association. The library includes the most complete collection of periodicals and society publications, both American and foreign, and reports of schools in existence. Of special interest to those engaged in research work are a card catalog of more than 50,000 deaf children admitted into special schools in the United States during the nineteenth century; manuscripts containing authentic information concerning 4,471 marriages of persons deaf from childhood and the special schedules of the deaf used by the Census office in 1900 containing detailed information about 89,271 persons returned as deaf or deaf and dumb in the twelfth census of the United States.

Collections of books for the blind are to be found at the National Library for the Blind, Miss Etta J. Giffin, director. A Vaughan press has recently been installed and the printing of books for the blind is now a part of the regular work of the library. All of the operations are conducted by blind persons engaged at regular salaries. There is a reading room for the blind at the Library of Congress in charge of Mrs. Gertrude T. Rider, and at the Soldiers' Home library there are daily readings for the blind.

The Miller library at Forest Glen, Md., while not strictly within the District of Columbia, should be mentioned in connection with Washington libraries. It was the private library of J. De Witt Miller, the original of Leon Vincent's essay, "The bibliotaph." Mr. Miller's books were literally buried in various places until finally in 1901 his friends, Mr. and Mrs. John Irving Cassidy, built a library for him at the National Park Seminary at Forest Glen, Md. There are about 22,000 volumes in the library, including many association books and autographed copies. Mr. Miller was a devoted Johnsonian, and collected everything relating to Johnson and his biographer. Since Mr. Miller's death in 1912 the library has been used by the students of the seminary, who are given a course of twenty hours per week in the

use of the library and in library methods.

The Library of Congress has been described so well and so often that a detailed account of it is not called for here. It will not be amiss, however, to refer to a few important recent developments of its special collections. The music division, under the direction of Mr. O. G. T. Sonneck, takes rank with the finest musical libraries in the world-with the collection in the British Museum, the collection in the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, and the collections at Berlin and St. Petersburg. The map division, under Mr. P. Lee Phillips, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, also ranks among the most complete in the world. It contains 390,489 sheet maps, 5,193 atlases and 404 manuscripts. The division of manuscripts, with the papers of most of the presidents and of a great many public men, is of primary interest to all students investigating the source material for the history of our country. At the present time the prints division, which already contains 260,000 pieces, is being developed by Dr. Rice, professor emeritus of Williams College.

SECOND GENERAL SESSION

The second general session was called to order by President Anderson Tuesday evening, May 26, at the Continental Memorial Hall.

The following reports of officers and committees were submitted, nearly all of them being in print and read only by title.

SECRETARY'S REPORT

The secretary has the honor to submit herewith his fourth annual report on the work at the executive office and the fifth report since the establishment of headquarters in Chicago. It is our pleasant duty once more to record sincere appreciation of the excellent quarters so generously and gratuitously furnished to the Association by the directors of the Chicago public library, which we have occu

pied since the autumn of 1909. As heretofore, free light, free heat, and free janitor service have been supplied in addition to the use of a large and commodious room containing 2,000 square feet of space. During the past summer the walls and ceiling were cleaned and redecorated by the Chicago public library.

Work at the Executive Office-The work at headquarters has been conducted along similar lines as in previous years. Activities may be roughly grouped as follows:

(a) Editing and publishing the official Bulletin, issued bi-monthly, through which the membership is kept informed of the plans and work of the Association and its committees. One number is entirely devoted to the Proceedings of the annual meeting, and another to the Handbook, containing lists of officers, committees, members, etc.

(b) Editing and publishing the A. L. A. Booklist, a monthly guide to the selection and purchase of the best of the current books. This work is conducted by an editor (Miss May Massee) and a corps of assistants, who devote their entire time to this periodical.

(c) Publishing and sale of all publications of the Association.

(d) Correspondence on all phases of library work, the executive office acting, so far as it is able, as a clearing house of library information.

(e) Co-operation with the Association committees, library commissions, state library associations and library clubs and other national educational and civic associations.

(f) Promoting better library architecture by collecting and loaning plans of library buildings.

(g) Promoting general publicity of the aims and activities of the Association and library work at large.

Section (d), Correspondence, is by far the heaviest single feature of the work

and very properly so. During the year about 21,000 letters have been mailed from the office, in addition to about 20,000 pieces of circular matter, and the publications which have been sold.

