural stand- point, as it indicates from the exterior the structural arrange- ment of the inside. " Summing up such of the distinctive features of the building as are dependent on its position in a closely built-up block in a 58 REACHING THE PEOPLE crowded portion of the city, it may be described as a branch library in which the different departments are located one above the other, on different floors, each floor being kept, as far as possible, free from partitions, and in which stress is laid on the circulation of books on the open-shelf system, the principal use of the building itself for reading purposes being in connection with children's work and with the general use of current period- icals and newspapers." The new building for the Rivington Street branch, at 51 Riv- ington Street, was dedicated June 10, 1905. It is a four-story and basement structure of brick, trimmed with stone, and meas- ures 40 X 80 feet. The basement contains the usual boiler room, packing room, toilets, and storage space. The main floor con- tains the circulating room for adults, while the second floor is devoted to the children. The general reading room is on the third floor, and the janitor's apartments on the fourth. On the roof is the most interesting feature of the building, an open-air reading room. This is about 40 feet square and is protected by a high iron railing. It can be covered with an awning by day and is lighted by electricity at night. While there is no stock of reading matter kept in this open-air reading room, any one desiring to do so can take books or periodicals from the general reading room on the third floor, from which ascends a broad flight of stairs. The Hudson Park branch, on Leroy Street below the Chris- topher Street ferry, has three stories and a basement It stands on an irregularly shaped lot, 50 feet in front and 100 feet in depth. From the side there is a fine view of the adjoining park. The front is of plain brick, trimmed with Indiana lime- stone. In the basement there is a large assembly room in ad- dition to boiler room, storage space, etc. The circulating room for adults is on the main floor, entered at the left through an ornamented vestibule. The general reading room, on the same floor, is entered through the rear door opening on the park. The children's rooms are on the second floor. On the third floor are the janitor's apartments. There is a small elevator, operated by hand, for the janitor's supplies, and an electric lift for books. The cost was about $75,000 exclusive of the site. The Carnegie branch building at 328 East 67th Street was opened January 20, 1905. It has three stories and a basement 59 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES and measures 50 X 80 feet. The front is of Indiana limestone, plain and massive, and is characterized by three large arched openings on the main floor. In the basement are work rooms, storage space, and wardrobe lockers for the staff. The entrance to the main floor is through an ornamental vestibule, with a domed roof of glass. On this ground floor are the circulation and reference rooms for adults, and a small office. The chil- dren's rooms are on the second floor, while the third floor is occupied chiefly with the general periodicals and newspaper reading room, and has glass cases for the exhibition «f prints or books. On this floor there is also a staff room with facilities for preparing lunch. Above this, in a partial story, are the janitor's apartments. The building is heated throughout with hot water on a combination of the direct and indirect systems. There is a small elevator, operated by hand, for the janitor's supplies, and another operated by electricity for books. The trim of the entire building is in light oak and the walls are covered with canvas which is painted in a creamy tint with a dark-green olive dado. The building cost about $75,000 exclusive of the site. The branch of 103 West 135th Street is a departure architec- turally from most of the Carnegie buildings, inasmuch as it has an overhanging tile roof and a large arched central window in front running from the second to the third story. Moreover the assembly room in the basement has a direct entrance from the side of the building. It was provided in the deed of the land on which the building stands that a strip 10 feet wide should be left free on the west side and this strip is utilized for the assembly room entrance. There being a similar strip on the east side and a court in the rear, this building is particularly for- tunate in having light and air on all four sides. The first floor accommodates the adult circulating and reference department, and the second the children's room, and the third floor the pe- riodical room and janitor's apartments. The Mott Haven branch at 321 East 140th Street, Bronx bor- ough, was opened March 31, 1905, with about 9,000 volumes as a nucleus. The building has three stories and a basement, with a frontage of 50 feet on Alexander Avenue, and 80 feet on 140th Street, the main entrance being on the latter. The outer walls are of brick, heavily trimmed with Indiana limestone, and are somewhat more elaborate than the other Carnegie branches. In 60 I TOTTHNVILLK. SI ATKN ISLAND -J. KiNi.;snRiDr.H. Ni;\v York 3 I'oRi KiCHMoNii, SiAiiN Island NKW YORK. SUKUKr.AN CAKK1-KI-: * HASIlNi.S. ARCHIIKCTS McKiM. Mi:ai> A: Wiim-;, ARCIlMKCl^j Carriri' \- IlAMiN(.s. Architects I'.KANCHKS Main Floor Haskmi:nt I'OKI' KICHMDXIt likAXrH WAl.kiiK 6l MoKKIb, AKLHllHLiS. N. \. Photos. i'.\ Ikank I'kaksall WILLIAMSBURGH BRANCH, BROOKLVX PUBLIC LIBRARY AUDI T<->K1U.M, W11.1.1A.M>I;LRGH BRANCH REACHING THE PEOPLE common with them it has large arched windows on the mai'n floor. As can be seen from the accompanying floor plan the basement is occupied by a boiler room, packing and work rooms, toilets, and storage space. The circulating rooms for both adults and children are on the main floor, while the gen- eral reading room is on the second floor. A staff room for the library assistant is on the mezzanine floor. The third floor con- tains an assembly room, and in the rear an apartment for the janitor's family. The busy Tremont branch, which is located at Washington Avenue and 176th Street, was opened July 22, 1905. It is a rectangular, two-story structure of brick, with Indiana limestone trimmings, with two entrances. The circulating department for children and adults is on the main floor. The second floor contains a reading room and an assembly room, and above these, in the rear, are the apartments for the janitor. The Carnegie building for theTottenville branch was formally opened November 26, 1904. It is an unpretentious but most attractive brick structure, standing back from the street and ap- proached by a brick-paved walk through a lawn bordered with a privet hedge. Nearly the entire first floor is taken up by one large room, open to the rafters. The charging desk, directly opposite the entrance, divides the room into two parts, one for the adults, the other for the children. In the rear are a staff room and a stairway leading to the basement, containing a boiler room, a packing and a work room, toilet rooms, and storage space. 61 CHAPTER VII THE BROOKLYN BRANCHES Report of the Consulting Architect — The Determination of the Type of Branch Buildings to be erected — The Question of Uni- formity IN Style — The Number of Architects and the Method of their Selection — Instructions to Architects. WHILE in Manhattan the branches were planned to conform to one general type, and, because of the high price of land, have been forced upward rather than allowed to expand laterally; in Brooklyn, on the other hand, the branch library buildings have been designed by archi- tects working independently under instructions from a consult- ing architect, and with such plots of ground at their disposal as enabled them to pay more regard to architectural effect and to conform more closely to the conventional style of small library buildings. The size of the lots on which the branches have been erected has admitted of an amount of light and air that seems suburban rather than urban. Owing to the fact that these branches have stack rooms and auditoriums, and have been designed with so much care and thought both upon the part of the architects and the representatives of the library, they merit special study by those interested in public libraries in general, and in some matters may well serve as models for the libraries of towns of twenty or thirty thousand people. At the annual meeting of the American Library Association held at Narragansett Pier, July, 1906, Prof A. D. F. Hamlin, the consulting architect, gave the following account of the joint work of the architects and the committee for erecting Carnegie Libraries in Brooklyn: " The problem was almost unique. The erection of twenty branch libraries as a single enterprise in one city is not an every- year affair. The librarian, Mr. Frank P. Hill, was the initiator of the large-minded way in which his committee, a choice body 62 BROOKLYN BRANCHES of men of business, who were also men of culture and experi- enced in public affairs, handled their task. A believer in expert advice, Mr. Hill persuaded them to seek such advice at the very threshold of their enterprise. The first task of the adviser was to frame the procedure which should govern the whole under- taking. The scheme which was then worked out has been fol- lowed ever since and with rather remarkably successful results, for which the credit belongs, not to the scheme alone, but quite as much to the loyal spirit in which all participated in its oper- ation. It was, briefly, as follows : To select five architects, giv- ing each a single library to design, but organizing the five into an advisory commission, whose joint approval should be required upon each separate design before its presentation to the board or fund committee; and to require, further, that each of the five designs should also receive the adviser's criticism and approval before adoption. The architects of the later libraries were to be selected and assigned upon the basis and in the light of the ex- perience gained in the first five libraries, and were to be likewise organized into an advisory commission ; the presumption being, however, that the first five architects would be reappointed unless any or all of them proved incompetent for their task. Thus collaboration was substituted for competition and re- appointment held out as an incentive to efficient service. Each architect was directly responsible for particular buildings, but was obliged to undergo the criticism and privileged to benefit by the suggestions of all the rest. A remarkable relation of community of interest, a loyal and unselfish devotion to the work in hand, and a most friendly and efficient pulling together of all concerned have marked the progress of this interesting experiment. The librarian has, of course, been the pilot, and he has also been the link between the five architects and the Carnegie committee; and it need not be said — nor is it flattery to say it — that with a librarian so genial and yet so strong in his convictions and so widely experienced, the relations between the committee and the commission were pretty sure to be of the pleasantest sort. And yet, when one reflects on the annoy- ances, the frictions, the mishaps, misunderstandings and per- plexities likely to arise in building one building with one architect, and much more in building twenty buildings and deal- ing with five architects, it is, I am sure, a most creditable record that not one serious difference has arisen between the two bodies during the entire five years since the adviser's report was adopted in 190 1. It is, I beheve, a quite unexampled ex» perience. 63 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES " During these five years the adviser has been called upon, first, for the report or scheme of procedure just outlined ; secondly, to report on the various architects whose names were presented (or who presented themselves) for appointment, the reports being based on their professional history, training, and achievement ; thirdly, to prepare in conjunction with the com- mittee's counsel, a form of contract between the committee and the architects ; and fourthly, to pass on all designs submitted. In addition, he has examined, criticised, and approved designs for a trust company's building erected by agreement with the committee on property adjoining one of the libraries ; prepared an elaborate report on the difficult question of extras — the first formal treatise on the subject with which I am acquainted ; ad- vised on a number of the sites selected, attending public hear- ings in two cases and speaking at one of these before the controller of the city; visited and reported upon a bad case of leakage and dampness In an unfinished library — the subject of a bitter controversy between the architect and the contractor; and prepared a detailed report on branch libraries in several cities of the nearer West. This last report was one of the fruits of a trip made in February, 1906, with the librarian and four archi- tects of the commission. We cherish the hope, and indeed the belief, that the Brooklyn branch libraries, as the result of this mutually helpful collaboration, are among the very best ex- amples to be found anywhere of their kind, all things consid- ered. The whole experience simply illustrates the value of the sort of emulation which comes with collaboration as compared with divisive competition or sheer independent effort." To show how the committee arrived at some of the decisions in regard to the questions Involved we give herewith Professor Hamlin's report, Issued during the latter part of 1901 : To the Committee for Erectmg Carnegie Libraries in Brvoklyn : Gentlemen — In compliance with your request, I have care- fully studied the problem upon which you have asked my advice, and beg to submit herewith my conclusions. The question of the wisest possible procedure for procuring the designs and selecting the architects of the proposed Car- negie libraries in Brooklyn, concerns clilefly three classes of interests: those of the libraries themselves ; those of the general public who use them; and those of the architectural profession, upon whose members you must depend for the proper satisfac- tion of the other two classes. 64 BROOKLYN BRANCHES It is plain that whatever architectural solution of the problem best serves the needs and functions of the library, serves also to the same extent the people who use it and the community of which they are a part. But in the matter of aesthetic beauty the general public have also an interest independent of the library itself. For a well-planned and convenient edifice, serving well the needs of the library, may yet be a cause of offense to the public by reason of its unattractiveness or its positive ugliness of architectural treatment. It is therefore essential, first, to make sure of such planning and arrangement as will most perfectly subserve the uses of the proposed hbraries ; and, secondly, to secure an architectural treatment of the buildings that shall be satisfactory from an architectural point of view. These libraries are in a sense pub- lic monuments, destined to endure for long periods of time, and should possess those permanent qualities of artistic dignity and refined elegance which always win the approval of good taste, in spite of changes of style or fashion. So far as the architectural profession is concerned, results such as have been outlined above will command the approval of architects generally. Private and local preferences must not interfere with the higher interests of the enterprise, and any procedure that demonstrably serves these interests fulfills also your obligations to the profession at large. The above considerations are fundamental and axiomatic. The questions really requiring discussion relate to details. They seem to me to be as follows : (I) What shall be the type or types of the proposed libraries, and how shall they be determined? (II) To what extent shall the architectural treatment of the buildings be uniform, and to what extent varied? (III) How many architects shall be employed? (IV) How shall these be selected? (V) Shall the procedure adopted be limited to the buildings first undertaken, or extended to cover the whole enterprise, from inception to completion? (I) W/iaf shall be the type or types of the proposed libraries , and how shall it or they be determined ? In answer to this I recommend that you instruct your profes- sional adviser to prepare, in conference with the Librarian of the Public Library, a programme of instructions to architects, embodying in a form similar to that of a competition programme a detailed statement of the requirements of the proposed libra- 65 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES ries ; this programme, when approved by your Committee, to serve for the guidance of the architects employed. I recommend further, that each of the architects selected be instructed to prepare a design for one building; but that in the preparation of these designs all the architects collaborate and confer with the utmost freedom, both formally and informally, alike with each other and with your Librarian and your profes- sional adviser, as representing your Committee ; so that each design shall represent its author's conception of the building as developed in the light of the fullest discussion and information. The conditions will thus be very different from those of an ordi- nary competition, which involve a large measure of secrecy in each man's work. The sketch-designs thus prepared will furnish the Committee with the necessary data for deciding the question of type. It will be, in all likelihood, clear from these designs whether one among them is so superior as to furnish a manifest type to be followed in all the libraries; or whether on the other hand two or more designs differing materially in arrangement and yet equally serviceable and convenient, are worthy of adoption and can be employed consistently with that unity of general charac- ter which ought to mark all the libraries under this gift. It may well prove to be the case in Brooklyn, where the topog- raphy, shape and dimensions of lots and the cost of land are so much more varied than they are in Manhattan, that no such unity of type can be maintained as is possible in Manhattan. There is likely at least to be the variation required by the dif- ference between a lot between party-walls and one at the corner of two streets. The Committee will be able, after examining the plans submitted and listening to the recommendations of their architects, to decide the question in the light of practical experience in the solution of specific problems, instead of reach- ing in advance an arbitrary decision on abstract principles. (II) To what extent should the architectural treatment of all the libraries be imiform^ and to what extent varied ? The size and requirements of the libraries being presumably identical, or nearly so, and these requirements being set forth in precise terms in the instructions to your architects, there must result a measure of similarity in the arrangements of the different buildings. How far this will be modified by differences of site and by the personal equation of the designers, it is impossible to foretell. While the Committee may in its programme of instructions, and , 66 BROOKLYN BRANCHES as a matter of general policy, insist on the desirability of a pre- vailing unity of style and character in the architecture of all the buildings, which should mark them as unmistakably Carnegie libraries, it would hardly be wise to go farther than this. The precise measure of restraint to be imposed on individual varia- tions of design can be better determined in the light of actual experience, as the result of the experiment in cooperative design above outlined. (III) How many architects shall be employed? As many, in my opinion, as there are libraries to be under- taken the first year, provided these be no more than five. A larger number would form an unwieldy body, liable to work at cross-purposes, or at least in entire independence of each other, frustrating the mutual cooperation which this scheme proposes as an essential feature of the preliminary stages of the enterprise. If more than five libraries are to be undertaken at the outset, five of them should be assigned to the five architects, to start with, and the question left open whether the balance should be given to them, and if so, to which ones among them, or to outside architects. Your experience with them and their designs will make this question comparatively easy of solution. The probability is wholly in favor of continuing them in office, and entrusting to them the remaining libraries. (IV) How shall the architects be selected? It is possible to select the architects by a competition. This is, however, a slow and expensive procedure. If it be adopted, not less than ten to fifteen architects should be invited to com- pete, and be paid an honorarium of $250 each ; only sketch- designs should be required, and the authors of the five best designs should receive appointment as your architects. The only advantage of this procedure would be the quieting of the clamor of a certain small class of objectors, who insist that the opportunity of such an architectural enterprise should be thrown open to as many as possible of the architects of Brooklyn. My own preference is distinctly for direct selection and ap- pointment of the architects who are to serve you. In this selection both actual achievement, in the case of the older men. and, in the case of the younger practitioners, evidence of decided talent and thorough training, are legitimate considerations. It is also wise to include in the selection men of somewhat diverse 67 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES talents, so as to embrace engineering experience, artistic ability, and mature practical judgment. The men should be such as can work together in harmony. For reasons of local civic policy, so far as these do not conflict with the higher interests of the enter- prise, it may be desirable to select only residents of the Borough. Each one of those selected may represent a firm, but only he should appear and have a vote in consultations on matters of common interest. Your adviser will willingly assist in making the selection, if so desired. (V) Shall this procedure be limited to the first group of librafies or extended to cover all? The underlying thought of this scheme has been to safeguard the freedom of action of your Committee by refusing to cross bridges before they were reached. Hard and fast rules could easily be laid down to control the whole enterprise from start to finish. But this is too important and complex an undertak- ing to be confined within the limits of arbitrary preconceptions. This scheme provides for meeting each question as it comes up, and not before, with the help of all the experience previously acquired. Whether the same architects who designed the first group of Ubraries should also design all the others or not de- pends largely upon their success with the first group. Whether the type adopted for this group shall be insisted upon for the later libraries must likewise depend in great measure upon how successful the first group turn out to be. To sum up, then, your adviser recommends: 1. That your Committee selects and appoints a small number of architects, preferably five (each being permitted to represent a firm), to constitute an Advisory Commission upon all the architectural questions involved in the first group of libraries to be erected, and upon such further questions as you may choose to refer to their judgment. 2. That you issue to this Advisory Commission a definite programme, to be prepared by your professional adviser in con- ference with the Librarian of the Public Library, setting forth the conditions and requirements of the proposed buildings. 3. That each member of the Advisory Commission be in- structed to prepare a design for one library, the apportionment among them to be determined by the members themselves, who shall also, meeting as a Commission, have power to determine all general questions affecting their work, not already determined in the instructions given them. These designs shall represent the result of full collaboration and free discussion in Commission, and 68 CllAKr.lNG DKsK, 1)kK.AI.C r.RANCll E»V3HWICK AVT. ■F\-A.n o» First Fuootl ^v^MviCK Avm ^'i.xji o» ^ ka\»\*»n i)H kali; I!KAN'ch Lord & Hewlett, Architects, n ^ . i-hoto. hv I'ra.nk i BEDFORD BRANCH, BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY K. 1.. IJAUS, ARCllIlhCl. N. V. IIIOU'. IV I RANK TlARSALL FLATBUSH BRANCH, BROOKLYN PLT.LIC LIBRARY ^^ FFL,i=Zl t-Rl ^^^^ IIEDrOkD URANCII, IJROOKI.VX CHARGING DESK, FLATBUSH BRANCH, BROOKLYN CIIII.IJRI.N'S ROOM. I I.A ll'.LSH I'.KANCH riRST Fldor Plan K. I.. IMLS, AKCllIThCT bl.LDNI) I-'I niiR I'l A-. ILAIHUSH liKANCH W. B. TLBBV, ARCHITECT. N. V. PHOTOS. HV FRANK PlAKVM I CARROLL PARK P.RANXH, BROOKLYN- INTERIOR, CARROLL PARK BRANCH fcXO»VJ*^VK, Main I'loor f n ASP. Mr NT f ■ A D P f 1 r t D A U L' IJ U A X' f • IJ BROOKLYN BRANCHES the members shall have free access to the Librarian and to your adviser in all matters in which these can be of assistance. 4. The Advisory Commission shall submit these designs to your Committee, and with them also such recommendations as they may choose to make with regard to the general policy and further procedure of your Committee and the details of the architectural treatment of the Carnegie Gift. Your Committee shall then, in the light of these recommendations, and of the designs submitted, prepare their final instructions to the mem- bers of the Advisory Commission, who shall then proceed to prepare the working drawings for the proposed group of libra- ries, in accordance with these instructions. In these delibera- tions the services of your professional adviser shall be always at the service of your Committee. 5. The policy to govern the next and all subsequent groups of libraries shall be formulated and announced at such later time as your Committee may appoint. 6. For their services as architects to the Committee for erect- ing Carnegie libraries in Brooklyn all architects employed shall be paid the customary commission of five per cent for full ser- vices ; and for partial services at the rates established by the American Institute of Architects, except that, when two or more libraries are erected from the same design, the commission shall be four per cent for the second and three per cent for the third and subsequent libraries ; and for partial services in proportion. All which is respectfully submitted. A. D. F. HAMLIN Pursuant to the recommendations contained in the above report, which was duly adopted and made the basis of agree- ment between the Committee and the architects, the following " Instructions to Architects" were issued in October, 1902 : Instructions to Architects In accordance with the action of the Committee for Erecting Carnegie Libraries in Brooklyn, by which on November 9, 1901, they adopted the Report of their Consulting Architect, outlining a scheme of procedure for securing plans for the proposed Car- negie Libraries in Brooklyn, the following instructions are issued to the architects constituting the Advisory Commission, for their guidance in preparing plans for the first five libraries to be erected. The Board of Estimate of New York City has purchased, or will probably shortly purchase, for these libraries the following 69 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES sites, which with the libraries to be built upon them will be for convenience designated by the names or numbers appended herewith to each : No. Name. Location. Dimensions of Lot. 1. (Bedford) Franklin Ave., opp. Hancock St., i2o'xi25' 2. (Carroll Park) N. W. cor. Clinton St. and Union St., loo'xpo' (Or substitute.) 3. (Pacific) S. E. cor. Fourth Ave. and Pacific St., loo'xgs' 4. (Greenpoint) N. E. cor. Leonard St. and Norman Ave., loo'xgs' 5. (Williamsburgh) Rodney St., Marcy Ave., and Division Ave., 2i5'x2i3'x246' The details of size and grading of these lots may be learned from plans and surveys in the office of Frank P. Hill, Librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library, 26 Brevoort Place, Brooklyn. In general it may be said that the buildings to be erected on the first four sites will be practically similar in size, capacity, and cost, and it is not unlikely that they may be made similar or identical in plan, since each will stand upon a lot giving ample space for light and air, while the limit of cost will prevent ex- treme variation. But it is proposed to make the Williamsburgh Library, No. 5, larger than any of the others, and its require- ments will therefore be stated separately. Those for the first four, being identical, will be stated as if for one building. The limit of cost being set at ^80,000 for each of the first four libraries, allowance must be made for stacks, heating, light- ing and ventilating plant, architects' fees, and perhaps also for curbing and grading of lot and other incidental expenses. The Commission is requested to consider the proper allowance to be made for these items, in order to reach the amount available for construction. It is possible that the city may assume the work of curbing and grading. The Committee, meanwhile, for the purpose of preparing these instructions, has allowed for these items the following amounts: Architects' fees $3'5oo Stacks, 25,000 volumes 3t5oo Grading and curbing 3,000 Heating and ventilation, etc 7)5oo Incidentals 500 $18,000 Cost of building proper 62,000 $80,000 70 U o O z BROOKLYN BRANCHES Prudence suggests the desirability of providing for unforeseen contingencies by assigning $60,000 in round numbers as the sum available for each building. If 30c. be allowed as the present lowest cost per cubic foot for fireproof buildings of this kind, the volume of each building should not exceed 200,000 cubic feet; and if the average height be taken at 46 feet, the area covered on the ground, if built throughout to this height, must not exceed 4,347 feet. If the cost per cubic foot be taken at 35c., this will be reduced to 3,725 feet. For greater height or cost this will have to be still further reduced. < The areas called for on the two main floors apparently exceed slightly the larger of these two areas. It will accordingly be necessary to consider whether (^) fireproof construction can be had at less than 30c. per cubic foot; or {b) whether a reason- ably fire-resisting but less expensive form of construction can be adopted ; or {c) whether the allowance for construction can be increased beyond $62,000; or (<^/) whether any readjustment of areas can be effected without sacrifice of efficiency ; or (c) whether any of the requirements can be omitted. Free and full conference between the Commission and the Librarian may lead to a definite conclusion on these points. Character of buildings — These are to be branch libraries, not central libraries. The total capacity of each need not exceed 35,000 volumes, of which 10,000 to 13,000 at least must be on open shelves and 22,000 to 25,000 may be in the stacks. The stacks should not be in a wing separated by walls and doors from the delivery desk, as liberal access to them will be allowed to frequenters of the libra- ries, and they must therefore be in full view from the desk. The building will comprise a basement and two stories. Whether the roof' shall be flat or pitched, and, if pitched, shall be made to contain any of the less important rooms assigned elsewhere in the following schedule, is left to the judgment of the Commission, or, if it prefers, to individual discretion and experiment. The material and finish of the exterior, and the general char- acter of the interior finish, are also left to the decision of the Commission in the same way. The basement should be 9 feet high in the clear, except where greater height for boilers, etc., is secured by deeper excavation. The basement must be made absolutely dry by ample external sunken areas, and its walls damp-proof. 71 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES The first floor should be 3 or 3 3^ feet above the ground, and reached from the front by not more than 6 or 7 steps outside. The height of this first story should be 14^ or 15 feet in the clear, to allow of two stack-tiers. The second story may be as high as convenient, but not less than tAvelve feet in the clear. The building should stand not less than 10 feet back from all street building lines, and not less than 15 feet from party lines. The rear wall should, if possible, be kept 20 feet away from the rear line of the lot. Requirements Basement — Front and rear entrances. Halls and stairs. Work-room, with space for magazines, newspapers, and stock 500 sq. ft. Janitor's store-room 200-300 sq. ft. Public lavatories for men and for women. Heating and ventilating plant. Closets and five lockers. Coal storage. The work-room should have abundant shelving, of which one-half should have sliding glass doors. The shelves should be 16 inches deep up to 3 feet 4 inches from the floor, and the remainder 12 inches deep up to 7 feet from floor. Janitor's store-room should have cupboards 4 feet high and 12 inches deep. Allow space for a work-bench 3 feet wide and 7 feet long. Provide continuous shelving 12 inches wide on re- maining wall space and above cupboards and work-bench to a height of 7 feet. The lockers, five in number, should be each 2 feet wide and 6 feet 3 inches high, with a shelf 5 feet 3 inches from the floor. First Floor — Vestibule, entrance hall, stairs. Delivery room 400 sq. ft. Stack space, stacks for 25,000 volumes .... 600-1,200 sq. ft. Reading room 1,200 sq. ft. Reference room 400 sq. ft. Children's room 1,600 sq. ft. Librarian's room 300-350 sq. ft. The delivery desk should control as far as possible the whole floor, and be placed as far forward as is consistent with perfect lighting and control of stacks. 72 BROOKLYN BRANCHES The stairs may well be put to one side, or a little out of the way, to prevent the noise from disturbing the readers. The whole first floor, except the entrance hallway, may be considered as forming really one large room, the partitions being chiefly of glass above the level of 5 feet from the floor. Below this level they may be formed by the wall-shelving of the several rooms or divisions. Wherever glass partitions are not used, the wall-shelving should extend to 7 feet in height, except in the children's room, where it should not exceed 5 feet in height. All shelving should be of metal (if not too expensive), m yft. lengths, 8 inches deep, and adjustable, unless otherwise particu- larly specified. In the stack space use double stacks, 16 inches deep, with aisles 4 feet wide between and a large window at end of each aisle. The stacks may be in two tiers or stories, each 7 feet high in the clear, allowing thus 14 shelves in total height. If preferable, stacks may be arranged radially, as in Louisiana Purchase Exposition Model Library, or in such manner that the desk will command a clear view of each stack and aisle. Allow 8 volumes to each running foot of single shelving. It is desirable to provide open shelving as follows : In Reading room for 3,000 volumes Reference room for 2,000 volumes Children's room for 6,000 volumes Librarian's room for 1,000 volumes (There will be required a limited amount of wide shelving for large books ; but this detail is left for determination in the specifications and working drawings.) The children's room may well have a separate side entrance, besides communicating with delivery room. About 300 sq. ft. of the children's room should be partitioned off by shelving and glass for a children's reference room. It will be seen that the children's room is here supposed to balance the main reading room and reference room. Second Floor — Lecture room, 200-250 seats about 1,500 sq. ft. Two ante-rooms, together • about 450 sq. ft. Two study rooms, together 1,000-1,200 sq. ft. Staff lunch room about 180 sq. ft. Staff sitting room about 180 sq. ft. Staff lavatory about 150 sq. ft. Entrance hall and stairs. One or two rooms for janitor, if practicable. 72> CARNEGIE LIBRARIES The study rooms should be connected by large doors, and shelved for i,ooo volumes. The staff lunch room should have shelves for lOO volumes. For purposes of economy it may be necessary to dispense with one ante-room to lecture room, or to make one, or both together, serve as the staff sitting room. In connection with the staff sitting room, or still better, if practicable, somewhere on the first floor, there should be a half- dozen lockers for the staff, similar in size to those already speci- fied in the basement. THE WILLIAMSBURGH LIBRARY This will stand upon a triangular plot, as indicated in the list of sites, and should provide the following accommodations. The heights of stories will be as for the other libraries. The total sum available for this building is ;^iio,ooo, of which $85,000 to $90,000 may be assigned to the building alone. Requirements Basement — Entrance vestibule, hall, and stairs. Work-room with space for magazines, newspapers, and stock about 500 sq. ft. Janitor's store-room about 350 sq. ft. Public lavatories for men and women, well separated 500-750 sq. ft. Heating and ventilating plant. Closets and six or eight lockers. Shelving and cupboards, lockers, etc., precisely as for other four libraries. Provide also rear entrance and coal storage. First Floor — Vestibule, entrance hall, and stairs. Delivery room about 500 sq. ft. Stack space and stacks for 35,000 volumes . . . 750-1,500 sq. ft. These three rooms — hall, delivery, and stack space — should be connected by liberal doors or archways, or the de- livery room and stack space be made one room, as suggested for preceding libraries, and entrance hall divided from delivery room by partition. Librarian's room about 320 sq. ft. Cataloguing room about 320 sq. ft. Children's room about 2,000 sq. ft. The Librarian's and cataloguing rooms should be connected. 74 BROOKLYN BRANCHES Second Story — Reading room and reference room, together . . . 2,200 sq. ft. Periodical storage room, adjoining the reading room, about 220 sq. ft. (Shelving to be as for work-room in basement of other libraries.) Two study rooms, together 1,200 sq. ft. (Connected by folding doors.) Staff lunch room 180-200 sq. ft. Staff sitting room 180-200 sq. ft. Staff lavatory about 150 sq. ft. Hall and stairs. Provide 8 to 10 staff lockers, preferably on first floor. Additional — There will also be required, if possible : Auditorium, with 350 seats about 2,200 sq. ft. Two ante-rooms for same, together 400-450 sq. ft. Rooms and lavatory for janitor about 400 sq. ft. These additional requirements may be accommodated at will in a one-story, ground-floor wing, or in the second story, or omitted, wholly or in part, though they are extremely desir- able. If the cost permits of the provision of an elevator of good size, these parts may, indeed, be put in an attic or roof- story. General suggestions — The following suggestions apply to all the five libraries: If radial stacks are used, the stack space may be treated as a projecting one-story wing, permitting of the future addition of a second story, doubling its capacity. Except in this stack space, no bookcases or stacks should be set upon, or project into, the open floor space. In other words, all open shelving should be against walls or form partitions. Public catalogue cases, if not arranged as part of or close to delivery desk, should be in delivery room at some point acces- sible also to children's room and reference room. Each building should have abundant interior telephone and bell connections. The attention of the Commission is especially called to the arrangement of the Lawrenceville Branch of the Pittsburg Library, the Model Library of the Louisiana Purchase Exposi- tion, and the New Jersey Historical Society's building on West Park Street, Newark, N. J., formerly the Newark Free Public Library. A small coat-room, near the main entrance, is a desirable convenience. 75 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES A book-lift should run from the basement work-room to the study rooms on the second floor, with an opening also for deliv^ery on the first floor. Dust-chutes should be provided from the stack space to basement. The ventilating plant should not be over-elaborate and costly. The open character of the first story, which is the part most frequented, makes elaborate artificial ventilation less imperative than might otherwise be the case. Provide hot and cold water at some point on each floor. In the children's room provide two hand-basins with hot and cold water, well screened from public view. The stairs should be made with easy risers. Marble base-boards are recommended wherever tile flooring is used. Windows in stack space should run up close to the ceiling. The flooring of delivery room and entrance hall, especially the latter, should be durable and yet as noiseless as possible. The interlocking rubber tile may be used if not too expensive. These requirements, except as to the relations laid down as necessary between the rooms, are intended as recommendations. The Commission and the individual architects are at liberty to submit modifications of the requirements, provided they main- tain these relations and do not materially reduce the size of the important rooms. The architects are requested to bear in mind that abundant natural light and natural ventilation are great desiderata, and that no convenience of arrangement should be sacrificed for mere architectural effect. Convenience and directness of access, sim- plicity and obviousness of arrangement — such that a stranger on first entering the building may see at once where to go for what he needs — are of prime importance, as well as a general spaciousness, cheerfulness and hospitableness of aspect. Such matters, regarding the style, material and finish of the libraries, as it seems wise to the Commission to agree upon and lay down as instructions to be followed by all, they are requested to determine upon at once and report for the information (and if necessary the action) of the Committee; other matters they can leave to the individual study of each designer. But it should be remembered that the interior finish should be durable, above all ; not easily defaced or caused to deteriorate. The scale and character of the drawings are left to the Com- mission to fix, but the Committee are willing that they should be very simple and on a small scale. 