01 
 C\J 
 0) 
 
 
One Hundred and Seventy-fifth 
 
 ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF THE I ^ 
 
 
 incorporation , y^l'^ 
 
 OF the 
 
 REDWOOD LIBRARY 
 
 NEWPORT, R. I. 
 SEPTEMBER FOURTH, NINETEEN TWENTY-TWO 
 

IMPORTANT DATES 
 IN THE HISTORY OF THE LIBRARY 
 
 1730 — Philosophical Society organized. 
 
 1747 — Abraham Redwood's gilt of £500. 
 
 1747 — Incorporation of the Library. 
 
 1748— Henry Collins' gift of land. 
 
 1750 — First building completed. 
 
 1756 — Ezra Stiles became librarian. 
 
 1776 — British Othcers took possession. 
 
 1780 — General Assembly of the State convened in Library 
 building. 
 
 1785 — Library re-opened. 
 
 1790 — New Charter granted. 
 
 1810 — James Ogilvie re-awakened interest in the Library. 
 
 1833 — Name changed to Redwood Library and Athenaeum. 
 
 1847 — Centennial celebrated. 
 
 1859 — Reading Room added. 
 
 1875 — Present Delivery Room added. 
 
 1878 — Corporate Seal adopted. 
 
 1903 — First women directors elected. 
 
 1913 — Perry Stack Room completed. 
 
 1914 — Marquand Delivery Room opened. 
 
 590644 
 
2V i'l 
 
COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. ETC. 
 
 By the Honorable the GOVERNOR AND COMPANY of the English 
 Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New 
 England in America, in General Assembly met at Newport, within 
 and for the Colony aforesaid, on the third Tuesday in August, one 
 thousand seven hundred and forty-seven: 
 
 To all to whom these presents shall come, GREETING. 
 
 Whereas, ABRAHAM REDWOOD, Esquire, hath generously engaged 
 to bestow five hundred pounds sterling, to be laid out in a collection of 
 useful books suitable for a Public Library proposed to be erected in New- 
 port, aforesaid, and, having nothing in view but the good of mankind, 
 has chosen to make his donation as lasting and diffusive as possible; 
 to which end, James Honyman and others have been invited to join him, 
 and, so far as in them lies, to form a Society, or Company, for the prop- 
 agating virtue, knowledge, and useful learning; which they have accord- 
 ingly done, etc.: whereupon the said Society have made application to 
 this Assembly for a charter of incorporation, who, highly approving of 
 so noble and generous design, and being willing and desirous to give 
 all the assistance and encouragement which it justly merits, have given, 
 and by these presents the said Governor and Company do, for themselves 
 and their successors, give and grant, that the said Abraham Redwood, 
 James Honyman, and others, and all others that shall be by them admit- 
 ted members of their Company be, and they are, hereby constituted, 
 erected, and made a body politic and corporate, to subsist, at all time; 
 for ever hereafter, in deed and name, by the name of THE COMPANY 
 OF THE REDWOOD LIBRARY; and, by the same name, shall and may 
 have perpetual succession, and be personable and taxable in law; to have, 
 hold, receive, and enjoy lands, tenements, rents, liberties, franchises, and 
 h-ereditaments, in fee-simple, or for term of life, lives, years, or otherwise; 
 and also goods, chattels, and other things, of what nature, kind, or 
 quality soever; and also to give, grant, let, sell, or assign the same 
 lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods, and chattels; and to do and 
 execute all other things about the same by the name aforesaid. * * * 
 * * * And now, and that the intent hereof may prove more effect- 
 ual, and inflame the worthy zeal of the Company, GIDEON WANTON, 
 Esq., Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Colony afore- 
 said, doth, by the direction of the said Assembly, subscribe his name, 
 and cause the seal of the said Colony to be affixed hereunto, the twenty- 
 fourth day of August,* in the twenty-fouith year of the reign of his most 
 sacred Majesty GEORGE THE SECOND, by the grace of God, King of 
 Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. 
 
 (Signed) GIDEON WANTON. 
 
 (Sealed with the Seal of the Colony.) 
 
 By order of his Honor the Governor, 
 
 (Signed) THOMAS WARD. Secretary. 
 
 •Old Style; Sept. 4— New Style. 
 

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DEED OF LIBRARY LOT 
 
 This Indenture, made the ninth day of June in the twenty-first year 
 of the Reign of his most sacred Majesty George the Second, by the 
 grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of 
 the Faith: And in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred 
 and forty-eight. Between Henry Collins, of Newport, in the County of 
 Newport, in the Colony of Rhode Island and Pi'ovidence Plantations, in 
 New England, in America, Merchant, of the one part, and Abraham 
 Redwood, of the same Newport, Esqr., of the other part, Witnesseth that. 
 Whereas the Hon'ble the Governor and Company of the Colony aforesaid 
 being in General Assembly, met at Newport on the third Tuesday in 
 August last were graciously pleased to make and pass an Act whereby 
 a number of Gentlemen therein named, and all others that should after- 
 wards be by them admitted members of their Company, were constituted, 
 created and made a Body Politic and corporate to subsist at all times for- 
 ever thereafter, in Deed and Name by the name of THE COMPANY OF 
 THE REDWOOD LIBRARY * * * Now the aforesaid Henry Collins, 
 one of the members of the said incorporated Company, animated with 
 zeal to carry the laudable design of the aforesaid Mr. Redwood the 
 Founder, into execution, and for divers other good causes and considera- 
 tions, him hereunto moving, as also for and in consideration of the sum 
 of Five shillings lawful money of New England to him in hand paid, by 
 the said Abraham Redwood, the receipt whereof to full content and satis- 
 faction is hereby acknowledged. Hath Given, granted, bargained, sold, 
 aliened, enfeoffed, conveyed and confirmed, and by these presents Doth 
 Give &c. * * A certain piece or parcel of land, (being great part of the 
 lot formerly called the Bowling Green) lying and being in Newport 
 aforesaid, measuring in front one hundred and forty feet and back or in 
 depth one hundred and fifty feet, be the same more or less. Bounded 
 westerly on a Street or Highway, Northerly on land of John Easton, 
 Easterly of land of Nicholas Easton, and Southerly of land of Jahleel 
 Brenton. ****** To the only use benefit and behoof of the 
 aforesaid company of the Redwood Library, their heirs and assigns for- 
 ever, And to no other use, intent or purpose whatsoever * * * * 
 * * * * In Witness whereof he the said Henry Collins hath hereunto 
 set his hand and seal, the day and year first above written. 
 
 HENRY COLLINS. (Seal) 
 Sealed and delivered in 
 the presence of 
 
 SAMUEL ENGS. 
 GIDION SISSON. 
 
 9 
 
CONTRACT 
 
 Erection of Library iBuilding 
 
 ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT Indented made and concluded upon 
 the ninth day of August in the twenty-second year of his Majesty's Reign, 
 George the second, King of Great Britain, &c. Anno Dominie One Thou- 
 sand seven hundred and forty-eight. BETWEEN Wing Spooner, Samuel 
 Green, Thomas Melvil and Israel Chapman, all of Newport, in the County 
 of Newport and Colony of Rhode Island, House Carpenters, of the one 
 part, AND Samuel Wickham, Esq., Henry Collins and John Tillinghast, 
 Merchant, all of Newport, aforesaid, Three of the Directors of the Red- 
 wood Library in Newport, aforesaid, of the other part: WITNESS, That 
 the said Wmg Spooner, Samuel Green, Thomas Melvil and Israel Chap- 
 man, Do hereby Covenant, Promise and Engage to Erect and build in 
 Newport, aforesaid, on the Lott of Land given by said Henry Collins 
 for that purpose, a house or building to be called the Redwood Library, 
 suitable and convenient for depositing therein a large number of books 
 given by Abraham Redwood, Esq., for Public use; That is to say, to do 
 and perform all the Carpenters and House joyners Work in and about 
 said House of the following Dimensions and in the manner hereinafter 
 express'd. Viz: The large Room to be thirty-seven foot long, and twenty- 
 six foot broad in the inside, and nineteen foot high. At the west End 
 (which is the Principal Front) is to be a Portico of four Columns accord- 
 ing to the Dorick Order, with a Pediment over it, with Pilasters to suit 
 the Columns. The Projection of the Portico from the Outside of the 
 Building to be about nine foot, and the Roof to be continued out so much 
 as to form the Pediment : The length of the Columns to be about 
 seventeen foot including Base and Capital, and the thickness of twenty- 
 six inches just above the Base ; The Building to be fram'd Brac'd and 
 Studded the outside and Roof to be boarded with Feather edg'd Boards, 
 the Shingles to be shav'd and joynted and to be laid: The outside to be 
 covered with Pine Plank worked in Imitation of Rustick, and to have a 
 Dorick Entablature with Triglipphs &c. continued from the Portico quite 
 Round the Building and to have a Plain Pediment at the East End. At 
 the West end next to the Portico, to be two small Wings or Outshots for 
 two Little Rooms or offices, one on each side and both alike in form and 
 Bigness, each to be about twelve foot square and (with a small Break or 
 Recess) to Range in a line Parallel to the West End of the Building or 
 inner part of the Portico. **=..*** j^ie Sides and Ends of 
 the Great Room within to be furr'd out even with the Posts, and the 
 ceiling to be furr'd out with a small Cove next the Walls about two foot 
 Downwards at the Bottom of which over the Attick Windows an lonick 
 Cornice to run quite round: To be wainscotted about five foot high from 
 the floor quite round the great Room; The Jambs of the Windows to 
 be wainscotted with Architraves round and Seats in the lower Windows. 
 * * About four foot from the Walls or Sides of the Great Room must 
 be a sort of Partition erected about ten feet high, with openings over 
 against each window, on both Sides of which must be placed Shelves for 
 
the Books; there must also be five or six Desks for laying the Books 
 on in convenient Places, and the whole to be finished and compleated well 
 and workmanlike according to a Plan or Draught drawn by Mr. Joseph 
 Harrison, and agreed on for that Purpose, On or before the last day of 
 October, which will be in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven 
 Hundred and forty-nine. For and in CONSIDERATION whereof the 
 said Samuel Wickham. Heniy Collins and John Tillinghast, Do hereby 
 Covenant, Promise and Engage to pay or cause to be paid to the sd. 
 Wing Spooner, Samuel Green, Thomas Melvil and Israel Chapman for 
 sd. Work the Sum of two Thousand and two Hundred pounds in good 
 and passable Bills of Publick Credit of sd. Colony, old Tenor. * * * =? 
 IN WITNESS whereof, the Parties to these presents have hereunto 
 interchangeably Set their hands and Seals the Day and year first above 
 written. 
 
