The Galaxy, May, 1877 Part 16

PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED STATES.

Many a mickle makes a muckle, says the proverb, and whoever looks into the operations of society on the great scale will find how true the saying is. A national debt, a national crop, the cattle feeding on the hills of a broad continent, the school-going children of a populous commonwealth, the number of its vagabonds and criminals at large or in jail, all need such an array of figures for their expression that the amounts really convey no impression to the mind. The number of books collected in public libraries does not reach such unwieldy proportions as these, but it is still very large. The information gathered by the Bureau of Education for the purpose of exhibiting the condition of American society at the end of the first century of our independence shows that the libraries which are cla.s.sed as "public" number 3,682 in the United States, and contain 12,276,964 volumes and 1,500,000 pamphlets.

Of our private libraries little is known. In 1870 the census-takers reported 107,673 collections of this cla.s.s, containing in all 25,571,503 volumes, but these numbers are known to be much below the truth. The acute and practical superintendent of the ninth census declared that this part of his work had no value, and even said that "the statistics of private libraries are not, from any proper point of view, among the desirable inquiries of the census." What a commentary upon the progress of society is contained in this opinion of the most accomplished statistician ever engaged in studying our social movements! It is but a short time since the owning of books was a mark of superior station in the world. What has produced the change?

We can perhaps learn the cause of it better by a comparison than by direct study of bibliographical history. In Voltaire's time thermometers were so great a rarity that the owner of one of them was considered to be a savant. Time and social progress have so completely altered this state of things that thermometers are now made in factories, are owned by all cla.s.ses, and applied to the commonest uses. The thermometers hanging on our walls no longer indicate familiarity with science, but merely that a new tool has been added to household appliances. So in book-making. The art which once served chiefly to record discoveries in knowledge, conduct controversies in polemics, philosophy, and politics, and for other grave and important purposes now adds to these a mult.i.tude of common uses. A library may contain scores and even hundreds of volumes, and yet have nothing but those books which have served in the education and amus.e.m.e.nt of the children in an ordinary family. Or it may be the result of a chance aggregation of "railway literature," bought to relieve the tediousness of travel. Or it may consist, as is sometimes the case, of the small and precious collections in frontier log huts, of the gratuitous contributions of the patent medicine vender, the plough-maker, and the lightning-rod man, mingled with the dear-bought subscription books of the wandering peddler! Books are so common that the possession of them is no longer an indication of the intellectual tendency of their possessors.

With libraries open to the public the case is different. Their condition affords one standard by which the character and tastes of the people may be measured.

The United States are considered to be far behind foreign countries in their book collections. We have nothing to compare with Dresden, Berlin, and Paris, with their 500,000, 700,000, and 2,000,000 volumes. We do not reach the wealth of even such second-rate places as Wolfenb.u.t.tel, Breslau, and Gottingen, if their collections are correctly reported at 300,000, 340,000, and 400,000 volumes. And yet each year witnesses the purchase of more than 400,000 volumes for our public libraries, taken collectively, a number that is larger than any one collection in this country! The permanent fund of our libraries, so far as known, amounts to $6,105,581 and their annual income to $1,398,756. These figures do not, in fact, represent anything like the truth, for not half the libraries reported their permanent fund, or their yearly purchases, and only one-quarter reported their yearly income. About one-fifth of the whole number (769 exactly) report their expenditures for new books at $562,407, and in 742 libraries the use of books amounts to 8,879,869 volumes yearly. In these figures Sunday-school libraries, one of the most constantly used kinds, are not included. Looking at the magnitude of the numbers reported, and considering all that is omitted, we obtain an inkling of the immense exchange of books among the people from these public distribution points.

The existing public libraries, excluding all under 300 volumes, and all in Sunday-schools of whatever size, may be considered as belonging to six princ.i.p.al divisions. These, with the number of libraries and the volumes in each, are as follows:

_Cla.s.s._ _No. libraries._ _No. Volumes._

Educational 1,577 3,442,799 Professional 360 1,406,759 Historical 51 421,794 Government 122 1,562,597 Proprietary Public 1,109 3,228,555 Free Public 342 1,909,444 Miscellaneous 121 305,016 ----- ---------- 3,682 12,276,964

The "miscellaneous" cla.s.s contains the libraries of secret and benevolent societies, and some others difficult to arrange. On the whole it might be better to cla.s.s them with the proprietary public libraries.