76 iif|imiir ' fsTE ■ B ]||| ■ m Phnn \'akm;\, Ak> mii:Li. L'.nn, Ma^s. MELROSE, MASSACHUSETTS SIDE-VIEW or THE MELROSE LlliKARY, SHOWING THE BOOK-STACK IN THE REAR H H U en X < CO en en O -] u u; «) VViNSLOW & BiGi.LKU, AKcmiECIs, Boslu.s BIGELOW LIBRARY, CLINTON, MASS. Photo, bv d. d:as INTERIOR OF THE I'.ICKI.OW LIliRAKV, SHOWING; (:;L"AS lAVlNO KIRK-PROOl' CONSTRUCTION -riRS>T ruOOIR h^UAM- -fi^TORiCAu Room Art Roo»^ Ui □ D D /Ci Q OO O a D c D D a D a D OOC7CJC BIGELOW LIBRARY, CLINTON, MASS. BROOKLYN BRANCHES The freest consultation both with the Librarian and with the Consulting Architect is urged upon the architects, whenever it may seem desirable and helpful. (Signed) DAVID A. BOODY, President DANIEL W. McWILLIAMS R. ROSS APPLETON JOHN W. DEVOY A. D. F." HAMLIN, FRANK P. HILL, Consulting Architect Clerk and Librarian October 8, 1902 The Williamsburgh branch, formally opened January 28, 1905, is the largest and most expensive of the Carnegie branches in Brooklyn and is built on a triangular site which admits of a novel arrangement of rooms. It cost ^114,134 exclusive of furniture and fittings. There is a circular delivery desk, beyond which are divergent stacks arranged for open access. The building has a shelf capacity of about 30,000 volumes. The north wing to the left of the entrance contains the large main reading room, while in the opposite wing is the children's room. Ample space is provided on the second floor for study rooms, work rooms and a staff room. The Carroll Park branch, costing approximately $80,000, is at the corner of Clinton and Union Streets, and is a one-story structure, with a well-lighted basement extending nearly ten feet above the street level. This allows of a large lecture room in the basement, with a separate entrance from the rear of the building. It is built of Harvard brick with limestone trimmings and cost about $75,000. The Flatbush branch, costing approximately $70,000, opened October 7, 1905, located on Linden Avenue, near Flatbush Avenue, is a handsome building of cream-colored brick, with stone trimmings. The interior arrangement is typical of the general plan of the other Carnegie branches in Brooklyn, — an open access book room, adult reading room on one side of the delivery room and the children's room on the other, with low partitions allowing of excellent supervision. At first the auditoriums in these branches were not used as much as it was expected they would be, owing possibly to the 77 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES fact that it was not generally known for what purpose the halls were intended. Later the charge for the use of them was reduced from $10 to $S for an evening — from $5 to $3 for the after- noon — an amount which merely covers the cost of extra janitor service, light and heat. " The need of such buildings," says the Librarian in the eighth annual report of the Brooklyn Public Library, " is seen from the large use and the increase in circulation in those branches that have been transferred from old to new buildings. This means that a beautiful piece of architecture has an uplifting influence upon the neighborhood, an impression, no doubt, in the mind of Mr. Carnegie when he made his splendid gift to greater New York. It is well known that his intention has been to extend the influence of the library to the largest number of people, and so it must be a source of gratification to him, as it is to us, to know that the establishment of these new libraries has increased the local pride and brought the community interests closer together." 78 CHAPTER VIII EASTERN LIBRARIES Melrose and Clinton, Mass. — Norwalk, Conn. — Philadelphia, Pa. — Syracuse and Binghamton, N. Y. — Johnstown and Amsterdam, N. Y. — East Orange, N. J. THE Melrose Public Library was established at the annual town meeting held March 27, 1871, by ap- propriating to this purpose the accumulated receipts of the " dog-tax " for the two previous years, which according to law are applicable to the maintenance of schools and libraries. Though the amount on hand was only ^624.85, yet, by securing donations from interested citizens and with the gift of 125 volumes of standard American authors from the Franklin Fraternity, an association of high school boys, the Trustees were able to report at the end of the first year that the library contained 1,504 volumes. A copy of the Bible, printed in 1826, was piously listed as volume number i in the collection ; and it retained this call number until the books were reclassified in 1897. At first, through the courtesy of the Selectmen, the library shared with the Board a room in the Waverly Block. Here it remained until 1874, when it secured quarters in the new City Hall, which it occupied until 1895, when it removed to the Y. M. C. A. building. But before long the collection of books began to crowd the new accommodations, and the Trus- tees had to provide more room. They had long hoped that, either by the action of the city or by the generosity of some of its wealthy citizens or former residents, a library building would be provided. They had waited in vain, however, and a number of citizens now conceived the idea of writing to Mr. Carnegie in the hope of enlisting his interest in the matter. In due season the mayor received a favorable reply from Mr. Carnegie, dated December 31, 1901, offering $25,000 on the 79 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES usual conditions. The gift was at once accepted. The old High School lot on Emerson Street was soon agreed upon as the site for the new building, and Mr. Penn Varney of Lynn was chosen as architect It is a two-story building of classical design, constructed of pressed brick of limestone color, with trimmings of Indiana limestone, the material being the same as that used in the Carnegie library at Schenectady, N. Y., designed by the same architect. By raising the grade of the lot, a perfectly dry and light basement has been secured. Several features of the in- terior arrangement deserve notice. The two flights of stairs ascending from the entrance hall to the second story afford access to the art gallery, historical room, and reference room without the necessity of entering any of the rooms on the first floor. The partition between the delivery room and the hall is of glass, and can be removed during the summer months. From the hbrarian's desk every room on the first floor is visible, while by means of the glass partition the attendant at the desk is aware of any one going to the second story. Supervision is thus greatly facilitated. The stack room, which is fire-proof, will accommodate about 22,000 volumes to a floor. A metal book-lift is provided, extending from the unpacking-room in the basement to the catalogue room, and thence to the refer- ence room on the second story. Near the entrance have been placed memorial tablets, bearing the names of all the citizens of Melrose who served in the Civil War to the credit of the town. " Believing thnt the public library in a community should be a distinctively educational force and a strong ally of the public schools," the librarian writes, " we have given much care to the juvenile department. The children's room is large and attrac- tive, is furnished with portfolios, nature study cases, globes, maps, and pictorial bulletins illustrating national holidays and the birthdays of noted persons, which are changed each month. The juvenile and school books are shelved here with a separate catalogue, and an attendant is always present to assist in clioice of books and looking up references. We have also established a loan or branch library at the high school, and have recently purchased two Underwood stcrcopticon tours for the use of schools of the higher grades. Children are admitted to full library privileges at the age of ten." 80 EASTERN LIBRARIES For~many years there had been a feeling among the directors of the Bigelow Free Public Library at Clinton and the citizens in general that their town was not furnishing such library j,,.^^^^ accommodations as it should. As a preliminary step towards improving the conditions, the directors had been made a committee to investigate building sites and to propose ways and means for providing a suitable structure. As the sentiment was universal that when a building was erected it should be done in a thorough manner, and as the town had nearly reached its debt limit and other needs were pressing, the time never seemed to arrive when it appeared wise to ask for an appropriation for suitable library accommodations. It was therefore welcome news when, on March 15, 1901, word was received that through the intercession of Mr. J. F. MacNab of Washington, a former citizen of Clinton, and Congressman George W. Weymouth, Mr. Carnegie had promised to give $25,000 for a library build- ing. This gift was accepted at a meeting held July 10, 1901. The next step was to secure a site, a matter in which there was some difference of opinion at the town meeting called on November 29 to consider the question, until it became known that if the estate of the late Dr. G. M. Morse were chosen its cost, which was ;^ 15,000, would be bequeathed to the town on the death of a certain gentleman, who afterwards proved to be George Washington Weeks, for many years connected with the library as librarian and secretary. It was immediately voted to purchase this lot, which is of ample dimensions and most desirably located opposite the Town Hall and near the High School and other public buildings and not far from Central Park. In addition to the price of the land $15,000 was appro- priated at this meeting to be used for the building together with Mr. Carnegie's gift. At a subsequent meeting an additional $6,000 was appropriated for the same purpose. About $2,000 from the regular library appropriation has been spent for the furnishings, so that the building and lot represent an expendi- ture of about $63,000. It was determined at the outset that utility should not be sacrificed to ornament, and that the greatest amount of room should be secured for the least expense consistent with thorough construction. The simple dignity and beauty of the building are the result of the perfection of the proportion, the harmony 81 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES of the parts, and the evident fitness to the purpose for which it was designed. The arrangement of the surrounding grounds and the vines already cHmbing the walls add to its attractive- ness. The interior of the building is divided vertically into three sections by brick partitions. On the south side is a room 40 X 20 feet in size on each of the three floors. On the main floor this is the reading-room, the walls being lined with bookcases containing works of reference. On the second floor it is used for the exhibition of works of art, while in the base- ment it is a newspaper room, having a separate entrance from the street. The two lower floors of the corresponding room on the north side are devoted to the stack, which has a present capacity of about 30,000 volumes, with the possibility of an additional floor, raising its capacity to 50,000. In the upper story this room will be given up to the use of the children. At the right of the entrance is a small room for the directors, and balancing it, at the rear of the building, the librarian's room. Occupying the centre of the building is the delivery room, furnished with tables and chairs and containing the card catalogue and a bookcase made to hold about 600 volumes, which will always be accessible to the public. One of the most notable and pleasing features of this room and of the reading-room is the arched ceiling, built by the Guastavino method, a system of construction first extensively applied in the Boston Public Library. Its chief merit consists in the prac- tical elimination of steel, in place of which is substituted genu- ine masonry. The staircase is constructed by the same method. Another interesting feature of the delivery room is the frieze, a reproduction of that of the west front of the Parthenon, which was the gift of Henry F. Bigelow. Near the main entrance is a marble tablet, giving due honor to Horatio Nelson Bigelow, the founder of the Hbrary, Erastus Brigham Bigelow, for whom it was named, and Andrew Carnegie, George Washington Weeks, and the town of Clinton, by whose gifts the library building was erected. The fine building of the Norwalk Public Library, which was the first library in Connecticut to take advantage of the gener- osity of Mr. Carnegie, is noticeable as a departure from orwa . ^^^ simple and severe style of architecture commonly prevailing among the small libraries recently erected. The build- 82 PHILADELl'HIA BRANCHES C. C. Z A M / 1 N ( , I K . A K ■ 1 1 1 1 I I I G. \V. & \V. I), mhwitt, architkcts LiNDLEV Johnson, Architect \V I > i i'iti i. Ai'( liti i A ;. I.uhu;h a\ i.nl-e 3. TACONV INTERIORS OF PHILADELPHIA BRANCHES J. \\l..-il J'lUl.AlJl.l.rHlA 1. Lkiiil;ii Avknlk lAr DNV I'llOlU.S. IIV \V.\I. II. Kau EASTERN LIBRARIES ing committee was fortunate in securing the services of Messrs. W. and G. Audsley, Englishmen, who came to America to build the Milwaukee Art Gallery, and who are also the architects of the Liverpool Library and other public buildings. After a care- ful study of the site, the Elizabethan style of architecture was chosen as the most suitable. The outer walls are faced with red brick, relieved by a few horizontal lines of black brick and limestone trimmings. The entrance porch exhibits char- acteristic details of the style, executed in stone, combining effectively with the red brick. The projecting windows and the gables are of dark wood, the panelling of the gables being in light-gray cement, while the green slate of the roof forms a pleasing combination of color with the rest of the work. The windows are filled with clear leaded glass of an Elizabethan pattern, in harmony with the general treatment. The light is peculiarly well diffused through the leaded glass panes, and it is claimed that there is not a dark spot in the building. Special attention was given to the lighting, as the committee in charge was convinced that one of the most common faults in library building is bad lighting. As the main floor of the building is considerably above the level of the ground, a handsome flight of steps leads to the en- trance porch, from which opens a square inner vestibule of orna- mental woodwork, glazed with decorative leaded glass. On either side of the central hall is a large and finely lighted reading- room, with a projecting bay window. The room to the right is exclusively for the use of the children. Bold arcades, the moulded arches of which spring from square columns and pilasters highly ornamental in character and of a design pecu- liar to Elizabethan architecture in its highest development, sep- arate these rooms from the central hall. Opening from the rear of the hall are the directors' and librarian's rooms and the large polygonal stack room. From the main hall a handsome staircase leads to the large newspaper reading-room in the basement, situated under one of the main reading-rooms. Under the other is the heating and ventilating apparatus. A lecture room with a seating capacity of about 200 containing a stage and provided with a special entrance from the side street, occupies the space below the stack room. The basement contains also a receiving-room, furnished 83 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES with a lift to the directors' room above, where some of the work of the library can be done, as directors' meetings are held but once a month. The fixed idea of the management is that the four great popu- lar educational movements of the times — the school, the library, the woman's club, and the lecture course — should go hand in hand. Every possible encouragement is given to the teachers to make free use of the library, the work of the university exten- sion courses is promoted, and travelling libraries are sent out to deposit stations in various parts of the town. On May 7th, 1903, there was sent to the Mayor of Philadel- phia an ordinance drafted by the City Solicitor to authorize the Mayor to execute an agreement between the city and la ep a. ^^^ Board of Trustees of the Free Library, for the purpose of carrying into effect the offer of Andrew Carnegie to provide thirty branch libraries for the city. A form of contract was appended. The ordinance was referred to the Finance Committee. Accompanying the ordinance was the following message : " I have the honor of transmitting herewith a letter from the Board of Trustees of the Free Library of Philadelphia, dated May 2, 1903, together with a proposed contract prepared by the Board of Trustees between the City of Philadelphia and the said Board of Trustees representing Andrew Carnegie, in which a form of contract has been approved by Mr, Carnegie. " The offer of Mr. Carnegie was contained in a letter dated January 3, 1903, to provide $1,500,000, as the same may be needed, to erect thirty branch library buildings for Philadelphia, provided such be obtained and the city agrees to maintain these branch libraries at a cost of not less than $150,000 a year, or 10 per cent of their cost. Following this offer an act of Assembly was passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature, and signed by the Governor on March 20, 1903, authorizing cities of the first class to enter into contracts or agreements with any person desiring to donate to said cities sums of money to be used for the erec- tion of free branch libraries of such cities. " You will observe that under the contract it will be necessary for the city to provide annually a sum not less than 10 per cent of the amount expended by the said Andrew Carnegie in the building of the branch libraries for the maintenance thereof, and, in addition thereto, you must provide funds for the neces- 84 EASTERN LIBRARIES sary repair of the several buildings constructed under this agree- ment. Inasmuch, however, as the buildings cannot be com- pleted for several years, it would not be necessary to provide for the whole amount of $150,000 until the whole thirty build- ings were erected, but only such amount as would represent 10 per cent of the cost. "By the acceptance of this magnificent gift of $1,500,000, and the carrying out of the terms of the proposed contract, we shall establish a system of free libraries that will be a great benefit to our people, and, while I hesitate to involve the city in additional expense, it seems to me, after a careful consideration of the matter, that the great benefits and advantages to our people far outweigh any expense it will be necessary for the city to assume under this contract." The gift gave welcome relief from the expense of the rented rooms occupied by the branches, and from much of the risk to which the collections were subjected in these temporary quarters. " The future of the Free Library," said Mr. J. G. Rosengarten in his presidential letter prefixed to the seventh annual report, "is now insured by the splendid gift of a million and a half dollars which Mr. Andrew Carnegie has made for the erection of thirty Branch Library buildings throughout the city, and by the gen- erous offer of public-spirited citizens to give suitable sites for them in various parts of the city. This prompt reply to Mr. Carnegie's offer shows that the people of Philadelphia look to their city government to accept Mr. Carnegie's offer and that of sites for Branch Library buildings, and to carry on the work of the Free Library by liberal appropriations for its maintenance on a large scale worthy of the city. It was here that Franklin founded the first circulating library in this country, and the Philadelphia Library still does a useful work for its members. Other proprietary libraries have grown into valuable adjuncts to our other educational institutions. None of them, however, serves the public as does the Free Library, providing good reading for our school children, for our industrious adult popu- lation, and for the city's useful employees, firemen, and tele- graph operators. The Free Library offers in its Main Library, in spite of its unsafe and unsanitary temporary quarters, and in its fourteen Branches, and its ninety-two Travelling Libraries, located in various parts of the city, in its Children's Department, and in that for the Blind, facilities that only need a wise use of Mr. Carnegie's munificent gift and of the generous offers by 85 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES private citizens of sites for the thirty Branches he proposes to build, to make the Free Library of Philadelphia one of this city's most useful and most creditable institutions. Through cooperation with the local libraries at Roxborough, at Chestnut Hill, at Frankford, at Holmesburg, and in West Philadelphia, they have grown to be centres of library work on a greatly in- creased scale, and the future is full of promise if the same plan of union is extended. " The addition of a good lecture hall to each Branch Library to be built with Mr. Carnegie's gift, strongly urged by him, will make the Free Library of each section of the city the centre and headquarters of increased intellectual life and activity. The cooperation of the Free Library with the Society for the Ex- tension of University Teaching has been productive of such good results in the past, that it is now decided to raise by sub- scription a fund which shall be used in maintaining and increas- ing the useful lectures given by University Extension lecturers and others in the Free Libraries of the city." " The eagerness of those who have offered sites for new branch libraries to assist in the work," said Mr. Rosengarten, on another occasion, " is of itself the best proof of the public faith in the utility of the Free Library, and in its value as a factor in the self-education of those who use it." The Carnegie branches have several features in common. The interiors consist of large rooms undivided by partitions separating reference from circulating departments, or even chil- dren from adults, and there is also always an auditorium for illustrated lectures. The latter have been markedly successful in Philadelphia. Each branch has a recognized clientele and lec- turers are always sure of a good-sized audience. Large num- bers are frequently turned away on account of the lack of accommodations. The three buildings represented in the accompanying illustra- tions were the first of the Carnegie branches to be opened. The West Philadelphia branch, opened June 26, 1906, is an out- growth from Branch No. 5 of the Philadelphia Public Library, dating back to 1895. The Lehigh Avenue branch, opened on the evening of Nov. 20, 1906, is built of terra cotta with a granite base. The main room is 1 19 X 53 feet. The library opened with a stock of 10,000 volumes. The Tacony branch, opened a week later, is some- 86 EASTERN LIBRARIES what smaller, the main room being 68 X 44 feet, with a lecture room at the side, measuring 44 X 35 feet. The Carnegie building of the Syracuse Public Library repre- sents an outlay of nearly $350,000. On the first floor is the circulating department. The delivery desk, which ^ racuse is 15 feet in length, is in front of the main entrance and will accommodate a large number of people without crowding. Beyond the desk is a one-story stack, open to the public, with accommodations for 14,000 volumes. Here are shelved both fiction and biography, the two classes of books most in demand. Behind this is the main book stack which will hold over 95,000 volumes. To the left of the entrance is the children's room, with shelving for 6,000 volumes. There is also a room where classes or small groups of young people may go for study, or where story hours can be held. To the right of the entrance lobby is the main reading room, in which are kept the current magazines and newspapers. The reference room is on the second floor, where are also the trustees' room, and a room devoted to local history and genealogy, with accom- modations for 15,000 volumes. On the third floor there are a picture gallery and an assembly room. In the mezzanine between the first and second floors is a stafl" rest room for the women. In the basement there are a room for the men employed in the building, a work-shop for the janitor, store rooms and heating plant. The library is located near the centre of the city, opposite the new Court House, and near the Y. M. C. A. building, the Cathedral and the Onondaga Historical Society. The Binghamton Public Library is the outgrowth of the City School Library established a half-century ago. In 1901 the school library contained about 15,000 volumes, effi- 1 ... , , ... rif-i 1 Binghamton. ciently admmistered under the direction of the bchool Board, but poorly housed in a small reading-room in one of the school buildings. The existence of the present building is due largely to the efl'orts of the Binghamton Board of Trade, aided by the generosity of Andrew Carnegie. At a meeting of the Trustees of the Board held on November 16, 1901, a committee of four was appointed to devise some plan for the establishment of a public library, with full authority to confer with Mr. Carnegie concerning a building. The Committee opened correspondence with Mr. Carnegie on April 10, 1902, setting forth in full the 87 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES economic conditions of Binghamton and its suburbs, and the benefits which would accrue to a large population from an ade- quate library establishment. In its letter the Committee empha- sized the fact that Binghamton possessed a working library, but stated there was a growing desire for better things ; the move- ment in favor of a public library had been growing for several years, but the chief obstacle was the high cost of real estate in localities suitable for the site. The purchase of such a site would leave no funds for the building, or if a building were erected it must be located in an out-of-the-way place, which would deprive the library of its usefulness. The Committee suggested that if Mr. Carnegie would make possible a building by the donation of ^75,000, the city could and would provide a site at a cost of $20,000 or more, raise from $10,000 to $20,000 for the purchase of books, and provide amply for the mainte- nance of the library. To this letter a full statistical report of the industries, institutions, and population of the city was appended. The result of this correspondence appeared in a report sub- mitted by the Committee to the Board of Trade on April 28, 1902, wherein there was placed before that body a letter from Mr. Carnegie offering to furnish $75,000 for a building, if the city of Binghamton would pledge $7,500 a year for the support of the library and would provide a suitable site. Upon receipt of this letter the Board called a meeting of citizens on the evening of May 5, 1902, for the purpose of securing an expression of public opinion. At this meeting a resolution was unanimously adopted requesting the Common Council to submit the question to a vote of the people at an early date, and this resolution, to- gether with Mr. Carnegie's letter, was laid before the Common Council. A resolution of the Board of Education in favor of turning over to the proposed library the books in the existing hbrary, and giving further support to the general library plan, was also presented to the Council at its next meeting. A commitee was appointed on May 10, 1904, to secure options upon suitable sites for a library building. Out of fifteen options secured a site on the corner of Exchange Street and Congdon Place, 1 10 X 126 feet, was recommended for purchase at a net cost of $15,000. This site being valued at $17,500 was made available by the offer of the owner, Mrs. Amelia F. Plumb, to contribute $2,500 towards the purchase price or for other library 88 EASTERN LIBRARIES purposes. A special election was called by the Council for June 25, 1902, to vote upon the question of accepting the $75,000 offer and the purchase of the site. Immediately after the an- nouncement of the date of the election the friends of the library movement organized a Citizens' Library Campaign Committee, which during a vigorous campaign received the cordial and effective support of various organizations, the pastors of promi- nent churches, and the daily newspapers. This committee, among other measures adopted, issued the following campaign circular : INFORMATION FOR LIBRARY VOTERS For Fifteen Years — The Educators, the men and women who work with you, moulding your children's minds and character, have felt the necessity and have been asking for a Public Library. WILL YOU GRANT IT NOW? For Fifteen Years — You have been wasting part of the wages paid them by not furnishing them all the accessories and tools necessary. WILL YOU FURNISH THEM NOW? For Fifteen Years — The intelligent, public-spirited people of Binghamton have been proclaiming that this city lacked a Public Library, such as all progressive, up-to-date cities have. WILL YOU VOTE FOR IT NOW? A Public Library — Is cooperative with both school and church work. Every church in the city, both Protestant and Catholic, has spoken in clear and ring-- ing voice in favor of it. IS YOUR VOICE WITH THEM? A Generous Man — Offers to give our city seventy-five thousand dollars for such a library, asking never a cent in return. WILL YOU VOTE TO ACCEPT IT? A Silly Child — Will refuse a ripe plum that is offered, just because its eye is on apples and grapes that are yet green and not ready to pick. $75,000 is a pretty big plum. It is ripe. It is ready. It is a free offer. It is now or never. Can we afford to refuse it? ANSWER BY YOUR VOTE. Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars — Will be brought into our city and distributed among our mechanics and laborers. Can we afford to turn it away.' LET THE WORKWOMAN'S VOTE ANSWER. Every Taxpayer — Will have to pay about nineteen cents additional yearly on each 51,000 valuation. No more ! That covers every item of running e.xpense, new books, everything ! SHALL PENNIES OUTWEIGH BRAINS? In Years To Come — As the city adds more and more property, the library tax (if it is built now) will grow less and less each year. WILL YOU VOTE THIS ECONOMY? 89 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES But If We Wait — And pay it all ourselves, it will cost us ninety thousand and interest, instead of fifteen thousand and interest for the same site and building. That is a big difference. IV/LL VOLT VOTE THIS SAVING? In Years To Come — To minister to one side of humanity's needs, you will point with pride to our fine " Stone Asylum" and our fine " Stone Jail" for the unfortunate and the criminal, and when asked where is your fine Stone Library for your sons and daughters, and — Did you vote for it .' WILL YOU LOOK UP— OR HANG YOUR HEAD? Spending Your Money — For a library's moral influence and protection, is far better, and much less expensive than paying it for courts and police protection. IS IT NOT SO? Arguments Have Been Made — Against it. Every one of them has been proven either illogical or untrue. No man who votes against it will ever be able to stand up and say, it was for the city's good, and not " for my own pocket." VOTE HONESTLY. More Than A Library — If desired, the Library building may contain an Assem- bly Hall, Separate Reading Rooms, also Rooms for Historical and Art Collec- tions, a Repository for Valuable Records, and a Gymnasium. BINGHAMTON NEEDS THEM ALL. Three Hundred and Seventy Cities — Have voted to accept Mr. Carnegie's offer on precisely the same terms. Where would Binghamton's intelligence and public spirit stand in the whole country's estimation if it alone refuses ? LET YOUR VOTE ANSWER. Binghamton Has It All — All the money. All the planning. All the say. Mr. Carnegie neither dictates nor restricts anything. The yearly cost of maintenance will be expended right here among our own tradesmen and employes. The gift will bring more money into Binghamton than will ever be taken out on the library's account. VOTE TO BRING THE MONEY HERE. Don't Miss Your Opportunity Nor Shirk Your Responsibility This is the most important improvement ever decided by vote in this city. The whole country is alive with interest in Public Libraries, is watching Bingham- ton, and the result will be heralded everywhere. Shall they not say ''BINGHAMTON ACCEPTS ONE, TOO!" The following organizations have passed resolutions favoring the Public Library and urging their members or friends to vote for it : THE BOARD OF EDUCATION THE MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATION THE ADVERTISERS AND BUSINESS MEN'S ASSOCIATION THE HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI AND VARIOUS SOCIAL AND CIVIC CLUBS 90 )AMH< A. Randall, AkchiiE'. Photo. h\ J. a. seitz SYRACUSE, NEW YORK S. O. >V II. A. I.ACKV, AKCHITHCTS PHOTO. BY DETROIT PL'DLISHl.NG CO. BINGHAMION, NEW YORK FIRST KUXJR PLAN, SYRACUSE PUBLIC LIBRARY EASTERN LIBRARIES Don't Neglect To Vote ! The canvass shows a large majority in its favor, but if one and another, and still others fail for any reason to vote, a poor showing will be reported, if not defeat. Make the vote large. Make it unanimous. Take an hour and do a duty that you will be proud to speak of in years to come. DON'T NEGLECT TO VOTE. VOTE EARLY. Polls Open from 6 o'clock A.M., till 6 o'clock P. M., Wednesday, June Twenty-Fifth, igo2, at the Municipal Building Only Male Taxpayers over twenty-one years old can vote. As a result of the campaign the library proposition, although it carried a slight increase in taxation, received a substantial majority, and Mr. Carnegie's gift was formally accepted by the Common Council on July i, 1902. On the 8th of July the Binghamton Free Public Library was organized, a Board of Trustees was appointed July 22, and application was thereafter made to the Regents of the University of the State of New York for a charter. Before the issue of the charter on December 4, 1902, however, the name was changed to the " Binghamton Public Library." At a meeting of the Board held November 7, 1902, Mr. I. G. Perry, consulting architect to the commission on building, pre- sented two sets of sketches, with detailed estimate of cost and proposed prospectus. A motion was then made inviting ten architects — four non-resident and six resident — to submit com- petitive designs for the proposed building. Of this number five only submitted plans, and at a meeting held February 6,- 1903, all of these were rejected, and another competition was invited. From the second competition the plans submitted by S. O. and H. A. Lacy of Binghamton were selected, with the qualification that the architects should, with the cooperation of Mr. Perry, make certain changes in the plans as originally submitted. The general plans and specifications, as finally presented on the 27th of May, were formally accepted, and the contract for the con- struction of the building was let July 7, 1903. The exterior is classical in design. Four large Ionic columns support the entablature, .and on the tympanum of the pediment an open book is carved in stone. The material is of steel-gray pressed brick with Indiana limestone trimmings, the roof tiled 91 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES in red. The entrance door is of panelled oak with bronze trimmings, at the top of which are plate glass panels ; above this is an ornamental stone lintel supported on brackets. From the portico a large vestibule opens into the main entrance hall, ornamental iron staircases leading from either side to a landing in front from which a single flight leads to the foyer above. Double doors lead from the entrance hall to the delivery room, at the back of which is the circular delivery desk of quartered oak. Archways supported by Ionic columns lead from the de- livery hall to the reading-room and reference rooms on either side. On the second floor are the trustees' room, a society room, and an art room with a large skylight. The remainder of the floor is occupied by an assembly hall, having a seating capac- ity of about three hundred persons. The interior is finished throughout in antique oak, and the floors are mosaic and hard- wood. The stack room will accommodate 65,000 volumes. The movement for securing a public library in the city of Johnstown dates back to February, 1901, when a request was made of Mr. Carnegie by the Board of Trade to pre- Johnstown. . ., _ rr • 1-11 sent the city with a sum of money sufficient to build a suitable library. In March Mr. Carnegie offered to give $20,000 for a building provided the city would furnish a site and would give $2,500 a year to maintain the library. This off"er was at once accepted by the Board of Trade and the matter was presented to the Common Council. A Board of Trustees was appointed by the Mayor and a resolution adopted by the aldermen providing for the necessary maintenance by taxation. Application was then made for a charter, which was granted July i, 1901. Directly after the organization of the Board on May 20, 1901, steps were taken for raising funds to purchase a site, and owing to the generous response of the citizens over $6,000 was raised by the first of November. Upon learning of the amount that had been raised toward purchasing a site, Mr. Carnegie generously increased his first ofl*er to $25,000. A lot was purchased on the corner of Market and Clinton streets for $5,250, leaving a bal- ance fund of over $750. Fuller and Pitcher of Albany were selected as architects June 4, 1902, the building to be com- pleted by May i, 1903. It is worthy of note that the building was completed within the time specified. 92 > J u o z E o h < '5 EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY SHOWING THE RELATION OF THE DELIVERY DESK TO THE RADIATING STACK SHOWING l.Nri.RUJR ()1 LlllRAKV liL'KLAU DELIVKKV DESK, AND THE ARRANGEMENT OF PILLARS AND GLASS SCREENS < EASTERN LIBRARIES The building is in French renaissance style, one story in height, with a high basement and parapet. It is constructed of two shades of buff pressed brick with terra cotta trimmings, the foundation being of Warsaw blue stone and Indiana limestone, with large stone pillars on either side of the entrance. Above the delivery-room is a dome eighteen feet in diameter, supported by eight pillars. The interior is finished in oak. In the base- ment are located the trustees' room, a lecture room or audi- torium, and a large working room. The stack room has a capacity of 35,000 volumes, and there is space for 5,000 more volumes in the reference room. The library at Amsterdam, designed by the same architects, is quite similar to that at Johnstown. The main differences are due to the location of the librarian's room to the . Amsteraam. left of the delivery space in the Amsterdam library, while in the Johnstown library it is to the left of the stack room. In the Amsterdam plan this is balanced on the right by a flight of stairs leading to the auditorium in the basement. The plan of the East Orange Public Library was determined largely by the shape of the lot, resulting, however, in a happy arrangement of rooms. The relative position of the ** ■'■ . East Orang& two reading rooms, the stack room and the delivery room admit of ease of supervision, because of the fact that be- yond the doors of the vestibule there are practically no internal walls on the first floor. The support comes from columns with glazed screens which separate one room from another. From the vestibule, flights of stairs lead to the basement, where there is an auditorium running under the entire stack room. While the auditorium is 12 feet high, the other rooms in the basement are only 9 feet, and are used for staff room, janitor's room, repair room and the like. The delivery room on the main floor is a curiously shaped four-sided space with the delivery desk in the exact centre of the building. This gives the assistant in charge complete control of the various rooms, and on the whole the building must be conceded to be one of the best of the corner entrance type of building with divergent stack. The total cost was in the neighborhood of 1^50,000. In addition to the main building, Mr. Carnegie gave East Orange three branch libraries costing on an average $13,000 each. The Franklin branch is an attractive little building on 93 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES an especially fine site, designed by the architects of the main building, Jardine, Kent & Jardine. It is a one-room library, with not quite 40 X 60 feet of floor space, one end of which is reserved for general reading and reference purposes, while the other is for the use of the children. There is a small stack in the back of the room, which with the wall shelving will accom- modate 10,000 volumes. The Elmwood branch, designed by Mr. Hobart A. Walker, is of practically the same dimensions as the Franklin branch, but is somewhat different in design and interior arrangement. " The desirability of fiction in a library, its use and justifica- tion," said the librarian in her report for 1907, " calls for dis- cussion from time to time. If the demand for more solid reading were such as to tax the full resources of the book-fund, a public library would be justified perhaps in buying no fiction but such as the test of time included as literature. It would be justified if a city were justified in furnishing only technical schools for public education. But as a city must educate its children before they are prepared to enter a technical school, so the library should first supply enjoyable reading to those who have not yet learned the greater fascination of books about real things or people. The development of the reader is usually in the order of newspapers, magazines, novels, books on special subjects. Those who were reading only novels three years ago are now finding other books interesting also. They have formed the reading and library habit and use it when they want infor- mation. Had they not formed the habit of going to the library for pleasure, its availability for serious uses might not have been apparent. There is now no restriction upon the quantity of books, fiction or non-fiction, that a person may take. The percentage of fiction will probably increase in consequence. Yet the use of fiction is justified, for East Orange people very generally use the library for their fiction which they read but once, and do not care to own, and buy books which they wish to keep. This is a legitimate use of their public library, for it leaves their personal book-funds free for books of more lasting value. Many persons who read very heavy books take fiction for resting. Any fiction reader will absorb two or three novels in the time that it would take another to read one book of biography, history or science." 