 Sign'd Seal'd and Deliver'd 
 in the presence of 
 
 ARTICLES 
 For Building the Library 
 
 MEMORANDUM: That the Parties to the within written Articles 
 of Agreement, notwithstanding what is therein written. Do hereby 
 agree to the following alterations in that building therein mentioned 
 upon the same penalty as within, viz., that the four Pilasters in the 
 front of the House, all the windows in the North and South West of said 
 House; the staircase and Partitions within side, the Venitian Window 
 in the East End, and the wainscot on the north and south Side within 
 the House, as far as the Shelves extend, be all omitted, and that instead 
 of the Venitian Window in the East end, there be three small Windows, 
 that the Shelves for the Books be placed against the Walls of the Build- 
 ing, that there be a stair case at the west end of sd House, the Ceiling 
 of the Portico to have a cornice and that the Planshear and Entabla- 
 ture and all other Parts of said Building be finished and compleated 
 well and workmanlike agreeable to a Plan or Draught drawn by Mr. 
 Peter Harrison. * * * * 'Yhe within named Saml Wickham, Henry 
 Collins and John Tillinghast Do hereby Oblige themselves to pay to the 
 within-named Wing Spooner, Samuel Green, Thomas Melvil and Israel 
 Chapman the Sum of One Hundred pounds old Tenor, over and above the 
 two Thousand two hundred pounds within mentioned. 
 
 • In Witness whereof the Parties to these Presents have interchangea- 
 bly set their hands and seals the Sixth Day of February in the twenty- 
 second year of his Majty's Reign Anno Dominie 1748. 
 
 SAMUEL WICKHAM. 
 HENRY COLLINS 
 JOHN TILLINGHAST. 
 Sign'd Seal'd and Deliver'd 
 in the presence of 
 
 SAMUEL ENGS, 
 GIDEON SISSON. 
 
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 tu be I)rlb in tl^e iBitilbing mt iBrllrbup Aufuup 
 anb ISpMuaob S'trrrt 
 
 i>pptpmlipr 4tl|, 1922. at four p. m. 
 
 (lIt|F jprPBtft^nt of (ill|f 2itbrary 
 
 will rraii a aliort akrtrli of ita Ijiatnrg 
 anb ai»&rpBapfl toill bt ma^p bg 
 
 Spar A&miral HitUtam g». ^tms. H. B. Naoal Bar (EoUcge 
 
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 Artl|ur IE. lostuiirh. JPi). 19.. of ^t. SJouia 
 
 Ipaar fill nut aub rrturn tl)r purlnarb rarb. 
 

 Dr. and Mrs. Roderick Terry 
 
 General and Mrs. J. Fred Pierson 
 
 Mr. Alfred G. Langley 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Edward A. Sherman 
 
 The Hon. and Mrs. Darius Baker 
 
 Mrs. Harold Brown 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. William P. Buffum 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. George F. Cozzens 
 
 Miss Lucile R. Edgar 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Gardner 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Lewis Gillespie 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. Henry Barton Jacobs 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. William P. Sheffield 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. William S. Sherman 
 
 Miss Agnes C. Storer 
 
 Mr. Frank K. Sturgis 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Fish Webster 
 
 Col. and Mrs. Joseph Willard 
 
 Mr. George L. Hinckley 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Curtiss James 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Cass Ledyard 
 
 Miss Rosa Anne Grosvenor 
 
 Miss Ellen F. Mason 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. Alexander H. Rice 
 
 Mrs. Hugh D. Auchincloss 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. William Gammell 
 
 Mr. John Nicholas Brown 
 
 Mrs. Vanderbilt 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. William C. Rives 
 
 Miss Anna F. Hunter 
 
 Mrs. J. Peace Vernon 
 
 Miss Mary E. Powel 
 
 Ex-Governor R. Livingston Beeckman 
 
 Ex- Governor and Mrs. Charles S. Whitman 
 
 Mayor and Mrs. J. P. Mahoney 
 
 Judge and Mrs. Hugh Baker 
 
 Judge and Mrs. Max Levy 
 
 Rear Admiral and Mrs. William S. Sims 
 
 Captain and Mrs. T. J. Senn 
 
 Captain and Mrs. Franck Taylor Evans 
 
 Col. and Mrs. William R. Doores 
 
 Mr. and Mrs- John Elliott 
 
 Mr. Stephen P. Cabot 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. Charles A. Bracketf 
 
 13 
 
D" RODERICK TERR^^ 
 
 REQUESTS THE PLEASURE OF YOUR COMPANY 
 
 AT DINNER 
 
 AT THE CASINO GRILL ROOMS 
 
 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4^", AT T.30 P. M. 
 
 TO MEET THE COMMITTEE ON THE 
 REL»V001J LIBRARY CELEBRATION 
 
 It s, V. p. 
 
 s^ THE I75T« ^ ^ 
 
 ^ ANNIVERSARY •" 
 
 OF THE FOUNDING Of 
 
 ■. THE ■ '" 
 
 REDWOOD LIBRARY 
 ATHENAEUM 
 
EXERCISES 
 
 AT THE 
 
 Celebration of the 175th Anniversary 
 
 of 
 The Redwood Library 
 
 LITERARY EXERCISES 
 
 HELD IN THE LIBRARY BUILDING 
 
 AT FOUR P. M. 
 
 In the evening the General Committee and few other friends of 
 the Library to the number of 48, were entertained at dinner in the 
 Newport Casino by the President. Short congratulatory addresses 
 were made by the Reverend William Safford Jones, Judge Darius 
 Baker, Dr. Charles A. Brackett, Judge Max Levy, and Mr. Stephen 
 P. Cabot of St. George's School. 
 
THE REDWOOD LIBRARY 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 BY 
 
 Dr. RODERICK TERRY, President 
 
 "The generous Abraham Redwood, Esq., of Newport, 
 on Rhode Island, sensible of the distinguished favour 
 whereby Heaven had blessed him with an ample fortune, 
 proposed to acknowledge it by a design which could be 
 only the effect of a grateful mind, the improving the place 
 of his residence in knowledge and virtue. To accomplish 
 this happy end, he freely and without a prompter, de- 
 voted and paid down 500 pounds Sterling for purchas- 
 ing a Library of all arts and sciences, put under the 
 most pi^udent limitation and restriction, whereunto the 
 curious and impatient inquirer after resolution of doubts, 
 and the bewildered ignorant might freely repair for dis- 
 covery and demonstration to the one, and true knowledge 
 and satisfaction to the other. Now to conduct this design 
 to the best advantage, he proposed to form a Company of 
 some of the best repute and character who might join in 
 consultation upon the most suitable method to bring so 
 important a project to a happy issue." 
 
 In these sincere if somewhat grandiloquent words the 
 first Board of Directors of this Library expressed their 
 opinion of its founder, their friend and fellow-townsman, 
 and of their hopes for the future of the Library which they 
 then established. 
 
 17 
 
Mr. Redwood was a Quaker, a man of large means, 
 which he had acquired, as we are infornicti, like so many 
 of his fellow-townsmen by the importation of sugar, mo- 
 lasses, and slaves, and by the exportation of rum. Whether, 
 like so many of that time, he had any financial interest in 
 Privateering, I have no means of knowing. What is well 
 established is his high standing in the community, the 
 result of honest dealing and wise charity. Five hundred 
 pounds Sterling was a large sum in those days. With 
 Mr. Redwood were associated some of the leading men 
 in Newport, and of the finest in the Colonies. Mr. 
 Henry Collins, who gave the land for this building, was a 
 wealthy merchant; who had finished his education in Eng- 
 land; he w^as a lover of literature and the fine arts, which 
 he was so enthusiastic in promoting that he was called the 
 "Lorenzo de Medici of Rhode Island." Noted clergymen, 
 lawyers, physicians and merchants of the time composed 
 the rest of the first Board of Directors. 
 
 In 1723 Benjamin Franklin turned his back upon 
 Boston, then the leading city of the Colonies in literature 
 and the arts, and pausing for a short time in New York, 
 finally carried with him and brought into the life of Phila- 
 delphia his enthusiasm for science and education. A sad 
 loss for Boston, and to Philadelphia the gain of a remark- 
 able life and intellectual spirit. His influence was ap- 
 parent within a few years of his arrival by the forma- 
 tion of a Debating Society which was called "The Junto" 
 and later the "American Philosophical Society," out of 
 which grew the establishment of what Franklin called 
 "The Mother of all the North American subscription 
 libraries," whose life began in the year 1732 by the recep- 
 tion of a small number of books from London. 
 