Educational libraries are the oldest in the country, and the most venerable of them is naturally that of the oldest educational inst.i.tution, Harvard University, which dates from 1638. Before the end of that century three others had been started, and singularly enough, all at about the same time: King William school at Annapolis, 1697, King's Chapel Library at Boston, 1698, and Christ church at Philadelphia, 1698. Yale and William and Mary Colleges began their collections in 1700, and then proprietary libraries began their existence. The Proprietors' Library in Pomfret, Conn., was founded in 1737, Redwood, in Newport, 1747, and the Library Society, Charleston, S.

C, 1748. Philadelphia was especially active at that early period, establis.h.i.+ng no less than five, the Library Company in 1731, Carpenters', 1736, Four Monthly Meetings of Friends, 1742, Philosophical Society, 1743, and Loganian, 1745. Fifty-one of these enterprises were begun in the second half of the eighteenth century, but failure and consolidation brought the number of living libraries in 1800 down to forty-nine. In 1776 twenty-nine were in existence, and from that time the growth has been as follows:

_Libraries formed._ _Number._ _Present size._

From 1775 to 1800 30 242,171 vols.

" 1800 to 1825 179 2,056,113 "

" 1825 to 1850 551 2,807,218 "

" 1850 to 1876 2,240 5,481,068 "

This little table brings out very strikingly the distinctive peculiarity of libraries in this country. Their strength does not lie so much in the importance of individual collections as in the existence of a large number of young, active, and growing inst.i.tutions which are unitedly advancing to a future that must evidently be tremendous. More than seventy per cent. of our existing libraries have been formed within the last twenty-five years, and contain about 2,500 volumes each. Of the older libraries those which were founded in the last quarter of last century have an average of about 8,000 volumes, those of the following quarter about 11,500 volumes, and those of the third quarter about 5,000 volumes each. It is plain that library work has been remarkably active since 1850. In fact it has been so active as to open a new profession to the educated cla.s.ses of this country. A large number of highly trained men are engaged in library work, and the discussion of library science is carried on with energy. It is quite probable that a few more years will see the introduction of this study into American colleges, as a preparation for a promising branch of industry. But let us return to our cla.s.sification, which covers some interesting points.

_Educational_ libraries are of three kinds:

1. Academy and school 1,059, with 1,270,497 vols.

2. College 312 " 1,949,105 "

3. Asylum and Reformatory 206 " 223,197 "

District school libraries form a very modern part of the general system, having been first suggested by Governor Clinton of New York in 1827, and introduced by law in 1835. Since then twenty other States have adopted the plan, but some, like Ma.s.sachusetts, have abandoned it for that of town libraries. The greatest difficulties it labors under are found in country districts, where the funds are applied to other purposes, and the books are recklessly lent out and lost, both evils being due to the fact that few persons can be found who are able and willing to keep the work in good order. In cities the success of these district libraries is much greater. They now report an aggregate of 1,270,497 books, but their statistics are very incomplete. College libraries are among the most important in the country, that of Harvard being the largest we have, after the Congressional library in Was.h.i.+ngton. As to asylum and reformatory libraries, it would be hard to find circ.u.mstances under which books could be more usefully collected than in those inst.i.tutions, where in 1870 32,901 prisoners were confined, and 116,102 paupers housed habitually or at times. If we consider that only one-fifth of the criminals are in jail, and allow for the natural increase of criminals and paupers, it will be apparent that the population which may derive benefit from these libraries must now number at least 300,000 persons.

To meet their wants there are 206 libraries, with 223,197 volumes. The Pennsylvania State Penitentiary has the largest collection, 9,000 volumes, besides 1,000 school books. The other end of the line is occupied by Florida, which maintains 40 volumes in its Penitentiary.