94 -I'LLIiK & HITrURR, ARCHITECTS, Al IAN". JOHNSTOWN, NEW YORK I'llLLKK & PITCHKK, ARCHirKCT^ \i v AMSTERDAM, NKW VnKk JOHNSTOWN, NEW VURK AMSTERDAM. NEW VOKK. CHAPTER IX THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA History of the Library — The Work Under Way — Children's Room, Lecture Hall, and Study Room — Reaching out among the People — Plans for the Future — Remarks of President Roosevelt and Mr. Carnegie at the Dedication. " "TT" HAVE been asked to tell something of the undeveloped I but developing work of the public library of the District ^ of Columbia as an organ of social advance in the National Capital," wrote Mr. George F. Bovverman, the librarian, in Chanties and the Commons^ April 14, 1906. "Students of social problems of course class the public library with the public school, for the keynote of its work is educational. However, as its in- fluence as an educational factor is not limited to school days, though here it effectively supplements formal instruction, but as it offers the means for education and self-help to the whole reading population throughout life, including those who have never spent a day in the school-room, it should be regarded as a more universal means of social amelioration than even the public school. " Like most municipal enterprises in Washington dependent on Congress, in which the citizens of the district have no repre- sentation, this library is of far more recent origin than the public libraries of most other progressive American munici- palities. Its support has increased by the slowest increments, and has always come far short of supplying the demands of a reading public rather above the average in culture. " The statistics of libraries have credited the District of Columbia with the largest book supply per capita in the country. But to have so many thousands of books at the Library of Congress and in the department libraries, meant nothing but an aggravation to the average citizen, and furnished an excuse for many years to Congress to be deaf to the appeals for a free public library. At last the special report of the Washington Board of Trade calling for the establishment of a municipal public library, unanimously adopted in 1894, bore 95 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES fruit in the act of June 3, 1896, creating the public library of the District of Columbia. Two years later the 12,000 volumes belonging to a free library supported by private subscriptions were turned over, when the new municipal institution received a small appropriation for running expenses. But it was two years more before Congress made any appropriation for books. " Congress was with some difficulty induced to accept, on terms of adequate subsequent support, from Mr. Carnegie (who furnishes the initial incentive to so many municipalities in this field of endeavor), a central library building costing $375,000. On the occasion of the dedication of this building, which by the way has served as a model for many other library buildings erected through Mr. Carnegie's gifts, the latter offered $350,000 or more if needed for the erection of a system of branch buildings. Proposed legislation giving the library trustees power to build these branches gradually, was defeated in Congress, although citizens of several sections of the district had offered not only free sites, but numbers of books. Although the lack of branches cuts off many persons in a widely scattered city from library privileges, yet, from the point of view of the best development of an adequate system, the postponement of the building of the branches may well wait until the central library is properly cared for. Of course one defeat from Congress is not accepted as final. Sooner or later the matter will be taken up again, probably with a proposition to authorize building one branch at a time. . . . This fiscal year's home circulation will reach 450,000, from a stock of less than 80,000 volumes and with a total appropriation of less than $40,000. Judging from the experience of other municipal- ities progressive in library development, the home circulation of a population of 323,000 should be not less than a million, whereas, if means such as no municipality has yet had ta develop its work were granted, I believe it would be possible to have a home circulation here of from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000. "But to turn from our handicaps and discouragements to the work now being accomplished. This library's first work is that of circulating books among the homes of the people. It of course does reference work, for school children, for study club women, for government clerks, for mechanics and artisans who come evenings and Sundays ; but it makes no effort to rival the Library of Congress or the department libraries. In fact it counts itself fortunate that it is relieved of advanced reference work for the scholar, so that it may use its whole energy for the average man and woman. Its reference room 96 LIBRARY OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA therefore, contains material on almost every subject of popular knowledge, including a much used set of the publications of one of the correspondence schools. This is also duplicated for home use. It has American and foreign magazines, especially- many technical periodicals, much used in spite of the fact that Washington is not generally considered a manufacturing city. "The library building was unfortunately built with restricted space for the displaying of books on open shelves. When Congress gives sufficient appropriations, it is hoped to use the largest and best lighted room in the building for the purpose of offering direct access to the cream of the entire library. The limited space now available is used to the best advantage for displaying in succession books on various subjects. Still further to facilitate the use of books, to relieve the necessity of using the card catalogue on the part of the uninitiated or timid, an information desk has been established near the main en- trance. This is placed in charge of a tactful and intelligent woman who acts as hostess and guide to all and especially to first visitors to the library. Does the visitor not know how to use the card catalogue? The reader's adviser will teach him or even look up the required book and make out the call slips. Is the reader hazy about the subject wanted? The adviser makes a shrewd guess. Does he want just ' something to read' for himself or another? The adviser exercises her judgment concerning the mental, moral, or social needs and capacities of the inquirer, with always an effort to improve the quality of the reading wherever possible, to supplant a good book by a better book. "Of course the library circulates fiction in plenty. Fiction is the dominant form of literary expression to-day; it has the most universal appeal ; it supplies education in kindliness, gentleness, good manners ; it teaches history and geography, ethics and aesthetics, sociology and religion. It is read with avidity, whereas the solider book taken from the library no doubt often lies idle and unread until it is time to bring it back. It affords rest and refreshment to the overdriven men of to-day. Therefore few public libraries apologize for the fact that considerably more than fifty per cent of their circula- tion is fiction. To be sure, it must be good fiction, excluding machine-made sensations as far as possible, but on the other hand not confining the books offered to such writers as Mrs. Ward, Mr. James, and Mrs. Wharton, — books whose appeal is chiefly to readers having considerable cultivation. "Although such a large part of the circulation is fiction, yet fully 97 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES eighty per cent of the book stock is composed of works other than fiction. As has already been hinted, Washington readers have good taste in reading. The demand for the best in history, biography, travel, essays, and art history is large. Duplication is therefore not confined to fiction, but applies also to other classes, often even including books on technical subjects such as electricity, building construction, and stenography. Still further to stimulate the use of books other than fiction, the library has compiled for free distribution selected and anno- tated lists on such subjects as birds, gardening, interesting biographies, summer travel, and has in preparation lists on printing (one of Washington's most important industries), health and hygiene, and the betterment of municipal conditions. The library also distributes quantities of publishers' lists, adver- tising groups of books in the library. Every week a list of the most important new books added is published in the local newspapers. To these lists are often added lists on special seasons and subjects ; for example, at the beginning of Lent there was published a list of books for Lenten reading, prepared by the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Washington, and one by a professor in the Roman Catholic Georgetown University. " One of the most important phases of our work is that of the children's room. This is in charge of a young woman who is a college graduate and who has also taken the course at the Training School for Children's Librarians at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburg. No book is added to the children's collection until it has been carefully read by her in order to decide upon its suitability. The hordes of children who come are having their tastes formed in accordance with the best standards. Teachers and parents constantly consult the chil- dren's librarian as to the best reading for their children. The story hour and colored picture books for the youngest children, and the reading circle for those older, bulletin boards with pictures and lists of books about the pictures, are all used as adjuncts of this work. The local Audubon Society also has close relations with the library, meets regularly in the lecture hall, and furnishes lecturers for Saturday morning talks to young folks on birds. Through one of its experts in the Department of Agriculture, it supplies information each spring concerning bird migrations, by means of which a bulletin board showing colored pictures of bird arrivals is kept up to date. "The lecture hall proves a valuable addition to the regular work of the library. Thus far the library has conducted no lec- tures of its own, except those in cooperation with the Audubon 98 LIBRARY OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Society. However, the hall during the winter months is occa- sionally used as many as five evenings a week, by the regular weekly free lectures given under the auspices of the Board of Edu- cation and by numerous organizations which conduct lectures of popular interest and educational tendency, or hold meetings in support of some measure or reform. For example, the Associated Charities recently arranged for three public meetings, devoted to compulsory education, child labor, and wife desertion and non-support of family. Meetings devoted to religious subjects or partisan politics have been excluded. Lecture auditors of course are usually led to be users of the library. All meetings are free, and the public generally is invited. "The library also has a study room, fitted up primarily for staff use, but used by many small organizations who resort to the library collectively to carry on studies with the aid of li- brary books. Another study room is fitted up especially for the use of the teachers of the district, — 1,500 in the public schools and 200 or 300 in private schools. The collection of books kept here includes a reference library containing cyclo- pedias, dictionaries, psychological and pedagogical works and text-books, about twenty educational periodicals regularly on file, and the circulating books of the class education taken from the stack and shelved in the room. This room is likewise used by the teachers for committee and club purposes. " To make the relation of public library and schools still more close, a monthly educational bulletin giving new educational accessions and educational articles in current periodicals is issued by the mimeograph process and sent to all the public and private schools, where it is posted on their bulletin boards. The librarian and the children's librarian also occasionally address schools or classes. A beginning has been made at the work of sending out books to schools in bulk. Thus far this has only extended to the high schools and to a few subjects. The establishment of a complete system by which every school and every school room, especially schools most remote from the library, shall be practically branches for the circulation of books, a plan successful in several other places, is something to be looked forward to. However, by means of the ten book privilege, by which each teacher can secure ten books for school use in addition to what she needs for her own reading, the library is doing something to introduce the library idea into the minds of teachers and through them to the children, even when they live too far away to come to the library. Recently this teachers* privilege idea has been extended so that any 99 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES student who regularly requires several books at a time may have them. " Another reason for supplying fiction which does not come up to classic standards is that thus indirectly the library is able to reach the children. It is worth while to bring to the library the woman who wants books by E. P. Roe and Rosa N. Carey — for her own sake. But especially is it important to get her to come and bring her children in order that the library may begin early to influence them, mould their tastes, and win them to be lifelong library users. " The only active movement in the direction of branches that the library has thus far been able to make is to meet the requests for books that have come from five social settlements, including one colored settlement. To establish these stations involves only the purchase of 200 or 300 books and a few supplies for each. The work of opening them two or three afternoons or evenings a week, and of circulating about 200 or 300 books a month from each, has been done entirely by volun- teers. In several cases those volunteers have been overworked and underpaid members of the library's regular staff, — such is the spirit of service among librarians. The users of these stations are mostly children, as there is no money with which to buy adult books and no room for adult readers. " Besides the calls for the building of the complete system of branches the library has received several requests to establish deposit stations in the various government departments and ofhces. Department libraries should properly be confined to reference books. The supplying of popular books is the proper work of the public library, and given the means, such stations could be conducted and would greatly facilitate the access of government clerks to books for themselves and their families. " The hampering financial conditions already so often men- tioned have thus far prevented the opening of the library at 8.30 A. M., so that government clerks and business men might return their books on their way to their offices. The library is open, however, from 10 A. M. to 9 P. M. for the return and delivery of books and its reading room is open until 10 p. M. The last Congress also made possible the long-sought boon of opening the library on Sundays from 2 to 10 P. M. for reference and registration, but not for home circulation. This is much appreciated by many persons who are too fatigued to come on week day evenings. Such men now come, learn about the library, secure borrowers' privileges and have their wives and ciiiidren draw boalvS for them. 100 '^ p o z X < FIRST FLOOR HASI'-MFINT WASHINGTON, D. C. WASHINGTON, D. C. A LINE AT THE RETURN DESK YOUNG PEOPLE'S ROOM 1 k.Wl.l.l.INC 1.11;R.\K\ UAi.u.N 1 ROM im. \V ASlllNHilON CnUMV I.IliRAKY, HAGERSTOWN, MARYLAND LIBRARY OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA " A recent critic of public libraries has charged that most of them are so conducted that they appeal only to women, children, and idlers among men, and has made an appeal for * libraries for men.' Of course the use of any library does presuppose at least a certain minimum of leisure from other employment. The critic charged that most libraries had nothing or next to nothing that a wide-awake, up-to-date, work-a-day man wanted. This criticism, made in a widely circulated journal and copied by technical library publications, has been deeply pondered by librarians, who have been examining themselves and their libraries to see whether the criticism is just. I believe that the workings of this library, as set forth in this account, will show that it has sufficient breadth of appeal, sufficiently extended hours of opening, sufficient scope in its collection both for circulation and reference, so that the motto carved on the building, ' a university for the people/ is true, so that it is indeed a library for mankind." In January, 1899, Mr. Carnegie offered ^250,000 for a suitable home for the Public Library of the District of Columbia. On March 3rd, a law was passed authorizing the erection of the building upon a designated site in Mount Vernon Square. The conditions of an architectural competition were drawn up by the library commission in conjunction with George B. Post and Henry Van Brunt as consulting architects. On July i8th the plans of Ackerman & Ross of New York were selected from among the twenty-four designs submitted. The building runs east and west, is 224 feet long, and 1 12 feet deep, and is well propor- tioned to the site. The building is placed nearer to the north line of the lot so as to allow of an imposing approach from the south and also to enhance the architectural features of the fagade. The main entrance leads directly to the delivery room, where there is a counter so arranged as to attract immediate attention. Around the delivery counter are work-rooms, and beyond these are the book stacks, forming the northern wing of the building. The stacks are five tiers high, running up to the full height of the building, and have a capacity of 250,000 volumes. In addition to this the open shelves in the various rooms will accommodate over 20,000 additional volumes. The stack is capable of exten- sion without interfering seriously with the architectural effect of the whole. The librarj' was erected under the supervision of Mr. Bernard lOI CARNEGIE LIBRARIES R. Green, Superintendent of the Library of Congress. In April, 1899, Mr. Carnegie increased his gift by $50,000 in order to cover the cost of furniture and equipment, architects' fees and other in- cidental expenses, and in September of the same year he made an additional donation of $50,000 to meet an extraordinary increase in the cost of building materials, which threatened to prevent the execution of the accepted design with the money available. The building was formally dedicated January 7, 1903, and among the addresses was one by President Roosevelt, who said in part: " I count myself fortunate in being able to come here today, not only for my own private indiv'dual sake, but as in some sort representing the people of all the country, to express my pro- found appreciation of what is emphatically a gift of wisdom, a gift to do the utmost possible benefit to all of the people of this country. . . I have come because I feel that the movement for securing better facilities for self-training, better facilities for edu- cation in its widest and broadest and deepest sense, is one of such prime importance that the President of the United States could nowhere more appropriately come than to this building, at this time." Mr. Carnegie gave some account of his interest in the estab- lishment of free public libraries, and spoke in part as follows : " In my first public address made to our young men in Pitts- burg — how many years ago I need not mention — I told them to put all their eggs in one basket and then watch that basket. I have been a concentrator all my life. I have seldom or never known a great success made by the jack-of-all-trades, the board member in twenty companies, the controller of none. I am in the library manufacturing business, and beg to be allowed to concentrate my time upon it until it is filled. If ever it is filled I shall, of course, have to look out for other employment. That day, however, as you see, seems somewhat remote. As long as communities are willing, as you are in Washington, to maintain a library from the proceeds of taxation, as part of the city's edu- cational system, thus making it the library of the people and an adjunct of the public school system, so long I intend to labor in that vineyard, keeping myself as free as possible from hearing of the woes and wants of humanity in general, to which, if I listened, I would soon become unfit for my special work, which I think best of all, for among all the suggestions made — and they are 102 LIBRARY OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA numberless — not one have I found which, to my mind, equals the free library maintained by the people as a field for the wise distribution of surplus wealth. I think it fruitful in the extreme, because the library gives nothing for nothing, because it helps only those that help themselves, because it does not sap the foundation of manly independence, because it does not pauper- ize, because it stretches a hand to the aspiring and places a lad- der upon which they can only ascend by doing the climbing themselves. You cannot boost a man up a ladder ! This is not charity, this is not philanthropy; it is the people themselves helping themselves by taxing themselves. They owe no man anything of moment." 103 CHAPTER X THE SOUTH The Traveling Library of Hagerstown, Md. — Carnegie Library of Atlanta, Ga. — Nashville and Chattanooga, Tenn. — Norfolk, Va. -~ TusKEGEE, Ala. — Jacksonville, Fla. THE Washington County Free Library at Hagerstown, Maryland, has frequently been wrongly listed and spoken of as a Carnegie library. Thus, for example, Mr. Isaac F. Marcosson, in his article on " Giving Carnegie Libraries" in the World's Work for April, 1905, unfortunately chose to describe the Hagerstown library as an excep- tionally interesting type of Carnegie library. The fact is that the library owes its establishment to a gift of ^50,000 from the late Mr. B. F. Newcomer of Baltimore, and was in operation for several years before Mr. Carnegie's attention was called to the method of free rural delivery operated by this library. Mr. Carnegie said that he thought that the Hagers- town people " had got hold of the right end of traveling library work," and he gave them $25,000 to be expended in developing this branch of library extension. To show to what good pur- pose this money has been expended, I give an extract^ from an address delivered before the Pennsylvania Library Club by the librarian in charge. Miss Mary L. Titcomb : " The founders had the rather uncommon wisdom and com- mon sense to seize upon the idea that in a section where the county was the unit of government the library would properly be for that same unit. The people did not want a library at all, but finally a bill went through the legislature authorizing the appropriation of an annual sum for its support from both county and city. . , . " VVhen I speak of antagonism I mean that the country peo- ple, never having come in contact with a library, had no idea that it would ever affect them further than to raise the tax rate. They thought the professional class who lived in the city were 1 For the full address see the Library Journal, February, 1906. 104 THE SOUTH the only class who would reap any benefit from it. In passing, it may also be said that in addition to antagonism we had also to contend with unconsciousness of our existence. After the lapse of a year even, it was possible to find individuals who had never heard of the library. " The county is divided into 26 voting districts, and for the first year we turned our attention to these districts, planning to put a station in each. We found that very easy, almost too easy, considering the limited number of books at our command. Our plan had nothing original. It was simply the obvious one of deposit stations, consisting of a case similar to the usual traveling library case and holding about fifty volumes to be returned for renewal every 60 or 90 days, all expenses of trans- portation, etc., to be paid by the library. We have a blank re- quiring a certain number of signatures and guarantee of care, etc., but the filling of this is often more honored in the breach than in the observance. If we find that getting it filled is going to stop the putting the books at a certain place, we waive it. The object is to get books into the country in what we judge to be suitable places and under suitable care, more often in the gen- eral store or post-office than anywhere else. We do not put the stations at a private house unless we can find no one in- terested in any public place. " During the first year we placed 23 deposit stations in as many voting districts. During the second year we added 15 to the number of our stations. Most of these stations were placed in smaller and more remote places than in the previous year. That second year we began to send our Sunday-school collec- tions to places in the country. We limit the Sunday-school libraries to places where there is a church with no settled preach- ing, which maintains a Sunday-school, or where, as is often the case, there is a neighborhood Sunday-school carried on for six months of the year, at a season when the roads are good, and the people can get together comfortably. We make no effort to put Sunday-school literature, so called, into these cases, which hold about 30 books and are really traveling libraries staying at one place for six months, and then being sent on to another. Our intention is to select books of some real literary merit and which shall have a certain ethical influence. At the present time we have twelve Sunday-school collections traveling back and forth through the county. " During the third year of our existence we increased the number of deposit stations to 55, and at the present time we have 66 stations in as many places. By these deposit stations 105 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES sufficient interest has been aroused in two incorporated villages in the county to establish permanent reading rooms. The peo- ple have come together, organized and canvassed the town for subscriptions, hired rooms, and engaged some one to act as caretaker and librarian ; and so in Boonsboro and Williamsport, places of about 800 and 1,000 inhabitants respectively, we have rooms open every day to the public, with periodicals, etc., to make them attractive. With these reading rooms, our plan has been to buy immediately for them two or three hundred volumes which we send as a nucleus, and after that we have an exchange of about 40 volumes every ten days, the person who has charge sending back the books which in her judgment have been suffi- ciently read, or which perhaps she sees will not be read at all. " Of our 66 stations in the county, about 30 are off the line of railroad, trolley, or stage, and after the first year of our exist- ence it was found that the best way to get at these remote dis- tricts was to have our janitor make frequent trips into the country, taking with him cases of books to these stations and bringing back others to be exchanged for fresh ones. And this led to our library wagon, by far the most interesting feature of our county extension. Here let me say for the benefit of any librarian who is meditating book delivery by means of a wagon, first, catch your janitor. Ours is a jewel. We are quite con- vinced that he can do more for the advancement of learning in the county than the whole board of trustees and the library staff combined. He is a native of the county, as a boy having witnessed John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry, afterwards serv- ing his time in the Civil War, and later on, after various occu- pations which gave him a wide knowledge of the people of the county, coming to us, and now the library has no more loyal or interested officer. When we found that we must send him out into the country, both for the placing of the stations and for the collecting and returning of many of them, we provided him with an understudy and sent him forth. In April, 1905, our wagon was completed, and since then he has made all the trips with that. I am often asked if I go into the county and visit the stations, or go out with the book wagon. No ; for as long as I have some one to send, who is a native of the county, who knows all the people with their prejudices and customs, it is much better for me not to go. Walter H. Page, editor of the World' s Work, and himself a Southerner, once told me that I need never expect to accomplish anything in a Southern com- munity until I had found out when the baby had cut its last tooth ; and this is just what our janitor does for us. He drives 106 THE SOUTH up to the farmhouse doors, through the country lanes, and talks things over slowly and quietly. In most cases he knows the character of the household to which he goes, knows whether the woman of the house is the person most likely to be inter- ested, or whether the man is the person to whom to appeal. " The book wagon used in these trips is illustrated elsewhere. It is built with shelves on each side, with doors opening out- ward, very much after the fashion of the tin-peddler's cart of early days. It will hold about 300 volumes, and in addition is so arranged that in the centre may be carried six of the cases used at the stations. We paid $175 for the wagon. It is arranged for one or two horses, but thus far we have found that two horses have been necessary for most of our trips. We do not own the horses, but depend upon the livery stable for them. In the busiest season with this work, namely, spring and fall, we have made on an average three trips a week, each trip covering about 30 miles. Sometimes our man goes off into the remoter portions of the county for three days, consuming one day going, one day distributing books, and one for the return. We use the Browne charging system in the library, and when he delivers a book he pencils on the back of the book slip the name of the person borrowing it and the rural free delivery number or some other note which identifies the person in his mind. When he returns, the slips are sorted and then arranged by classes under a route heading, as Yarrowsburgh route, New Hope route, etc., with the date when the trip was made. These slips are then filed alphabetically by routes with the slips belonging to the books which are in circulation at the various stations. Our man takes with him also a blank in which he keeps requests for special books, and other memoranda. . . . " From the first the people took to this innovation, it being an outward and visible sign that the library really did belong to them ; but of course there are varied experiences. Great care is necessary in the selection of books for the wagon, and already I have learned to keep my finger on the intellectual pulse. It varies greatly in different parts of the county, but nowhere is one troubled by the demand for the ' best seller,' and in gen- eral the books selected from the shelves of the wagon are those of the greatest intrinsic worth." To Atlanta, the centre of library activity in the southeast, be- longs the distinction of establishing the first free circulating library, supported by the people, in the State of Georgia. The history of this movement, which in- 107 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES eluded the combining of the property of the Young Men's Library Association with the $125,000 bequest by Andrew Carnegie and the annual appropriation of $5,000 from the city council, is told by Miss Anne Wallace, then librarian, in the first annual report of the Carnegie Library of Atlanta: " The Young Men's Library Association, which was organized in 1867, had for thirty years struggled to maintain a public library for the city. Without endowment and without municipal aid, the association was crippled in its endeavors; yet, by the individual effort of its directors and members, property to the amount of $100,000 had been accumulated. Realizing that the day of the subscription library was over, the directors tried to devise some plan to make the library free to the citizens of Atlanta. About this time, Mr. Walter M. Kelley, who was an active member of the directory, succeeded in interesting Mr. Andrew Carnegie in the efforts of the directory to make the library free. Mr. Carnegie, with characteristic generosity, of- fered to give the city $100,000 to build a new library if the city would furnish a site and guarantee $5,000 a year for its support. Later, Mr. Carnegie gave $25,000 to the building fund. The directors of the library and the members took this opportunity of offering to the city the entire property of the association and to furnish a site for the new library. This happy combination was consummated in due course of time, and was characterized by freedom from political intrigue, and the new organization was duly effected May 6, 1889, just three months after Mr. Carnegie's offer. Soon thereafter the plans for reorganization of the library were presented by the librarian and the several departments of the library were organized." The building committee secured a central and beautifully lo- cated lot on the corner of Church and Forsyth streets. The plans for the building were chosen in competition, limited to nine invited architects to whom tentative plans were furnished. Eight plans were submitted, and in December, 1899, the special jury of award, consisting of the president, Mr. W. M. Kelley, the librarian, Miss Wallace, and the supervising architect, Mr. J. H. Dinwiddie, selected the designs of Ackcrman & Ross, New York. The library, which was opened to the public on May 28, 1902, is similar in style to that designed by the same architects for the Public Library of the District of Columbia, being of the conventionalized Ionic order, with classic ornamentation. As 108 u If) O ai O z J 03 O GAF.TANO TKF.NTANOVK, SCULI'IT MARHI.E r.UST OF ANOKEW LIBUAkY OF AILANTA. CAKNKGIE PRKSENIED TO THE CARXEGIE GEORGIA, HV I H E SCHOOL CHILDREN OF THAI' CITV RARY BUREAU CHILDREN'S ROOM, CARNEGIE LIBRARY, ATLANTA CAKNi:(;iE 1 KAVl.LLlNt; LU'.RAKIKS CARRILD l!V lUL SEABOARD AIR LINE THE SOUTH in the Washington building, the lines of the library are graceful and pleasing, but there is perhaps too much subordination of utility to architectural style. The main hall gives access to all rooms on the first floor save the stack-room, and to a handsome central staircase which is the chief arohitectural feature of the interior. The main building, which is three stories high, has a frontage of ii6 feet, and a depth of 64 feet; projecting from the side to the right is the building for the bookstack, 18 feet wide and 56 feet deep, set back 5 feet from the line of frontage.