 In the meantime in 1730 there had been organized in 
 this city of Newport a similar club called The "Philosoph- 
 ical Society." As Franklin inspired the Philadelphia Com- 
 pany so Dean Berkeley seems to have been the leading spirit 
 in the life of this at Newport. Not so soon after its organi- 
 zation but in a similar manner to that of the Philosophical 
 
 18 
 
Society of Philadelphia this institution at Newport developed 
 into a subscription Library, the celebration of the 175th anni- 
 versary of whose organization we celebrate today. 
 
 In 1747, libraries were few in our Colonies. The earliest 
 to be formed were those associated with colleges; Harvard 
 in 1638, College of William and Mary in Virginia in 1693, 
 Yale College in 1701, Princeton College in 1746; and perhaps 
 mention should be made of a Library which in 1621 existed 
 at Jamestown, Virginia, in the form of a collection of a few 
 books. Which collection had but a short time to live, it 
 having been extinguished the next year, in 1622, when the 
 savages destroyed this first English settlement on the James. 
 When the Redwood Library was organized there were 
 certainly at least two other similar libraries in existence, 
 both in Philadelphia. That one founded by Franklin, and the 
 Philosophical Club in 1732, called The "Library Company 
 of Philadelphia" already referred to, and The "Loganian 
 Library" originally the private library of James Logan, for 
 which he erected in 1745 a special building and opened it 
 to the use of the public. There were then no libraries in 
 Boston, New York, or any other city of the Colonies. 
 
 No sooner had the first Board of Directors of this 
 Library been appointed than they began to plan for a build- 
 ing. Two years after the Loganian Library of Philadelphia 
 had erected the first edifice in the Colonies designed for the 
 exclusive use of a Library, £5000, later increased to £6200 
 in the currency of the Colony_were subscribed in New- 
 port for a building which in(j_70Q^wa s completed, the sec- ^ i-fj^rt 
 ond to be built in the country, and the oldest now in use. 
 The building thus erected still stands; the west por- 
 tion of the present series of rooms of which our edifice is 
 now cpmposed. Of the beauty of this first building, designed 
 by Peter Harrison, an architect who had come from England, 
 it is not necessary to speak. It has been always greatly ad- 
 mired. With its Grecian form and its pure Doric columns, 
 it stands to this day a notable example of the best architec- {,^^JXlJL^^ 
 ture of Colonial times. 
 
 19 
 
 \M^\X. 
 
And what of the City of Newport at that period? 
 In size it covered only the region known as the Point, the 
 streets west of lower Broadway, and Thames Street as far 
 as Franklin. Beyond these boundaries there were scattered 
 houses, especially on lower Thames and Spring Streets, and 
 the lanes leading up the hill. Kay Street was a rope walk, 
 and the site of this building well out of town. The inhabi- 
 tants were not behind those of any city of the country in 
 intelligence, wealth and culture. Several accounts of edu- 
 cated visitors to Pre-Revolutionary Newport are available 
 and abound in praise of the literary cultivation, and luxu- 
 rious living of the citizens, as well as of their free hospi- 
 tality; and not one fails to remark upon the charm ana 
 attractiveness of the women. 
 
 The peaceful flow of social and commercial life which 
 thus made Newport in many ways the leading city of the 
 Colonies was rudely interrupted and brought to an end 
 when the British took possession of the city during the Rev- 
 olution. The better class and, indeed, most of the popula- 
 tion fled in dismay, while the enemy made thcmeslves pos- 
 sessors of the houses of Newport with their contents. This 
 Library did not escape; having had alas an experience en- 
 tirely different from those of the libraries of New York and 
 Philadelphia. For in those cities the books were guarded 
 carefully, and made use of by the intellectually inclined 
 among the ofhcers of the British armies of occupation, while 
 this building in Newport seems to have been occupied in a 
 sense as a club room; and if stories which have come down 
 to us are true, the books from the stacks were made use of 
 to light fires, and many were taken away never to be re- 
 turned. It is said that before the end of their occupancy of 
 Newport the otlicer in command placed a guard at the door 
 of this building to prevent further depredations, but great 
 injury had already been done. 
 
 When the disheartened citizens returned after the 
 English had left they had little interest in intellectual pur- 
 suits, the restoring of their homes and the building up 
 again of what trade could be commanded occupied all their 
 
 20 
 
time. Nothing seems therefore to have been done to improve 
 this building and its contents for many years. 
 
 Over 1516 volumes are said to have been in the Library 
 at the beginning of the Revolution. How many remained 
 at its close we havcuio definite means of knowing, but there 
 is reason to believe that one-half had disappeared. 
 
 The Library then drifted along with occasional weak 
 efforts on the part of the Directors towards resuscitation, as 
 for instance when in 1790 the following appeared in the New- 
 port Herald, "The key of the Library being missing, supposed 
 to be lent by the former Librarian, the person who has it in 
 his possession is earnestly requested to deliver it to Mr. Ste- 
 phen Ayrault, one of the Directors." A letter also appeared 
 about the same time in the Herald, signed "A Proprietor," 
 who writes, "To suffer that beautiful edifice, which was once 
 an ornament and a credit to the town ... to be totally 
 neglected and mouldering into ruin for the want of a small 
 sum of money, perhaps one or two hundred dollars, laid out 
 in repairs upon it, is such a reproach to the proprietors, such 
 an indignity to literature, that as one of them, I feel hurt and 
 ashamed. A small sum judiciously appropriated at the 
 present moment may save a much larger outlay next season; 
 whereas should it remain neglected only one winter more, 
 the elegant and well-proportioned pillars which support and 
 adorn the front of the building will be past repair and 
 tumble to the ground, and never can be replaced without a 
 very great expense; the books exposed to the weather 
 through a leaky roof and broken windows, will also grow 
 moldy and soon be rendered useless." The dismal condition 
 of the Library and the lack of interest in its welfare arc* 
 suggested by a remark of the late Reverend Dr. William 
 Ellery Channing, in an address delivered at Newport in 
 1843, speaking of his youth, he said, "I had no professor or 
 teacher to guide me but I had two noble places of study. 
 One was yonder beautiful edifice now so frequented and 
 useful as a public library, then so deserted that 1 spent day 
 after day, and sometimes week after week amidst its dusty 
 volumes without interruption from a single visitor." 
 
 21 
 
In 1810 one of the periodical awakenings of the Institu- 
 tion occurred, a true friend having arisen, Mr. James Ogil- 
 vie, who donated a considerable number of volumes. Others 
 were added from time to time and although there was no 
 great enthusiasm there was continued increase, both in the 
 number of books and in their use. The records of tlie Library 
 also began to be regularly kept and we are able to follow 
 its history. 
 
 In 1847, occurred the centennary of the organization of 
 the Library. Considerable interest was aroused, an address 
 was delivered by the Hon. William Hunter, and Newport 
 awoke to the fact that the Institution was something of 
 which it might well be proud; and by 1855, the 
 lethargic conditions had been so thoroughly dispelled that 
 it was decided to make an effort to "Place the Library on a 
 more useful, popular and substantial basis." The result of 
 which was the erection of the present reading room, the 
 raising of considerable money, and the increasing largely 
 the number of books. 
 
 From that time until the present the Library has pro- 
 gressed with varying degrees of enthusiasm. In 1875, a 
 further extension of the building was completed, and the 
 large room now known as the Marquand Delivery Room, 
 was added at an expense of -$30,000 raised by subscription. 
 And again within the memory of all of us, the Perry Room 
 was completed in 1914; the first part of our building not 
 paid for by subscription, the funds for its erection having 
 been provided from a legacy of the late Mrs. Gardner Blan- 
 chard Perry. These four buildings distinct from one another, 
 and yet similar in architecture, make one edifice 175 feet 
 in length. And while it is unfortunate that the whole should 
 not have been designed at the beginning, whereby a more 
 dignified and satisfactory architectural effect oould have 
 been secured, the building as it stands is not without beauty, 
 and the successive periods of its erection lend interest as 
 they point to its remarkable history. 
 
 The alterations in the interior of the buikling have been 
 as numerous as in the exterior. The original Harrison Room 
 
 22 
 
was sufficient in our infancy for all the purposes of the 
 Library. The second addition was built when it was found 
 necessary to have a separate reading room. It was soon 
 found that the bookcases on the walls of these rooms were 
 insutlicient, and first in the Harrison Room and after that 
 in the reading room, compelled, we must believe by the 
 necessity of the case, galleries were erected carrying the 
 shelves to the ceiling. Upon this plea of necessity we may 
 forgive our predecessors for this sad attack upon the artistio 
 purity of the rooms; there are times when utility comes 
 into grievous conflict with artistic beauty. The Reading 
 Room has maintained its character from the time of its 
 erection; but the Marquand Room was used for stacking 
 books for over thirty years, until the present stack room 
 rendered it possible to make this the Delivery Room. Its 
 stately proportions, and fine decorations, the work of our 
 fellow townsman and noted architect, Mr. John DuFais, 
 make this one of the most attractive rooms of its kind; while 
 the portraits of early Newporters and national characters 
 upon its walls, and many pieces of statuary, deserve and 
 obtain the admiration of all visitors. Our latest addition, 
 the Perry Stack Room, well built and fireproof, was when 
 erected in 1914 expected to meet all requirements for many 
 years, but it is already almost full, and promises soon to be 
 so crowded that a further building will have to be pro- 
 vided. 
 
