The Library and Society: Reprints of Papers and Addresses

Part 1

Classics of American Librarianship

Edited by

ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, Ph. D.

THE LIBRARY AND SOCIETY

Reprints of Papers and Addresses

With Notes by ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, Ph. D.

New York The H. W. Wilson Company London: Grafton & Company 1920

Published, January, 1921

PREFACE

It may be desirable to repeat here the warning that the word "classics" in the title of this series is to be understood as meaning early and standard expressions of ideas that have later developed into prominence. The papers and addresses in this volume have been chosen especially with this in view, and as they emphasize social relations an effort has been made to include expressions from men of eminence whose names would not probably occur to the student of library economy as having expressed an opinion about the work of libraries or as having influenced it in any permanent way.

I desire to acknowledge the kindly assistance rendered in the selection and grouping of the articles by Mrs. Gertrude Gilbert Drury, chief instructor in the St. Louis Library School. It has been most valuable.

The original suggestion of this volume, and of the character of its contents, I owe to Dr. James I. Wyer, Jr., Director of the New York State Library.

ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK

CONTENTS

PREFACE 5

THE LIBRARY AND SOCIETY 13

GENERAL COMMUNITY RELATIONS 15

The Historical Evolution of the Free Public Library in America and Its True Function in the Community; Dedication Address at Sage Library. (Library Journal, 1884, p. 40) 17 MOSES COIT TYLER.

The Library as a Field for Philanthropy. (Extract from "The Best Fields for Philanthropy," North American Review, December, 1889.) 33 ANDREW CARNEGIE.

The Idea of a Popular Library. ("Life, Letters, and Journals," Vol. 2, 1851.) 49 GEORGE TICKNOR.

The Function of a Town Library. ("Protection of Majorities,") 1875 55 JOSIAH P. QUINCY.

The Free Public Library. (Extract from "Men and Women," 1888.) 63 THOMAS W. HIGGINSON.

Two Fundamentals. (Library Journal, 1896, p. 446.) 67 MARY SALOME CUTLER.

What a Library Should Be, and What It Can Do. (Public Libraries, 1899, p. 269.) 75 MELVIL DEWEY

The Public Library in American Life. (Library Journal, 1905, p. 925.) 79 HUGO MUNSTERBERG.

Books and the Public Library; Dedication Address of Chelsea Library. (Library Journal, 1886, p. 10.) 87 JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

The Influence of Good Books; Dedication Address, Spencer Library, Mass. (Library Journal, 1889, p. 380.) 101 ROBERT COLLYER.

Books and Life. (Library Journal, 1906, p. 203.) 109 EDWARD ASAHEL BIRGE.

Part 2

Address at the Dedication of the Boston Public Library. ("Orations and Speeches", Boston, 1859; Vol. III.) 127 EDWARD EVERETT.

Address at a Meeting in Favor of the New York Free Circulating Library. (Library Journal, 1890, p. 107.) 139 GROVER CLEVELAND.

Addresses at the Opening of the Wadsworth Athenaeum Library, Hartford, Conn. (Library Journal, 1893, p. 18.) 145 CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. CHARLES HOPKINS CLARK.

Libraries as Leaven; Dedication address, Madison Public Library. (American Bibliopolist, 1875, p. 189.) 149 JAMES DAVIE BUTLER.

The Free Public Library. (American Magazine of Civics, 1895, p. 469.) 169 HENRY HERVEY BARBER.

THE COMMUNITY'S SERVICE TO THE LIBRARY 183

The Relation of the State to the Public Library. (Transactions of the Second International Library Conference, London, 1898, p. 19.) 185 MELVIL DEWEY.

Methods of Securing the Interest of a Community. (Library Journal, 1880, p. 245.) 193 WILLIAM EATON FOSTER.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT 199

Free Libraries: An Argument against Public Support. ("A Plea for Liberty," ed. by Thos. Mackay, 3rd ed., London, 1894, p. 260.) 201 M.D. O'BRIEN.

Arguments for Public Support of Public Libraries: a Rejoinder to the Foregoing. (Library Journal, 1891, p. 39, Conference No.) 215 WILLIAM EATON FOSTER.

Public Libraries and the Public, with Special References to San Francisco. (Library Journal, 1885, p. 223.) 231 FREDERIC BEECHER PERKINS.

The Levy of Library Tribute; Presidential Address to the A.L.A. (Library Journal, 1895, Conference No., p. 1.) 243 HENRY MUNSON UTLEY.

ALTERNATIVES TO TAX SUPPORT 251

If Not a Tax-Supported Library--What? (Iowa Library Quarterly, April, 1903, p. 21.) 253 ANONYMOUS.

Cooperation Between Library and Community. (University of New York, Home Education Bulletin 31, p. 131.) 257 M. ANNA TARBELL.

BOARDS OF TRUSTEES 265

Library Work from the Trustees' Standpoint. (Library Journal, 1890, Conference No., p. 23.) 267 JOHN CALVIN LEARNED.

Trustees of Free Public Libraries. (Library Journal, 1890, Conference No., p. 19.) 271 CHARLES CARROLL SOULE.