^ The basement (10 feet, 6 inches in height) is reached either from a small back entrance or from the staircase leading from the main entrance hall on the first floor. The children's room ex- tends across the whole of the west side. It is 33 feet, 6 inches X 58 feet, and well lighted on three sides. It is divided in two by a passage 8 feet wide, leading to the attendant's desk ; either side of the passage are railings 2 feet, 6 inches high, having gates in them next the attendant's desk, so that each child entering or leaving is well under control. Each of these rooms has six tables, seating four readers each — tables vary in shape and height. The sizes are as follows : tables, 3 feet 6 inches diam- eter, I foot, 10 inches high; chairs, i foot, 2 inches high. Tables, 3 feet X 5 feet, 2 feet, 4 inches high ; chairs, i foot, 4^ inches high. Tables, 3 feet, 6 inches in diameter, 2 feet, 6 inches high ; chairs, i foot, 5^ inches high. Seats, 7 feet wide and i foot, 4 inches high, are fitted into each of the windows. The catalogue-files are placed on either side of the attendant's desk. Specimen-cases with glazed doors, bulletin-boards with portfolios under, and shelving 8 inches deep, are placed to a height of 6 feet, 6 inches between the win- dows, as well as on the east wall. In a similar position on the east side is the work-room. It is 33 feet, 6 inches x 58 feet, lighted on two sides, north and south, and a central opening from it enters directly into the stack-room, the floor of which is up six steps. This latter room is 17 feet X 52 feet. The stacks are well arranged and lighted, and will take on each floor ap- proximately 17,220 books. Two lifts with a table between, and a staircase to the upper floors, are grouped together, and near at hand a toilet-room is provided for the staff. There are alto- ^ The description of the building is condensed from a paper by Sidney K. Green- slade, read before the Royal Institute of British Architects, March 17, 1902. IC9 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES gether four floors of stacks, each 7 feet, 6 inches in height. The stacks themselves are especially well arranged, with generous aisles. On the first-floor plan the hall is placed right in the centre of the building, and is reached directly from the entrance vestibule. It is 42 feet X 20 feet. The main staircase opens directly out of it on the north side. To the left is the magazine-room, and to the right the delivery-room. The four smaller rooms that open from the hall are placed on either side of the staircase and vestibule; they average about 11 feet X 17 feet, 6 inches, and are used as special study-rooms and for the medical library. Each of these rooms is provided with a table 3 feet X 8 feet, and 2 feet, 6 inches high, and shelving to walls 6 feet, 6 inches high. The medical library shelving has glazed doors and a magazine rack beneath the window. The delivery-space is 22 feet X 20 feet wide, the latter width being the length of delivery- counter to the public. It has in it the cases for the card catalogue and two tables, 6 feet X 2 feet, for its use. On each side of this delivery space two rooms are set apart for open shelves. They are divided by railings 2 feet, 6 inches high, fitted with gates, and are each 25 feet X 18 feet, 6 inches. The counter is 3 feet wide, 2 feet, 10 inches high, fitted towards attendant's desk with drawers, cupboards and shelves. There is a working-space of 12 feet X 18 feet, with table for the attendant, and behind it is the opening to the stack-room, being the full length of the working-space. The stack-room is also approached from each of the open-shelf rooms ; it is arranged practically as the floor below — two lavatory basins for public use taking the place of the staff toilet. The magazine room is the same size, 33 feet, 6 inches X 58 feet, as the children's room below it, and the windows are placed on the three sides in a similar manner. The attendant's enclos- ure with desk is placed directly opposite the entrance. It is about 9 feet x 9 feet, with a panelled railing 2 feet, 6 inches high enclosing it, and having a gate opening into either side of the room. There are eight tables, 3 feet X 8 feet, 2 feet, 6 inches high, each having six chairs, i foot, 5^ inches high; and in the centre of the room, opposite the attendant's desk, is a circular table 6 feet in diameter, seating eight readers. Seats are pro- vided in the window-openings, and along the front wall there is no THE SOUTH a standing newspaper desk 25 feet long. Shelving 8 inches deep and roller-shelving 2 feet deep by 6 feet high, occupy the remaining wall-spaces. Here are kept the bound volumes of the magazines and the current files of all the weekly and monthly periodicals. On the second floor the reference-room is placed over the open-shelf room and delivery-space. It is 33 feet, 6 inches X 58 feet, and has the attendant's desk exactly opposite the en- trance, and opening out of what will be one day the top floor of the stack. The rooms for the librarian are placed in the centre of the building, — to the front a public office 21 feet X 18 feet, and a private office, 17 feet, 6 inches X 10 feet, 6 inches. Opposite, on the other side of the upper hall, are placed the women's toilet and staff room. The latter is fitted with ten 14-inch x 16-inch X 6 feet, 6-inch lockers, with 6-inch drawers at bottom and shelf at top. There are also a sink and a marble-topped table adjoining, with small gas stoves. The large room in another wing over the magazine room, and of the same size, is fitted as a lecture-hall. This room will, ac- cording to the librarian's report, " eventually become the main reading room of the library, with shelving capacity for 5,000 volumes, specially selected." The compactness of the plan is very marked, and it is of its type an excellent example. Since the completion and occupa- tion of the building, Mr. Carnegie has signalized his interest in this Hbrary by furnishing the means for establishing within its walls the Southern Library School, which began its first year in the fall of 1905. Still more recently he has given the city of Atlanta money for two branch libraries. At the head of the stairway stands a bust of Mr. Carnegie by Chevalier Trentanove, a sculptor of international reputation, who has studios both in Florence, Italy, and Washington, D. C. The bust is the gift of the grateful citizens of Atlanta, and its purchase was made possible by the existence of a fund for which IMrs. \Vm. Lawson Peel was largely responsible. At the close of the Cotton States and International Exposition held at Atlanta in 1895, Mrs. Peel, who had been chairman of the Colonial ex- hibit, was instrumental in furthering a proposition for the pur- chase of a memorial set of thirteen chimes to be hune in a tower III CARNEGIE LIBRARIES of Georgia granite, which should be a part of an auditorium or music hall. Many school children contributed their mites, but the funds were never called for and the enterprise was reluct- antly abandoned. After the acceptance of Mr. Carnegie's offer, it was suggested that a graceful and proper disposition of the fund would be the presentation to the city of a bust of its great benefactor. This proposal met with general approval. The committee in charge were pleased to be able to secure the ser- vices of Signor Trentanove, who was known to many of the citizens through his connection with the Cotton States Exposi- tion as European Commissioner of Fine Arts, and who was also a personal friend of Mr. Carnegie. Although the bust and ped- estal reached Atlanta as early as February, 1901, it was not un- veiled until July 4, 1904, awaiting first the formal opening of the library, and then the possible presence of Mr. Carnegie. The history of the Nashville, Tennessee, Carnegie Library goes back to the Howard Library, a subscription organization incorporated in 1885. Remaining a reference library Nashville. ., ^-^ i or> • , , • i • until October, 1889, it was then made circulating on a basis of paid readers' cards. Two years later it became a free public institution. In December, 1901, Mr. Carnegie's offer of $100,000 for the erection of a new building was accepted. At a largely attended meeting the incorporators of the Howard Library voted to transfer all the property of that association to the Carnegie Library. This transfer was made on condition that the property " be kept available for free library purposes " ; that the Carnegie Library carry out the contracts existing be- tween the Howard Library and its card-holders ; and that the new building " shall fittingly perpetuate the memory of M. H. Howard." With the passing of the Howard Library its quarters were occupied and its work was carried on by the Carnegie Library until the new building was completed. The Carnegie Library board was composed of directors of the Howard Library and three members appointed by the city council. The site on which the building stands — a gift from J. Edgar McLenahen — was accepted in January, 1902, by the com- mittee having the matter in charge. Early in December of that year the directors submitted a report to the city council, urging that the city appropriation of $10,000, required as a condition of Mr. Carnegie's gift, be granted at once, in order to make the 112 THE SOUTH possible improvements in equipment and service that would be necessary when the library moved into its new building. " Nat- urally and necessarily," says the report, " a much larger service will be expected of the library as soon as the new building is occupied. We have already over 5,000 card holders in Nash- ville, with only a little over 7,000 books available for free circula- tion, and the library is strained to its utmost to supply books to borrowers. As soon as we occupy the new building the num- ber of card holders will be at once doubled or trebled, and unless we provide beforehand, at least to a considerable extent, for the greatly increased demand, the library management will be under embarrassment and the public disappointed." But the public was not disappointed, for on December 30 the council approved the budget for 1 903, making the $10,000 library appropriation desired. Said the trustees: "The favor- able decision of the mayor and council is a matter of congratu- lation. The council by its practically unanimous action has evinced public spirit and appreciation of the library service." On September 19, 1904, the library building was opened to the public without formal exercises. It is in the Italian renais- sance type of architecture. A large central delivery room, which opens from a handsome main hall, is arranged for free access to the shelves and equipped with turnstiles and de- livery desk. To the left of the entrance is the reading room, and opening from this a newspaper and magazine room. On the right are the reference room, the librarian's office, and cataloguer's room. The art gallery, known as Howard Me- morial Hall, is on the third floor, as are also rooms for club meetings, study and the like. The basement provides a splen- did children's room, a staff rest room, unpacking and storage rooms. The librarian, Miss Mary Hannah Johnson, in a paper on library development in Tennessee prepared for the Asheville Conference of the American Library Association, said that " the formative work that has been done has been based upon a policy which must prove a sure foundation for future upbuild- ing. This policy has been to emphasize the library as an essentially educational, as distinguished from a recreational in- stitution ; that it is a necessity and not a luxury ; that it must go hand in hand with schools and colleges in such intimate and 113 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES vital association that neither can do without the other, and that communities will eventually demand the library as necessary to their educational equipment. The people must be given in- formation about libraries and must be shown the need and benefit of the library before they can be induced to give it proper attention or call for its establishment. And I know of no better way to teach the people to call for the library than to couple it with the educational movement in the South. It is hoped and believed by these enthusiastic educators that in a few years a library spirit will be engendered the like of which has never been here before. The library workers are few, but the prominent men and women belonging to the Southern educational association are many and they are going to take the library message to the people." It was late in the year 1900 that the city of Chattanooga received Mr. Carnegie's offer of $50,000 for a library, provided the city would guarantee a yearly maintenance of Chattanooga. ■' ^ . . ^ . "'-. .^ $5,000. In his annual message, January, 1901, Mayor Wassman recommended that the board take whatever action was needed to secure to the city the benefits of Mr. Carnegie's donation. He questioned, however, the advisability of a perma- nent annual expenditure of $5,000, favoring that amount for the first year only — with such subsequent yearly appropriation as might prove necessary for the proper support of the library. At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce held on January 24 a unanimous motion was adopted asking the city for the appro- priation as stated in the Carnegie offer. To permit the city to make this allowance a bill was introduced into the state legisla- ture, providing that cities from 30,000 to 60,000 population may levy a tax of five cents on each $100 of assessable values for library purposes. In March a special committee of the council recommended the acceptance of the gift and the passage of an ordinance which provided that a specific tax be levied " to realize the sum of $5,000 to be used in the support and main- tenance of said free public library and reading room for the period of one year," the city, thereafter, to make suitable pro- vision for its support. Owing to various unfortunate conditions final action was not taken in the matter until the spring of 1902, when the city council passed the ordinance, together with an amendment 114 THE SOUTH suggested by Mr. Carnegie, that the city's annual support should be " at a cost of not less than $5,000 yearly." The next step was the selection and purchase of a site, at the corner of Georgia Avenue and East Eighth Street. Plans were soon chosen, the contract was let, and on the evening of July 17, 1905, the "Chattanooga Public Library: Carnegie Building" — • thus reads the inscription — was opened to the public with a general reception. Further ceremony was abandoned when it was found that Mr. Carnegie could not be present. Besides a nucleus of the Chattanooga Library Association, which was merged in the Carnegie Library, the new library had acquired, at the time of opening, 3,500 volumes by donation and 1,500 by purchase ; and public interest had further manifested itself in cash contributions of more than $3,000. The two-story building is in the renaissance style, 97 X 54 feet in dimensions. The children's room, which was not ready for use until May, 1906, is beautiful in proportion and design. It is a memorial to the late Edward Gould Richmond from Mrs. Richmond and her two children. The room opens directly on the street, its chief feature being a white marble memorial mantel-piece. Green oak is employed for the interior woodwork, shelving and technical furniture, and tables, chairs, window-seats and museum cases were specially designed. The books were marked with a book-plate having the motto, " Resolve well and persevere." The library movement in Norfolk began in the year 1870 with a subscription library under the guidance of Dr. William Selden as president of the Norfolk Library Association, Norfolk. '•, . , 1 , ,. and m rooms occupied by the courtesy of the Nor- folk Academy. After many vicissitudes of fortune, the Norfolk Library Association secured a new charter as the Norfolk Public Library and an appeal was made to the city for financial assistance, A collection of 15,000 volumes was amassed, but there were no prospects for a suitable and separate building until in February, 1901, an appeal was made to Mr. Carnegie. A grant of $50,000 was offered and accepted and the heirs of Dr. William Selden donated a valuable corner lot near the mathematical centre of the city. That the new building would be a memorial to both Dr. Selden and Mr. Carnegie was re- ferred to by the Rev. C. E. Grammer in his address at the lay- ing of the corner-stone in October, 1903 : 115 ' CARNEGIE LIBRARIES " It is a matter of congratulation, to-day," he said, "that one of them was a native of this city and that he was well worthy of remembrance. It is part of the pathos of the self-denying and arduous life of the physician, that, unlike the judge or the minister, whose memories are handed down in the records of the court and of the parish, and whose pictures are often preserved upon the walls of the institutions they served, the memory of the physician is apt to pass away with the generation to whom he ministered. Surely there is a special sadness in the thought that the memory of one who all his life fought against Death, should so soon be cut down by the destroyer's scythe. The loyalty and generosity of his heirs have prevented such a fate from befalling the honored name of Dr. William Selden, Some fitting inscription on these walls will commemorate the name of the eminent physician and surgeon, whose skill brought such blessings to the people of Norfolk and whose fame was part of the honors of the town. His labors during life aided the suffering bodies of his fellow townsmen, and now that he is gone, his influence will be per- petuated in ministrations to their minds. " The name of Andrew Carnegie has so filled the trump of fame, and his philanthropic gifts have been so unprecedented in their number and immensity that my obscure voice is too thin and weak, and my diction too bald and meagre to praise a benev- olence which has awakened the gratitude of nations, and like the celestial luminaries, has visited Vv^ith the light of inspiration almost every considerable town across the breadth of our conti- nent. The earliest library that the spade of the explorer has brought to light had a king for its founder, and the bricks and clay cylinders of the great library of Asurbanipal, or Sardana- palus, were placed by the lordly founder at the service of all the people of Nineveh. From that distant day to this, what a splendid lot of leaders has been associated with the founding and enlargement of libraries ! In Egypt Rameses the Great founded a notable library in which Moses may have studied. The world has rung with the fame of the great library of the Ptole- mies in Alexandria, which was finally destroyed by the ignorant fanaticism of the Arabs. The imperial name of Augustus is associated with the library of Rome ; and the almost superhuman majesty of a Charlemagne left its memorials in the monastic library of Fulda. In Germany, the fame of the great elector is connected with the library ofHcrlin and the Bibliothcque Nationale of Paris has upon the roll of its patrons such names as Francis I., Henry IV., Louis XIV., ' Le grand monarque,' and those great ministers, those true rulers of France in their day, the sagacious Ii6 York &■ Sawyer, Archiielis Lni>yrit;llt, 190b. by DliTROIT I'lIiLlSIlI.NC. CuMI'ANV MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA ^'m^l K. K, r V-, 1 ( IK, Aki III M I i nil 1 i i I , M ; I. \ ,1 : - 1;. I, i| INS ION LIBRARY OF TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, TUSKEGEE, ALABA.MA < < ^ < z. J u < s > u. as /: 5 .? c ~ o ^: o |:-fci ITr^ SE, » ■^I pi ! T li! HE ACKHKMAN S; RoSS. ARCHITHCTS. N. V. I'H'JTOS. I:V H, O. I-ri.I.KR NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE LOBBY AND DELIVERY DESK First Floor SHCONI) I-li»>k R. H. HUNT, ARCHITECT PHOTO. I.'. \ '.' I'DD C H A 1 1 A N 1 11 n , A, 1 t. N N L.^b LK HKRHEKT I). liAl.K AM) llENKV t... MORSK, ASSOCIAIK ARCIIUKCT^ NORFOLK. VIRCIMA I'liOTO. UV lABKR ».- ■ .-. y-< ©o oo Main I'i.oor NORFOLK, VIRGINIA H. J. KLITHO. ARCHITECT V NIOORE JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA KHuiu. H\ Havens READING ROOiM (for colored patrons) Second Floor pg

■'. 1^ ^\ ■ -^^ "• '^- J"11N-I' LAVVRENCEVILLE BRANCH, PITTSBURG LIBRARY Cl.UB WORK AMONG THE COLORED CHILDREN SOHO HILL, PITTSBURG BA^Lt-irriJT PLAN LAWKENCEVILLii BRANCH, PITTSBURG ALDH.N i£ llAKLUU, AKCHITECTS, PiTTSBLki. I'HOTO. BV K. \V. & H. E. JOHNSTON MT. WASHINGTON CRANCH, PITTSBURG '.ha: ia: >, i a lu.'i.'. Co.\l^A^^ LIBRARY CLUB WORK IX IHK .11 WISH QUARTER, PITTSBURG First Floor Plan liASliMl-N r I'LAN MT. WASHINC.TOX IIRANCH, I'lTTSHUKG ALDK.N & HAKl.i..\\. \k. HI I M I -,, li I 1 ~l.l U. , PHom. HV R. W . .V li. h. JoHN^TON WYLIE AVENUE BRANCH, PITTSBURG 1 II \r I Al'cjl A I'li HOME LIBRARY GROUP, PITTSBURG STACK. ROOM E D D D GENERAL READING ROOM D D D D D D D D t^±z nAoiua At" vc DELIVERY LOBBY fh"^ ¥01 -^ , ' Y CMILDREN5 ROOM [ / " L 37-6 . 33-0' . • 1 — FIRST FLOOR FLAN WYLIE AVENUE BRANCH, PITTSBURG lAt ^ riRST FLOOR PLAN WEST END BRANCH, PITISBURG 'J 5 < Platk 63 ALDUN &• Harlow, Ak' nrnris. I'msHrKG EAST LIBERTY BRANCH, PITTSBURG KLAlilNG ROOM Plate 64 o H U < Pi « h < PITTSBURG unsurpassed entomological collection was its first chief acquisi- tion, but the doctor has made a much more valuable gift even than that. He has given himself. The Museum has attained international position as one of the world's institutions, and reflects much credit upon its director and his staff. "Last, but not least, comes the department of fine arts, under the management of Mr. Beatty, also a Pittsburger, which has also achieved high position and reflects infinite credit upon its sole director. Its annual exhibitions are events looked forward to both here and in Europe. Pictures are sent here by the first artists of Europe, I am informed, to a greater extent than to any American exhibition, those of New York not excepted. I often hear of the story of our jury skying a picture from the great Detaille. When the gentlemen of the jury were informed that they had done so, the reply was superb. ' Can't help that ; we don't regard names here, but works of art. It would have been the same if we had known it was a Rembrandt.' I con- gratulate Pittsburg upon this exhibition of triumphant democ- racy. Pedigree does not count in her Institute. The influence exerted upon the community by the art gallery so conducted cannot fail to be great, widespread, and beneficent. " Our ceremony to-day embraces the technical schools, which are also in a sense now to be formally opened. These are part of the institute, and no mean part. In direct practical results, under the magical sway of Dr. Hamerschlag, perhaps it is to overshadow any other part, for it opens to students of both sexes, through the doors of knowledge, new and improved scientific modes of reaching higher results through better means. It elevates mere manual labor, making it more a product of the brain and less of the hand, of skill rather than force. Based upon science and more refined methods, it must create finer tastes. All the technical students have free access to library, department of fine arts, music hall, and museum. Our technical schools therefore may be regarded also as education in esthetic fields in no small degree. " I am told there are to-day 1,390 students — young men and young women, and several thousand waiting admission. In every department there exists obvious proof of intense earnest- ness, great esprit de corps, and a determination to profit by the advantages offered. Already there have been developed strong feelings of pride and love of the schools. " Thus, ladies and gentlemen, wherever we look around us, in every branch of the institute, we find success written in large and unmistakable letters. The tree has borne good fruit abun- 133 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES dantly year after year in the past and promises to continue doing so increasingly year after year, generation after genera- tion to come, the end of which no one can foretell. This proves the presence of an able and devoted organizer at the head of the commission, to whom special thanks are due. Mr. Frew has been a harmonizer and constructive force throughout, hence the brilliant success. " Judged by the past, the future promises well. There is no question of Pittsburg's continued growth, no indications that she will not retain her commanding position as a manufacturing city, foremost in certain important lines, and in my view there is no question of the continued growth and usefulness of the Institute. In after days, when the founder becomes merely a name, as Harvard and Yale and Cornell and many founders are to-day, the future Pittsburg millionaire, loyal to the city where he has prospered, will see that his bequests can be bestowed upon needed extensions or new departments or collateral insti- tutions now unthought of It will become more and more the fashion, may I not say the duty, of Pittsburgers to consider what return they can make to the city which has done so much for them. Wealth will be less prized for itself in future genera- tions, and the chief aim will be to bestow it wisely and, I might add, justly, for surely the city where wealth is made has, after the family, first claim. When this is realized Pittsburg will be abundantly supplied, and this Institute will become the precursor of other institutions as needed — the gifts of Pittsburg's wealth by Pittsburg men for Pittsburg's good. " The gifts made to the various departments of the Institute have already been so numerous that mention of donors is im- practicable. More than twenty have given to the art gallery, between four hundred and five hundred to the museum, some of the gifts being extremely valuable, and no less than seven hun- dred to the library. Even the technical school just started has received 15,000 dollars for a scholarship to be given to a worthy but poor student. This within a few months of its creation is only one of the many proofs that we have the right man in the right place, and that the school is to be heard from in the future. " The names of the donors are recorded in the annals of the Institute, and will furnish pleasing reading to their descendants, generation after generation. These proofs of genuine Pittsburg cooperation are the sweetest of all rewards, for they enable me to dwell upon the fact that I am not alone in this work, and at intervals they whisper, ' You have Pittsburg with you,' delicious music that goes to the heart and makes me happy. ^34 PITTSBURG " There is room for many things of the spirit in our city. Things material are abundant. Our mills and factories, numer- ous, large, and prosperous, but things material, including money itself, should only be the foundation upon which are reared things spiritual. Our mines of coal and iron have not completed their mission when transmuted into articles for use and these into dollars. All is still upon the material plane. Not till the dollars are transmuted into service for others in one of the many forms best calculated to appeal to and develop those higher things of the moral, intellectual, and esthetic domain has wealth com- pletely justified its existence. Dollars are only dross until spiritualized, a means to an end ; and miserable the man, mean and squalid his life, who knows no better than to deaden his soul by mere possession, counting over the hoard which holds him down or using his faculties in old age in augmenting the useless stuff which ministers not to any taste worthy of man. " There is sure to arise from the wealth created here a body of men who will find in the distribution of their gains where they were made the genuine reward which surplus wealth can give, the knowledge that it is certain in after years to elevate, refine, and purify the lives of those who succeed us, and that we have left one spot of earth at least a little better than we found it. " There is one body of men to whom the Institute primarily owes its success — the commission of Pittsburgers, which has labored so zealously as trustees from the beginning. We thank them and congratulate them upon the crowning success to-day. It has been my rare privilege as years have passed to become more and more intimate with the class of men whose delight is to labor not for self but for others, not for their own gain but for the gain of the community. Much of self sacrifice I have seen that elevates human nature. Little does and little can the speculator on the exchange, or the mere dollar-grabber in any line of activity, know of the higher pleasures of human exist- ence. Only when a man labors for the general good and for other than miserable aims that end with self can he know and enjoy the high spiritual rewards of life. We have such men in Pittsburg deeply interested in this Institute, and also in the hero and pension funds, and in many other philanthropic fields, — men who give not only their time and thought without com- pensation, but who have their hearts in the work. If it were not invidious to name some who are exceptional where all have done so well, I should like to do so, but they seek no public or other reward beyond the return received from laboring for the 135 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES general good. Many are the men and women in Pittsburg who are laborers in the vineyards of self-abnegation. The high- est type of humanity is that which does most to make our earthly home a heaven. The highest worship of God is service to man. " Special acknowledgment is due of our heavy obligations to the press of Pittsburg, which has from the inception of the Institute till now been lavish of their space and labor to keep it before the people, and much of the general acceptance and popularity obtained has been owing to this. The medical pro- fession is justly credited with giving an enormous amount of service gratis, but I judge the press to be abreast of it. Every good non-partisan cause has its powerful support. All parties are found in happy agreement here. We can assure our foreign guests that partisanship in our country is only skin deep; below that and deep down we are all good friends. " We wish also to express our thanks to the eminent men from many parts and many countries who honor us to-day by their presence. Pittsburg has never seen a gathering com- prising so many from the old world, and it has welcomed them all with unusual pleasure. It is highly honored receiving men whose names are household words in both the old and new lands, honored also in having so many of our own land whose names are known in both and who have made the world their debtors for service rendered. Such assemblies presage the coming federation of the world. Many before me are already more than Americans, Germans, or Frenchmen. They are citi- zens of the world, and the world owns itself their debtor. " It will not be considered invidious if special mention be made of the interest displayed in our Institute by that remarka- ble man, the German Emperor. We owe him much for sending General Von Lowenfeld as his representative, Secretary of State Moeller, and other eminent men. We ask them to convey to the Emperor the profound acknowledgments of all interested in the Institute. We earnestly wish for him a long continuance of the reign of peace and prosperity which has so long blessed his sway, for, be it remembered to his credit, that long as he has reigned his hands are guiltless of human blood shed in interna- tional war. Let us also remember that our technical schools have Charlottenberg to follow as a model. We cannot forget what we owe to Germany as teacher of the nations in industrial education. We cannot omit recognition of the valued congratu- lations brought to us by the friends from our sister republic of France, to whom our country owes an unpayable debt. One 136 PITTSBURG cannot imagine the two republics at variance upon any subject whatever. We have had for our art department the guidance of France, the leader in all things artistic. " One of my oldest and dearest friends, Mr. Joseph Wharton, of Philadelphia, w^as present when the original Institute was handed over to the city and is with us to-day. He recently reminded me that I then closed with certain words which he recited with such oratorical effect as I can only attempt to imi- tate. I shall repeat them to-day: 'Take, then, people of Pittsburg, this Institute from one who loves Pittsburg deeply and who would serve her well.' " His Excellency Theodore Von Moeller, German Minister of State, discussed " The Popular Significance of the Carnegie Institute " : " We felicitate the citizens of Pittsburg on calling such a magnificent educational institute their own, for deriving for them- selves, at first hand, its beautiful effects ; and, above all, for having raised within their walls a man of such immense energy, of such wonderful success, and, withal, of such noble munificence, who has not only very materially contributed to the astonishing develop- ment of your industries, but who, with a clear perception of his duties toward the community, has placed this rare Institute at the disposal of his fellow citizens. . . , " The fact is universally recognized that the conveyance of edu- cation to the more industrious among the uneducated workers as a means of elevating them into the higher spheres of life, and finally into the propertied classes, is one of the most effec- tive instrumentalities in effacing the existing social contrasts, especially among persons of a democratic trend of thinking. In the Old World, as well as in this country, the number of those who regard education as a privilege of the higher classes only is becoming less and less. Thus, in Germany it is to-day con- sidered a social obligation of the highest order, devolving alike upon communities and states, to extend the training given to the young in public schools, through schools for adults, into the first years of their working. The attendance of these schools, first optional, was later, in the case of mechanics at least, made obligatory; and the time for instruction, formerly evenings and Sundays, transferred into the working hours, in order not to have overworked pupils and not to deprive the latter of the Sunday's rest." Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, French member of the Hague conference and a foremost figure in the French senate, CARNEGIE LIBRARIES characterized the Carnegie Institute as " an act of faith in the future of our civiHzation." " To elevate the moral, intellectual, and material welfare of a people," said he, " is at the same time to serve that people and all other peoples in giving them an ex- ample, a line of conduct. Such is the work which we honor to-day. Antiquity believed its duty fulfilled when it gave to the public bread and games, but modern society consecrates to them its most generous impulses and its palaces." The magnitude of the Carnegie Institute merits the tributes paid to its importance as a factor of world-wide consequence. Pittsburg did not underestimate it by regarding the Institute as a purely local creation through mere pride of possession. They accepted it rather in trusteeship for the benefits it might bestow upon the nation and the world. Its influence has ra- diated, and will continue to radiate, without regard to local, na- tional, or geographical limits as a center of intellectual progress, of social betterment, and general advancement. It is worth setting down that, next to the unique liberality of Andrew Carnegie in gifts to Pittsburg, the factor that con- tributed most to the great expansion of the institutions he has created is the popular appreciation and use of them all. Mr. Carnegie was positive in the attitude that the requisite for such enlargements was the evidence that they were being made use of by the public and thus were serving their beneficial purpose. He has said repeatedly that the richest dividend he could re- ceive on investments like these, is the knowledge that they are used and prized by the masses. No Pittsburger took more pleasure in the dedication of the Carnegie Institute than the aggressive exponent of the art of giving, who saw his earlier conceptions not only realized but surpassed. 138 McLaughlin & gilmoru, archuhcis, Cincinnati WALNUT HILLS BRANCH, CINCINNATI READING ROOM < u a" u <: Pi oa ::> ►J < CHAPTER XII OHIO AND MICHIGAN Branch Libraries in Cincinnati — Development of Branch Libraries IN Cleveland— Work with Children at the Broadway Branch — The Miles Park and the Woodland Branches — Home Libraries — Port Huron, Michigan. THE Public Library of Cincinnati has a much larger field than its name would indicate, for since 1898 it has been open by law to all residents of the county in which it is located. Delivery stations, travelling libraries, and small branches have been established to supply the ^. . !• 1 • c iri Cincinnati. demands of the outlying districts. Several of these smaller branches were originally regular village libraries of two or three thousand volumes each. Through the generosity of Mr. Carnegie provision has been made for branches in various parts of the city. The Walnut Hills branch library, the first built under the provisions of Mr. Carnegie's gift, was opened April 7, 1906. It is situated in Walnut Hills, a suburb of some 30,000 inhabitants, on a quiet street in the residence district, but within one square of seven car lines and two squares distant from the business center of the suburb. The building itself is located on a corner lot rather more elevated than the surrounding square, so that the lighted dome of the library is a noted feature at night to the residents in the neighborhood and to the passers-by on the various trolley lines traversing it. The building is of vitrified brick with trimmings of freestone, the steps and pillars at the entrance being of the same stone. The exterior view of the building, with its oddly contrasting features and rather imposing entrance, does not prepare one for the very pleasurable feeling experienced on entering the building. The distance from the door to the delivery counter is not great. On either side of this passageway are the usual rooms, — one devoted to the juvenile department, the other to 139 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES the fiction and reading room. Most of the work of the library, such as cataloguing and so forth, is done at the main library, so that the splendidly equipped delivery desk, which occupies most of the space at the end of the passage leading to the large reference room back of the counter, is amply sufficient for the needs of the administration. Beyond the desk and extending the entire width of the building is a well-lighted room contain- ing the non-fiction, the reference collection of books, and the periodical and newspaper files. The impression conveyed on entering the building is a most pleasing one of ample hght and ventilation. A very large reading room is provided for in the rear, around which are the classed books and works of reference, 7,000 in number, with reading tables and chairs close to the desk where help may be had for the asking. The light in this room comes from four sides ; and, indeed, the building throughout, with its plate-glass partitions and high windows, has a remarkably good light. Complete supervision of the fiction and children's room is secured from the desk by means of plate-glass partitions on either side, extending the entire length of the hall, the entrances to these rooms being on a line with the rear of the desk. The children's room is particularly attractive with its large windows, low shelving, and substantial furniture. One special feature of this room is the collection of fairy tales and picture books arranged on low shelves. On the second floor are two rooms, the larger of which is used as a meeting-place for the boys' club, the story hour, and the various smaller gatherings, the other as a rest room for the staff. In the basement are the work rooms and the auditorium, seating about 150. The auditorium is furnished with a stereop- ticon and the wall is finished to serve as a screen. This room has been constantly in demand during the fall and winter months for lectures and meetings of various clubs. The woodwork of the library is birch with mahogany finish. The use of this branch has been very satisfactory, the circula- tion averaging about 500 a day, of which somewhat less than half is juvenile. There are within a short distance a number of public and private schools with which the library aims to co-operate as fully as possible. Books are reserved for the 140 Flate / I AV. R. Watterson. Architect WOODLAXD BRANCH, CLEVELAND A REMODELLED AND MUCH ENLARGED RUILDING PHOTO. BY N. L. STEBBINS, BOSTON, MASS. DELIVERY DESK AND READING ROOM Plate 78 "ir~ ,1 .Ji 1 1 Jl ^1 ^L Ib^itltn LLDb.rrjin-nxii il. . _jdrLmL±HTff.cLiiDn.t. ^L iHtiJiintriJDJizr-in-Dl Jl "S[~' — i'~i"rr ■ WOODLAND I'.RANCII -FLOOR PLAN Plate 79 L:;ih \Rli L. TILTON, AKCHITHCT. NI5\V YORK MILES PARK BRANCH, CLEVKLAXD CIRCULATING DEPARTMENT Plate 80 M>^!!!H!''-i • I fl a < > < OHIO AND MICHIGAN high schools when requested, and special attention is given to the pupils who come for help. During the first year refer- ences were prepared and filed for five clubs. This, together with the use of the auditorium, which is free for meetings of an educational nature, has brought many to the building for serious reading. The most important chapter in the history of library work in the city of Cleveland opened with the establishment of its first branch (on the west side) in 1892. The gradual de- velopment of a system of library branches followed, the constant and increasing demand for an enlargement of this system at length assuming such proportions that eleven years later the library authorities were quite in despair at the big problem confronting them. Happily this crisis was averted by Mr. Carnegie, who came to the rescue with an offer of $250,000, — made at the solicitation of the Librarian, Mr. W. H. Brett, — to extend the scheme and to provide adequate buildings. The offer stipulated that Cleveland should furnish sites for the seven buildings desired, and should contribute to their support not less than $25,000 annually. Later, in 1907, Mr. Carnegie sup- plemented his first gift with an additional sum of $123,000. This came in response to a request from the Library Board, the welcome news being communicated in the following letter : Skibo Castle, Dornoch, Sutherland, July 2, 1907. Oliver M. Stafford, Esq., President, Public Library Board, Cleveland, Ohio. Dear Sir, — Mr. Carnegie has yours of June 17th and agrees to increase the amount allowed for library building the needed One Hundred Twenty-three Thousand Dollars, as shown in your statement. Mr. Carnegie congratulates Cleveland upon exceed- ing even Pittsburg in proportion to the amount of population, in hbrary appropriation, placing Cleveland first of all. Respectfully yours, JAMES BERTRAM, Private Secretary. In April, 1909, Mr. Carnegie offered to pay for the erection of three additional branch library buildings, at a total cost of $83,000, provided that Cleveland would obtain sites for these 141 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES without touching the hbrary revenue, and would pledge the maintenance of the libraries in these buildings at a cost of not less than ^8,300 a year. To-day Cleveland has fourteen fully equipped branch libraries, ten housed in a building made possible by Mr. Carnegie, It would be difficult to estimate the value of these branch libraries to the civic life of Cleveland. In supplementing the work of the schools, of the clubs, and even of the homes of their several neighborhoods, they have succeeded in invigorating the social and intellectual life of the entire community to a very noticeable degree. Modern library methods are based upon a growing assumption that the work deals not alone with books, but with human beings as well, — their strength and weaknesses, their joys and sorrows, their ambitions and apathies. That Cleveland librarians have been keenly sensible of this fact is plainly evi- dent. Hence their well-spent efforts have not ended with what a layman might consider simple and ungarnished library duties, such as the choice of books, and their wise distribution, but they aim to meet the desires of patrons as well as to cultivate a taste for ever better reading, to prepare material and reference work for the use of clubs, schools, or individuals, and all the necessary routine work behind the scenes. They have pro- ceeded also along social settlement lines, accompanying their traffic in books with an alert, personal interest in and a sym- pathy with the people of the neighborhood, as well as a provi- sion for wholesome recreation and social enjoyment. It may be of interest to note briefly a few phases of branch library work in Cleveland that have seemed especially produc- tive of good results. For the purpose of stimulating interest when introducing a new branch to a community, the most satis- factory method proved to be an arrangement whereby the pupils, with their teachers, visited the library by grades. Of late, how- ever, the problem has been one not so much of arousing interest, but of satisfying the ever-increasing demand for books, informa- tion, and club privileges. Through the children their parents have become interested. Large numbers of foreign books are purchased for their pleasure and profit. The patronage of foreign-speaking people in the Broadway branch neighborhood increased to such an extent that a room especially intended for these patrons recently became a necessity. In this room are 142 Charles Morris, Architect lasaociateJ with Lehman & Schmidtt BROADWAY BRANCH, CLEVELAND ROTUNDA OF THE BROADWAY I'.RANCH Glass screens have recently been erectcil between nil the columns excepting those in front of ihc entrance from Wilson Avenue CORNER OF CHILDREN'S ROOM IN BROADWAY BRANCH, CLEVELAND HOME LIBRARY GROLl', CLEYELAM) OHIO AND MICHIGAN the books in foreign languages, a bulletin board, show cases for special foreign displays, and a magazine rack. In order to make the library better known among the foreigners of its neighborhood, one branch has had leaflets printed in German, Slovenian, and PoHsh, stating the hours of opening, how to ob- tain membership cards, and the like. An attractive cut of the building appears on the outside page. These leaflets were dis- tributed through lodges and churches, as well as in the public and parochial schools. A supply was also kept at the receiving desk for distribution among foreign borrowers. It is known that through this means a considerable number of patrons have been introduced to the library. One branch loaned nearly 900 pictures to a church which arranged an art exhibition as an entertainment for its young people. There were displays of examples of art in advertising, book covers, posters, book illustrations, art in dress, pictures of musicians, noted authors, cathedrals, studies for water color, oil, and china painting. A picture display, greatly appreciated, was a series of college interiors, exteriors, and college grounds. Catalogues of these colleges were made easily accessible. The exhibition was given in June, and senior high school classes were especially invited. With the aim of extending the work between one of the branch libraries and the schools an informal reception was held for teachers in the neighborhood. Addresses by the Superintend- ent of Instruction and several of his assistants, and also by the Librarian and members of his staff, were full of timely sugges- tions and help. The Librarian also gave talks on books and reading in neighboring factories and churches which resulted in requests for book lists. So-called " stepping-stone lists," placed in the pockets of inferior books, have brought good results, as shown by subsequent withdrawals. The use of well-planned bulletins, illustrative of special topics or events of the day, has been persistently and effectively developed. The forming of clubs has opened up splendid opportunities for personal work, not only in an educational way, but along the lines of self-culture, and fair dealing as well. Boys' clubs usually begin with athletics and games as a foundation, gradu- ally coming to include reading and debating. The writer recalls such an organization, composed of a number of Polish boys 143 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES from about fifteen to seventeen years of age, — members of a neighborhood gang, most of them under the jurisdiction of a probation officer, and none of them attending school. The club was formed with the assistance of a young lawyer who had vol- unteered his services. In a short time every boy in this club became interested in reading, two or three went back to school, and in time the probation officer was able to dismiss them with clear records. They lost their reputation as a menace to the neighborhood, becoming instead examples of order and decency. Among girls' clubs a desire for social pleasure usually broadens into such interests as reading, charitable work, or reviewing and dramatizing stories. For example, the Alcott Club in the Woodland branch, organized purely for pleasure, began reading the life of Helen Keller. This created an interest in blind people, and with its leader the club visited Goodrich House social settlement, where work open to the industrial blind is carried on. The club members at once voted a small contri- bution to the book fund, making also a pledge to assist in the work. To preserve the dignity of the library as an educational insti- tution and to make the organizing and meeting of clubs valuable to those concerned, it was found necessary to frame certain rules, of which the following set is a good example : 1. The purpose of the club is to be discussed with the branch librarian so that she may decide upon the eligibility of the club to the use of the room. 2. Parliamentary law is to govern all club meetings. 