 In the grounds surrounding our buildings there are a 
 few objects well deserving notice. At the annual meeting of 
 the Association in 1843 it was voted "That trees be set in 
 front of the lot, on Bellevue Street." Mr. Robert Johnston 
 presented the beautiful and celebrated Fern Leaf Beech, now 
 for many years one of the sights of the city; a source of 
 pride to Newporters and of admiration to the stranger within 
 our gates. The beautiful summer house, built to adorn the 
 garden of Mr. Redwood, attached to his house out on the 
 Island, was brought to our grounds in 1917, the gift of Mr. 
 Bradford Norman. Thoroughly in the style of our first build- 
 ing, with which it was contemporaneous, this charming 
 
 23 
 
little toy seems to have been designed by our architect, Peter 
 Harrison, and is fitly placed here. In 1872 Mr. An- 
 drew Robeson i^resented to the Library "the large 
 iron gates, formerly in front of the old Redwood 
 house on Thames Street." They were imported from P^ng- 
 land about the time of the erection of our first building. 
 We have thus this interesting memorial of the city 
 house, as the other of the country seat of our Founder. 
 About 1811 our grounds were surrounded with a charm- 
 ing wooden fence, upon a brick foundation, it was expensive 
 and ornamental; with high gate posts. Renewed in the same 
 style in 1858, and again in 1875, it was deemed wise at a 
 later date, repairs being so often required, to sacrifice 
 beauty to economy, and the present commonplace fence of 
 iron piping was installed in 1885. 
 
 After Mr. Redwood's original gift of £500, for sixty 
 years from 1750 to 1810, no money was spent for the pur- 
 chase of books. Gifts were made from time to time, but as 
 we have seen they were offset by the extraction of volumes 
 in the time of the Revolution. After 1811 there was a gradual 
 increase, but it was slow. Occasional announcements in the 
 newspapers called upon the members of the Library to re- 
 turn books which they had in their possession. Some 
 interesting donations were made during this period, one 
 notable one from the King of England, of 84 volumes, 72 of 
 which were large folios. It consisted of a set of The Public 
 Records of England, which, unfinished at the time of the 
 death of King William, were completed a few years later by 
 Queen Victoria. The records which we find of the number of 
 volumes is as follows. In 1764 — -1516 volumes, in 1816 — 1492, 
 in 184.'^— 4000. It was not until 1861 that the number of vol- 
 umes had reached 10 ,000, after that additions were more nu- 
 merous. In 1874, the 20,000 mark was passed; in 1889, there 
 were over 30,000; in 1894, 40,000; in 1905, 50,000; in 1915, 
 60,000, and today we are within a few of 70,000. Our circu- 
 lation has increased from time to time until today it is 
 almost 20,000 volumes a year. Our members and subscribers 
 number almost 500. 
 
 24 
 
The financial history of the Library has been exceed- 
 ingly interesting. Starting with the gift of £500 Sterling, 
 from Abraham Redwood, and £6200 of Colony Currency for 
 the erection of the building, over sixty years followed before 
 anything further was received except the annual dues and 
 fines, by which the necessary expenses were met. Small 
 amounts were later donated from time to time, but not until 
 the reawakening of enthusiasm in 1855, following the cele- 
 bration of the Centennial of our foundation, did the Library 
 begin to receive large and generous donations. Subscrip- 
 tions were then started and the first addition to the building 
 erected; and continually until the present time donations in 
 various amounts have been received. We, today, have 
 invested funds over -1^200,000. Our income from all sources 
 last year amounted to $12,422. Our expenses were irl3,837. 
 In order to end the year free of debt members of the Board 
 of Directors donated -1^1625. 
 
 There is one characteristic work of this Institution which 
 is not found in all libraries to which attention should be 
 called. In the original charter, the name was given as "The 
 Company of the Redwood Library" and when the chartei 
 was amended in 1856, this name was changed to "The Com- 
 pany of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum." No reason 
 is given for the addition but it is obvious, and has been made 
 clear from the history of the Institution during the next few 
 years. The Century Dictionary defines the word "Athenaeum, ' 
 as having been derived from the Temple of Athena and so 
 to be properly given "to an Institution founded at Rome by 
 Hadrian for the promotion of literature and scientific studies, 
 and imitated in the provinces. In modern times an institu- 
 tion for the encouragement of literature and art, often pos- 
 sessing a Library for the use of those entitled to its privi- 
 leges." In the case of this organization the Library is not 
 secondary to the Athenaeum, but the Athenaeum to the Li- 
 brary. Previous to 1856 the Institution had received gifts 
 of various kinds; some paintings, collections of shells, pieces 
 of old china and furniture and other things of historic 
 interest. It evidently was now determined to make more 
 
 25 
 
prominent this feature of our life. And to this end not only 
 were these treasures placed properly on exhibition in the 
 Reading Room, but a series of lectures was arranged for. In 
 i860, we lind a record that the thanks of the Board were 
 voted to ihe Gentlemen who lectured last winter, of whom 
 eleven are named. In 1864, the thanks were likewise given 
 to Col. Thomas W. Higginson for his lecture on "The Free- 
 dom of South Carolina;" in 1869, E. R. Humphrey for his 
 able and eloquent lecture on "Bulwer, the Novelist, as an 
 Orator and Poet." In 1879, the thanks of the Board were 
 extended to the Reverend Charles T. Brooks "for the interest- 
 ing lecture that he has recently delivered at the Library 
 building." With the growth of the public i^aid lecture 
 oystem throughout the country, the lectures in the Library 
 seem to have ended, although of late years one was given at 
 the opening of the Shakespeare Exhibition in 1914, by Miss 
 Henrietta C. Bartlett of New York, a well known authority 
 on Shakespeare's writings. There would seem to be but little 
 reason in these days for progressing further in this direc- 
 tion, but the work of a Library such as this is so closely 
 allied, in its purposes of education and of literary improve- 
 ment, with that of an Athenaeum, that the name may still 
 be considered as appropriate to our organization. 
 
 To a few incidents of historical interest I may refer. 
 
 In 1861 Mr. Charles B. King made to the Library a dona- 
 tion of about fifty oil paintings mainly by his own brush, 
 and after his death lone year later, the Library received a 
 legacy from him of seventy-five more. Mr. King was a 
 native of Newport and in later life for many years had a 
 studio on Clarke Street. There are many paintings of merit, 
 and many of historical interest, among those which we 
 received from him. In 1878 the corporate seal of the Library 
 was adopted. 
 
 In 1916 a remarkable Loan Exhibition of Shakespeare- 
 ana was held. 
 
 In 1903 the first women Directors were elected, who, 
 and their successors, have, as we should well imagine, been 
 
 26 
 
ever most faithful to their (hitics, and devoted to the interests 
 of the Library. 
 
 A few eminent persons have been more or less closely 
 associated with the Library during these 175 years. Dr. 
 Ezra Stiles, later President of Yale College for twenty years, 
 while Pastor of the Second Congregational Church in our 
 city, acted as our Librarian; not so much because of the 
 need of such an ofhcer, as that he might have the key and 
 be able to spend his hours in the study of the rare and valu- 
 able volumes which he tells us filled the shelves before the 
 Revolution. Reverend Dr. Channing's use of the Library 
 has been already referred to. In later years George Ban- 
 croft, William Beach Lawrence, Col. Thomas W. Higginson, 
 Julia Ward Howe, Prof. Agassiz and others frequented these 
 rooms. 
 
 Our Presidents have been men prominent in our city 
 life. And of our Librarians Edward Scott, Thomas Moffatt, 
 Ezra Stiles, Christopher Ellery, Benjamin H. Rhoades, and 
 Richard Bliss have been men of learning. 
 
 Newport was, as we have seen, early celebrated, and in 
 many ways a leader, among the cities of the United States 
 in regard to things social and literary. A writer from 
 another State has written, "The Island of Rhode Island from 
 its salubrity and passing beauty before the Revolutionary 
 War so sadly defaced it, was the chosen resort of the rich 
 and philosophic from nearly all parts of the civilized world. 
 In no spot of the thirteen colonies was there concentrated 
 more individual opulence, learning, science and liberal 
 leisure." 
 
 This opinion came from Boston, whose inhabitants cer- 
 tainly are considered, and consider themselves, fully quali- 
 fied to judge of such matters. 
 
 In this glorious period of the City's existence the Red- 
 wood Library was founded. With the City, it suffered 
 during the Revolution, an eclipse of its prominence for use- 
 fulness for many years following that disastrous War. 
 Toward the middle of the last Century we begin to see 
 gleamings of reawakening to the earlier conditions in the 
 
 27 
 
City's lilc as far as relates to "individual opulence and liberal 
 leisure," but as regards "philosopliic and scientific learning," 
 there has been no reawakening. In the midst of this condi- 
 tion of affairs stands this Library as the exponent of liter- 
 ature and the arts. In such worldly surroundings its light 
 may be somewhat dimmed, but we believe that the City 
 today would be far different had this Institution not existed. 
 We are proud of its past, we arc proud of its present, and we 
 are hopeful of its future, believing that the noble work of 
 our predecessors cannot have been in vain and that more 
 and more intellectual life will shine out from this building, 
 and make this City again as it was in the past, the chosen 
 resort not only of the rich, but also of the "philosophic, the 
 learned and the scientific, from all parts of the civilized 
 world." 
 