Membership-When the Handbook was printed last September there were 2,563 members in the Association, of whom 372 were institutional, 2,087 personal, and the balance honorary members, life fellows, or life members. Since the first of the year the customary vigorous and steady campaign for new members has been conducted. Special efforts have been directed to library trustees in the endeavor to convince them that library membership in the national Association for the libraries in their care is desirable. This has resulted in securing thus far 45 additional institutional members. In March a circular addressed to library trustees, inviting them personally to join the Association, was sent to all the principal library boards of the country through the medium of the librarian. Only about a dozen trustees, however, have joined the Association as a result of this appeal. Since the first of the year 191 new personal members have been enrolled, making a total of 236 new members, institutional and personal, since the printing of the 1913 Handbook. Judging from past experience, from 100 to 150 will probably join between now and the close of the Washington conference and from 150 to 200 persons will allow their membership to lapse. Thus the approximate number of members in the 1914 Handbook will probably be about 2,750. We look forward to the day when we shall have fully 3,000 members. We hoped to attain this result in 1914; now we still hope for its achievement in 1915. Members of the Association have been most helpful in recommending library friends for membership. This we appreciate, for additional members mean additional funds for prosecuting the work of the Association, and we trust the members will continue to assist us in increasing the roll.

Publicity-Increased efforts for publicity have been made this past year. Mr. W. H. Kerr, who is much interested in the subject, presented, at request of the president and the secretary, a report to the Council at their mid-winter meeting. The president later appointed a committee on publicity, consisting of Messrs. F. C. Hicks, W. H. Kerr and G. F. Bowerman. This committee has engaged an experienced newspaper man who has aided in preparing news material and getting it on the wires and in the press, and who I will serve the Association until the close of the Washington conference. The executive Board made an appropriation of $100 for publicity work at their January meeting. The secretary has sent out several circular letters to libraries asking cooperation in securing news and in getting it in the hands of the newspapers. Publicity committee, through Dr. George F. Bowerman, secured the preparation and publication of a series of five syndicated articles on library work, written by the well-known correspondent, Frederic J. Haskin. Miss Plummer made a plea at the Council meeting in January for a campaign of publicity through magazines and we hope some magazine articles on library work may result. In addition to these extra features the secretary has as usual sent material at various times to a selected list of newspapers and periodicals throughout the United States and Canada.

The

Field Work-The field work of the secretary during the past year has include attendance and addresses at the Ohio Library Association conference at Oberlin, October 7-10; the North Carolina Library Association conference at Washington, N. C., November 5-6; the Arkansas Library Association meeting at Pine Bluff, Ark., April 2-3; lectures on the work of the Association to the University of Illinois Library School, the Library School of the Carnegie Library of Atlanta, the summer

library schools of the Connecticut Library Commission, the Iowa Library Commission, the University of Wisconsin, and to the District of Columbia Library Club; and several informal talks in Chicago and vicinity.

The transference of the editorial work of the A. L. A. Booklist from Madison to the A. L. A. office in Chicago was made in the summer of 1913 and by erecting suitable partitions in the large room occupied by the Association very comfortable and convenient quarters have been provided.

We need more plans of new types of library buildings. Some effort has been made by correspondence and direct personal request to secure these. The office will appreciate and can use to advantage any good plans which librarians, trustees, or architects feel disposed to donate.

The secretary has been making an effort to secure a photograph of every expresident of the Association. Eleven have been secured thus far, and these have been framed and hung on the walls at headquarters. Group pictures of eight or ten conferences have also been donated and these have also been hung. Particular mention must be made of the gift from Mr. Henry M. Utley of framed groups of San Francisco, 1891, Denver, 1895, and several other interesting and valuable unframed photographs of early conferences and post-conference parties.

The various committees of the Association, standing and special, have been active in discharging their assigned duties, and the secretary has co-operated with them in all ways possible, but as each committee reports from time to time to the proper authorities the relation of this committee work does not fall within the province of the report of the secretary.

The duties at the headquarters office, as elsewhere stated in this report, include the executive work of the Publishing Board, which requires approximately onehalf of the time of the secretary and his

staff. The particulars of this feature of the work of the office are told in the report of the Publishing Board.

Necrology-The Association has lost by death twelve members since the conference of a year ago. The list includes two ex-presidents of the Association; three prominent library trustees, one of whom was a trustee of the A. L. A. Endowment fund; a pioneer in library commission and extension activities; and others who had done faithful work in their respective fields and who will long be missed from our professional circle.

The list follows:

Eliphalet Wickes Blatchford, trustee of the Newberry and the John Crerar libraries from their foundation, and president of the former, and one of Chicago's oldest and most philanthropic citizens, died January 25, 1914. Member since 1878 (No. 162); attended conference of 1893.

John L. Cadwalader, president of the board of trustees of the New York public library, and a trustee of the old Astor library from 1879, died March 11, 1914. It was he who brought about the consolidation of the latter library with the Lenox library and the Tilden Trust, and who induced the city to build the Fifth Avenue building. Member since 1906 (No. 3965); attended no conferences.