3. If the members of the club are not old enough properly to conduct the club, they are required to have a leader who will be capable of preserving order and teaching parliamentary rules. 4. Each organization is to appoint a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws, a constitution only, or by-laws only, according to the requirements of the club, these to be submitted to the branch librarian for approval. Space forbids more than a mere mention of the story-hour work among groups of children ; of exhibits, ranging from old valentines to amateur photography, Alaskan relics, wool tex- tiles, etc. ; of the clubs for old as well as young, and of the free concerts, lectures, and entertainments of widely varying charac- 144 OHIO AND MICHIGAN ter. The dub rooms and the auditoriums are open to all organ- izations whose purposes are educational and non-partisan or in any way tend to the public welfare. Much of the branch library work is among an immigrant population. The children of these immigrants are a class unto themselves, their attitude toward life combining that inbred spirit of an oppressed people accustomed to getting their rights under difficulties, with the quickly-acquired spirit of a free-born American. The combination tends toward lawlessness, and the only way to cope with the situation has proved to be a judicious administering of the stern authority that the immigrant nature respects, tempered with sympathy and kindness. The librarian learns to meet a variety of conditions in a variety of ways, bearing in mind, always, that chief aim of the work, — to render the library useful in the highest sense to the neighborhood which it serves. The following account of work with children and the means used to reach them at the Broadway branch is quoted from the report of the Children's Librarian at the close of the second year, January i, 1908 : " The second year's work in the Children's Room has shown the difference between children of reading parents, and those to whom a book is something to be read with difficulty, perhaps spelled through. The majority of the people have little of luxury in their lives, the time taken for pleasuring and recreation is very scant, and the money to spend on pleasure is scarce ; so then, it follows, that when the children ask for a Bohemian or German fairy tale and we question, * For yourself ? ' and they answer, ' No, for my father,' we are much pleased ; and when we find a child in the second grade insisting on having the Blue fairy book, and on being advised, ' But that is too old for you,' replies, ' This is for my father and mother ; they like fairy tales,' we know they are getting a new view of life, and for a little while they live with princes and princesses in some king's wonderful palace. It has not been unusual in the last few months to be asked, * Please and will you be so kind as to start my father on some new fairy tales ; he has read all the colored ones.' The demand for German and Bohemian fairy tales is always increasing. " The most cordial and friendly relation exists between the library and the schools. Principals and teachers give assur- es CARNEGIE LIBRARIES ances of the great help it is to them in their work. In one very foreign district the principal told me the children had improved so much in their reading, and attributed it largely to their inter- est in the books from the library, and then said further: ' Unless a child can read, and read understandingly, he cannot do even a simple problem in arithmetic' Another principal thinks the library has increased the children's respect for public buildings, and made them better mannered. Certain it is that the children are more easily managed this year than last, that the majority of them bow to us and smile when they come in, and usually remember to say good-night. " The ideal discipline we try for is not to send a boy out be- cause he has been naughty, but to get an interesting book into his hands at the first show of restlessness, — a case of ' do this ' rather than ' don't do that' This means that the Children's Librarian must know her books, and know them well, so that if necessary she can turn to a particular incident in a book and fit it to the wriggling bit of humanity that needs it at that particular moment. Then three things have been accomplished : a possible bad boy has been transformed into a good one, the special atten- tion has pleased him and a long step has been taken toward getting him under her influence, and the order of the room has been preserved. " When the painter gilded the cross on the steeple of Our Lady of Lourdes' Church, and the children stood on the street watching with breathless interest the black speck so far up in the air, it was a comparatively easy matter to have eight boys at one table all reading the Steeple Climber, from ' Careers of danger and daring.' They are impressionable enough to be fairly easily influenced, caught by the interest of the moment, but, like all im- pressionable natures, they need constant attention and suggestion. " Illustrated reading lists, termed bulletins, are aids in guiding the children's reading, and under these bulletins we try to keep the newest, cleanest copies of books we have thus advertised. More bulletins are made with reading lists for boys than for girls. So long as the girls cannot be said to have a real reading taste formed it seems advisable to direct their attention to the best books for boys, so they read ' Jack Ballister's Fortunes ' and ' Treasure Island ' with apparent interest. " The English history reading list for the sixth grade has been of great help in broadening the reading. There were days and days when Robin Hood and King Arthur never were near their shelves, and of all our many copies of English history not one was to be found in the room. The Tappan books, 'In the Days of Alfred the Great,' ' In the Days of William the Conqueror,' 146 OHIO AND MICHIGAN etc., were read and re-read. One boy smilingly confided that he had read Alfred the Great so many times he had lost count, but it just seemed he could not get enough of him." Three of the Carnegie branches are represented among the accompanying illustrations. The Miles Park branch, on the site of its former building, was opened to the public in j^jj^^ p^^.^ March, 1906. It is beautifully situated in a setting of ^^anch. grass and trees. Of buff pressed brick, it measures 69 X 103 feet. The entrance is made imposing by the two massive pillars at the doorway and the broad stairs which lead to the main cir- culating room. Two bronze memorial tablets ornament the en- trance corridor. One has a portrait of Mr. Carnegie and bears the following inscription : " This building was the gift of Andrew Carnegie to the people of Cleveland." The other contains the names of the library trustees. The circulating room is sur- mounted by a dome of beautiful leaded glass supported by eight pillars, beneath which is the delivery desk. On either side of the stairs the reference room and the children's room open into the circulating room, from which glass partitions separate them. Of special note are the mantels in these rooms, the latter having a series of tiles on which scenes from Shakespeare's plays are painted. Adjoining the children's room is the junior club room, devoted to children's clubs and story hours. On the floor below are the auditorium, a club room, rooms for the staff, and the bindery. The woodwork and the furniture throughout are of weathered oak, the walls and ceiling are terra cotta and different shades of tan. The first library to be completed under the Carnegie gift was the Woodland branch. The front portion of the former building forms the east wing of the new, a one-story colonial woodUnd brick structure, with stone trimmings, measuring ^'■^'=^- 84 X 164 feet. The marble wainscoted vestibule leads into a wide corridor, on the wall space of which are a few carefully chosen pictures. Opening from the corridor are the office and the cir- culating department, which are separated from the reference room and the children's room by plate-glass partitions. Scenes from the story of King Arthur painted on tiles around the mantel of the children's room are a never-failing source of de- light. Adjoining the circulation department is one of the club rooms, which serves also as an anteroom for the auditorium. 147 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES The latter is situated in the rear of the building and has an out- side entrance by way of the arched portico. A retiring room for the staff also opens from the circulating department. The basement is given over to public lavatories, pages' and janitor's rooms and store room. The building is generously provided with skylights. The woodwork and furniture are of weathered oak. The walls and floor covering are tinted in a lighter tone, the general effect of the whole being soft and harmonious. Broadway branch, corner of Broadway and East 55th Street, is in modern French renaissance style, decagon shaped, of red Broadway brick and stone. One entrance leads to the library, Branch. ^\^q Other to the auditorium. Names are registered, and books charged and returned in the central office, reached by passing through the vestibule and exhibition corridor. To the right of the office are the circulating department and the reference and reading rooms; a glass partition under the dome incloses the circulating desk. On the opposite side of the building is the children's room, with more than four thousand carefully selected volumes. The basement contains a large auditorium as well as rooms for clubs and the children's hour. In addition to making use of the regular channels of branches, sub-branches, and school libraries, the Cleveland Public Library has a number of " home libraries," — cases of forty or fifty attrac- tive books for children which are sent to the home of a family in a locality far from any of the branch libraries. Each week a visitor goes on an appointed afternoon to the home where the books are and meets with a dozen children who have formed themselves into a group. Stories are read, games played, and each child given a book or two to take home. While the books are furnished by the library, the work is done by young men and women who are interested in social betterment and who volunteer their services. Many of these volunteer visitors are graduates of the Woman's College, or are Normal School stu- dents. A supervisor of home libraries looks after the work, visiting the homes, forming the groups, and securing the visitor. The following account of a home-library group in the Italian district, shown in the accompanying illustration, is taken from a Cleveland paper : " The picture shows the meeting-place of one of our groups on Hill Street, — that much-maligned spot where the public 148 lLUXI. ' ir] I'ATTDN & MILLER, ARCHnECTS, CHICAGO ^. 1.. S 1 !■ i;l;lN.->, li'j.^lu.S. MASS PORT HUROX, MICHIGAN READING ROOM v^ECOivlD Vl-OO^ Pi_/vM riRdS-r n_OOF5 PL AM ELKHART, INDIANA ENTRANCE TO ELKKART LIBRARY KI.KIIAKT, IXDIAXA PATTON & MlI.I.F.R, ARCHITECIS, Lllli Ai,' FREEPOKT, ILLINOIS I'A I I. IN ,\ \l I'lioro. BV J. 1.. Ak I ir-R STREATOR, ILLINOIS Public • Library • S'^Remtor • III Fr.\nk Miles I)av & Brcjther. architects, I'iiila., Pa. MADISON, WISCONSIN Photos, bv J. C. Schubert READING ROOM t/3 O u tn 2; o 5 < o 3 u< Q X o •J CLAiiJh ^v siarli.. AKciin i:.; !->, Madison rii.ni.» iv ]- C. schii;i-,k i , M\i.i~' n DARLINGTON, WISCONSIN INTERIOR OI' DARLlNGTllN LIURARY FlKSl I'l.ri. )k BASKMIiNT DARLINGTON, WISCONSIN OHIO AND MICHIGAN opinion would have it that the casual wayfarer must invariably- run the gauntlet of gleaming stilettos wielded by swarthy Italian villains. ' No good thing cometh out of Hill Street,' they say, but that is far from true. Though one must deplore the crowded houses and lack of cleanliness, there is much to admire in their sunny dispositions, their great family affection, and the marvel- ous patience shown to the ever-present babies by the older children. " The court in which this house stands is entered by a narrow passageway from the street. It plays the double r61e of back yard to two houses and front yard to two others. The rear of the latter open directly upon a narrow, dirty alley. In these four houses live some ten or twelve Italian families, all amply sup- plied with children, so that this court alone furnished abundant material for a Home Library. In fact, it was found advisable to form two clubs, one for the children over twelve years of age, the other for the little ones. The age limit could never be en- forced, though, for the older girls always had the inevitable baby to care for, whose presence often disturbed the quiet neces- sary for reading or story-telling. " The children are delighted with the books. Ignorance in the matter of reading does not dull their enthusiasm. All the little Salvatores and Carmelitas must have books in emulation of their elders. They are permitted to, for it was found that the juve- nile books drawn by the youngest children were enjoyed by the older brothers and sisters, whose pride demanded their choosing books more suited to their age but not always to their mental caliber, " A large number of these children are born in Italy, but acquire the English tongue with surprising rapidity, and prefer to speak it to escape the ridicule of their schoolmates. Few of the parents speak English. Their attitude toward the library visitor is kind tolerance. The children supply the enthusiasm. The moment the visitor enters the court there is a wild rush among the younger children, and the cry, 'Here's the lady — she teaches library,' is the signal for the popping out of heads from upper windows, and then a scattering to hunt up books. " At Christmas time our little club room had a most festive appearance. The table upon which the bookcase usually stood was transformed into a tiny altar, with bits of statuary, burning tapers, and vessels of holy water. In another corner stood the Christmas tree furnished by a good friend. " But like true love, the course of all Home Library clubs does not run smoothly, and one Saturday morning the visitor 149 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES was met with the astonishing news that the club had been chased out by the pigs. A little explanation revealed that a pig-killing and a sausage-making were going on in the room usually occupied by the older girls' club and they had taken refuge in a nearby kitchen. This pig-killing performance lasted some weeks, and seriously interfered with our meetings, but finally, when the rooms were sufficiently garlanded with festoons of sausages to last an indefinite length of time, the club again resumed its meetings." The public library for the erection of which Mr. Carnegie gave $45,000 to the city of Port Huron, Michigan, was opened to the public in May, 1904. At the dedication exercises, which were largely attended, Mr. W. L. Jenks, presi- dent of the board of library commissioners, traced the history of the local library from its beginning in the high school build- ing nine years before. Starting with a few, it had accumulated more than 14,000 books, and had furthermore achieved, through the generous aid of Mr. Carnegie, a new home representing an expenditure of $50,000. Mr. Jenks spoke of public libraries as factors in education. He said that, although other countries may justly claim the greatest scholars, to the United States is properly due the distinction of possessing a higher educational average than any other nation. This fact he attributed largely to the existence and quality of its public libraries. The chief address of the evening was given by Mr. Melvil Dewey, who spoke vividly and entertainingly of the future of the modern library in the social system. The speaker touched upon the public library idea, its growth and expansion during a century. At first a mere collection of books, circulated in a more or less haphazard manner, and with little enthusiasm for the real benefit that might be gained from an improved system, the idea has grown and broadened, becoming every year more far-reaching in its influence. He mentioned the beginning of " library mechanism " some twenty-five years before, and its development up to the year 1900, when legislative action favor- able to the establishment and growth of libraries put new life into the work. " A library is not merely a good thing," said Mr. Dewey, " it is an absolutely essential thing, and the time will come when to ask in a city or town if it has a fine public library will be as much of an insult as to ask if it has a public school 150 OHIO AND MICHIGAN and post office. In the history of education there has been no narrowing of ideas ; the system has been widening. No longer is it confined entirely to the school, — the library is playing an important part. Had I to choose between the public school and the public library for the best educator, and if the hbrary system were an ideal one, I should choose it. A group of scientists who recently made an investigation regarding the various influences upon the life of a child, reached the verdict that not the mother, the father, the teachers, nor the school had the greatest influence for good or bad, but his reading. I would rather have an only child at the foot of his class, or fail to graduate, provided he had a taste for good books, than to have him merely a brilliant student in the school." Mr. Dewey paid a feeling tribute to the world-famous maker of libraries. " An- drew Carnegie is one of the shrewdest men civilization has de- veloped," he declared. " He once told me that he was putting his money where it would bring him the most dividends, and that he would like to build a library at every desirable point." 151 CHAPTER XIII WISCONSIN AND THE MIDDLE WEST Madison, Wisconsin — The Essentials of Library Architecture — Elk- hart, Indiana — Freeport and Streator, Illinois — Kaukana and Baraboo, Wisconsin. THE library interests of Wisconsin center in Madison, the capital city. In addition to the library of the state university, which finds a home in the splendid library building of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, there are the Free Public Library and the headquarters of the Wisconsin Library Commission. For years the public library occupied the first floor of the city hall, but as the city grew, and the library with it, the old quarters became crowded and inadequate. In the summer of 1901, Mr. Carnegie was asked to give money for a public library in Madison. After some months he responded with an oft"er of ^50,000. Meanwhile the officers of the Wisconsin Library Commission were experiencing the same lack of space. Starting in one room in the capitol building, the work increased until even the quarters which they occupied when the capitol burned were not large enough. About this time the secretary of the Commission, Mr. Frank A. Hutchins, began to feel that the work of the Commission and of the summer training school might be made much more valuable with enlarged facilities. While, therefore, the question of a Carnegie library was being agitated, Mr. Hutchins conferred with the Board of Directors of the Public Library, and, with their approval, wrote to Mr. Carnegie, asking that his gift be increased in order to include the training school of the Commis- sion. Mr. Carnegie agreed to the extended plan, offering an additional $25,000. This meant an appropriation of at least $7,500 from the city, but the gift was promptly accepted. The question of a site caused much trouble and discussion. The one finally chosen was not the most popular, but was selected 152 WISCONSIN AND THE MIDDLE WEST for its fine central location, being only a block from the city hall and Capitol Square. In February, 1906, the Madison Free Library moved into its new $75,000 home. As the building is rather unique in style of architecture and general plan and fittings, it may be of interest to know how it came to be worked out. When the Board of Trustees began to study into the plans for a building suited to the needs of the city, they found themselves confronted by more problems than are ordinarily presented in such cases. Aside from the library rooms proper, it was one of the conditions of Mr. Carnegie's gift that rooms should be provided for the main- tenance of the library school. It was also desired by the Board to furnish quarters for the Madison Art Association, by provid- ing connected rooms with large enough wall space and proper equipment in the way of lighting for the exhibits held by them each year. Other features of the plan were to be an auditorium, men's club, and newspaper rooms, and rooms for the meetings of literary clubs. All these requirements complicated the drawing of the plans and made necessary a very careful consideration in the choice of an architect. Another point which the Board of Trustees felt was very important was the style of architecture to be adopted. The feeling had been growing among them that the classic style of architecture generally used for public library buildings was not the one best suited for small libraries, as it was of too cold and formal a type. So it was decided that Madison's building should not " ape the imposing buildings erected for the great collec- tions of books, used mainly to protect them for generations of students engaged in scholarly research," but should rather " be suggestive of a city home, for the study and reading of books, and their further use for the general purposes of recreation and culture." This idea is so well expressed in an article in the Architectural Record, 1902, volume 12, page 352, that it may well be quoted here: "The interior arrangements of the modern American libra- ries are in most cases managed with great ingenuity, and are admirably adapted, as many of the earlier American libraries were not, to the convenient circulation and economical storing of a larger or smaller number of books. But however success- 153 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES fully these buildings are being planned, little or no headway has been made toward the development of a design, or of a type of design which is appropriate to a library and which will tend to make them familiar and inviting to the people who use them. "The majority of the designs are merely frigid examples of neo-classic schoolpieces. They look as if the architects, eman- cipated from the restraints under which they usually suffer in designing commercial buildings and residences, were irresistibly impelled to draw facades such as they are frequently obliged to draw during their school training, and so they get up some com- monplace arrangement of columns, a pediment varied by arched or square openings, and flatly monotonous and uninteresting. No more depressing exposure could be conceived of the imita- tive and academic character of American design, and its inability, when dealing with a fresh and interesting problem, to treat it in a fresh and interesting way. " A library is a place in which books are stored, and to which men go to read them in quiet and leisurely surroundings, and this description applies as well to public as to private libraries. The former necessarily possess more spacious dimensions and more abundant facilities for the circulation of people and books ; but the condition remains that it is the reading room which, from the point of view of the public, gives the building its character and associations. But a reading room is much more closely related to domestic architecture than it is to that of senate and court houses. It is to be used by private people for their own private purposes, and not by public officials, whose duty it is to exact, execute, and expound the laws, and the de- sign of a building in which such a reading room is situated should be domestic, familiar, and inviting, the sort of a building in which a man would go to read, and not to deliver an oration, or to hand down a judicial decision. What, then, could be less appropriate than these frigid and meaninglessly classical build- ings, which have no association with books, and which are en- tirely lacking in the atmosphere of quiet and retirement which is essential to any and all kinds of a library. It is, of course, difficult, and even impossible, to get in a building of very large dimensions the effect and atmosphere mentioned above. A more stately and important air is not incongruous with the pub- lic library of a large city. This stateliness and importance need not indeed afford an excuse for an academic formalism of treat- ment, but it inevitably subtracts from the domestic atmosphere appropriate to a smaller library building. The consequence is that the more expensive structures in the larger cities tend to be WISCONSIN AND THE MIDDLE WEST the best, not only because they are usually designed by more skillful architects, but also because the prevailing classic and renaissance treatment is better adapted to a building of ample dimensions and imposing situation. In the smaller buildings, however, the architects, under the influence of their academic training and imitative methods, have gone utterly astray. They have designed merely a collection of marble and granite cold- storages for books, under the erroneous idea that everything public must be classical and irrelevant, and one of the most dis- couraging aspects of the matter is that in cases of competitions it was frequently the most stiff and wintry design of all which was selected." Having determined upon the departure from the stereotyped form of building, the question arose at Madison as to what style of architecture to adopt. To solve this problem it was decided to employ an architects' adviser, and for this purpose Professor Warren Powers Laird, head of the School of Architecture of the University of Pennsylvania, was called in. He advised the Col- legiate Gothic style of architecture, since this style would give a dignified and beautiful public building, and would still embody the " home " or residence idea. The grouping of windows in large spaces also makes this style of building especially adapt- able for a library. Three of the firms who had done the best work in America in this particular style of architecture were invited to draw com- petitive plans. The competition was also thrown open to all local architects who had been in practice over one year. The competition was won by the firm of Frank Miles Day & Brother of Philadelphia. The building as erected is substantially that of the competitive plan with some modification and working over of details. The residence idea was carried out as far as possible in all the interior furnishing of the building. In the main rooms, for in- stance, the Nernst lights were used, in order to do away with table lights which necessitate a formal arrangement of tables and chairs. In the reading room are found only two pieces of fur- niture of a distinctively formal library character, the periodical rack and the attendants' desk. The other furniture is such as might be found in any private library, — round tables, armchairs, and even rocking chairs. The deep window-seats at each end of the room and the mullioned windows with their little pots of 155 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES primroses and cyclamen add to the homelike appearance of the room. One of the residents of Madison, making an inspection of the building a day or two before it was formally opened to the public, remarked, as he stepped up to the entrance of the read- ing room, " Why, it looks just like a home library " ; and this is the common impression made upon all who enter the room. One of the local press articles at the time of the library open- ing said: "Few public service buildings have been turned over to a municipality in so complete a condition as is the Madison Free Library. If one thing is wanting to fill every reasonable function of such an institution, that one thing is not apparent on close inspection. All sorts and conditions of people are pro- vided for, each in a manner to make the homelike feeling the first to possess the user of the library in any of its departments. No one who uses it can possibly avoid the sense of personal in- terest, almost individual ownership, in the books and papers within his reach and the simple elegance of the new library building and its furnishing. The wide entrance has a look of freedom that is truly inviting. One would not look for a police- man there to tell him what he should not do, nor a whispering, tiptoeing librarian to tell him to be careful or to keep quiet. The sense of privilege pervades, the atmosphere carries a serious, studious tone." The trustees felt, therefore, that they had attained the end toward which they had worked, and that their idea of what a small public library building should express had been carried out, if not in a perfect way, at least in a very satisfactory manner. The building is worthy of a detailed description. The lot is a corner one, located just one block from the main business square of the city. It is 132 feet square. The building is 102 feet deep. The width in front is 98 feet, but 72 feet back it narrows to a width of 64 feet. Thus a space of 20 feet is left in front and at either side, for future growth, and 10 feet in the rear for a service driveway. The building consists of a high basement and two stories. The materials of construction are, for foundations and bearing walls, brick and stone, with slow burning construction for parti- tions and floors. As the building is isolated and on a resident street, fire-proof construction was not considered necessary. The exterior walls are constructed of " Harvard " brick in two 156 WISCONSIN AND THE MIDDLE WEST shades, rose-red and black, with Bedford stone trimmings. The roof is of green slate. The interior woodwork is of quarter- sawed oak with a dull " weathered " finish. All loose furniture was sent unstained, to be stained by the same people who did the woodwork in the building. The main entrance leads through a small vestibule to a large landing, from either side of which a broad stairway leads to the basement. In the basement the stairs come down into a hall 40 feet long by 13 feet wide, running across the width of the build- ing. Underneath the stair landing are janitor's sink and pubhc lavatories, thus accessible without passage through library rooms. At the left end of the hall are the men's club room, 17 X 23 feet, connected by sliding doors with the newspaper room, 24 X 23 feet. Each of these rooms has a separate entrance into the main hall. At the opposite end of the hall is a door leading into a small passage which connects in front with the magazine storage room, 12x15 feet, and in the rear with the work room, 18 X 24 feet. Both of these rooms are fitted up with moveable shelving, seven shelves high, straight around the walls. Connected with the work room are the fire-proof vault, disinfecting closet, book-lift, and vestibule to the outside service entrance. On the opposite side of this vestibule is the janitor's room. From the rear of the work room there is the service stairway, which connects with the catalogue room on the main floor. Directly back of the main hall and opening from it by three large double doors is the auditorium, with a seating capacity of about 400 people, and an outside exit on each side of the build- ing through small rear vestibules. Back of the auditorium are the rooms for the heating plant, with entrance to the service driveway. Going back to the main entrance, one ascends from the land- ing by a short flight of stairs to the level of the first floor. Here at the left is a drinking fountain. Four swinging doors with windows in the upper half lead into the delivery room. The coloring of the side walls and ceilings on this entire floor is a light cream, and the floor is carpeted with the best grade of cork carpet of a dark brown shade to match the woodwork. The light fixtures are of antique copper. The delivery room is 40 feet long by 18 feet wide. Extend- 157 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES ing from it directly in front is the broad corridor leading to the stack room, and at either end are the arches opening into the reading room and the children's room. These arches are 13 feet in length and are beautiful in curve and proportion, making a fine vista from side to side of the building. The delivery room is panelled with oak to the height of 7 feet, and these panels form a good background for the one or two bits of statuary. The reading room, which occupies the front left corner of the building, is 48 X 23 feet. An alcove, 18 x 9 feet, opens from it. This has a glass partition looking into the delivery room, which enables the alcove to be commanded from the delivery desk. The reading room has a large window-seat built into the bay window at each end of the room ; it has moveable shelving 7 feet high, all the way around the room, except under the win- dows, where it runs 4 feet high. The bound files of periodicals are shelved here. The tables are round, 5 feet in diameter and 29 inches high. In the alcove is one long table 8 X 3^ feet. The rack for current periodicals is built into the space between the two archways leading into the alcove and the delivery room, and is panelled above to bring it on a line with the shelving. The children's room has the same general shape and dimen- sions as the reading room and is located in the opposite front corner of the building. A cloak and wash room occupies some of the space at the rear. This end of the room has soHd shelv- ing across instead of a bay window, as in the reading room. The shelving runs 5 feet high, and above is a frieze made of the pic- tures from the Walter Crane picture books, each story framed by itself with a panel between each picture. The effect of the beautiful coloring of the frieze above the dark woodwork is very decorative. In the alcove are placed, also, the chil- dren's catalogue, a picture file, and a dictionary stand. In the room itself only round tables are used, these being 4 feet in diameter and 28 inches high. One round table, 6 feet in diameter and 22 inches high, is provided for the very little people. The charging desk was especially designed for the room. It is 7 feet long, 2 feet wide, 30 inches high, and is fitted out with special drawers and shelves. The delivery corridor is 30 X 23 feet. It occupies the center of the building and is lighted by means of a light-well on the second floor with a skylight above. The large octagonal desk is 158 WISCONSIN AND THE MIDDLE WEST pushed well up toward the front, leaving the rear of the corridor for the card catalogue, and tables and inclined cases for the dis- play of books. The reference room is just back of the reading room and is entered from the delivery room and the rear of the delivery cor- ridor. It is 28 X 18 feet, has glass partitions above 3-foot shelv- ing for its inside walls, special roller shelving for atlases, etc., and is furnished with long tables 8 X 3^ feet, set at regular intervals. To the right of the delivery corridor are the librarian's office, 19 X 12 feet, and the catalogue room, 19 X 14 feet. These rooms both have glass partitions above 3-foot shelving for the inner walls. The catalogue room, besides shelving, has cupboards for supplies, and a small coat closet for the use of the staff. A door in the front of the room leads into the service stairway, which from here goes down to the work room in the basement and up to the staff room on the second floor. The book-lift opens into this entry, and here there is also a lavatory for the staff. The stack room is at the rear and extends across the entire width of the building. It is 61 feet long by 22 feet deep. There are nine double-faced steel stacks 15 feet long, leaving a 5-foot aisle between each two, and leaving a window at the end of each aisle. Wall shelving is also put in under the glass partitions looking into the librarian's office and the reference room. Space for a triple stack is provided, the one in present use on the main floor being the middle one of the three. The stairway to the second floor goes up on either side of the hallway to a landing halfway up. From this landing open two doors, — one into a large storage closet, and the other into a public telephone booth. From here a single, broad flight car- ries the ascent to the second floor. On either side, at the head of the stairs, is a small supply closet and janitor's sink. From the stairway the entrance is immediately into the exhi- bition hall. This is 40 X 20 feet, is lighted by a skylight, and is wired for special trough lighting along the side walls. At the right end a door leads into the club room, which is 39 X 23 feet. This room connects in the rear with the staff room. At the opposite end of the exhibition hall is another room, 43 x 23 feet, which, by a folding panel in the middle, can be made 159 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES into two rooms. This was done in order that the rooms might be available as lecture rooms for the library school. At either end of the exhibition hall the space, 19 X 9 feet, which runs back toward the front of the building directly over the two alcoves on the floor below, is made into cloak rooms for the use of clubs and the students of the library school. The space just back of the exhibition hall, over the delivery corridor, is occupied by the light-well. The corridor, 5 feet in width, surrounds the light-well. The wall space, lighted by the skylight, offers an excellent opportunity for picture exhibits. Wiring for special trough lighting has also been provided here. The staff room occupies the space over the catalogue room, with which it connects by means of the service stairway. The book-lift also comes up here. The room is fitted up with cupboards, drawers, sink, and gas heater. The lavatory and library school office occupy the space over the librarian's office, the library school revision room the space over the reference room, and the library school work room the space over the stack room. All of these rooms — the staff room, lavatory, and library school office, revision and school rooms — open on to the corridor surrounding the light-well. Early in 1901, while the press was relating the munificence of Mr. Carnegie in offering to establish free public libraries in such towns and cities as should meet his conditions, Mr. A. H. Beardsley and Mr. George B. Pratt, real- izing the need of a library in Elkhart, Indiana, as well as the general desire for and probable pride of its citizens in such an agency of intellectual development, decided to visit Mr. Car- negie and to solicit in the name of the community a generous contribution. They prepared for the undertaking by securing from each councilman a pledge in writing to vote for an annual appropriation of $3,500 and to give the site of the old city hall and fire station for library purposes. In addition they compiled statistics showing the taxable property of the city, and the im- portance of the city to the adjacent community. Thus armed they went to New York City to present their cause personally to Mr. Carnegie. In his absence, however, they were received by his secretary, who in a two-minute interview ascertained their wishes and made some suggestions as to the preparation of data. Acting upon these suggestions the committee made 160 WISCONSIN AND THE MIDDLE WEST certain