 28 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 BY 
 
 REAR ADMIRAL WILLIAM S. SIMS 
 
 President U. S. Naval War College 
 
 Doctor Terry, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 I have wondered ever since Dr. Terry asked me to make 
 a few remarks here this afternoon why he asked me. He 
 must know that I have no special knowledge of libraries or 
 library business. I suppose he was more or less curious to 
 hear what I might say, possibly hoping it might be some- 
 thing that should not be said. Of course, he could not ex- 
 pect any scholarly production from me. 
 
 Now, 1 suppose you may wonder why it was that I ac- 
 cepted his invitation. My chief reason was that there are few 
 things that I would not do if Dr. Terry asked me; also I 
 accepted because of my interest as a reader. It is my 
 chief pleasure. A lady who has had exceptional opportuni- 
 ties to observe my personal habits says I would read any 
 printed matter. 
 
 Of course I won't go into anything about the develop- 
 ment of libraries, because I know nothing about them, except 
 what the average citizen might have picked up in his read- 
 ing. I know^ that they have existed since the very earliest 
 civilizations; from the brick libraries of Babylonia and 
 Assyria all the way up to the Library of Congress with two 
 million volumes. There is no dearth of books. I read the 
 other day there were 100,000 books already published on the 
 war. I know something of this subject, because I wrote one 
 of those books myself. I also know that almost all war 
 
 29 
 
books arc dead; that a publisher in Boston recently sold to 
 John Wananiakcr 17,(){)0 of them for five cents apiece. I 
 do not know whether I got in that class or not. 
 
 From my point of view as a reader, the problem is not 
 so much the collection of books, or the establishment of li- 
 braries, as it is getting the people in contact with the books. 
 There is no dearth of libraries, as Dr. Terry has said. Be- 
 sides the public libraries, there are many private ones, some 
 of which are for real use, — the book lover's heaven. Some 
 are mere collections of books in handsome bindings, and 
 some are collections of rare editions that are kept in bur- 
 glar-proof rooms. I have seen some of those. I have read 
 of a book that was published by a rich man, who employed 
 authors to write it and artists to illustrate it. It was done in 
 the very best style of the printer's art; it was a ponderous 
 volume about 15 inches wide, 20 inches long and several 
 inches thick. It had to do with the bird life of a certain 
 locality. After the first copy of the book was printed the 
 plates were all destroyed. 
 
 Of course, there are all kinds of technical libraries. We 
 have one in Washington that belongs to the Navy itself, 
 called the OfTice of Naval Intelligence. It was mostly in man- 
 uscript. I was shipmate with an officer one time who was 
 ordered to duty in this office. I asked him how he liked his 
 orders. He said he was very much pleased. I said, "Do you 
 know much about Naval Intelligence?" He answered, "In 
 that office you don't have to know anything, all you have 
 to know is where to find it." 
 
 I was amused the other day in reading of a library of 
 a peculiar kind, one which recalled my earliest experience 
 with literature. It contained 1500 of the Dime Novels of my 
 youth. Some of the titles were "Deadwood Dick," "Kit 
 Carson," "Arizona Jones," and "Bill the Blizzard," all 
 slaughterers of bad Indians; and when the Indians were 
 all killed off, their authors moved into the city and wrote 
 "The Wall Street Blood" and "Tick, Tick, the Telephone 
 Girl," a flapper of the early 80's. There is a peculiarity 
 about those books and that is that they were successful in 
 
 30 
 
one important sense, a sense that I expect to refer to pres- 
 ently on behalf of the readers. Those books contained 
 plenty of human interest. The moral lessons they taught 
 were sound. The hero was perhaps impossibly brave, but 
 always successful, and the villain invariably got it in the 
 neck. They interested the young people of my day, whereas 
 many of the books they gave me bored me to death. I can 
 remember very perfectly the books that were given me in 
 Sunday School for having a certain number of blue tickets. 
 Those books were religiously read to me, and I can see now 
 the pictures of the boys and girls depicted therein in their 
 distressingly correct costumes; and remember very distinctly 
 how disgustingly good those children were, and how impos- 
 sibly dutiful, obedient and pious. I give you my word I 
 hated them heartily and do to this day. I would consider 
 it an infliction if I had a child like that in my house. 
 
 There was published a little while ago a book by Irving 
 Cobb, entitled "A Plea for Old Cap Collier," which came 
 about in this way. He fell sick and was marooned in the 
 inn of a small New England village, and after he had read 
 the local papers, including the advertisements, and several 
 magazines that dated back to the Civil War, and looked 
 through a copy of "Pilgrim's Progress," he came across an 
 old Second Reader, which took him back to the time of his 
 youth. That was the same kind of a Second Reader that 1 
 had been obliged to read, and how I did dislike that stuff, 
 with its selections of gems of literature that did not interest 
 me even a little bit. I much preferred the pep and ginger 
 of the Dime Novel; its absorbing adventure created a taste 
 for reading, which the Second Reader never could have 
 done. I recommend that you read Mr. Cobb's book, those of 
 you who are old enough to have had experience with the 
 old fashioned schoolbooks. 
 
 There are too few readers, and the problem to my mind 
 is to get the readers in touch with the books, to do some- 
 thing that will stimulate the latent desire on the part of the 
 people for the interest there is in books. Here is an in- 
 stance fror|i my boyhood of how easily this desire may be 
 
 31 
 
created. My father was at the time engaged in building 
 railroads, iron furnaces, etc., away from the main lines of 
 travel. Headquarters were established in a village of only 
 150 inhabitants, a few houses on one side of the street, and 
 one store, which contained the Post Office and ser\'ed as 
 the town club, where the political solons gathered on winter 
 evenings around the red hot stove and discussed the affairs 
 of the nation. One of my acquaintances was Jimmic Garvey. 
 His father was a laborer and general choreman, and his 
 mother a washerwoman and general physician to the neigh- 
 bors. Neither of them could read nor write, but they were 
 worthy people and useful citizens. I distinctly remember 
 one of my baby sisters being seized with colic one night, 
 and Mammy Garvey was sent for, and came in with a pot of 
 goose grease, which she rubbed into the palms of the baby's 
 hands with entirely satisfactory results. 
 
 Jimmy Garvey was a playmate of mine, and one day 
 he was passing by our house while I was sitting at the win- 
 dow reading a book. That astonished him very much. He 
 had never owned a book, had probably never seen anything 
 but a Second Reader. He asked me what I was studying. I 
 said I wasn't studying, I was reading a story. He said, 
 "What do you mean by a story?" I invited him in. When 
 he saw the few hundred books in the little library, he said, 
 "Gee, are all them scboolbooks?" I told him they were 
 story books that told about all sorts of fights and adven- 
 tures. I had been reading "Ivanhoe," I showed him a pic- 
 ture of a knight in full armor on his war horse, and read 
 him an account of a tournament. He listened with an open 
 mouth and eyes blazing. When I had finished he said, 
 "Gee, I wish I had a book like that." I let him take the 
 book. Of course he ate it up, he inhaled it, he absorbed it. 
 He came back and borrowed more. Old Father and Mother 
 Garvey were disgusted because they couldn't get Jimmie to 
 do the chores; every spare minute he put into books. 
 
 There is something of that kind that needs doing, even 
 if you have to give the people the Dime Novels. I have been 
 in farm houses, while on surveying expeditions, where no 
 
 32 
 
newspaper ever came into the house, where there were no 
 books except sometimes a hirge, cheaply bound Bible, and 
 sometimes a copy of "Pi lif rim's Progress." Those farm 
 people knew in a general way that there were libraries in 
 towns and cities, but thought they were only for learned 
 people. There was nothing to bring them into contact with 
 books. There are lots of people in towns, and in this very 
 town here, who simply do not know what a mine of pleas- 
 ure and profit there is in a library. 
 
 The necessity of bringing books and people together is 
 being recognized throughout the country. I read the other 
 day of a society of readers called "Friends of Readers," up in 
 Syracuse, whose object was to bring readers in contact with 
 books. There are pathetic instances of the desire of people 
 for books. A woman came into a library recently and asked 
 for a book the title of which she said was "Feeling Better." 
 Library assistants have many puzzling requests to inter- 
 pret. "Feeling Better" would have stumped many of them, 
 but this one divined from a few questions as to the nature 
 of the book that the lady w anted "Les Miserables." Another 
 lady went to a Carnegie Library and asked for a book of 
 which she had forgotten the title and the name of the author, 
 all she remembered was that it had a red cover; and the 
 clever assistant got her the book all the same. 
 
 There is a curious thing about the book trade in this 
 country. The booksellers are not always helpful to the 
 readers. If you go into a bookstore and ask for the best 
 book on a certain subject, you are not liable to get it, and 
 the reason is that the risk is on the bookseller. If he orders 
 a number of copies of a book and they do not sell he has 
 them on his hands. The trade name of such a book is a 
 "plug." When you ask his advice in making a purchase, 
 you will probably get a book of this kind. Business is busi- 
 ness. His method of selling plugs is to stack them up in a 
 conspicuous place on one of the tables in his store, and 
 offer each one of his salesmen 25 cents if he can sell one. 
 When you are in a hurry, between trains, and want a good 
 novel, you can imagine the kind you will get. I went into a 
 
 33 
 
bookstore the other day to ijct a couple of books, and llie man 
 recommended certain ones. I said "I don't want a phig." 
 The look that came over his face was very anuisini^, and he 
 said, "Then you won't like those," and he recommended 
 others. 
 