Some interesting information has been gathered concerning the literary taste of convicts. Story books, magazines, and light literature generally are the favorite choice, but history, biography, and travels are also well patronized. In the Ma.s.sachusetts State prison Humboldt's "Cosmos" and other philosophical works are called for. In fact the value of prison libraries is vouched for by all authorities, and one says that no convicts, except those really idiotic, leave a prison where there is a library without having gained some advantage. The greatest defects in the system are the lack of books and of light to read them by at night.

There are but forty prison libraries, with 61,095 volumes, and in American prisons the cells are not lighted. Lights are placed in the corridors so that only a small number of the inmates have light enough to read by. The Joliet (Ill.) prison is a cheering exception to this gloomy state of things. Each cell has its own catalogue, and lights are allowed up to nine o'clock. Public charities of several kinds have lately suffered from exposures that prevent charitably disposed persons from giving aid which they would otherwise gladly contribute. It may be useful to suggest that money sent to any prison for the benefit of its library could hardly fail to be helpful.

In reformatories, where the effort is to cultivate the moral faculties, the library is an essential part of the system. Forty-nine of them have collections containing 51,466 books. In these inst.i.tutions we have an indication of what the library, and other moral forces like it, is worth as an educator. Mr. Sanborn thinks that the proportion "of worthy citizens trained up among the whole 24,000 in preventive and reformatory schools would be as high as seventy-five per cent."

_Professional_ libraries are--

1. Law 135, with 330,353 volumes 2. Medical 64 " 159,045 "

3. Theological 86 " 633,369 "

4. Scientific 75 " 283,992 "

Here we have two surprises. One is that lawyers, with their interminable "reports" falling from nearly every court in the country, and never becoming really obsolete (a peculiarity that hardly any other professional works enjoy), should have so few and such small libraries.

The reason probably lies in the a.s.siduity with which each lawyer collects the works needed in his line of practice. The other surprise is that a profession so old and active as that of medicine should be so poorly represented in books. The lawyers have an average of about 2,400 books in their libraries, and the largest collections in the list are that of the Law Inst.i.tute in New York, 20,000 volumes; Harvard School, 15,000; Social Law Library, Boston, 13,000; and Law a.s.sociation of San Francisco, 12,500. No other reaches 10,000 volumes, and in fact the above deductions leave the others with about 2,000 volumes each. The medical gentlemen are still worse off. There are in the Surgeon General's office 40,000 volumes; Philadelphia College of Physicians, 18,753; Pennsylvania College of Physicians, 12,500; and New York Hospital, 10,000; leaving an average of 1,300 volumes to each of the other inst.i.tutions. In these figures we have an indication of the excellent work done by the Army Bureau at Was.h.i.+ngton. Its 40,000 bound volumes are supplemented by 40,000 pamphlets, making a collection which the profession greatly needed. The theologians seem to have attended as energetically to the collection as to the making of books. In the last division of this cla.s.s belong the engineering, agricultural, mining, botanical, military, and naval schools and societies, and they appear to give considerable importance to their libraries. Though they are mostly young inst.i.tutions, the average number of books is 3,800. In addition to the bound volumes mentioned above, the societies own 218,852 pamphlets and 2,169 ma.n.u.scripts, the proportion of these two kinds of literary works being naturally large in scientific collections. The largest libraries are those of the Ess.e.x Inst.i.tute, Salem, Ma.s.s., 30,655 volumes, and 105,408 pamphlets, and "many" MSS.; Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, 30,000 volumes and 35,000 pamphlets; Wagner Free Inst.i.tution of Science, Philadelphia, 15,000 volumes; Museum of Comparative Zoology (Harvard), 13,000; Illinois Industrial University, 10,000; School of Mines, New York, 7,000; Sheffield Scientific School, 5,000.

_Historical societies_ have been much more actively employed in collecting than the table we have given indicates. Since the adoption of the Const.i.tution in 1789 no less than one hundred and sixty societies have been formed, and Dr. Homes of the New York State Library reports their collections to aggregate more than 482,000 volumes and 568,000 pamphlets. The number of MSS. is 88,771, besides 1,361 bound volumes of them. The largest acc.u.mulations are:

_Volumes._ _Pamphlets._ _MSS._

Am. Antiq. Soc., Worcester 60,497

New York Historical 60,000 12,000 15,000

Wisconsin Historical 33,347 31,653 300

Long Island Historical 26,000 25,000

Ma.s.sachusetts Historical 23,000 45,000 1,000 v.