revisions, and later that day left their documents in evi- dence at the Carnegie home, returning to Elkhart in a state of hopeful uncertainty. To their great joy a letter was received on March 8 containing a promise of ^30,000, which was later increased to $35,000, if the city would raise $3,500 annually by taxation. Mr. Carnegie's gift was unanimously accepted, legal prelimi- naries were entered into, the required official body appointed, and the work begun. The choice of a site for the library was a happy one, located as it is near both the geographical center and the center of population of the city. The setting of lawn, the trees at the side and front, —in fact, all the surroundings were attractive. The impression of the exterior of the building, when finished, was perhaps more massive than the length of line and height of building would naturally give, but to the eye the effect is very satisfactory. The building is of Indiana dressed stone. On the front looking toward the west is a pedi- ment with molded ornament, supported at the two ends by square pillars and in the center by two Ionic columns; the panels at the sides of the portals are also ornamented with Greek moldings, the recess from the columns to the main entrance giving to the front a perspective which is highly pleasing. The side walls are of plain stone, but varied with panel projections which give a massive appearance and at the same time relieve the building from the charge of plainness. The approach is of heavy granite, curving to the street in a widening path. The street entrance is ornamented by two large electric lamps. Passing through the marble vestibule into the rotunda the separation from the alcoves is made by a combination of high settees and bookcases. Between the alcoves and the individual rooms are double-faced bookcases. A circling counter separates the rotunda from the stack room. To the right is the children's alcove, on one side of which is the librarian's room, on the other a reading alcove. The reference library is at the left of the main book room. There is also a reference room for pupils of the schools and a periodical alcove. At the sides of the vestibule leading from the rotunda are stairways to the base- ment, which contains a lecture room, fuel room, and lavatories. In dedicating the new library, the first large benefaction Elkhart had ever received, President Beardsley said in part: 161 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES " In turning this library over to you, Mr. Mayor, as the repre- sentative of the municipality, I wish to emphasize in large capi- tals, and with vehement voice, the sentiment that this is a public gift to the public, the whole public, without any limitation. It is not for the few, it is not for the privileged, it is not in any respect a gift to class, either fortunate or unfortunate. It is without respect of persons, without respect of condition, without respect of birth, of nationality, of color, or age. The only limita- tions put upon its use are such as the parent puts upon the child, and the public executive upon the citizen, a suggestion of care in the use of books, their proper return under the rules of the library, but entirely without cost to anyone. ... I hope that the frequent visiting of these halls, the reading of the books which tell of the past and the present, the perusal of the poetry and philosophy which the art preservative of all arts has here enshrined, shall be a constant stimulus to a betterment of our common-school facilities, to a desire for a better understand- ing of social and political conditions, and shall be a constant impulse to higher tastes and more refined pleasures in the community." The history of efforts to obtain a library in Freeport, Illinois, is almost identical with that of Elkhart. Early in the year 1 90 1, a group of men and women, eager to further Freeport. / , ^ . , , . , . . ^ the educational advantages of their home city, deter- mined, if possible, to be enrolled on the list of Mr. Carnegie's benefactions. To this end a committee of citizens appealed to him by letter, and as a result received his offer of ;$30,ooo, with the usual conditions. At a public meeting called for the consideration of the proposition, the presidents of the five local banks were appointed a committee to accept the offer in behalf of the people of Freeport, and to receive contributions from in- dividuals toward the purchase of a site for the building. The site finally chosen was bought for the sum of $9,000. To meet the payments of this purchase bonds were issued, redeemable by a tax levy for three successive years. The plans and specifica- tions submitted by Patton & Miller of Chicago were accepted in June, and in August contracts were let for the erection of the building, which was begun the following month. The building is of dark-colored paving brick with white stone trimmings. The wide portico is guarded by massive pillars of white stone. From the front hallway one steps into the delivery room, which occupies the central portion of the main floor. From here a view of the 162 WISCONSIN AND THE MIDDLE WEST entire floor is possible, as there are no partitions between the rooms. At the right is a commodious general reading room, opening into a reference alcove made particularly attractive by a large fireplace. A children's reading room and another refer- ence room occupy the corresponding space at the left of the en- trance. Back of the delivery room are eight ranges of stacks, grouped in fan shape. To these the patrons are allowed free access. In the corners, at the rear of the stacks, accommodations are provided for the cataloguer and the librarian. Twenty-two windows in the stack room and sixteen in the other rooms of the first floor leave nothing to be desired in the way of light. The scheme of decoration is attractive and restful, dark green and tan prevailing. The furniture, stairways, and interior woodwork throughout the building are of oak. The floors are laid with heavy cork carpet. The upper floor contains a hall, a lecture room, art gallery, seminar, room for trustees, and a stack room. One room of the basement is fitted up for public documents and newspaper files. A hall, assembly room, stock and work room, fuel and boiler rooms are also in the basement. For some years a struggling little library in Streator, Illinois, weathered the indifference and apathy of its citizens, being sup- ported and maintained on the subscription plan by a r A 1 1 1 , . Streator. group of women. At length, however, the city au- thorities awakened to a sense of responsibility, and in 1899 agreed to take over the books and furniture of the association, housing it more suitably and assessing a tax for its support. The library prospered to such a degree that it soon outgrew its recently acquired quarters. At this point Colonel Ralph Plumb, always an ardent friend of education, secured permission from the li- brary board to ask Mr. Carnegie for a contribution of $35,000. In due time a new library became an assured thing, and the com- pleted building was opened to its friends early in 1903. One of the first definite results noted after the library's removal into its larger and more attractive quarters was the great increase in interest and patronage among the young people. The cornerstone of the $10,000 Carnegie library building at Kaukana, Wisconsin, was laid July 19, 1905, with appropriate ceremonies. Dr. H. B. Tanner making the principal address, and the history of the library, written by Mrs. Elizabeth Dayton, being deposited in the stone. The li- 163 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES brary dates from March, 1899, when the common council passed the necessary ordinance at the request of Dr. Tanner and the Women's Club, The first funds consisted of $500 from the city, $21 from business men, and $113 from the Women's Club. The library w^s established in the police station and opened to the public in November, 1899, with 690 books. The present building is located on a site donated by the Green Bay & Mississippi Canal Company. It is of pleasing design, in late English Gothic style, with local stone basement and Bedford stone trimmings. The walls above the basement are of deep red paving brick, the gables being half-timbered and plastered with rough cast. The windows are high in the front of the building but low on the ends, securing the best view of the river. The first story of the building contains a reading and book room, reference room, children's room and librarian's office. In the basement are an assembly room, 34 X 20 feet, and a class room, 20 X 17 feet. Baraboo, Wisconsin, named after Barabeau, an early French trapper, situated near Devil's Lake, a favorite summer resort, Baraboo ^^^ ^ population of morc than 6,000. It is the home of factories, mills, and various other industries that combine to make it one of the most prosperous municipalities in central Wisconsin. Baraboo's interest in library matters dates back to 1885, when a meeting was called in the court-house for the purpose of arousing public interest in behalf of such an ed- ucational center. Ten years later the library became a corpora- tion. In 1897 it passed into the control of the city and was housed in the city hall, with 1,500 volumes on its shelves. The years which followed saw consistent progress in the work of the library and larger quarters became a necessity. One of the Board members wrote to Mr. Carnegie, and after considerable corre- spondence an offer of ^15,000 was made by him to the city of Baraboo and was accepted. The building, dedicated in 1903, is of classical design, one story high, with a basement occupying a space of 62 X 72 feet. It is of Bedford cream limestone and orange Roman brick, sur- mounted by a red tile roof. The interior is finished in quarter- sawed oak. The basement is 10 feet high in the clear, and contains two adjoining club rooms, unpacking rooms, boiler room, vault, and lavatories. The first story is 13 feet in the clear. 164 Claude iV Starck, Architects, Madison, Wi>. IJARABOO, \VI.SCON.SIN Cl-Al'Dl; & SlAKCK, Arc III 1 i:i IS. M\lilS(i\, Wis. KAUKAUNA, WISCONSIN nOST rLOOR BAKAUOO, WISCONSIN WISCONSIN AND THE MIDDLE WEST The plan is of the simplest, — center entrance, delivery room in center, with stack room in the rear. The reading room, with reference alcove, is on the left, the librarian's room at the right. The book capacity, all in wall shelving, is about 8,000 volumes, with floor space for stack cases holding 5,000 more volumes. Free access is allowed. The building, designed by Claude & Starck, shows what can be built for $15,000, properly spent 165 CHAPTER XIV IOWA AND THE FARTHER WEST Carnegie Libraries in Iowa — Monticello, Marshalltown, and Eldora AS Typical of Small Libraries designed by Patton & Miller — Davenport, Iowa — Leavenworth, Kansas — Lincoln, Nebraska — Springfield and Sedalia, Missouri. IOWA has been for many years one of the leading states in point of numbers of Carnegie library buildings erected. The first report of the Iowa Library Commission, after speaking of library progress in the State and touching on the general movement throughout the country in favor of free pub- he libraries, continues with these words: " The liberality of Mr. Carnegie in erecting library build- ings, both in this country and abroad, has undoubtedly given an impetus to the library movement that it might not other- wise have had. While the public library would undoubtedly have grown in strength because of its recognized service to the community in the higher development of the people, never- theless, the proffer of a building for housing a library serves as an incentive in many communities to establish a library. In this connection it may be said that the confusion arising in the minds of many persons regarding the Carnegie library build- ings, is their inability to distinguish between the free public library as an ijistitiition, created under the State law, providing a growing collection of books for the free use of the people, and Mr. Carnegie's proposition to provide a building wherein to house these books. In our State, the free public library exists as a reality and as an influence in the community, because the State of Iowa years ago provided by law for its establishment and maintenance by a municipal tax, whether it is in rented rooms or in a building of its own." Inasmuch as the establishing of a free public library involves the question of increasing the tax levy, it therefore falls within the class of public questions on which the women of Iowa are entitled to vote. Needless to say, when they have exercised their prerogative in this matter their vote has almost invariably 1 66 IOWA AND THE FARTHER WEST been in favor of the establishment of the library. It is interest- ing to compare the vote of the men and women of Clinton, for example, on the question of the establishment of a free public library in that town, occasioned by the receipt of Mr. Carnegie's offer of ^30,000 for a building. In favor of the library, men, 2363 " " " " " women, 1356 3719 Against the proposition, men, 1088 " " " women, 172 1260 These figures show two men voting for the library project to one man against it. On the other hand, the women favoring the establishment of the library outnumber those opposed to it by eight to one. In Monticello, the vote in favor of a free pub- lic library stood three to one, counting the women's vote, but only two to one when the male vote alone was counted. The ques- tion of a Hbrary tax levy to enable Ottumwa to accept Mr. Car- negie's offer of a ^50,000 building was voted upon by both men and women, and was carried by a narrow margin through the vigorous support of the women. The opponents of the library proposition thereupon brought suit on the grounds that the election was illegal because the voting of women was uncon- stitutional. A decision in favor of the complainants was ren- dered on the ground that, although the statute gives women the right to vote at such elections, the constitution does not recog- nize as voters any except male adult citizens. Although it was held that the election was one authorized by law, and therefore recognized by the constitution, women, not being recognized by the constitution as voters, had therefore no right to vote in this election. The announcement of this decision resulted in the holding of a public meeting at which those interested in the li- brary movement passed resolutions in favor of petitioning the city council to call another election for voting on the library proposition. The library committee stated that " at such second election it is the intention not to deny the right of any woman to vote at the respective booths. Were the proposed vote of any woman rejected, the parties who have heretofore in court 167 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES denied the right of women to vote at such election would, it is suggested, not hesitate to take the opposite ground and seek to declare such election illegal because the women had not been permitted to vote. The ballots of the men and women being kept separate, should the male vote carry the election, as it is fully believed they will do, it would not be essential to count the vote of the women in the event of litigation." The second elec- tion resulted in the library proposition being carried by almost 500 majority, of which 272 votes were cast by men. A strong effort to defeat the measure had been made by those opposed to the library, but the fact that men cast a majority of the de- ciding votes settled further legal question of the validity of the election. Men alone were allowed to vote on the library question at Shenandoah. If pubUc spirit and enthusiasm mean anything to a library, the Monticello Public Library should in time be one of the best of its size in the State. From the first the citizens of Monticello. this prosperous town have shown the greatest earnest- ness in all civic affairs and have given to the library movement their heartiest support. At the laying of the cornerstone of the new Carnegie library building, Mrs. S. F. Dunham outlined the history of the Monticello Library Society, organized by a group of public-spirited women in 1868. " Our Society," said Mrs. Dunham, " was founded on a broad basis, regardless of church or creed. Every woman who could pay 25 cents and bake a cake, make good coffee, and cook oysters was most cor- dially welcomed, and the women, old friends, and newcomers joined us until we had 72 members." The spirit animating the whole of the exercises at the corner- stone laying is so enthusiastic and refreshing, so full of good pre- cept from which other towns might profit, that we venture to quote at considerable length from Mr. J. W. Doxsee's address on "The Monticello of the Past." "The laying of the cornerstone of this proposed library build- ing is an event that marks an epoch in the history of Monti- cello. The history of this town is short — only two thirds of a century, less than the allotted years of man — but it is a history of labor, honor, and achievement. It is within the memory of people now living that the early pioneers came into the wilds of Iowa. It may even be said that at the time of the birth of your 168 IOWA AND THE FARTHER WEST honored chairman (Major S. S. Farwell) the sound of the pio- neer's ax had never been heard within the limits of the confines of this county, and neither spade nor plow had turned an inch of soil where now millions of people reap and sow in the agri- cultural garden of the world. " This little town, located as it is within a day's walk of the greatest river in the world, has had a life-history like unto an hundred others in this great commonwealth. That history, how- ever, should be dear to our people and it should be preserved for the information and satisfaction of our children. Its exist- ence marks the space of little more than two generations. The first generation of its life might be termed its pioneer period. During that pioneer period its early settlers were enduring priva- tions that their children cannot comprehend. They endured the greatest of hardships in their efforts to subdue wild nature and prepare it for the advent of civilization. The people of the sec- ond generation of the life of this town were engaged in making money and the amassing of wealth. They had altogether too little time for the more refining processes of civilization and they paid too little attention to the preservation of the early history of this community. The third generation is well under way, and let us hope that it will produce people who, because of the wealth and prosperity of the town, have the time and will give sufficient of their leisure to take note of the time that has passed and make some record of those early events before those who link this time with that shall have carried their remem- brance into the silence of the tomb. " I want this library to be more than its name implies. I want to see its affairs so conducted that it will not only be a library, a collection of books where our people can have access to the history and literature of all times, but I want to see it a memorial hall where there shall be preserved the records and memories that tell us of the heroic struggles of those men and women who first builded their homes on the camp grounds of the Indians, even while the ashes of the campfires were still gray. I want it to be a repository of local historical data that will teach our children something of the early history of the town in which they live. It is a lamentable fact that our school children can tell more about the history of Plymouth and of the early settlements along the Atlantic coast, than they can of the early settlements of the little town where they were born and where many of them will spend their lives. " In order, however, that there be a better history of Monti- cello than we now have, there must be a further record of the 169 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES events of which happily there are still a few witnesses. We need the work of some intelligent man or woman who will gather up the scraps of early history and who will record it from the lips of those old pioneers who are rapidly passing away. The work must be done speedily if it be done at all." The growth and development of library interests in Marshall- town have been exceptionally rapid. In 1892 a meeting was called by the Marshalltown Women's Club with a Marshalltown. . . . . . i i- i-i View to arousmg sentiment in starting a public library. At this meeting a committee was appointed to solicit funds for buying books. If the committee should succeed in raising $15,000, this was to be regarded as sufficient guarantee for push- ing the project and opening a library for the public ; if the speci- fied sum could not easily be raised, further activity was to be postponed to a more favorable season. Results more than justified the expectations of these pioneers of public interest, as the amount was speedily forthcoming, and then doubled in a surprisingly short space of time. In fact $3,400 was subscribed almost immediately, followed by the for- mation of a stock company known as the Marshall County Library Association. Shares were offered at five dollars apiece. Ten persons took twenty shares each, others subscribed for ten, five, and smaller amounts. The county officers, likewise, were not lacking in public spirit, but offered the use of a room in the courthouse, with light and heat. A thousand dollars was at once expended in buying books, to which five hundred dollars' worth was added during the first year. A librarian was appointed and the library was kept open on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. Though the association was still on a subscription basis, non-stockholders had the privilege of buying book cards for $2.50 per year, the price for regular holders of stock being $1.50. The income derived from this source, to- gether with receipts from various entertainments which the women of the association gave from time to time, not only paid the running expenses of the library, but also made annual provi- sion for new books to the extent of $500. Not content, however, with this seemingly comfortable situa- tion, the members of the association held steadily in view their ideal of a public library free to all citizens of Marshalltown. And so, after some years of activity, the association at length 170 Caiain KII -.^LIM., Ak^ iin DAVENPORT, IOWA DELIVERY ROOM < o H O a, Z > IOWA AND THE FARTHER WEST made the formal offer of presenting to the city its Hbrary of nearly 4,000 volumes together with $1,500 in money, provided that the people would vote a tax to maintain it as a free public library. The matter was taken up with vigor by the city federa- tion of women's clubs, whose members did excellent work in educating public opinion, and especially in bringing the women out to vote. The proposition carried, the transfer was made in August, 1898, and the nucleus of the present library, represent- ing much labor of love cheerfully given in a good cause, was intrusted to its permanent custodian. On the following month the library was opened to the public. Looking for aid to that plenteous source whence so many library gifts have flowed, the trustees of the Marshalltown library were gladdened by the announcement, toward the close of 1901, that Mr. Carnegie had offered them $25,000 for a new building. To this generous sum the donor later added $5,000. The lot furnished by the city is a convenient one, at the corner of State and Center streets, and here there was erected a sub- stantial and commodious building, designed by Patton & Miller. In general arrangement, fittings, and equipment the building is well arranged for effective work. It is an interesting specimen of the corner entrance type of building. The first floor contains a reading room, children's room, study, librarian's room, stack, delivery rooms, and rotunda. The second floor has a lecture room with seating capacity for 175, a museum fitted up by the daughter of a former citizen of Marshalltown as a memorial to her father, and rooms for society meetings and the like. The library has one permanent bequest of $500, interest from which is added to the book fund. The city of Eldora, Iowa, approached Mr. Carnegie regarding the possibilities of a new library through the mayor, Mr. E. D. Robb, who sent his request by letter. The conse- >■ ■' _ _ Eldora. quent offer of $10,000 was made on two conditions: first, that a suitable site should be secured ; second, that the town, through its council, should obligate itself to raise $1,000 annually for library maintenance. In the winter of 1901-2 the council took the required action by resolutions, copies of which were certified and forwarded to Mr. Carnegie. To avoid any questions of legality an election was held under the Iowa law, resulting in a favorable vote by the people. Owing to 171 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES certain local conditions a committee consisting of one member of the library board, one member of the city council, and one citizen was appointed as a building committee. A site front- ing on the courthouse square was purchased for $2,000, and, after consultation with the Iowa Library Commission, Patton & Miller of Chicago were selected as architects. Money with which to pay for the site was appropriated temporarily from the general fund, and to replace it a three-mill tax for two years was levied. The building, which stands on a lot slanting back from the street, is one story above the basement It is constructed of Eldora paving brick, partly vitrified, and stone. The roof is of tile. The interior of the library is especially attractive. The Carnegie library in Davenport is the natural outgrowth of the Davenport Library Association, which had for years main- tained a subscription library. In 1899 Miss Alice French, perhaps better known as Octave Thanet, being a resident of Davenport, wrote to Mr. Carnegie, who was a personal friend, and asked him to aid this association. His reply was the characteristic one. He would give $50,000 for a library building if the city would purchase a suitable site and appro- priate $4,000 a year for its maintenance. The Davenport city fathers were an example of cheerfulness and dispatch. They unanimously accepted the offer, and on April 7, 1900, the citizens voted a tax of one-fourth of a mill on the dollar on the assessed valuation of the city, to pay for a site, with an annual tax of half a mill for maintenance, thus providing an income of $7,181.92 for the library, almost double the amount required by Mr. Carnegie's terms. The trustees were no sooner appointed than they selected a site within two blocks of the business center of the city, costing $19,200. The tax levy was found to be insufficient to pay for the site and the city council at once promptly voted the balance from the general fund of the city. At this point in the proceedings it was decided that $50,000 would not build a library which would be adequate to the needs of the city. A second appeal was made to Mr. Carnegie, through a former resident of Davenport, Judge John F. Dillon of New York City. The appeal took the form of two letters, written by Mr. B. F. Tillinghast, editor of the Davenport Demo- crat, distinctly and forcibly presenting the need of a larger 172 MONTICELLO, IOWA I'iioiij. L-. C. I'Aiji: I'ATTci.N \- Mii-Li-.K, Architects, Chu ac I'HOTii. hV A. J. \V. CUPEI.IN MAKSHALLTOWX, IOWA Sf.con'd Floor Plan IiRsr li.iiiiH Plan MARSHALI/rOWN, IOWA PATTON & MlI-I.ER, AKCl ELDORA, IOWA INTERIOR Ol- KLDORA I.ir.RARY KLDORA, IOWA ^ ^ MONTICELLO, IOWA IOWA AND THE FARTHER WEST building fund. Mr. Carnegie was asked to increase his gift to $75,000. This he consented to do, on condition that the city provide $7,500 for annual maintenance, which terms were readily- accepted. But now the first of a series of difficulties arose to try this new and enterprising Board of Trustees. An architectural com- petition was decided upon, circulars were sent out, and notices published in the newspapers and architectural journals. Three prizes were offered : a commission of five per cent of the cost of the building (which was not to exceed $75,000) to the suc- cessful architect, and two cash prizes of $150 and $100 to the architects submitting the second and third best plans. Seventy-one sets of plans were received, — and then the trouble began. About four weeks had been spent by the Board in examining the plans, when it was decided to invite Prof. N. Clifford Kicker, professor of architecture in the University of Illinois, to appear before the Board to give his expert advice. Fifteen plans had been selected to lay before Professor Ricker, who, after two days' study, reported that in his judgment, subject to the consideration of cost, the first place should be given to the plans drawn by Mr. R. C. Henry of Boston. Next to these Professor Ricker placed the plans submitted by Mr. Calvin Kiessling of Boston. Upon further investigation it was found that neither plan could be carried out with the money available. The Board having decided that it would not be advisable to erect a building with less ground area than 70 X 120 feet, and that it would be necessary to leave the upper story or basement unfinished for a time, Mr. Kiessling's plans were thought to be the more suitable for these conditions, and he was accordingly employed as architect. However, with the plans at last decided upon, a bid of $6^, ']']<) accepted, and everything apparently well started, the trouble was not over. The building company failed to stand by their contract and owing to the slowness of the bonding company all work on the building was suspended for five months. Finally bids were called for to complete the structure according to the architect's plans, the lowest being $10,000 in excess of the original bid. The completed building and fine equipment amply repay the Board and the city author- ities for all their work and worry. The building measures approximately 6Z Y. 120 feet, situated -^71 CARNEGIE LIBRA'RIES on a lot 96 X 150 feet in size. The building is of Bedford stone, practically three stories in height, the basement being only- five feet below the sidewalk grade. The main entrance is flanked on either side by Doric columns, and the carved coronet of the doorway is set off by a panel background of polished red marble. Glass doors at the left in the vestibule lead to the stair hall and basement. Three marble steps, directly in front of the main entrance, lead through swinging glass doors to the delivery hall. The delivery hall is rectangular, 26 X 39 feet in size, and ex- tends up through the second story to a large skylight in the barrel-vaulted ceiling. To the left of the delivery hall is the general reading room, 25 X 60 feet. This room occupies the entire north end of the main floor and is lighted from three sides. Around the walls run bookcases four feet high. In the alcove entrance to the reading room are magazine and news- paper racks. At the south end of the delivery hall is a large, curved delivery desk, beyond which are the stacks. These oc- cupy a space corresponding to that taken up by the general reading room on the other side of the building. There are two tiers of stacks, with a capacity of 60,000 volumes. Wide aisles permit of tables and chairs being placed here for readers wish- ing to study or consult a number of volumes. Opening off the front end of the stack room and conveniently near the delivery desk is a small room for German books and periodicals, a de- partment which is quite popular with the large German popu- lation of the city. An attractive entrance into the basement from Fourth Street gives an independent approach to the children's department, which occupies two rooms, — one a children's room proper, and the other a school reference room. These rooms are fitted with low bookcases and window seats, round tables, and low chairs. A number of excellent reproductions for the walls have been given by friends of the library. There are also in the basement well-lighted rooms for public documents and local historical records, service rooms, and heating plant. The heat- ing system is one of indirect radiation, augmented by the use of a large fan. In addition to electric wiring, the entire building is piped for gas in case necessity demands its use. On the sec- ond floor there is a lecture hall, two fine club rooms, an exhibi- tion room, a trustees' room, and a staff rest room. 174 M. K. SANGUINET, ARClUTtCT, t OK 1 WciK i 11, TlLX. LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS I'HOTU. BV H. S. bTE\ E.NbiJ.M Fisher iS: I.awku-;, Akcmriicis, (Jmama. Mi:. I'll. 1 1.1. BY Cornell I-;m,ka\ in.. (..mi'Anv LINCOLN, NEBRASKA < Z < i4 X p Z > < ^ O % ^ 5 £ 2<^ ^ 05 1 1 n mi fn '^ ° I jir *• 1 fe ^ tfl < Z z' o z IOWA AND THE FARTHER WEST Leavenworth, Kansas, owes its free public library to the de- termined efforts of the women's clubs of that city. In the fall of i8qi; each club was asked to send three delegates to . - , f. f. . . . Leavenworth. a meetmg for the purpose of formmg an organization which should work toward establishing a free public library. Six clubs responded to the call and the library association was organized, two other clubs joining later. As no funds were available, entertainments were given in order to raise money with which to make a beginning. About 300 books were given by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the re- mains of a circulating library once maintained by them, and the Whittier Club gave 150 new books. Others were pur- chased, so that when the library was opened early in January in a small room in the Ryan Building, which was obtained rent free, there were on the shelves between seven and eight hundred volumes, chiefly fiction. An annual membership fee of one dollar was charged, since it was necessary to begin as a subscription library. The membership rose rapidly to 300; but this gradually dwindled until but half that number held cards. In the fall of 1896 the library was moved to two rooms in the courthouse, where light and heat as well as rent were gratis ; this left available for the purchase of books nearly the whole amount received from the sale of memberships. One of the rooms was fitted up for a reading room and the library was kept open for several hours two days a week. The librarian's services were voluntary, many of the club members assisting in the work. In these quarters it remained for three years, when the city voted a tax for the support of a free library and the local federation of women's clubs undertook to raise funds for the erection of a building. Some ^3,000, secured through their efforts, was afterwards used in furnishing the new library. The mayor appointed a board of directors consisting of twelve mem- bers, six of whom had belonged to the Library Association. In January, 1900, the books and furniture of the former library passed into the hands of the new board, and after being closed for two months the library was reopened on the first of Feb- ruary. The same rooms in the courthouse were used and the same librarian was employed, this time with a slight remunera- tion. There were more than 2,000 books on the shelves, and the library was open every afternoon and evening. 175 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES About this time the chairman of the library committee of the Board of Directors had opened a correspondence with Mr, Car- negie, and late in January he received an offer of $25,000 for a library building, which the city council lost no time in accept- ing. The gift was later increased to $30,000. For the purchase of a site ;$3,200 was raised by subscription, and a desirable loca- tion a little south of the business portion of the city was secured. It was decided to receive plans by competition, and those of Mr. M. R. Sanguinet of Fort Worth were chosen from among the dozen submitted for inspection. On May i, 1902, a public reception was held in the new building, which signalized the fact that it was ready for patroM- age. The library had been closed for nearly five months, during which time it was completely reorganized and the decimal clas- sification was introduced. On September 16, 1899, a disastrous fire destroyed the Ma- sonic Temple of Lincoln, Nebraska, and with it all the possessions of the City Library and Reading Room Association, Juincoln. . except 800 volumes, which were in circulation at the time. On the following day the library board reorganized, decided to retain the services of the librarian, and to open an office for the return of books. Through their active and prompt measures and the interest and support of the citizens, new quar- ters for the library were soon secured. Several thousand vol- umes were purchased, with the insurance on the library property, and many new books and magazines were donated. The work of cataloguing and arranging these books was immediately begun, and the library once more opened to the public on January 31, 1900. Soon after the fire, friends of the library wrote to Mr. Carne- gie, bringing to his notice the calamity which had befallen it, and on January 2, 1900, the president of the library board re- ceived word that Mr. Carnegie would build a library if the citi- zens of Lincoln would donate a site. The letter-files show that this gift was secured largely through the efforts of Mrs. William J. Bryan. Money for the site was soon raised by popular sub- scription, and Mr. Carnegie notified the library board that the sum of $75,000 had been deposited to their credit, to be drawn upon as the building proceeded. Work was begun on December I, and the completed building formally opened on May 27, 1902. 