 The most useful libraries are the circulating kind, which 
 were started in this country by Benjamin f'ranklin. These 
 libraries enable the people who want books to get them — 
 if they know about them. They are a far cry from the time 
 when books were chained to library desks. The ordinary 
 library is a reservoir; the circulating library is a w^ater 
 system. But what I am trying to get at is the necessity of 
 getting the books to the people in order that the desire for 
 reading may be stimulated. I don't know how it would best 
 be done, but I feel that it should be done. The travelling 
 library is an effort in this direction. I know little about 
 them, or how they are managed, but they are claimed to be 
 so successful among the colored people of the South that they 
 have had considerable effect in decreasing illiteracy. 
 
 In the North, according to President Faunce of Brown 
 University, no greater service can be rendered by an Amer- 
 ican than by teaching a foreigner to read the English lan- 
 guage, and understand something about our history. The 
 average American doesn't know much more of our history 
 than he got out of his schoolbooks, and you know what our 
 school histories are like. If our people could be induced to 
 read our history and our reviews, the quality of our citizen- 
 ship would be greatly improved. 
 
 A man came to me a few weeks ago and made a very 
 curious proposition. He proposes to publish at a popular 
 price "Uncle Sam's History of the United States," a book of 
 about 500 pages, each page of 900 words to contain a con- 
 densed account of some incident or period of our history, 
 our Constitution, state governments, national ideals, aspira- 
 tions, etc., each written by the man considered best qualified 
 to handle the particular subject — two pages to be devoted 
 to the most important subjects. 
 
 He asked me to contribute an account of the accom- 
 
 34 
 
plishmcnts of our Navy during the Great War, and other 
 naval otlicers to write similar artieles upon the beginning 
 of our navy, the navy in the War of 1812, etc., each suitably 
 illustrated. 
 
 All this not with the idea that such a book would in any 
 sense replace our standard histories, but that it would pre- 
 sent the main features of our history and our form of gov- 
 ernment in a form so simple and attractive that it would be 
 widely read and not only give the readers a good general 
 idea of the benefits of our system of government, but would 
 interest them to such an extent as to send them to the li- 
 braries for more detailed accounts. 
 
 I understand that Mr. Wood, President of the New 
 England Association of Woolen Manufacturers, proposes 
 to take 30,000 copies for circulation among factory workers, 
 particularly those of foreign birth or extraction; that he at 
 first proposed to have these printed in the language of the 
 employees; but that he is advised that more good would be 
 done if the books were printed in English, because the chil- 
 dren of the people needing what is called Americanization 
 go to school, read and speak English, and would read the 
 books to their parents. 
 
 From my conversation with lots of people in the country, 
 away from railroads, among the miners, among the farmers, 
 etc., I believe that a book like that w^ould start many a boy 
 on the path of reading something in history, and in other 
 books, that is worth while; and that is what we need in 
 this country. We need to stimulate a desire for informa- 
 tion and an appreciation of the pleasure and profit to be 
 derived from books, even at a risk of developing a few 
 bookworms — though that has its compensations. 
 
 As Mr, Walter Menzies says, under the title of "The 
 Bookworm's Apologia": 
 
 "That the man w^ho spends his life among books occu- 
 pies but an ignoble place in the imagination of the multitude 
 must indeed be admitted. But that matters little. Nor need 
 he let it occasion him any uneasiness. When young he may 
 envy those heroes of the ring, those whose claim to fame is 
 
 35 
 
that they can kick a ball twice as far as the next man, those 
 who can make their century before the wicket, those who 
 arc 'first in the field and first with the oar.' That he does 
 envy them is probable, for we are all prone to admire in 
 others that which we most lack in ourselves; and your book- 
 ish man is seldom a Hercules. 
 
 "But let him wait. Old age creeps on the athlete as well as 
 the scholar, and ignorant old age is perhaps the most pitiable 
 picture that Father Time can draw. When his strong limbs 
 fail him, wdien physical pleasures are beyond him, when his 
 senile vaporings but weary the younger generation, what is 
 left for him but to laze away his life like a tortoise? Sleep- 
 ing and eating are the measure of his capacities. But the 
 Bookworm has learnt from his studies how to live and dis- 
 course with himself. Not for him the lamentable lot of de- 
 pendence on the grudging company of his relatives who 
 humor him with alternate curses and cajolery, as they wait 
 complacently for his longed-for demise. He may choose 
 his company at will from the great authors of all ages. If 
 he disagree with their opinions he need not fear their up- 
 braiding, but has only to lay them aside. He will not find 
 the evenings long nor life tedious." 
 
 Those interested in libraries will have achieved their 
 greatest usefulness when they succeed in bringing the great- 
 est number of men-in-the-strcet in contact with the maxi- 
 mum number of worth-while books; that is, when they have 
 convinced the average citizen that just around the corner is 
 a mine of pleasure for his youth and a solace for his old age 
 — not to mention that even if the information gained does 
 not prove a material benefit, as it most surely will, it wall 
 at least soften his nature, make him a more tolerant com- 
 panion and a more desirable citizen. 
 
 36 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 BY 
 
 ARTHUR E. BOSTWiCK, Ph.D. 
 
 of St. Louis, Miss. ' f 
 
 Says the poet: ' * 
 
 "111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey 
 Where wealth accumulates and men decay." 
 
 It is because librarians believe in the antiseptic virtues 
 of good books that they look with equanimity on the accu- 
 mulating wealth that has done so much, in these United 
 States, to house them and make them accessible. It is 
 because they now realize that books are valuable, not in 
 themselves, but for this preservative and sweetening influ- 
 ence, that they have come to dwell on the importance of the 
 reader as a library unit co-ordinate with what he reads — 
 that they are socializing their libraries, just as business and 
 industry and education have become socialized. An organ- 
 ized collection of books that has been radiating these influ- 
 ences until well toward the close of its second century is 
 something of a curiosity in what our cousins overseas are 
 prone to call a "young" country. The country is hardly young 
 — witness the age-old ruins in our Southwest — neither are 
 the people; our ancestors did not suddenly revert to cave- 
 men when they first trod these shores. What is young about 
 us are certain adjustments — the ones that require time. 
 Among these is the creation of institutions — universities — - 
 libraries. They may appear to spring up full-panoplied, 
 like Minerva from Jove's head, but there must be that about 
 them, before they are what they should be, that only the 
 mellowing influences of time can bestow. Just what was 
 in Abraham Redwood's mind when, nearly a score of years 
 
 37 
 
before Jefferson's Declaration was read in Independence 
 Hall, he endowed this Library with what was then a small 
 fortune, no one can now say. It is certain that he can have 
 had no clear vision of that remarkable movement which has 
 made our country the foremost of the world for her popular 
 libraries. But there was at any rate a solid conviction of 
 that preservative and uplifting power of books on a com- 
 munity with which we began. The name of Newport has 
 long been a synonym for all that belongs to accumulated 
 wealth. Its evidences are to be seen on all sides. But the 
 decay of men is not here, and you are surely exempt from 
 the poet's malediction. Just what part the Redwood Library 
 has played in this happy exemption it is not for me to say. 
 Here have been stored the anti-septics; it would be strange 
 if they had not been used to good purpose. 
 
 It is my pleasant duty today to bring to the Redwood Li- 
 brary, its Trustees, its staff and its community of readers, the 
 felicitations of its sister libraries throughout our land, on 
 the long period of usefulness to which it has now attained 
 and to express our confidence that its youth, renewed like 
 the eagle's, may enable it to play its part under new condi- 
 tions and with constantly advancing ideals, through many 
 more i)eriods of a double century each. 
 
 What is this remarkable change in the aims of libraries 
 and the outlook of librarians to which I have alluded? Its 
 details are many, some forcing themselves upon our notice, 
 others less prominent but still vital — greatly enlarged and 
 improved buildings, more careful cataloguing, increased lib- 
 erty and ease of access to the books, service to children, mul- 
 tiplication of special departments — art, music, applied sci- 
 ence — extension of facilities by branch libraries, stations, 
 messenger-service — a host of items too long to recount here; 
 but it may be summed up, I believe, in the single statement 
 that the librarian has ceased to be solely the custodian of 
 books and has become also the servant of the community-^ 
 its adviser and helper in all that pertains to books and liter- 
 ature, the assistant of the teacher in providing the means for 
 
 38 
 
education after school days are over, the purveyor of all 
 kinds of information, a propagandist of the printed page. 
 
 Formerly, in an effort to ascertain a librarian's etll- 
 ciency, one might ask him, "How many and what books have 
 you? Arc they in good condition? Are they properly 
 shelved, catalogued, classilied?" Today these queries art* 
 no less pertinent than in days past, but we should also be 
 inclined to ask, "How many and what kind of persons art? 
 there in your community? Do they read your books? Do 
 you supply their needs and wants, taking them singly and 
 by groups? Do you give special service to children? to 
 school teachers? to industrials? to students? Are you try- 
 ing to make the library the intellectual center of your com- 
 munity?" 
 