Congregational Library, Boston 22,895 95,000 550

Connecticut Historical 16,000 20,000

Amer. Philosoph., Philadelphia 20,000 15,000 100 v.

German Society, Philadelphia 16,000

Pennsylvania Historical 16,000 30,000 25,000

It is among these societies that we find the largest average of any cla.s.s, excepting the Government. Historical libraries contain about 8,400 bound volumes, 7,000 pamphlets, and 1,000 MSS. to each collection.

In spite of this the public collections are often surpa.s.sed in completeness in special branches by private ones. In this country a public inst.i.tution can rarely compete successfully with an eager and determined private buyer.

_Government_ libraries include others than those for the use of officials, as the following list shows:

_Libraries._ _Volumes._

1. Government 35 695,633 2. State and Territorial 47 834,219 3. Garrison 40 32,745

The official libraries are of several kinds, and as many of them are of prime importance, we may be permitted to specify them more minutely than those of any other cla.s.s:

_Volumes._

Library of Congress 300,000 " House of Representatives 125,000 " Surgeon General 40,000 " State Department 29,000 " Senate 25,000 " Patent Office 23,000 " War Department 13,000 " Attorney General 12,000 " Treasury 8,440 " Solicitor of Treasury 6,000 " Post Office 6,301 " Hydrographer's Office 7,000 " Dep't. Agriculture 7,000 " Bureau Statistics 6,000 " Naval Observatory 7,000 " Coast Survey 6,000

Many of these are scientific collections and the only large ones of their kind in the country. Their presence, in conjunction with the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, has made Was.h.i.+ngton one of the most active scientific centres in the country. Government publications are sometimes referred to as mere trash, but aside from the remarkably thorough and admirable reports which the several public surveys have produced within a few years, and aside from such notable publications as the reports of Wilkes, Perry, and Kane, the ordinary issues of the Government printing office are anything but undeserving doc.u.ments. They are in most cases necessary, useful, and interesting to some one. As special reports, made to cover some field that is narrow, however necessary it may be, and limited to that range by the law which authorizes them, they cannot possibly often be publications of general interest. In fact it is their extremely special character that gives them value. We are sometimes told that a government may be obliged to publish its State papers as matter of record, but it is noticeable that these volumes of doc.u.mentary history are less inquired for than almost any others. The surveying, engineering, geological, astronomical, and other scientific reports published by the Government are in much greater request, and bring the highest prices in old bookstores. The explanation is, of course, that the scientific reports are useful to a larger cla.s.s than the others. They appeal to "bread-winners" in several important professions, to students of pure science the world over, and to the already large and increasing body of teachers. For the "Smithsonian Contributions" one hundred and fifty dollars, or more than first cost, is demanded, and the first volume brings twenty dollars, or two and a half times its original price. The Mining Industry volume of the Fortieth Parallel Report brought forty dollars in the shops (whenever it could be found) even while the Engineer Corps was still gingerly distributing its limited edition _gratis_. Many more examples could be adduced, but these are sufficient to show that the Government does bring out works that are sorely wanted. We wish its method of distribution were better. At present the workers in a profession have great difficulty in obtaining the most needed publications of Government, while Congressmen, who are politicians and nothing else, are flooded with books they cannot understand, and only sneer at. The distribution of professional reports through members of Congress, who are not professional men, has never produced anything but dissatisfaction. There is no part of the country where Government publications can be found. Even New York city cannot produce them. This is all wrong. The Government should maintain a collection of all its publications in at least four States. They could be established either in connection with existing libraries or with the army headquarters that are maintained permanently in such places as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Such doc.u.mentary libraries would not be deserted, as some may suppose. The Patent Room of the Boston Public Library was visited last year by 1,765 persons, and a collection of the engineering, scientific, and official publications of the Government in New York would be a centre for professional study, and be visited by thousands yearly. To house the Government publications would require so much s.p.a.ce that an ordinary library could hardly be expected to undertake the task without aid. The patent specifications alone of three countries, Great Britain, France, and the United States, with their increase for ten years to come, require an apartment at least thirty feet square.