176 IOWA AND THE FARTHER WEST In designing the building the chief considerations were ease and economy of administration. To this end all the essential features of the library were brought together on the main floor, and the subsidiary features located in the basement, which was developed into a complete story. The building is so arranged that it will be possible to serve a gradually increasing patronage with a comparatively slight increase in the cost of attendance. No attempt was made to provide permanently for museum, art galleries, and lecture rooms, as it was felt that these could be provided better elsewhere in the city and that the money given by Mr. Carnegie could most profitably be devoted to the purposes of the library proper. The vestibule opens directly into the delivery room, octagonal in form and lighted from the dome. To the right of the entrance is the reading room for the periodicals and newspapers, and be- hind it the children's room. To the left are the reference room and the open stack room, where it is planned always to keep ac- cessible to the public the books of greatest interest The main stack room, with present capacity for 33,000 volumes, which can be increased to 125,000, is in an extension behind the delivery desk, the stacks being arranged in radial form. In an annex opening both into the main and open stack rooms are the librarian's office and the cataloguing room. When more space is needed for the open stack room, which has proved suc- cessful in every way, the present children's room will be used for that purpose ; the reference room can then be devoted to the children and the reference department moved to a room in the basement now used as an assembly room by the Woman's Club. Besides this room and the necessary rooms for storage and unpacking, the basement contains two connecting studies or parlors which have been furnished by the Woman's Club, the furniture and equipment having been donated to the library board, which in return leases the use of the rooms for certain hours each week to the club, an arrangement which has proved mutually satisfactory. As long as these rooms are not needed for the direct use of the library they are at the disposal of simi- lar clubs, although not intended for general or social use, or as a source of revenue. The heating plant is separate and apart from the building, which is fireproof, thus insuring the safety of the hbrary and preventing a possible repetition of the disas- CARNEGIE LIBRARIES ter of 1899. The libraries of the State Medical Society and the Lincoln Dental Society have been deposited in the building, to remain as long as they can be accommodated, and are open for the use of the public. The cornerstone of the Carnegie library at Springfield, Mis- souri, was put in place with fitting ceremonies on the afternoon of September 25, 1903. In the course of the exer- cises Mr. Edgar P. Mann spoke as follows on the benefits the city would receive from Mr. Carnegie's liberal gift, and on the attitude which the citizens should have toward the institution and its benefactor : " When the question of accepting this beautiful, substantial, and enduring structure as a gift from Mr. Carnegie upon the usual conditions imposed upon the cities to which he donates these buildings was first submitted to our city, it met with hearty approval and the proposition was indorsed and legalized almost without dissent at the polls. Since then, however, dissensions have arisen in our midst over the matter, — a disposition to doubt the practical utility of the gift and to criticise and ques- tion the motives of the giver. It seems to me that since, in the manner provided by our organic law and with a full opportunity given every man to register his will upon the proposition at the polls, we have with all the formalities of the law accepted this gift, that it is now not only bad faith and bad manners to ques- tion the motives of the donor, but bad policy as well to question its practical utility and value to our city and its people. It will rather redound to our credit to give it such loyal, earnest, and united support as will demonstrate to the world that this, one of the magnificent gifts of Mr. Carnegie, has been worthily bestowed. " What are the practical uses and advantages of a public library? When this one is open to the public that question will be demonstrated far better than lies in my power to show you now. But let me call^ your attention to a practical illustra- tion by referring to an actually existing condition. There is about to be established in our midst a zinc reduction plant, a new and strange industry to our people. The processes of re- duction, the history and development of their discovery and invention, and the uses for and the effect of the operation of the plant upon the health and comfort of those residing in its vicinity, and the output, are all unknown to our people, and to most of them the means of enlightenment, except in the most general way, are not at hand. Were this library in operation, 178 IOWA AND THE FARTHER WEST as it soon will be, the means of information would not only be available and free to rich and poor alike, but you would find as a result that hundreds of our people would be to-day discussing intelligently the whole scope and object and effect of the en- terprise, when instead there is dense ignorance upon the entire subject. " The great merit of the institution whose enduring corner- stone we lay to-day is that it opens another door of opportunity to the youth of the city. Who is there among our citizens that can refuse his countenance and support to so worthy an enter- prise? Let carping criticism and opposition cease. Let us take this library in our arms and to our hearts and cherish it as one of our most valued institutions. Let us watch and encour- age the growth of its patronage with the same degree of interest that we do the growth of our churches, our colleges, our fac- tories, our population and commercial importance, and the advent of new railroads ; that every worthy institution of the city will be benefited by a liberal support and patronage of this one cannot be denied. Let us not treat it as the offspring of a stranger and as a waif among the public institutions of our town. It is our own, and when we come to regard it as our own the question of its future will be settled to the lasting benefit of ourselves, our children, and our children's children." Hitherto no public library had existed in Springfield, al- though library privileges had not been wholly lacking, the Drury College Library of 26,000 volumes being used considera- bly by the townspeople. About March i, 1901, an informal meeting of the citizens was held and a petition drawn up re- questing the city council to submit to the people at the coming election on the first Tuesday in April the question of making a levy for the support of a public library. The doubt which had existed as to whether the majority of voters would favor the proposition was set at rest by the result of the election, and, after correspondence between President Fuller of Drury College and Mr. Carnegie's secretary concerning the method of pro- cedure, formal application was made in August, the sum of $50,000 being asked for. Mr. Carnegie granted the request about the first of November, and within two weeks the mayor and city council had designated a board of nine directors, as the law of the State provides. The board organized November 6th, and efforts were made to secure a suitable site for the building. For this purpose a subscription was circulated among the citi- 179 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES zens, by which the sum of ^3,750 was raised. After discussion at several meetings the board decided to purchase for $3,250 a lot at the corner of Center and Jefferson streets, just across the street from the high school and only a block from Drury College campus. By grant from the city a strip of land 20 feet in width was added, making the entire site available for the building 212 X 210 feet. A Sub-committee on Plans was then appointed, who visited other libraries, made sketches for the proposed structure, and invited architects to submit plans. On Septem- ber 22 Patton and Miller of Chicago and Reed and Hecken- lively of Springfield were engaged as associate architects, the former firm to draw the plans, the latter to attend to certain details and superintend the construction. Work on the building was not begun until July i, 1903, delay having been caused by a question as to the legality of the tax levy for the support of the library made by the city council in the preceding July. The dimensions of the structure, which is of limestone, are 106 X 65 feet, with a semicircular projection at the back for the book stacks. It is two stories in height, with an ample basement. The second floor contains an assembly room seating 250 people, an art room, a private room for the consultation of special works of art, and a room for the use of the directors. At the dedicatory exercises of the Sedalia Public Library, held on the evening of July 30, 1901, Mr. F. M. Crunden of the St. Louis Public Library gave an address on " The Public Library as a Paying Investment," and Mr. John L. Mauran of Mauran, Russell and Garden (the St. Louis architects of the building) read a paper on " Responsibility." He spoke of the responsibility of the architect in giving to the people a building that should be " instructive by reason of its dignity and elevating by reason of its refinement." An exem- plification of this ideal is to be found in the Sedalia library. It is, moreover, both pleasing to the eye and in every way adapted to its purpose, — a result largely due to the cooperation and complete harmony between the architects and the library board. The library stands on a half block, 270 X 130 feet with 75 feet of lawn at each end. The lower part of the walls, the four mas- sive columns at the entrance, the steps and the buttresses are of light stone, while the walls of the building are faced with white terra cotta, the use of which gives the effect of marble, and at 180 PATTON A: MlLI-KK, AkcllI li C 1 S, LHirA(,il I'HOTo. I'.V HL'.NCAV, ST. LOUIS SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI Maikan, Rissi;i.i. & Gakui;n. Akcihtix is, St. Ldl is SKD.ALIA, MISSOURI I'lUHO. l.\ \\ . II. Slll.KKR ^ECOIND TlOOP? n_/^M rir"OT rL30F5 r'uAM M. R. Sangui.net, Archii lii.ji-j. i;y C. Church DALLAS, TEXAS iUiUin-k 1' 11. i.Ki.i N, AKLHUEcr, Dallas FORT WORTH, TEXAS Photo, by C. I.. Swartz a: o o -I u. a y, o u CO < a 3! O O -J IOWA AND THE FARTHER WEST the same time permits a wealth of ornamentation which lightens the severity of the classic style. The interior, with its antique oak woodwork, harmoniously tinted walls, and terra cotta mantels, is equally attractive. On the second floor is a large art room which was used for the dedication exercises, seating about 400 people. There are also two study rooms and a room for the use of the directors. The basement contains a room for public documents and a work room, besides ample space for a heating plant, should one ever be desired ; the building is now heated from the public plant, nearly a mile from the library. The stack room, which has a capacity of 46,000 volumes, is absolutely fireproof; rolling steel doors and shutters are closed at night, making assurance doubly sure. The first library in Sedalia was founded in 1871, no citi- zens pledging $10 each for its support. After a time this failed for want of funds and the books were given to the Queen City Seminary; but in a few years that school was destroyed by fire and all the books burned. An attempt to organize a library by the ladies of the city in 1878-79 was, for a time, successful; but like the first this finally failed. The present library was incorporated in 1893, Books to the number of 2185 were bought, and the library established in rooms in the courthouse. The plan of paying expenses by the sale of membership tickets was tried for awhile, but it was found that this could not be made to maintain the library, and in 1894 a proposition was submitted to the citizens to make it a public institution. For want of proper canvassing this measure was defeated, but in the following year it was adopted, and the books, numbering 2,800 volumes, with about 2,500 volumes of reference, became the property of the city. In June, 1899, the Hbrary was ordered to vacate the rooms in the courthouse and to find a home elsewhere. Knowing from previous experiences that this would mean the end of the library, Mr. D. H. Smith, one of the prime movers in the enterprise, wrote to Mr. Carnegie asking for aid for the city, and in reply received a promise of $50,000, on condition that a site be pro- vided and $4,000 a year spent for maintenance. The result is the present handsome building. Since its completion the library has found its possibilities of usefulness greatly increased. 181 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES Sedalia is the county seat in the center of a large farming community and the public library is free to all residents of the county. Farmers and the people of small towns within a radius of twenty miles draw books for home reading. Efforts are made to bring the advantages of the library within the reach of all. Work for the schools and clubs is carried on as far as resources allow. Old newspapers and periodicals too worn to be bound have been cut and mounted on manila sheets for scrapbooks, and these have been in great demand among school children for essay work. The children's room, where the children may help themselves to the books they want, has proved a great attrac- tion. Lists of books on subjects of interest, with illustrative pictures, are posted from time to time on the bulletin board, and here are exhibited the best drawings from the different schools in the city, with the object of attracting both children and parents to the library. Reference books are freely acces- sible in the general reading room, while on the shelves just back of the loan desk, to which the public are admitted, are kept about 800 of the best books. At the time the build- ing was opened a collection of 150 framed photographs of famous works of art and architecture was presented to the li- brary, and these have been found useful to the schools and study clubs, as well as of interest to sightseers. The Sunday opening has been very successful, and is especially appreciated by the students of the business colleges of the city, to whom it affords a quiet reading place for Sunday afternoons. In all the work of the library the supreme endeavor is to understand the interests of the community and as far as possible to meet its needs. 182 CHAPTER XV THE SOUTHWEST AND THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas — Cheyenne, Wyoming — Colorado Springs. THE year 1899 was memorable in the library annals of Texas, for during its course the four largest cities in the state — Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio — each received from Mr. Carnegie a gift of ^50,000 for a library building. There was not a free public library of any importance in the state at the time of the formation of the Dallas Public Library Association in 1899. This association, composed of all who were willing to contribute toward the estab- lishment of a library, was organized at a public mass meeting on March 31. Subscriptions were opened and five public-spirited citizens contributed $1,000 each. A few weeks later the city was divided into districts, a committee of women to solicit con- tributions being appointed for each district, and in this way more than $12,000 was raised. In the meantime the city had promised to give a lot 50 X 100 feet as a site, and to appropriate $2,000 a year for library maintenance. The president of the Association, Mrs. Henry Exall, then wrote to Mr. Carnegie, submitting a statement showing the interest of the public in the movement. The reply to this appeal was a promise of $50,000, with the proviso that a suitable location should be furnished and that the city of Dallas should agree to appropriate $4,000 annu* ally for the support of the library. Steps were at once taken to comply with these conditions. The charter of the city permit- ting the appropriation of only $2,000 per annum, a special act of the Legislature was necessary in order to secure the required sum. The lot given by the city was found to be too small for the erection of a $50,000 building, and was therefore sold, the Association purchasing in its place, at a cost of $9,525, a lot 183 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES 100 X 200 feet, fronting on three streets on a high point in the very heart of the city. The building was begun in October, 1900, and a year later, on October 29, 1901, its completion was signalized by fitting ceremonies, held in the presence of a large number of people. The exercises took place in the assembly room on the second floor, known as Carnegie Hall, and were followed by a general reception and inspection. The building is of classic type, of Roman pressed brick and gray Bedford stone. The main architectural feature is the en- trance portico, embodying a richly ornamented doorway, flanked on either side by a cluster of Ionic columns reaching from the water table to the main entablature. Above the entablature, over the center of the portico, is a large tablet, bearing the name of the giver and the date of erection. The entrance doors, of heavily carved oak, lead into the delivery hall, which with its marble floor and wainscoting, beautiful pilasters and arches, forms the principal decorative feature of the interior. The main stairway, of marble and iron, leads from either side of the entrance to a platform the width of the hall, thence to the second floor with a single wide run. Facing the entrance and near the center of the building is the delivery desk, of marble and oak, from which the attendant may see and control the entire floor. To the right of the desk, facing the entrance, are the reading and reference rooms, to the left the children's room and the librarian's office, while back of the desk is the stack room, with an ultimate capacity of 100,000 volumes. The coloring of the main hall is white and old ivory; all other parts of the first floor are old rose, with woodwork and furnishings of oak. In addition to the auditorium, which seats five hundred people, the second floor contains a classroom for the use of clubs and an art gallery. Quite a feature is made of the children's room, furnished with two sizes of tables and chairs, low wall cases well supplied with books, and several good pictures and plaster casts, a gift from the teachers and pupils of the public schools. Much attention is also given to reference work, which grows constantly, the use of this department being by no means confined to Dallas. Re- quests for assistance by mail are frequent, and hardly a week 184 THE SOUTHWEST passes that people from neighboring towns do not come to do special work. Fort Worth, thirty miles west of Dallas and connected with it by electric railway, is surrounded on all sides by a rich agricul- tural country, and is a recognized center for the im- ^ ,,, ^ ■' ° Fort Worth. mense cattle business of the state. The movement which culminated in the Fort Worth Carnegie Public Library began in 1892. On April 2 of that year, twenty women met for the purpose of " taking measures to establish a free public library in the city of Fort Worth." A permanent organiza- tion known as the Fort Worth Library Association was formed, and a charter obtained from the state. Any woman resident of the city was eligible to membership and became a life member upon the payment of one dollar. It was decided to bend all of the energies of the Association first toward the erection of a library building, and then toward a collection of books, the whole to be placed under the jurisdiction of the city as soon as the Council should make the necessary provision for its mainte- nance, which there was every reason to believe would be done when the building was erected and equipped. With this end in view, permission to place the library on the plot of ground known as Hyde Park, given to the city by Mrs. Sarah J. Jen- nings, was obtained from the grantor and the City Council, and plans were adopted for a brick building to cost ^8,000. An active canvass for funds was begun and several hundred dollars secured. Then followed a period of financial depression, dur- ing which little progress was made. With the return of pros- perity in 1898 the Association made renewed efforts to carry out the plans so long held in abeyance. The by-laws were amended in order to admit men to membership, and a syste- matic effort to secure new members resulted in a large increase in membership. A gift concert, held in the spring of 1899, netted the Association $6,439.55. Public interest was thor- oughly awakened and a number of large subscriptions were received. The funds of the Association had reached $11,000 when an appeal was made to Mr. Carnegie for assistance. His offer of $50,000 was made on condition that a site should be furnished by the Association, and that the city should appropriate $4,000 annually for maintenance. A contract to this effect was drawn 185 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES between the city and the Association, the Association agreeing to erect a building to cost not less than $50,000, to equip it fully with furniture and fixtures, and to supply it with not less than $10,000 worth of books, while the city agreed to provide the required sum for support (the appropriation not to com- mence until the actual issue of books had begun) and to leave the entire control of the library in the hands of the Association. Plans for a building in classical style, of red brick with sand- stone trimmings, were adopted and the cornerstone laid on June 13, 1900. The library was opened to the public on October 17, 190 1, with 6,907 volumes on the shelves. The open-shelf policy was adopted and as few restrictions as possible were placed on the use of the books. One of the most popular departments in the library is the young people's room. Weekly talks, illustrated by photographs and casts, are given by the teachers of the schools and members of clubs in the city, lists of books on the subject for discussion being posted on the bulletin board and the books themselves placed on special shelves. The usefulness of the library has been extended directly to the school children by circulating carefully selected books through the schools. The plan is to send twelve books to each of the first seven grades, changing them every six weeks. In this way, from the earliest year at school the best juvenile books are provided for the use of the children, who are thus unconsciously forming that best of all foundations for their future education, a taste for good litera- ture. The superintendent and teachers of the public schools have been most enthusiastic in their support of the plan and have done their utmost to assist in making the library useful to their pupils. The extension of the work has unfortunately been prevented by lack of funds necessary to purchase a sufficient number of books, but the library has received many generous donations of books, pamphlets, and unbound periodicals, as well as money in small sums to be applied to the purchase of books. One of the most notable gifts, forming the nucleus of an art collection, was received from the Anna Ticknor Library Association of Boston, and consists of about 4,100 carefully classified and catalogued photographs and engravings, together with 102 volumes of valuable art works. Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming, at the extreme southeast 186 THE SOUTHWEST corner of the state, has a population of over 15,000, and is one of the points of departure for the famous Black Hills with its celebrated Deadwood stage. Here the Rev. Josiah chcyenne. Strong became a Congregational pastor on his gradua- tion from Lane Theological Seminary, and the same intellectual energy which made him a writer of note made him the origina- tor of the library movement in the state capital. In November, 1872, he began an earnest campaign, calling upon heads of families to afford their children the advantages of a library, dem- onstrating to the young men the need of self-culture, and point- ing out to the community at large the moral safeguard that an institution of the kind would prove to the city. At the begin- ning of the following year the Cheyenne Library Association was organized on the basis of five-dollar shares and a Board of Trus- tees was appointed. The money received enabled them shortly to despatch an order for 437 books, stock having been sub- scribed to the amount of nearly $800. But the income was not sustained. Dr. Strong removed to Ohio, and after various vicis- situdes a reorganization was effected in 1879, the debt which had accumulated was wiped off, and a season of usefulness con- tinued, with some falls in fortune, until the beginning of 1886, when the Association took a firm grip on the situation and standing committees consisting of the best people in the city set to work to obtain money, a home, and a librarian. By the beginning of June the free reading room and library were firmly installed as a permanent institution in the capital. Many new books were added and the library at this time consisted of more than a thousand books of standard quality. A lot owned by the Association had been sold and $1,200 placed to the credit of the Association to be applied to building purposes when thought necessary. Meantime the expenses were met by the sale of stock at $5 a share. The library was kept in a room 20 X 30 feet in size, in the basement of the Central High School, the reading space limit- ing readers to five or six at one time. A single stove heated the room in winter time and the entire furnishings were such as to cheapen the. influence of the library. An Auxiliary Library Association was formed to assist in overcoming this deplorable situation by obtaining funds or real estate by gifts, by entertain- ments of all sorts, and to stimulate other sections to take advan- 187 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES tage of the library law. Mr. Robert Morris, who as private secretary to Governor Warren had had much to do with the passage of the " Act to promote the public welfare and estab- lish free public libraries," was greatly interested in this good work and meantime wrote to Mr. Carnegie, in December, 1899, outlining the importance of the city, describing the cramped quarters in which their 4,000 volumes were then found, and de- tailing what the people of Cheyenne were endeavoring to do for themselves. He asked the assistance of Mr. Carnegie for a new building and, in time to be welcomed as a New Year's gift to the city, Cheyenne received news of his offer of $50,000 with the condition that a proper site be secured and that the library be maintained at a cost of not less than $3,000, though $4,000 was suggested as more proper. Mr. Morris immediately set about to pave the way for the prompt acceptance of Mr. Carnegie's generous offer. He ob- tained an option on an excellent site near the High School at $1,750, and moreover had subscriptions for the full amount of the price. The County Commissioners held a meeting at which the tax levy was increased to one-half mill, which on the assessed valuation of six millions brought the library the revenue required by Mr. Carnegie's terms. On January 6, 1900, Mr. Morris was able to inform Mr. Carnegie of the progress already made, of the happiness of the citizens of Cheyenne at the consummation of the free library project, and to inclose the resolutions of the County Commissioners. He was soon in receipt of Mr. Car- negie's congratulations. The site on which Mr. Morris had secured the option is within two blocks of the state capitol and overlooks a park of ten acres in extent, maintained by the city and facing the grounds of the capitol. To the east of the capitol grounds lie those of the convent, making the neighborhood one of the most delight- ful in the city. In addition to these landscape advantages the site is within but a few hundred feet from the central business part of Cheyenne. Mr. Morris was made the secretary of the building committee, but between the time of the reception of Mr. Carnegie's offer and the actual inauguration of the work he was far from losing sight of the actual building with which his efforts were to be crowned. With a careful study of the library movement through- 188 Plate 10.5 PATToN, I'ISHEk & MlLLUR, AKCiUTKClS, CHICAGO CHEYENNE, WYOMING THulo. 1,V J. li. bllMSON -.1, Aki lIMi . 1,1 L I'ASC), TKXAS I'lh'lM. l.S DKTKOIT I'VHLISlllNi. TUCSON, ARIZONA Plate 106 a o o J u__ Q C G O IS o >• a" IS >« s u Plate 107 Plate 108 I'roiii t!u- I'.rii kl.uil'If.T. April, 1905 I'IRST FLOOR ri.AN COLORADO SPRINGS THE SOUTHWEST out the country and an examination of the plans of numerous libraries, especially the recently constructed branch libraries in Pittsburg, he was in a position to guide the committee in this important work. Their intention from the outset was to con- struct what has since been termed a People's Palace, which was to be not only a resort for literary and historical research, but a place where the intellectual interests of the people should center. The committee secured the services of Patton, Fisher, and Miller to carry out their ideas, and their experience enabled them to construct a complete and harmonious modern building, planned with a view to utility, yet preserving architectural beauty, furnishing convenient access to the public, ample room for the books, and accommodations for proper administration. The structure is classical in type, built in gray pressed brick on a foundation of white sandstone. The trimmings are in sandstone and terra cotta and the Ionic modification of the Doric type is expressed by the slender fluted columns and elabo- rate capital and spiral scrolls which afford the suggestion of grace rather than strength. Work was begun on the building late in 1900, and it was completed and open to the public early in 1902. All the furniture, fixtures, and decorations were from original designs, there being no stock or trade fittings used in any part of the building. The entire cost amounted to ^55,232, in addition to which the City Council appropriated $600 to com- plete the stone coping and curbing around the building. The grounds will be cared for by the City Council in connection with the city park system. The interior arrangement divides the building into two stories and abasement, each floor forming, as it were, a separate depart- ment. The main floor is devoted to library purposes proper, the visitor entering through the reception hall into the delivery room, on either side of which are the general reading rooms. That on the north end, overlooking the city park, is for adults, and has a floor space of 32 x 26 feet. The corresponding room on the south is for the children. The stack, with a capacity of 50,000 volumes, lies to the rear of the delivery counter, and at the extreme rear and opening into the stack is the librarian's private office and a small reception room open from the delivery room at one side of the entrance hall. 189 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES In the basement, directly under the stack room, there is pro- vided a semicircular auditorium which will seat some three hun- dred people. Here also, in imitation of the Carnegie institutions at Homestead and other places, there is provided a newspaper reading room, 26 X 22 feet, where men may visit and smoke. The room is intended for use as a social parlor where members of clubs may entertain invited guests after an entertainment or lecture. The basement also provides the rooms necessary to the maintenance and care of the building. On the third floor are to be found four apartments, an art gal- lery in the center over the delivery room, an assembly room over each of the main reading rooms on the first floor, and an attractive trustees' room. In the assembly rooms the various clubs, both of men and of women, are accustomed to meet, and through Mrs. William Sturgis, a girlhood friend of Mrs. Carnegie, the latter was persuaded to give the sum of ;^500 to furnish the women's room. Few libraries in the world command such a fine view of natural beauty as does the Free Public Library of Colorado Springs. The building is placed in the center of a Springs" wide terrace which slopes off to the back, and from the semicircular south end of the building can be seen Pike's Peak and the Rocky Mountain Range. As was said at the dedicatory exercises, " a dull soul indeed is he who look- ing upon these grand mountains, from the setting of our library windows, would dare to say that life is not worth Hving — in this altitude." The library is the outgrowth of an association that had strug- gled along for a score of years with a scanty collection of books housed in rented rooms, located at various times in diff'erent parts of the town. " It was a time of small things," said Judge Horace G. Lunt, "everything was small — except the plains and the mountains, and so the plains and the mountains inspired those early workers with lofty ideas about a library. They never lost faith in their good works, they never let go the idea that they must have a library, sooner or later. They fully realized its good influence and its absolute necessity to the wel- fare of the people, young and old. They struggled bravely on, ever fighting, ever continuing eagerly and zealously to keep the library growing, begging here for a few books, asking there for a 190 THE SOUTHWEST little money to replenish the diminishing stock, raising money by lecture courses, and occasionally having sociables to raise funds for the library. They kept it always before them, and they never lost faith in the ultimate outcome of their good work. " Through the activity of several men and women of Colorado Springs, and finally through the efforts of Dr. J. R, Robinson, at that time mayor of the city, Mr. Carnegie offered $50,000 for a library building, later increasing the amount to ;^6o,ooo. The building is of the style commonly known as the Neo- Grec. It is 85 X 115 feet, and is placed in the center of a hun- dred-foot wide turf terrace confined within a cement curbing and approached by a twenty-five-foot wide cement walk. The mate- rial used in the construction of the exterior is a Roman-shaped gray hydraulic pressed brick, with trimmings of white terra cotta above a light-colored pueblo sandstone base. Front en- trance steps and platform are of fine cut Platte Canon granite. Decorative panels of Breche Violette marble are introduced between basement and first-story windows and on pylons above the main entrance. The monitor on the roof is covered with copper and turned green with acid. The sides of the monitor are filled in with glazed sashes divided up by a Greek pattern. These win- dows serve to light and ventilate the delivery room and loft under the roof. The large windows in the first story are divided up by light wood divisions and transom treatment, painted a light gray and glazed with the best selected American plate glass. The windows in the basement are made subservient to those above and have wrought iron grilles painted verdigris color. The main entrance doorway treatment is of quartered oak, stained, with iron grilles in doors and above transoms, all of verdigris color. On the semicircular end of the building is a continuous ornamental iron balcony with a cement floor. The building is entered through an ample vestibule at a level half- way between basement and first floor. A gray Tennessee marble stairway with ornamental iron balustrades leads up in the center to the first floor, and two narrow stairways on each side lead down to a high, well-lighted basement, to the toilet rooms, club rooms and auditorium. 191 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES The main corridor on the first floor, 15 feet wide, leads di- rectly to the delivery room, 24 x 30 feet, the focal point of the first-floor arrangements. On either side of the corridor are the general reading room and the children's room, both 25 X 48 feet, separated from the corridor by a treatment of glazed open- ings to balance the exterior window treatment, and entered immediately at the head of the stairway. Directly opposite the entrance in the delivery room is the delivery desk, from which very effective supervision of the entire floor is possible. At each side of the desk are the en- trances to the semicircular book or alcove reading room. On the west side of the delivery room and accessible from the book room and general reading room, is the reference room, 24 X 25 feet, while in the corresponding space on the other side are the librarian's and cataloguer's rooms. The book room is 38 X 64 feet and has eight 12-foot book stacks radi- ating from the exterior walls forming alcoves at each win- dow, the windows opening directly on to the balcony. The present book stacks have a capacity of 12,000 volumes. The shelves in the reading rooms add space for 5,000 additional volumes. The height of the reading rooms and the reference room is 15 feet, while the corridor and book room is 17 feet and the delivery room is 25 feet in the clear. The general construction of the building is fireproof. All the rooms and corridors are finished in hard plaster with stucco cornices and beams. The floors of the corridor and delivery room are of terrazzo tile with a terrazzo sanitary cover base. The other portions of the first floor have a pale green colored cork carpet. The walls and ceiling are tinted in light tones of warm gray and ivory white. All the interior woodwork is of oak stained a verdigris color. The heating of the building is by both direct-indirect and indirect radiation. The lighting is by electricitj', all wiring being in an all iron conduit system. Gas for illuminating pur- poses is only introduced into the corridor, delivery room, and auditorium to serve in case of emergency. All the electric and gas fixtures are especially designed in harmony with the archi- tecture of the building and have a verdc antique finish. The furniture is all of quartered oak, especially designed to con- summate a harmonious whole, and finished to match the in- 192 THE SOUTHWEST terior woodwork. The architect, Mr. Calvin Kiessling, can hardly be said to boast when he claims that " the building lends itself to all the requirements of modern library purposes and afifords its patrons the unrestricted enjoyment of the beauties of the distant mountains and immediate surroundings." 193 CHAPTER XVI CALIFORNIA San Diego — Oakland — Alameda — San Jos6 — Riverside — Pomona — Santa Ana. IN the extreme southwestern corner of California, at San Diego, is the first Carnegie library opened in the state, having been completed in April, 1902. Credit for secur- ing the new library building is largely due to the Wednesday Morning Club, and especially to its courageous and faithful president, Mrs. A. E. Horton, This club was organ- San Diego. f , . ' , , , r ^ \- ized m 1895, ^"Q when the program for the first year's work was outlined, Mrs. Horton was designated to pre- pare a paper on public libraries. It was her idea that every club should have some well-defined purpose to justify its exist- ence, and as she was very anxious to enlist her associates in plans for the much-needed library, she spent a large part of the year upon her paper, collecting figures and arguments which aroused much enthusiasm when the paper was read, and which won for her cause the cooperation of the club. By various methods, the sum of $500 was raised by the club toward a library building fund. Of this amount $100 was cleared by an exhibition of the Copley prints. The prints were loaned by the publishers, who gave a generous percentage on sales, and also promised to donate to the library, when it should be built, 100 choice prints, a promise since faithfully fulfilled. Another means of stimulating public interest, devised by Mrs. Horton, was an exhibition of photographs of Carnegie libra- ries already erected, supplemented with photographs of the new Library of Congress and other famous libraries. This served a threefold purpose : it strengthened the interest in try- ing to build a public library, provided a source of revenue, and was the beginning of Mrs. Horton's correspondence with Mr. Carnegie. A year later she wrote to him again, not making a direct appeal for aid, but picturing so vividly the struggle which 194 CALIFORNIA was being made to carry on the library with a small fund that an immediate reply came in the shape of an offer of $50,000. " The library needs of this place," wrote Mrs. Horton, " are very apparent. We have a good library of about 14,000 books which we have in rented rooms, for which we pay $85 a month. Every few years we are obliged to move, owing to a demand for more room, or other causes. Our last moving expenses were about $800. " Our income from the city taxes amounts to five or six thou- sand dollars a year. After the salaries, rent, moving, and other expenses were taken out last year we had very little left to ex- pend for books. Our circulation was reduced to 14,000 books on account of closing for moving and our inability to supply new books. " We feel more than ever the need of permanent quarters, and think San Diego is an important point for the establishment of a fine library. I know of no place where one would be more ap- preciated. We have fine schools, and the cooperation between the library and the schools is most gratifying, but here we are hampered by lack of funds for necessary books. A state normal school has been opened in San Diego within the past year, and while they will some time have a library of their own, the funds are not sufficient now to establish it.