 Note that these queries relate not primarily to books, 
 but to human beings. The librarian is essentially the man 
 to whom nothing human must be alien; he must and does 
 realize that a library consists of books plus readers. Both 
 must be his care. There is no library in a community with- 
 out books. But neither is there any in the proper sense, that 
 of practical values, where a huge collection of books totally 
 lacks readers. There are potentialities here, but so there 
 are in the mob of bookless persons To realize these poten- 
 tialities, in the one case as in the other, the two elements 
 must be brought together. Then with this one stone we have 
 killed two birds — we have provided our books with readers 
 and our readers with books — we have a library ''in esse." 
 But even so the librarian still has his work cut out for him. 
 It is a sad, but a true thing, that to the wedding feast of the 
 Mind and the Book, as in that other of which we are told 
 in Holy Writ, it is not suflicient to send invitations. With 
 one consent, a large proportion will begin to make excuse. 
 And to the Scriptural ones of the journey undertaken, the 
 wife just married, a host of others will be added — lack of 
 time, disinclination and what not — all usually hiding a 
 basic ignorance of what is to be found in books and of how 
 they may profit and delight minds of all (jualities and capac- 
 ities, if only the proper adjustment be made. We must in 
 
 39 
 
truth go out into the highways and hedges and compel them 
 to come in. Only as, unlike the puhlic school, we have not 
 the stern hand of the law to aid us, in the person of the 
 truant officer, our compulsion must be of that gentler vari- 
 ety "that blesses him that gives and him that takes." We 
 are forced, in short, so to order our institutions that self- 
 interest may propel and guide each member of the commu* 
 nity to the library. 
 
 It was once a classic tale around libraries, whether 
 true or not matters little, that a Philadelphia alderman had 
 proposed, in good faith, to abolish the public library, 
 spend the whole library appropriation in the purchase ot 
 books, dump them on the City Hall floor and let the citizens 
 take their pick. However impractical this plan, its pro- 
 poser at least realized one thing — that the essentials in pub- 
 lic book service are the books and the readers, and that the 
 librarian's business is to get them together as quickly as 
 possible and with a minimum amount of machinery. What 
 the good alderman's plan failed to provide for, and what 
 our plant of buildings and equipment and staff is intended 
 to do, is to insure that the right book goes to the right reader, 
 and as every live, literate person needs some book, whether 
 he realizes it or not, to bring that need home to him, so thai 
 every citizen will become a reader. 
 
 You may have heard of the rural pastor who, when the 
 duty of uniting several couples in marriage presented it- 
 self, performed one ceremony, ending with "I now pro- 
 nounce you men and wives; you can sort yourselves." In 
 the marriage of the Mind and the Book, the sorting, the 
 adjustment, is unfortunately not always automatic. 
 
 Where the Scripture talks of "compelling," it means, I 
 take it, to include the exercise of any appropriate force; and 
 the force most appropriate to the library is that of attrac- 
 tion. It must be a magnet, and the community its field of 
 force; every citizen must find himself on one of its lines, 
 moving along it in a course which will inevitably bring him 
 to a book. To create such a field, it considers many efforts 
 justifiable and proper that were far from the purview of 
 
 40 
 
libraries as they were a half-century ago. The machinery 
 of the old library was materialistic. Its books enfolded the 
 same intellectual and spiritual forces that they do today; 
 yet it made no attempt to set in motion any intellectual or 
 spiritual connection with its environment. Such a connec- 
 tion exists when the citizen thinks of the library not only 
 as a place where books are stored, available to him if he 
 should chance to want them, but in some degree as a home 
 — a center of material information, intellectual recreation 
 and spiritual inspiration — the center to which he naturally 
 turns when he wishes to satisfy any mental yearning — educa- 
 tional, social, religious, political, artistic — that cannot be 
 satisfied by any other institution. In my own library — I 
 mention it only because its statistics are familiar to me, for 
 it is typical of scores of others, we entertain in the course 
 of the year about 4000 bodies of citizens, some regularly, 
 others casually — classes in languages, music or economics, 
 social, political or church organizations; debating clubs, boy 
 scout organizations, women's clubs, the Posts of the Amer- 
 ican Legion. During the War, the local draft committees 
 met in our branches; now the Board of Education uses 
 them for continuation schools; such as are convenient 
 serve as polling places at elections. For these privileges we 
 ask no fee. We are happy to have an opportunity to draw 
 still tighter the bonds that join us to our readers, actual or 
 potential, and to strengthen the attractive forces that tend 
 to change the latter into the former. That these forces are 
 operative, we have ample evidence. 
 
 It was once my good fortune to plan, with the assistance 
 of a group of our most eminent architects, the system of 
 branch libraries in our largest city. The architect is apt 
 not to give heed to the rapid socialization of the library, ana 
 to plan its buildings with a principal view to the storage 
 and preservation of its books. When I had explained to 
 one of the most broad-minded of the group, now unfortu- 
 nately passed from among us, the enlarged functions that 
 I have just endeavored to outline, he exclaimed with some 
 amazement, "But these are not libraries at all; they are 
 
 41 
 
connmmity reading clubs." Ho was rii^ht; it is as a coni- 
 miinily club thai we must hereafter envisage the library. 
 We must plan our buildings as such, and so operate them. 
 If the use of the library requires a fee, it is akin to the 
 ordinary club that is supported by dues. If it is a free public 
 library, everyone in the community must be regarded as a 
 member, subject to good behaviour and ability to enjoy its 
 privileges. The dues are still paid, but they are gathered 
 by the tax collector. In this case the individual's share 
 becomes vanishingly small. By resolution adopted at its 
 last convention, the American Library Association ex- 
 pressed its otiicial opinion that the inhabitants of a city 
 should pay not less than a dollar apiece annually for the 
 support of their library. At this rate New York would have 
 to disburse some -f 5,000,000 a year for this purpose. Few 
 towns are coming up to this mark. Detroit and Cleveland 
 are the only large ones that occur to me. In my own town, 
 St. Louis, we are getting about one-half this rate, and still 
 we are doing very reasonable service. 
 
 One of the ways in which this enlarged community ser- 
 vice is becoming increasingly apparent is as a comprehensive 
 bureau of information, especially for commerce and the 
 industries. The library is a huge encyclopedia; it is a 
 storage house of facts, and its only additional need is ma- 
 chinery, adequate to its size, to get at these facts quickly and 
 communicate them to those who want them. The fault with 
 most cyclopedias is that they are not, and cannot be, up to 
 date. Between the time when the articles are written and 
 the delivery of the volumes to the suscriber, the world has 
 kept on moving; men have died, presidents have been 
 chosen, thrones have fallen, there have been hosts of discov- 
 eries in science, inventions in the industries. The loose- 
 leaf cyclopedia has been devised to obviate this out-of- 
 darkness, but it requires special work in sorting and arrang- 
 ing leaves, that almost demands a private secretary for every 
 subscriber. Our library pioneer — Melvil Dewey, inventor 
 of the decimal system of classification that bears his name, 
 has suggested a cyclopedia on cards, like a card catalogue, 
 
 42 
 
cards being prepared and sent out daily, like a daily pa- 
 per, and filed continually, so as to keep the whole up to date. 
 Consulting your card cyclopdia, under Portugal, you would 
 find mention of yesterday's revolution; seeking data on 
 the life of John Smith, you would be told that he had died 
 the day before. A somewhat Utopian scheme, in default of 
 which we may offer the Libraiy itself. Its books, to be sure, 
 are often out of date for this purpose, but it now includes in 
 its collection tons of fugitive material, much of it of the type 
 once somewhat contemptuously called "biblia abiblia," 
 books that are no books — city directories, railway guides, 
 social registers, business lists, government bulletins, together 
 with all sorts of publicity material, the advertising pages of 
 its periodicals are mines of information, and they are pre- 
 served when they are bound for reference. 
 
 The machinery that is yet defective for the proper util- 
 ization of all this, is, oddly enough, our own publicity. The 
 average citizen does not yet realize that the first place to go 
 for information is his public library, and that it is at the 
 other end of the telephone that stands on his desk. I have 
 known a man to write to a Washington department for data 
 available in bulletins on our shelves. Others write to the city 
 clerk of a town to find out its i^opulation, when the census 
 reports are wdthin a few blocks. They even wire to Peru 
 or Java for information regarding export trade that we have 
 been carefully assembling in view of just such a demand. 
 Evidently we need well-considered publicity. "Advertising" 
 is a word abhorred of some. That is because it once con- 
 noted deceptive or even fraudulent publicity. Nowadays 
 the advertising pages of the magazines are not the least 
 interesting and informing part of them; I frequently find 
 myself scanning them before I cut the leaves containing thb 
 articles themselves, but, although I learn from them of the 
 virtues of shoes, neckties, and egg-beaters, and of where 
 they can be bought, I look in vain for an exposition of thb 
 value of books and of what daily use may be made of them 
 in our business. 
 
 One of the reasons for the rapid expansion and devel- 
 
 43 
 
opmcnt of libraries in the United Stales has been their free- 
 dom from government control and interference. A city's 
 public library is usually required by law to submit an annual 
 report, but its authorities are left free to take their own 
 path toward the goal of public service. Library methods 
 and customs have, it is true, become to a certain extent stand- 
 ardized; but this is due to constant comparison and discus- 
 sion by librarians in their national association, in State asso- 
 ciations, and in local clubs, and not in any way to prescrip- 
 tion or control by authority. When the first State 
 library commissions or committees were formed by legisla- 
 tive enactment, it was feared by some that the control that 
 they might undertake would prove hampering to initiative, 
 but these fears have so far proved unfounded. The commis- 
 sions have been, on the whole, helpful bodies, to which the 
 small library may and does frequently turn for advice and 
 aid, and which have promoted, sometimes in a remarkable 
 degree, the establishment of new libraries throughout their 
 jurisdictions. In cases where State aid is given to libraries, 
 as in New York, it has of course been conditioned on the 
 maintenance of a proper standard, which is fixed by the 
 authorities, but this has been done sanely and conservatively 
 and has served to aid rather than to hinder free develoj3- 
 ment. 
 