William George Eakins, chief librarian of the Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto, died December 21, 1913. Memb since 1893 (No. 1082); attended conferences of 1893, 1903, 1912, and International, London, 1897.

Frank Avery Hutchins, first secretary of the Wisconsin free library commission, for years the inspirer of librarians and the pillar of library strength in Wisconsin, a pioneer in library extension, died January 26, 1914. Member since 1893 (No. 1173); attended conferences of 1893, 1896, 1898-1902, 1908 (8). See Library Journal, 39:204; Public Libraries, 19:109.

William C. Kimball, president of the board of trustees of the Passaic, N. J., public library, president of the New Jersey public library commission, and a trustee of the A. L. A. Endowment fund since 1908, died January 17, 1914. Mr. Kimball was a councillor of the A. L. A., 1905-10, and a member of several committees. Member since 1897 (No. 1629); attended conferences of 1897, 1902-08, 191213 (10). See Library Journal 39:110, 205; Public Libraries, 19:110.

Josephus Nelson Larned, for twenty years (1877-1897) chief librarian of the Buffalo public library; president of the A. L. A. 1893-94, presiding at the Lake Placid conference; and widely known as an historical scholar and writer, died August 15, 1913. Dr. Larned was a charter member of the A. L. A., joining in 1876 (No. 51). He attended 15 conferences, those of 1879, 1881-83, 1885-88, 1892, 1894, 1896-98, 1900, 1903.

Richard A. Lavell, assistant librarian of the Minneapolis public library, a young man of exceptional professional promise, died November 28, 1913. Member since 1908 (No. 5228); attended 1908 confer

ence.

Elizabeth Cheever Osborn (Mrs. Lyman P.), librarian of the Peabody (Mass.) historical society, and a familiar and popular figure at our conferences and on our post-conference trips, died February 11, 1914. Member since 1900 (No. 2083); attended conferences of 1900, 1902-3, 190506, 1908-10, 1913 (9).

Joseph R. Parrott, president of the board of trustees of the Jacksonville, Fla., free public library, since its establishment, died in the summer of 1913. Member since 1911 (No. 5071). He attended no conferences.

Mary Abbie Richardson, assistant in the Wesleyan University library, Middletown, Conn., died December 8, 1913. Member since 1891 (No. 891); attended conferences of 1892-95, 1897, 1900 (6).

Reuben Gold Thwaites, superintendent of the Wisconsin historical society, author of many scholarly and popular books, widely known editor of historical documents, prominent in historical as well as library circles, president of the A. L. A., 1899-1900, died October 22, 1913. Member since 1889 (No. 756), life member since 1911; attended conferences of 1889, 1893-94, 1896, 1898-99, 1900-01, 1903-04, 1906, 1908-10, 1912-13 (16).

William Hopkins Tillinghast, for many years assistant librarian of Harvard College library, died August 22, 1913. Member since 1892 (No. 948); attended conferences of 1894, '96, '98, 1900, '02, '09.

The following persons formerly belonged to the Association but were not members at the time of their death:

Mrs. Martha H. G. Banks, member of the first class in Library School and employed in various eastern libraries, died September 23, 1913. Joined 1888 (No. 713); attended conferences of 1892, 1898, 1902.

Samuel A. Binion, author, translator, traveler, died January 8, 1914. Joined 1890 (No. 794) and attended conference of that year.

Marvin Davis Bisbee, formerly librarian

of Dartmouth College, died August 28, 1913. Joined 1890 (No. 820); attended conferences of 1890, 1898, 1902, 1909.

Minta I. Dryden, formerly librarian of Dayton (0.) public library, died July 29, 1913. Joined 1895 (No. 1372); attended

no conferences.

Lucian Brainerd Gilmore, assistant librarian of the Detroit public library, died June 17, 1913. Joined 1891 (No. 905); attended conferences of 1891, 1898, 1902, 1907.

George W. Peckham, formerly librarian of the Milwaukee public library, died January 10, 1914. Joined 1896 (No. 1438); attended conferences of 1897, 1899, 190203, 1905-08.

William Marshall Stevenson, formerly librarian of the Allegheny Carnegie 11brary, died January 11, 1914. Joined 1893 (No. 1151); attended conferences of 189394, 1897-98, 1901, and International, London, 1897.

Philip R. Uhler, formerly librarian of the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Md., died October 21, 1913. Joined 1879 (No. 266); attended conferences of 1879, 1881, 1892. GEORGE B. UTLEY,

Secretary.

. $3,392.65 4,869.15 175.00 22.17