Duties of Trustees and Their Relations to Libraries. (Library Journal, 1890, Conference No., p. 24.) 279 SAMUEL SWETT GREEN.

THE LIBRARY'S SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY 285

Some Popular Objections to Public Libraries. (Library Journal, 1876, p. 45.) 287 WILLIAM FREDERICK POOLE.

How to Use a Library: Addresses at Pittsfield, Mass. (Library Journal, 1884, p. 25.) 297 JAMES MASCARENE HUBBARD.

Adaptation of Libraries to Constituencies; World's Library Congress, Chicago Exposition. (Education Bureau Report, Chap. IX., Part II, p. 658, 1892-93.) 307 SAMUEL SWETT GREEN.

Relation of Free Public Libraries to the Community. (North American Review, 1898, p. 660.) 315 HERBERT PUTNAM.

The Public Library: Its Uses to the Municipality. (Library Journal, 1903, p. 293.) 329 JOHN SHAW BILLINGS.

The Library: a Plea for Its Recognition. (International Congress of Arts and Science, St. Louis Exposition. Library Journal, 1904, Conference No., p. 1.) 333 FREDERICK MORGAN CRUNDEN.

The Library as a Factor in Modern Civilization. (Library Journal, 1906, Conference No., p. 18.) 343 WILLIAM HERBERT PERRY FAUNCE.

Part 3

THE PROVISION OF BOOKS 349

The Librarian and His Constituents. (Library Journal, 1886, p. 229.) 351 REUBEN BROOKS POOLE.

The Usefulness of Libraries in Small Towns. (Library Journal, 1883, p. 227.) 359 THERESA HUBBELL WEST.

Address at the Dedication of the University of Pennsylvania Library. (Library Journal, 1891, p. 108.) 365 TALCOTT WILLIAMS.

COLLECTION OF INFORMATION 379

Libraries As Bureaus of Information. (Library Journal, 1896, p. 324.) 381 SAMUEL SWETT GREEN.

The Library Friend. (Library Journal, 1901, p. 197.) 387 WINIFRED LOUISE TAYLOR.

CONTROL AND GUIDANCE OF READING 395

Probable Intellectual and Moral Outcome of the Rapid Increase of Public Libraries. (Library Journal, 1885, p. 234.) 397 BRADFORD KINNEY PIERCE.

Possibilities of Public Libraries in Manufacturing Communities. (Library Journal, 1887, p. 395.) 401 MINERVA AMANDA SANDERS.

Presidential Address, Lake Placid Conference. (Library Journal, 1894, Conference No., p. 1.) 411 JOSEPH NELSON LARNED.

The Library as an Inspirational Force. (Public Libraries, 1899, p. 102.) 419 SAM WALTER FOSS.

The Use of the Public Library; Ryerson Library Dedication Address. (Library Journal, 1904, p. 592.) 425 JAMES BURRILL ANGELL.

COMMUNITY CENTER SERVICE 431

The Library as a Social Centre. (Public Libraries, 1906, p. 5.) 433 GRATIA ALTA COUNTRYMAN.

The Library and the Social Centre. (Wisconsin Library Bulletin, 1911, p. 84.) 439 LUTIE EUGENIA STEARNS.

Where Neighbors Meet. (From St. Louis Public Library report, 1916-17.) 443 MARGERY CLOSEY QUIGLEY.

What of the Future? (Library Journal, 1897, Conference No., p. 5.) 453 FREDERICK MORGAN CRUNDEN.

INDEX 459

THE LIBRARY AND SOCIETY

Recent progress in all directions--political, educational, industrial, hygienic--has been marked by the growth and strengthening of a social consciousness. It is this chiefly that has differentiated the modern library from its predecessors and has made prominent our present insistence on the reader as well as the book, as a fundamental element in what we are doing. At first evident only in a general and somewhat vague recognition, by writers and speakers, of a vital relation between libraries and the communities that they serve, it later crystallized into definite discussions of their reciprocal service--that of the community to the library, consisting of financial, material and moral support expressing itself partly in the appointment of adequate boards of trustees and their proper backing, and that of the library to the community, showing itself largely in the provision of books, the collection of information, the control and guidance of reading, and so-called "community-centre" service. These facts have guided the grouping and sequence of the papers and addresses that make up the present volume. The authors, it will be noticed, include more statesmen, publicists, and professional men, and fewer librarians, than was the case with the two previous volumes, thus reflecting the greater generality and wider interest of the subject.

GENERAL COMMUNITY RELATIONS

In the following group have been included papers and addresses largely by publicists or educators interested in libraries from the general civic standpoint, and affected by the general trend toward what has been termed here "socialization." They have been loosely arranged in three groups--general ideas on the field, function and possibilities of the library, papers on books and their uses, as affected or promoted by the library, and general addresses, chiefly at the opening of library buildings. Within these groups they are given in general in their chronological order, although with some exceptions whose purpose will be self evident. Through them all runs the thread of consciousness that service to the community must be the primary object of the library, although the breadth and extent of that service, as it was destined later to grow and develop is not generally realized and in some cases doubtless would have been deprecated by the writers or speakers, could they have foreseen it. But in all these pronouncements we may clearly see the dawning light of a new library day.

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