 What might have been done under less fortunate condi- 
 tions, we may see by observing the railroads of the country, 
 where, according to Mr. Howard Elliott, ofiicials have had to 
 occupy an increasingly large proportion of the time that 
 should be devoted to the improvement of service, to the col- 
 lection and assemblage of data for all sorts of statistical 
 reports and to the gathering and preparation of information 
 for legislative investigations. He suggests a "ten year holi- 
 day" for the railroads, during which they should be let 
 strictly alone and should devote the time to planning and 
 carrying out needed improvement. This sort of holiday, 
 which the railroads have vainly asked, has been accorded to 
 libraries from the beginning, and they arc still enjojung it. 
 To its blessings may be credited a much larger share of 
 library progress than is generally realized. 
 
 41 
 
This legislative and governmental holiday of ours is 
 due, we may suppose, to a failure to realize the fact that 
 reading is as important to the community as transportation. 
 A complete understanding of this fact might terminate our 
 holiday, and paradoxically, we are thus indebted for our 
 opportunity of expansion and betterment to the ignorance 
 and indifference of the public toward the vital value of our 
 service. There is dynamite, therefore, in our efforts at pub- 
 licity, and these must be accompanied, if they are not to 
 destroy themselves, by a disposition on the public's part, to 
 let the library continue to work out its own salvation. Fortu- 
 nately, this disposition now exists, except in one or two in- 
 stances. The adoption of the commission form of govern- 
 ment in some cities, especially those having a city man- 
 ager, seemed at first to be hostile to it. In certain 
 cases the change was accompanied by the abolition of 
 separate boards of trustees for libraries, which sud- 
 denly found themselves under the jurisdiction of the 
 park commissioner or the public welfare department 
 or some other public body unacquainted with its special 
 needs and indifferent to the quality of its work. Especially 
 when coupled with political interference, no plan could be 
 better calculated to deaden the library's enthusiasm and 
 smother its vitality. In a few cities, the authorities in charge 
 of the civil service have been fated to interfere with the 
 library's usefulness. An adequate system of service, ensur- 
 ing the employment of a trained and competent staff, with 
 promotion for merit, every properly operated institution 
 must have. But where operation requires expert supervi- 
 sion, the system of service must be included in this, and not 
 turned over to officials who are unsympathetic or perhaps 
 even ignorant. More than one library is even now strug- 
 gling under this incubus. 
 
 For some years past there has been a determined effort 
 to make the appointment of library assistants dependent on 
 some form of public certification. This, although intended 
 to improve library personnel and advocated to a large degree 
 by librarians themselves, some of us regard as a serious 
 
 45 
 
error, as tending toward the very control from outside, free- 
 dom from whicli has hitherto heen our greatest boon. It has, 
 however, been approved by the American Library Associa- 
 tion and already enacted into law in two or three States. It 
 has in it the elements of troidjle, but i)erhaps it may not 
 prove as serious as I anticipate. Whatever we may think of 
 it as a general economic policy, "laissez faire" has certainly 
 been a good thing for libraries. Anxious over some of the 
 developments that I have just noted, some public librarians 
 are looking with envy at the endowed institutions that are 
 "masters in every degree of their own fate. Hut surely a 
 Municipality may support education without assuming 
 expert control of it. Public ownership does not necessarily 
 involve direct public operation. Some of the greatest and 
 most successful libraries today are working under some form 
 t)f cooperation between public and private agencies. The 
 New York Public Library is a private body, doing its very 
 great public w^ork under contract with the city. Many of 
 •our other public libraries hold large endowment funds 
 which make them to a certain degree independent of public 
 support, and it is noteworthy that instead of leading to de- 
 creased support this independence has generally operated 
 to swell annual appropriations. "To him that hath shall be 
 given" applies in this case as in so many others. 
 
 If I have devoted a congratulatory address on a library 
 life of 175 years, so largely to a somewhat random discussion 
 of things evident in libraries only for the past 20 or 25, it is 
 because I regard all libraries, whether their ages are meas- 
 ured in centuries, or years, or days, as merely on the thresh- 
 old of their usefulness. They, and the public whom they 
 serve, are just beginning to find out what there is in print 
 and what may be accomplished with it. We are dimly real- 
 izing, too, how impossible it is to work with books unless we 
 work also with human beings — men, women and children. 
 In the fuller realization of this fact, in its practical consum- 
 mation, in the devising of better, cheaper and more perfect 
 means of bringing it about, lies the possibility of what we 
 may do in the future. The benefits of age lie chiefly in dig- 
 
 46 
 
nity, traditions, prestige in the community, and past oppor- 
 tunity for the assemblage of a collection of books, many of 
 which can now be had only at a great price, or not at all. 
 Such advantages are not to be scoffed at. You possess them 
 here in an eminent degree. In congratulating we also envy, 
 not with malice but with due appreciation of your good 
 fortune. Like the community that you serve, you must ever 
 look to quality rather than quantity for pre-eminence. You 
 may not store your millions of books like the Bihliotheqiic 
 Rationale, nor may you distribute them to your citizens in 
 yearly millions, like the New York Public Library. But in 
 the choiceness of your book collection, in the service that 
 you are fitted and willing to render to your readers, you may 
 still stand in the foremost rank. May you stand there, 
 steadfast, throughout the centuries to come! 
 
 47 
 
PRESIDENTS 
 
 OF TF4K 
 
 Redwood Library and Athen^um 
 
 ABRAHAM REDWOOD 1747—1788 
 
 HENRY MARCHANT 1791 — 1797 
 
 WILLIAM VERNON 1797—1801 
 
 JOHN BOURS 1801-1809 
 
 JONATHAN EASTON 1809—1813 
 
 ROBERT STEVENS 1813—1830 
 
 DAVID KING 1830-1836 
 
 AUDLEY CLARKE 1836-1844 
 
 GEORGE G. KING 1844-1846 
 
 WILLIAM HUNTER 1846-1849 
 
 DAVID KING 1849-1859 
 
 GEORGE G. KING 18j9 1870 
 
 WILLIAM COZZENS 1 870 - 1 872 
 
 HENRY LEDYARD 1872-1874 
 
 EDWARD KING 1874-1875 
 
 FRANCIS BRINLEY 1875-1882 
 
 JAMES E. MAURAN 1882-1883 
 
 HENRY E. TURNER 1883-1886 
 
 LEROY KING 1886—1895 
 
 HENRY G. MARQUAND 1895-1902 
 
 ARTHUR B. EMMONS 1902—1909 
 
 DANIEL B. FEARING 1909—1913 
 
 J. FRED PIERSON 1913—1916 
 
 RODERICK TERRY 1916— 
 
 48 
 
LIBRARIANS 
 
 EDWARD SCOTT 1747-1750 
 
 THOMAS MOFFATT 1750 1752 
 
 MARTIN HOWARD, jun. 1752-1755 
 
 JEREMIAH LEAMING 1755-1756 
 
 EZRA STILES 1756 1764 
 
 HENRY MARCHANT 1764—1766 
 
 EDWARD THURSTON, jun. 1766-1767 
 
 THOMAS WICKHAM, jun. 1767-1768 
 
 EZRA STILES 1768—1777 
 
 WILLIAM TILLINGHAST 1777—1778 
 
 GEORGE BISSETT 1778-1779 
 
 WILLIAM TILLINGHAST 1779—1785 
 
 CHRISTOPHER ELLERY 1785—1791 
 
 WILLIAM SMITH 1791 — 1792 
 
 WILLIAM PATTEN 1792-1809 
 
 LEVI TOWER 1809—1811 
 
 JOHN RODMAN 1811-1812 
 
 ROBERT ROGERS 1812-1831 
 
 GEORGE G. KING 1831—1835 
 
 WILLIAM A. BARBER 1835 1841 
 
 JAMES BARKER 1841 1848 
 
 AUGUSTUS BUSH 1848-1857 
 
 GEORGE R. HAMMETT 1857—1858 
 
 DUMONT CLARKE 1858 1859 
 
 BENJAMIN H. RHOADES 1859 1880 
 
 BENJAMIN F. THURSTON 1880-1884 
 
 RICHARD BLISS 1884— 19 1 4 
 
 GEORGE LYMAN HINCKLEY 1914— 
 
 49 
 
OFFICERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Redwood Library and Athenaeum 
 1922-1923 
 
 PRESIDENT 
 
 RODERICK TERRY 
 
 VICE PRESIDENT 
 
 J. FRED PIERSON 
 
 DIRECTORS 
 
 DARIUS BAKER ALFRED G. LANGLEY 
 
 MRS. HAROLD BROWN WILLIAM P. SHEFFIELD, Jr. 
 
 WILLIAM P. BUFFUM EDWARD A. SHERMAN 
 
 GEORGE F. COZZENS WILLIAM S. SHERMAN 
 
 LUCILE R. EDGAR AGNES C. STORER 
 
 Mrs. CHARLES C. GARDNER FRANK K. STURGIS 
 
 LAWRENCE L. GILLESPIE HAMILTON FISH WEBSTER 
 
 HENRY BARTON JACOBS JOSEPH H. WILLARD 
 
 SECRETARY 
 
 ALFRED G. LANGLEY 
 
 TREASURER 
 
 EDWARD A. SHERMAN 
 
 AUDITORS 
 
 HERBERT L. DYER JOHN C. SEABURY 
 
 LIBRARY STAFF 
 
 GEORGE L. HINCKLEY, Librarian 
 
 ADA E. GOSLING, Assistant 
 
 ABBIE L. ALLEN, Cataloguer 
 KATHERINE C. FRIEND, Desk Attendant 
 
 ERNA BRANDT, Assistant 
 
 HARRY B. RICE, Janitor