^ Our library supplies their needs so far as able. " We have lately established a children's library league, and our circulation among the children has increased very percep- tibly, so much so that we have been troubled to provide all the books they need. " We have a large floating population who are given all the privileges of the library. Invalids who come for a few weeks or months will find our library a great source of pleasure. We have soldiers stationed here who find our books a refuge from the monotony of their life. Our harbor has been a winter ren- dezvous for naval vessels on this coast for some years, making calls for additional books." After the plans were adopted and the work well under way it was found that $10,000 more would be needed to equip the building with fireproof steel book stacks, properly lighted. Learning through Mrs. Horton of the inadequacy of the origi- nal sum to complete the building, Mr. Carnegie cheerfiilly added the necessary amount, so that the building now stands complete, a lasting monument to its generous donor. The $500 raised by ^ The Normal School library has since been opened. CARNEGIE LIBRARIES the Wednesday Morning Club was given toward the purchase price of the land on which the library stands. Another gift of $1,000 for the beautifying of the Ubrary grounds was received from Mr. George VV. Marston. The building is two stories in height, and is built of brick, covered with cement painted white, giving somewhat the effect of white marble. The delivery room occupies the center of the first floor; opening from this, on the one side, are a children's room and a women's magazine room; on the other a men's magazine room and a reference room. Behind the deHvery room are the librarian's and catalogers' rooms, back of which are the stacks. The second story contains an art gallery, a lecture room with seating capacity of lOO, a museum, trustees' room, and two small rooms for special study. The light green tint of the walls throughout the building blends harmoniously with the color of the oak furniture. The stack room is fireproof, the remainder of the building of slow-burning construction. The cost of the building itself was $40,000; the furniture, book stacks, and fees amounted to $20,000. Referring to the cornerstone, on the occasion of its laying, March 20, 1901, Mrs. Horton spoke as follows: " Let us hope that it will bind not only the walls of our build- ing together, but unite us as a people in the unselfish desire for the common good, and our realization of the common need. It is this desire, this realization, which prompts Mr, Carnegie's splendid gifts to humanity, believing as he does, with Lowell, that the best part of a man's education is that which he gives himself. This is the opportunity which our public libraries fur- nish — the means of self-education. " This foundation gives promise of a substantial building, but broad and deep as it looks, it is ' just such stuff as dreams are made of,' for this material form was but the * shadow of a dream ' five years ago. Mr. Carnegie is a believer in dreams. In a speech made in Dumfries, Scotland, he said: ' I would not give much for the man who does not dream dreams.' " What are his benefactions to-day but the realization of the dream of his youth, when as a mill boy he was given, with the other boys of Allegheny, the privilege of using Mr. Anderson's library? . . . Our own city to-day is the realization of the dreams of a man who thirty-three years ago next month stood on these heights above us with a wilderness before him, but seeing clearly in his mind's eye visions of a fair city. . . . These men were 196 CALIFORNIA trained in a hard school, but as their hands wrought, and they grew strong with labor, their dreams were wings which freed the spirit and taught them to work for humanity." On the continental side of the bay of San Francisco, directly opposite the Golden Gate, lies Oakland, the county seat of Ala- meda County, one of the most picturesque cities on ^^^^^^^ the coast. It has a population of about 75,000 in- habitants and its public library is one of the largest of the Carnegie Hbraries in California. It was dedicated June 30, 1902, with simple ceremonies, in the presence of an audience as large as the building could hold. President Wheeler, of the University of California, was the principal speaker. On the following morn- ing the festive decorations of the previous evening were all re- moved and the public was welcomed to its new possession. The spaciousness, the light, the cleanHness, and the beauty of the new quarters were much appreciated by both readers and staff. The inadequacy of the old building, a frame structure exposed to imminent danger from fire, had been felt for many years, and in 1899 a movement was made to induce the city fathers to put into a projected bond election a clause for enough money to house the library properly. In the course of the agitation, speeches were made before the Board of Trade, Merchants' Exchange, and similar bodies. Articles were written for the papers showing the great need and desire of the people of Oak- land for a new library building. The papers containing these speeches, resolutions, and articles were mailed to Mr. Carnegie by the late H. A. Chittenden of the Tribune staff, who had had a slight acquaintance with him years before. The outcome was an offer in Mr. Carnegie's well-known form to give $50,000 for the building if the city would supply a site and guarantee its support. These conditions were met by the city council, a lot being purchased for the sum of $20,000 raised by a general sub- scription conducted by the public-spirited ladies of the Ebell Society. The building is in two stories, the street floor containing a reading room and a children's room, the main floor a delivery room, reference room, a small room for the use of the trustees, librarian's room, catalogers' room, and the stack. The fagade and the main reading room, with its barrel-vaulted ceiling, re- mind one of the Boston Public Library in miniature. The 197 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES children's room was furnished and equipped by the ladies of the Ebell Society, who, not content with their former generous activity in the matter of securing a site, offered to raise for the purpose a sum not less than $5,000, aiming to secure for Oak- land " the most beautiful children's room in America." The entire $50,000 donated by Mr. Carnegie having been expended on the building itself, the amount necessary for furnishing, decorating, and finally completing the structure was supphed by the city. One of the interesting features of the Oakland library is the art exhibit which has been carried on for several years with in- creasing interest and success. Paintings by artists of note are placed on exhibition at a sHght expense to the library for insur- ance and expressage. These are changed from time to time. A number of paintings and other works of art have been secured as permanent possessions, notably a series of large and fine mural paintings to fill the space at the head of the main staircase, the gift of Miss Marian Holden of San Francisco. Among the plans for increasing the efficiency of the library is one which is capable of wide extension and which it is hoped will prove of great benefit. The Teachers' Club of Alameda County in 1902 set aside $50 for the purchase of books on education for the library. These were chosen by them and marked by a special bookplate. On their part the trustees agreed to expend a like sum for books on similar subjects, thus making an addition of one hundred dollars' worth of books on pedagogics. By the extension of this principle, additional money for books can be made to yield a double increase for the library. The city of Alameda, forty minutes' ride across the bay from San Francisco, is built on the site of an old Spanish land grant, which was originally covered with trees, whence the Alameda. . i t o i name Alameda. In 1054 the town was mcorporated by act of legislature and its boundaries fixed. The second in- corporation took place in 1872. In the following year an era of municipal improvement began, and in 1877 the Alameda Free Reading Room and Library Association was organized. Money and books were generously contributed and the institution flourished from the start. For many years the trustees hoped and worked for a suitable building for the housing of their literary treasures, but without 198 CALIFORNIA success. Mr. Carnegie's gift, therefore, came as a grateful sur- prise. At the dedication of the building, President Mastick, who had served the library as trustee since its establishment twenty- five years before, spoke of the constant efforts which had been made toward the accomplishment of the desired end. Their struggle, he said, reminded him of the story of the man who early in life had acquired more riches than he knew what to do with, and who conceived the idea of preparing during his lifetime a grave in which his bones should rest. He accordingly purchased a lot in the cemetery and built a monument of stone, upon which were inscribed certain words which were kept carefully concealed by boards and hoops of iron. Time passed, and at the ripe old age of ninety this once young man was gathered to his fathers. At the time fixed for his burial the people collected curiously about the tomb. When the inscription was revealed they saw his name, the date of his birth, and the words, " I expected this, but not so soon ! " In October, 1899, the librarian received word from Mr. Car- negie that he would give the last $10,000 for a library building for the city of Alameda. An effort was made to have a bond election called to provide $25,000 additional, but the matter failed to pass the city trustees. In response to a letter from Mr. G. H. Mastick, written in the spring of 1901, thoroughly explaining the situation, Mr. Carnegie withdrew his original proposition and in its place offered to give $35,000 on the usual conditions. As the city already ow^ned a lot, purchased as early as 1886, for a library site, it was easy to comply with the terms of the gift, and in September the library trustees were empowered to erect a building. Ground was broken in May,, 1902, and on July 12 the cornerstone was put in position with impressive Masonic ceremonies, conducted by the officers of the Grand Lodge of the state, in the presence of a large number of citizens. In the stone was placed a box containing a copy of the correspondence with Mr. Carnegie, lists of trustees, cata- logs of the library, the circular of competition for plans, with names of the architects, contractors, and consulting architect, sketches of Mr. Carnegie from recent periodicals, copies of local papers, and many other articles of interest. The formal dedication of the building took place on the even- ing of April 16, 1903, when the beauty and spaciousness of the 199 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES structure received warm praise from the throngs of citizens who saw the interior for the first time. The trustees and the hbrary staff received the guests and showed them about the building, while an entertainment was provided in the form of music, in- terspersed with addresses by members of the board of trustees and other citizens. President Mastick, the first speaker, closed his remarks with an appeal for subscriptions to defray the ex- penses of furnishing the building in a style in keeping with its beauty, stating that $2,000 of the $5,000 needed had already been promised on condition that the remaining $3,000 should be raised. His words met with an enthusiastic response. The building is classic in design, with stone basement and a superstructure of pressed and molded brick. The interior is well lighted from the sides as well as by a large skylight in the central section of the arched ceiling. No partition walls are used inside the building except for the librarian's room ; the children's room, picture room, reference room, delivery room, and stack room, on the main floor, are separated from each other by strong steel wire divisions about four feet in height. The galleries are utilized as reading rooms. The building is throughout of a most substantial character. It was opened for the issuing of books July 29, 1903, and now ranks fourth among the free libraries of California in number of volumes issued. A branch reading room is maintained at the west end of the city. San Josh's public library dates from 1872. In the spring of that year, Mr. I. F. Thomas, after making a canvass of the busi- ness part of the city, called a meeting at which pre- Sanjose. ,. . i .1 , i- 1 r , i- limmary steps toward the establishment of a public library were taken. On July 12 of that year a committee com- posed of leading citizens met in the office of Judge Payne, and perfected an organization which was subsequently incorporated under the name of the San Jos6 Library Association. The object of the association was " the establishment of a library and reading room, the collection of a cabinet, scientific apparatus, works of art, and the general diffusion of knowledge." The constitution provided that the association should " not be con- ducted or controlled in the interest of or by any denomina- tional, sectarian or political party, but should be controlled and managed in the same broad and liberal spirit that actuated the founding." Thus the cooperation of all classes was secured 200 CALIFORNIA and success achieved from the outset. The Hon. A. Pfister, then mayor of the city, not only befriended the new association, but agreed to turn over to it his salary, and his immediate succes- sor, Mayor Murphy, pursued the same generous policy. The books of the Y. M.C- A. were purchased as a nucleus, and over three hundred annual and monthly subscribers to the new library, besides twenty-five life members, were secured. As the city grew the disposition became manifest to follow the course adopted by other cities and to make the library free and public. The move- ment crystallized in i88o in an offer to turn the library over to the city and acceptance was made by ordinance of the mayor and council on April 30 of that year. For six or seven years the new public library was accommodated in rented rooms. Upon the completion of the new city hall, quarters were pro- vided for the library on the second floor. To reach the library from the ground floor required the climbing of two long flights of stairs. This was the source of considerable complaint on the part of the public. It was claimed that only those made use of the library who had good lung power and were inspired by a deep desire for knowledge. The library trustees always answered this criticism by saying, that he who would reach the summit of the hill of knowledge must needs climb the rugged path leading thither, as no elevators had yet been devised for reaching this eminence, though the path had been made much smoother in recent years. In 1901 San Jose received from Mr. Carnegie a gift ofS5o,00O for the erection of a library building. A very desirable site in Normal Square was secured, which furnished a park-like setting for the building. The front door opens into a vestibule ten feet square, and this in turn into a lobby leading to the delivery hall, directly under the dome. On either side of the delivery hall is a reading room, at the end of each of which is an oriel window. In one of these rooms shelving is so arranged that a space is practically walled off for a children's reading room. The librarian's desk is so placed that it commands a view of the entire building. Back of it is the stack room, with three tiers of steel stacks, capable of holding 45,000 volumes. The shelves in the reading room have a capacity of 5,000 volumes. The basement contains, besides boiler room and stack room, a large open space to be used as a lecture room. The walls of the building are 201 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES faced with terra cotta and pressed brick, with a foundation of sandstone. The roof is of green slate and the dome of copper. The first effort at Riverside toward the estabHshment of any- thing in the nature of a public Hbrary was made by the early pioneers who came to the Riverside colony with John W. North. Those who possessed books contributed from their store, and the library thus assembled was made free to all. Those were days, however, when there was not much leisure for reading, and the crude little hbrary received but slight attention. The books became scattered and when lost were not replaced, so that after a few years it was discovered that there was but one volume remaining of the original collection. The Riverside Library Association, out of which has grown the present free public library, was organized in 1879. Any citizen was privileged to become a member by paying ^3 and such dues and fines as should from time to time be ordered to provide for the library's maintenance. The amount raised in this way being insufficient to provide such a library as was desired, an amateur dramatic performance was given, which yielded a good sum to be added to the fund. About 1,000 volumes were purchased and a catalog printed for the use of the members. For some time all went well, but after a fire, which resulted in the injury of many volumes and the entire loss of others, the library was closed and the remaining books stored until the times should be more propitious for the rehabilitation of this important institution. In 1888 the books were donated to the city with the under- standing that a free library should be organized and maintained. At the outset the library occupied only two small rooms and was open to the public on three afternoons and one evening of each week. When the city leased the quarters in the Loring block, ample accommodations were secured and a suitable room was provided where the public could read magazines and news- papers and consult reference books. The new library building, thrown open for the first time July 31, 1903, was erected at a cost of $27,000, from plans by Burn- ham & Bliesner of Los Angeles. It is in mission style, con- structed of brick, covered with cement stucco, and is one of the most attractive libraries in southern California. The architec- tural arrangement of the interior, with its stately pillars, beauti- 202 CALIFORNIA ful dome, and quaint windows at front and back, is particularly suited to the form of decorations used. The soft yellow coloring which predominates gives a general effect of quietness and rest- fulness. At the four prominent corners of the main room, over the arches, are figures representing Music, Art, Literature, and History, Over the small windows at the back of the building, in scroll effect, are the words. Inspiration, Intelligence, Origi- nality, Imagination, and on either side the names, Dante, Confucius, Cervantes, Homer, Emerson, and Shakespeare. In a similar position over the main door may be seen Fame, Honor, Celebrity, Glory, Renown, Popularity, and the names of Burns, Hawthorne, Goethe, Hugo, Milton, and Longfellow. Over the lights between the arches in front are the mottoes, set in wreaths, " The noblest motive is the public good," and " They are never alone who are accompanied by noble thoughts." Oc- cupying a similar position in the rear of the room are the mot- toes, " Energy and persistence conquer all things," and " They fail, and they alone, who have not striven." Under the arch at the rear of the reading room is the librarian's desk. Behind it, within easy reach of the assistants, are the stacks, with accommodation for 50,000 volumes. The building is complete in every detail. A credit to the donor, the archi- tect, the library trustees, and the citizens, it will remain one of Riverside's most pleasing attractions for many years to come. Another Carnegie library in the immediate vicinity designed by Burnham & Bliesner is the one at Pomona. This building has the reputation of being one of the best planned ^ ,. , Pomona. structures ot the kmd m the country, and its general arrangement has been copied in many places — Alliance, Ohio, and Everett, Washington, among others. In May, 1887, the ladies of Pomona began a series of flower festivals for the purpose of establishing a library. Following a very successful festival an organization was formed, and the library was first opened September 10. From the beginning, until her death in February, 1902, it was in charge of Mrs. E. P. Bartlett, a woman of wide culture and thoroughly im- bued with the spirit of the modern-library movement, who gave her best efforts to its development. At first the rooms were open only two afternoons of each week. In July of 1889 a beautiful marble statue of the goddess 203 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES Pomona, brought from Italy, was given to the city by the Rev. C. F. Loop, and arrangements were made to place it in charge of the library organization. Rooms for the library and the statue were secured in the First National Bank Building. The following year the ladies presented the library, then numbering over 1,400 volumes, as a gift to the city, which assumed control in June, 1890. On January i, 1902, the annual fee of $1 was abolished, and the library made free to all residents of the town. By that time it had grown to 6,500 volumes and, owing to the wise selection of Mrs. Bartlett, possessed a remarkably good collection. The library building, for which Mr. Carnegie gave $15,000, was opened June 11, 1903. The entrance, through a triple archway reached by broad steps and lighted by two handsome groups of lamps, leads directly into a central octagonal hall. From the delivery desk, which faces the front door, complete supervision may be had of the various rooms opening into this main hall. At the right, upon entering, is the general reading room. In the center of the east side of this room is a large, tiled fireplace, beside which stands the statue of Pomona, resting upon a marble and granite base. Back of this room is the children's room, along the en- tire south side of which is a convenient window seat; a tiled alcove protects the drinking fountain. Opening from this room is a ladies' parlor, while another door leads to the rear hallway, from which access may be had to the second story, containing a directors' room and a newspaper storeroom. At the left of the main entrance, on the first floor, is the libra- rian's office, separated from the main hall by glass windows and a glass-paneled door. Beyond this is the reference room. The stack room, with a capacity of 20,000 volumes on one floor, oc- cupies the northeast corner of the building. Free access to the shelves is allowed at all times. A conveniently arranged work- room for the library attendants is reached by a door back of the central delivery desk. A book lift, running down to the basement and up to the second story, is a great help in moving books. The basement contains the heating and ventilating plant and the general unpacking room. Opening from the unpacking room on one side is a specially designed brick fumigating vault of commodious dimensions, where all the volumes of the library 204 bLISS & FAVILLE, ARCHITECTS, SAX FRANCISCO OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA PHOTO. Bv R. J. Waters & Co. •>V M. hl.NULK, AKCHllhCr SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA Showing the )ocatioii of tile Library in rulaiion to Normal Square HOTO. BV A. I). lliLL BLRNHAM .> HWICUTENBERG CURT15 AKLidriuds. San I-kancisco i . ^ > VLU ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA BL'kNUAM & Hl-il->M-K. AKLMlil.' 1 ~, I <.jiyr:i;ilt, ]y jj, liy Ur: I ROIT I'HO 1 lHjKAI'HlC i_i_i.\irA.\v LuS AXGELES RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA Ul-NMa A: 1 AKVVI.I.I.. AkCHllBCrs, Lus ANiiKI-KS SANI'A ANA, CALIFORNIA i'HOTO. BV L. 1'. IlICKOX CALIFORNIA are to be fumigated thoroughly once or twice a year. When the necessary funds are procured, more rooms in the basement will be furnished. Copies of works of art will be hung in the different rooms whenever this is made possible through special funds and gifts. A beginning has been made in the children's room, with a number of pictures procured by the librarian from the proceeds of benefit performances of " Little Men" and " Little Women " given by the young people of the town. The work of the children's room has been given special attention since the opening of the new building. Santa Ana, the county seat of Orange County, located in the center of the fertile Santa Ana Valley, was surveyed and laid off into town lots in i860. It now has about 6,000 inhabitants, nearly one third of the population of the county. Its new public library affords another instance of the use of the mission style of architecture. The building, con- structed of brick covered with plaster and painted, is sym- metrically and simply planned, not only to meet the demands of the present but also to afford ample opportunity for future growth. The main entrance leads into the central hall or ro- tunda, which contains the delivery desk. The room is amply lighted from above by a large dome-shaped skylight. At the right are the juvenile department and the stack room. In the rear, opposite the entrance, is the librarian's room, command- ing a view of the whole interior. At the left is the general reading room, with windows on three sides. From the rotunda a stairway leads to the second floor, containing, at the back, over the librarian's room, a room for the use of the trustees, and in the front, over the entrance, an attractive loggia and balcony. Provision is made for a second story stack room, with a cata- loger's room opening off from it. There is also ample space for storage. Another staircase leads from the rotunda to the basement. Under the stack room is a newspaper room. As this room is provided with an outside entrance it can be used independently of the rest of the library, and has been found to be one of the most comfortable and useful rooms in the building. The base- ment also contains a workshop and a room suitable for a museum or for the exhibition of historical collections. 20^ CARNEGIE LIBRARIES Mr. Carnegie's gift of ;^ 15,000 for the erection of the building was procured through the efforts of the Chamber of Commerce in 1902. The lot upon which the library stands was given by- Mr. W. H. Spurgeon, while the adornment of the grounds was undertaken by the Native Sons of the Golden West. The en- tire cost of the building was about $16,500. The Santa Ana library is a comparatively young institution, having become the property of the city in 1 891, by purchase from the Women's Christian Temperance Union. At that time it consisted of only 960 volumes. 206 CHAPTER XVII LIBRARY PLANNING Responsibility of the Library Board — Necessity for Cooperation BETWEEN Architect and Librarian — First Work must be done by THE Librarian — Considerations entering into the Planning of the Library — Circular of Information issued by the Carnegie Corporation — The Essentials of a Small Building — Mr. John Cotton Dana's Views — Location of the Stacks — Location of the Librarian's Room — The Question of the Auditorium — Plan- ning FOR A $20,000 Building — Planning for a $50,000 Building — Conclusion. AS Mr. Dooley has assured us that Carnegie hbraries mean architecture, not hterature, it will be well to consider in . conclusion some general principles of library planning. This is not the place to go into the matter at length ; yet there are some points on which architects who have designed Carnegie libraries represented in this volume have expressed themselves and can be given a brief hearing. For example, Mr. J. L. Mauran, of the firm of Mauran, Russell & Garden, the designers of several Carnegie libraries, summed up in a paper before the Iowa Library Association his experiences and tenets. " To-day," said he, " there are many fine libraries assembled through years of patient toil so inadequately housed as to achieve but half their purpose ; but happily a new era is dawning for our libraries, and everywhere we see pubhc-spirited citizens rear- ing for themselves eternal monuments, resting on foundations strengthened by every step of progress and civilization. It is this realization of a noble opportunity which has been brought home to Andrew Carnegie and a host of other awakening philanthropists, which is just now giving a new, though long- deferred, impetus to library building construction throughout this broad land of ours. With this new activity, new opportuni- ties are coming to hbrary boards, librarians, and architects alike, and with these opportunities come grave responsibilities for us all, which we must meet with the best there is in us. "The first phase to be considered is the responsibility of the 207 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES library board or trustees ; not only are they facing the task of wisely expending other people's money, but they are undertak- ing therewith to set up in lasting masonry the living proof of their wisdom or folly, as the case may be. What successful business man among them would embark in a commercial build- ing enterprise by laying down his needs in hard and fast terms and then sending invitations broadcast to architects — good, bad, and indifferent — ^ telling them that whichever one may make the happy design which tickles his fancy may be intrusted with the work? Not one, I venture to say. He would call in a man of recognized standing and ability to cooperate with him and his chief of staff, who would later use the building, in the studying out of a plan suited in every way to the requirements, reserving in many instances, I regret to say, the other method to experi- ment with when his own money is not involved. " The board is responsible for a start on correct business lines, and having employed the librarian through belief in his ability, it should allow the librarian to determine within proper limits the requirements of the building, which is a most important part of his equipment in performing his allotted work, and likewise the architect, after his selection, should have an equal voice in the determination of architectural problems involving both the librarian's needs and the board's desires." It is usually agreed, I believe, that in planning a library the general outlines should be determined by the architect and librarian in consultation. Of recent years we have seen the architects and librarians coming to a better understanding of one another. Mutual concessions have been made on both sides, and the architect has begun to realize that he can learn something about what a modern library building ought to be by consulting the librarian, and the latter has confessed his dependence upon the architect for putting into concrete shape whatever is practi- cable in his sometimes unformed ideas as to the relation of the various parts of the building. The change in this respect iS illustrated by comparing the splendid accommodations for the public card catalog, the union catalogs, and the like in the New York Public Library with the lack of adequate provision for any- thing of this kind in the Boston Public Library. In one case the librarian planned for this special feature, while in the other the architect was uninstructed on this particular need — or, we might say, the dimensions to which the card catalogs were to grow had not been realized. In this connection it is interesting 208 LIBRARY PLANNING to compare the first sketch of a floor plan by Dr. Billings with that of the finished building for the New York Public Library. There is a general feeling that the problems of adapting library buildings to the changing methods of library administration will be worked out by the library and the architectural professions jointly. As stated by one architect, the first work must be done by the librarian and should consist in reducing to writing a description of the purpose and scope of the hbrary, particularly helpful if the library be of some such special type as that of a college or university. The study required to formulate and classify his own ideas would doubtless lead the librarian into some new conceptions of the purpose of his library. The future as well as the present must be considered and other libraries should be visited with a mind open for new impressions and ready to graft any improved ideas upon the parent stock. The architect, having consulted with the librarian, and being in possession of his data, should study the problem sympatheti- cally and try to get the point of view of the man who is later to administer the building and the institution it houses. That the building should be planned from the inside is an axiom not only approved by librarians but recognized as fundamental by architects. We know of library buildings where the design of the exterior has governed the arrangement of the interior to a lamentable extent, as where a French renaissance exterior of what would seem to the passerby a one-story building encases a three-story structure. We have seen that there is no special design to which the library exterior can be said to conform. Like the interior, it has changed with the changing methods of library administration. The problem has been to provide rooms of varying sizes, arranged for the carrying on of certain library work, and the exterior is largely determined by the arrangement of <-hese inner factors. Considerations that enter into the planning of a library are : (i) The nature of the library, whether a college, university, or a public library. The books in a university library are used intensively by a limited number of readers; the undergraduates are not ordinarily admitted to the stacks. In a public library the circulation feature is usually predominant. (2) Whether wholly a reference library, or partly for circula- tion, or an open access library. If the public is to be admitted 209 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES to the shelves the aisles are naturally made wider than if the stack is primarily for storage and is open to the attendants only. (3) The size of the library. In a very small library free ac- cess is taken for granted and wall shelving will suffice. For a library requiring only a small stack (but one tier high) and with little likelihood of outgrowing it, a radiating stack is found to reduce the difficulties of supervision. Where more than one tier of metal stacks is built on the radiating principle the cost of construction is so much higher than in the ordinary parallel arrangement as to be prohibitive. (4) The class of books to be housed. Scientific and techno- logical books require deeper shelving than volumes of belles lettres. Books on architecture and the fine arts require special shelving, while newspapers are a problem by themselves. No class of books will eat up the shelving so rapidly as our metro- politan dailies. If the policy of the library is to include any special collection of considerable size along any line it would be very helpful if it were known in advance of planning the building. If bound newspapers are to be indulged in to any great extent, it would be desirable to have the stack run below ground where the simplest form of structural work could be used to accommodate these bulky volumes. In order to anticipate frequent requests for information, the secretary of the Carnegie Corporation has issued a circular con- taining notes on library planning which are given below: The amount allowed by the Carnegie Corporation of New York to cover the cost of a library building is according to a standard based on (a) the population which is to pay the tax for carrying on the library, (b) a specified minimum revenue from such tax. The donation is only sufficient to provide needed accommodation, and there will be either a shortage of accommodation or of money if this primary purpose is not kept in view; viz., to obtain the utmost useful accoimnodation for the money consistent with good taste in building. In looking over hundreds of plans for small and medium-sized buildings, costing say from eight to twenty-five thousand dollars, we have noted some features leading to waste of space when useful accommodation might have been secured by the same expenditure. For instance, in a plan for a ten-thousand-dollar library building into which the people go by ones, twos, and 210 LIBRARY PLANNING threes, we have frequently seen a wide vestibule of 12, 16, or even 18 feet, which results in what amounts often to a "thorough- fare " of that width to the delivery desk, which in a square building might be 20 feet and upwards from the entrance. It would appear, if practical requirements have any bearing on the matter, that an entrance hall or vestibule half that width is ample, with corresponding gain in the interior. As the size of the build- ing increases, some modification, of course, is required. The economical layout of the building in this and other respects is sacrificed or subordinated at times to minor acces- sories, such as too much or too valuable space allotted to cloak rooms, toilets, stairs to basement or cellar, etc. Cloak rooms, toilets, etc., should be put in the basement, where space is not so important, and not adjoining the entrance on the main floor, where they involve waste of accommodation much exceeding the net area of cloak room, etc. Another cause of waste space in this direction is found in the attempt to secure a Greek temple, or modification of it, for ;^ 1 0,000. All that is secured is the entrance and the waste re- ferred to. The building is expected to be devoted exclusively to (a^ housing the books and handing them out; (^) comfortable accommodation for reading them by adults and children ; (c') lec- ture room, when introduced as a subordinate feature and not adding disproportionately to the cost of the building ; (^) neces- sary accommodation for heating plant, etc., without which the building could not be used. . Experience seems to show that the best results for a small general library are obtained by adopting the one-story and high basement type of building, of which the depth (from front to back) is to the width approximately as 3 is to 7, practically con- sisting of a small vestibule entering one large room subdivided by bookcases into reading spaces for adults and children. The rear and side windows may be kept seven feet from the floor, permitting continuous wall space for shelving, which will be sufficient for the volumes in a small community. For larger communities in the range under notice, a small stack room, when required, can be built on the rear equal to about one third the width of main building, giving an inverted T plan. This stack extension may be enlarged when future needs de- mand it, at a minimum expense and without disturbing the building or the activities carried on within it. The type of building in view gives the advantage of minimum waste for passage space between entrance and delivery desk placed in front of a space for librarian's office, between desk and 211 CARNEGIE LIBRARIES stack room, and allows two large, well-lighted rooms or spaces on either side of the passageway, in which readers are undis- turbed, and from the shape of the rooms most of the readers will be out of hearing of passage traffic and delivery-desk conversations. The delivery desk should be as close as possible to the front and placed so as to enable assistants to supervise from it as much of the floor as possible. If, owing to the shape of site, or for other reasons, a square building is decided upon, extra attention is required in planning to avoid waste in hall space, delivery room, vestibule, etc., which waste is more likely to occur in square than in oblong buildings of proportions indicated above. The high-basement type of building lends itself to advan- tageous arrangement. The basement may be devoted in part to heating plant, fuel, toilets, workroom, and storage, and the rest to a lecture room, where such is wanted. When a stack room is provided above, the basement beneath it may contain heating plant, etc., and the front basement a lecture room. Building libraries to pattern would be undesirable, but it is desirable in planning to have a plan in mind which is con- venient in arrangement, economical in construction, and into the exterior appearance of which a large variety may be introduced. Librarians are by no means of one opinion as to what consti- tutes an ideal arrangement even for a small public library. Some will argue for a building with a large room and stack extension at the back ; others will claim that there should be a children's room separated from the adults' room only by glass partitions ; while a third group will maintain that the best ar- rangement is to have one big room fitted with wall shelving, where the public shall have entire freedom of access. One of the strong champions of the latter class is Mr. John Cotton Dana of the Newark Free Public Library. " In the modern view of library administration now held by almost every librarian in this country," says Mr. Dana, " the work of the building is to make it easy for people to come into immediate contact with a collection of good books. A building in which this immediate personal contact is impossible, on ac- count of construction and arrangement, cannot possibly contain the kind of a library that every live librarian now wishes to have. The open-shelf system is perhaps not so important from the point of view of method as from the point of view of spirit. 212 Plate 113 ACKERMA.N & Ross, ARCHITECTS, NEW VOKK SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA I'HOTOS. EV H. K. ITTCII CHILDREN'S Rt)OM Al' . o H O z K CO < w" H H < > < Da u 3 0, o o a; Of! o o < y X X o X < ■■J u ►J Pi < oi a o a < '-J PATTON iN: MlLLliK, ARCHITECTS, CHICAGO I'HOTO. BV li. B. KiLlJUCkX BELOIT COLLEGE, BELOIT, WLSCONSIN ll.M.LITT & KAWSON, AkCHITI-CIS, DKS Mil |i; IOWA COl.LECJK, GKINM I.I . loUA 1' '. I \ \\ ^ III MiKIX^.iN o n S o >< .- WISCONSIN LIBRARY SCHOOL Tree I.ilir.iry, Madison, Wisconsin Maintained by the State in ((iiarters provide White 10. " 125th St. Floor plan 11. " 67th St Babh, Cook &^ Willard " 79th St. (Yorkville ]5ranch) . . . Jaincs Brown Lord 12. " Yorkville Branch. Floor plan 13. " Chatham Square. Two interior views 14. " " '• Floor plans McKim, Mead ^^ White 15. " Mott Haven Babb, Cook &^ Willard " Washington Ave Carrire 6-* Hastings 16. " Mott Haven. Floor plans 17. " Suburban Branches: " Tottenvilie, Staten Island . . . Carrhe (2^ Hastings " Kingsbridge. New York . . . McKim, Mead Qr' White " Port Richmond, Staten Island . . Carrere (2r» Hastings 18. " Port Riclimond liranch. Floorplan 19. Brooklyn. Williamsburgh Branch. Exterior and auditorium Walker ranch. Floor plans Alt. Washington Branch Library club work in the Jewish quarter Mt. Washington Branch. Floor plans Wylie Avenue Branch Home library group Wylie Avenue Branch. Floor plan West End Branch. Floor plan Walnut Hills Branch. Exterior and interior McLaiii^Jilin b^ Gil/iiore Walnut Hills Branch. Floor plans Broadway Branch. Exterior and interior Charles Morris {lyUh Lehman &^ Scfuiiidl) 76. Cleveland. Broadway Branch. Children's room " Home librarj' group Jj. Cleveland. Woodland Branch. Exterior and interior //'.A'. IVatlerson 78. Cleveland. Woodland Branch. Floor plan 79. Cleveland. Miles Park Branch. Exterior and interior Edward L. Tilton 80. Cleveland. Allies I'ark Branch. Floor plans 81. Port Huron, Alichigan. Exterior and interior. (540,000) Pal/on £r* Miller 82. " " Floor plans 83. Madison. Wisconsin. Exterior and interior . Frank Miles Day (?75,ooo) (2r» Brother 84. " " Floor plans 85. Elkhart, Indiana. Two exterior views. ($40,000) ll'iin^ &!^ Mahuri?i 86. " " Floor plan 87. Freeport. Illinois. ($30,000) Patton fir» Miller Streator, Illinois. ($35,000) Patton &= Miller 88. " " Floor plan 89. Darlington, Wisconsin. Exterior and interior. (5io,oco) Claude b^ Starck 90. " " Floor plans 91. r.araboo, Wisconsin. ($15,000) ..... Clattde &» Starck Kaukauna, Wi.sconsin. (5 10.000) . . ... Claude &-= Stark 92. Baraboo. Wisconsin. Floor plans vii 62. 63. 64. 1( 65. i.i 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. '■ 71- (( 7^- a a 73- Cincinnati. 74- Cincinnati. 73- Cleveland. LIST OF PLATES 93. Monticello, Iowa. ($10,000) Pation Ss^ Miller Marshalltown, Iowa. (530,000) Patton &^ Miller 94. " " Floor plans 95. Eldora, Iowa. Exterior and interior. (Sio,ooo) . Patton &^ Miller 96. " " Floor plan Monticello, Iowa. Floor plan 97. Davenport. Iowa. Exterior and interior. ($75,000) Cah'in Kiessling 98. " " Floor plan 99. Leavenworth, Kansas. ($25.000) M. R. Satigiiinet Lincoln. Nebraska. ($75,000) Fisher &^ Lawrie 100. Leavenworth, Kansas. Floor plan Lincoln, Nebraska. Floor plan 1 01. Springfield, .Missouri. ($50,000) Patton (Sr^ Miller Sedalia, Missouri ($50,000) . . . Mauran, Russell &^ Garden 102. .Springfield, Missouri. Floor plans [03. Dallas. Texas. ($50,000) M. R. Sanguinet Fort Worth, Texas. ($50,000) Herbert H. Green 104. Dallas, Texas. Floor plans 5. Cheyenne, Wyoming. ($50,000) . . . Patton, Fisher Ss^ Miller Tucson, Arizona. ($25,000) George C. Frost 106. Cheyenne. Wyoming. Floor plans [07. Colorado Springs, Colorado. ($60,000) .... Cah'in Kiessling 108. " " •' First tloor plan 109. Oakland, California. ($50.000) Bliss &-= Fai'ille San Jose. California. (550,000) William Binder 10. Oakland, California. Reading Room 11. Pomona, California. (515,000) BnrnJiam Ss^ Bliesner Alameda, California. ($35,000) Curtis &^ Wilcox 12. Riverside, California. (520,000) Burnhani &^ Bliesner Santa Ana, California. ($15,000) Dennis izr' Fariuell 13. San Diego, California. Exterior and interior. ($6o,ooc) .... Ac/cennan Qr' Ross 14. Art Room in Public Library, .Seattle, Wash- ington P-J- IVelier 15. Boys Reading Fraternity, Camden, Now Jersey 16. Auditorium in Free Public Library, Schenec- tady, New York Auditorium in Free Public Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa ;i7. Margaret Carnegie Library, Mills College, California. ($18,400) Julia Morgan 1 8. Beloit College Library. ($50,000) Patton (Sr» Miller Iowa College Library. ($50,000) Hallett ^ Raivson 19. Southern Library School. Carnegie Library, Atlanta. Georgia 20. Wisconsin Library .School. Free Library, Madison, Wisconsin. Two views Vlll University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. r UNIV OF SOUTHERN CALIF LIBRARY 3 1275 00408 2013 AA 000 598 998 3 University of Southern California LIBRARY Z 679 K75 191? IS ' Ml:!! lliU't