MEMPHIS, TENN. Cossitt Library.- Concerning the reported gift for this library, Mr. Carrington Mason writes: It was the purpose of the late F. H. Cossitt, of New York, once a citizen of this place, to donate $75,000 toward a public library in this city. But he died suddenly, and without making any provision for the execution of his purpose in his will. The family, however, being fully advised of Mr. Cossitt's intention, have signified a willingness to make the proposed donation. The fund is not yet in hand, and therefore no steps whatever have been taken toward building, or in the direction of opening a library in hired quarters. It is not likely that we will build soon, unless the benefaction can be considerably added to, in the way of private subscriptions to be made by our own citizens."

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. Public Library. To the full description contained in Mr. Larned's report there is little to add. Mr. Herbert Putnam informs me that, owing, in the first place, to delay on the part of the contractors for the iron-work of the roof, and, in the second place, to the fact that the iron-work, when delivered, was almost wholly a "misfit" and had to be made over, the building, which was to have been completed last fall, will

not be ready till July. He adds: "Two items I may perhaps note-first, that the delay in construction has led to rather increased elaboration of design (the reading-rooms, e. g., are to be finished with mahogany); second, that the cost is to exceed $250,000, instead of being $190,000. The city tax for 1888 (about $35,000) has, for the most part, provided for this. Meantime, we have been gathering books and cataloguing them, so that we shall open the library next fall with at least 30,000 volumes.

MUSKEGON, MICH. Hackley Library. - The description and cut of this fine building in the last number of the Library journal make few details necessary here. Mr. Hackley's gift for a public library was $100,000, afterwards increased to $125,000. Of this sum about $80,000 will be expended upon the building, of which Patton & Fisher, of Chicago, are the architects. It is in the Romanesque style, of pink syenite, with brownstone trimmings, and contains, on the first floor, a delivery-room, 31 x 50 feet, two reading-rooms, a room for a reference library, and a bookroom, 42 x 56 feet, with a capacity of 71,500 volumes, shelved in wall and floor cases. The second story will contain a large lecture-room and a smaller room for a museum or art gallery.

NEW HAVEN, CONN. Free Public Library. The question whether the old State House shall be repaired for the use mainly of the public library is still apparently far from being settled. It was submitted to popular vote more than a year ago, and authority was given to repair, at an expense not exceeding $30,000. The estimates obtained by the committee in charge called for an expenditure of nearly double this sum, and nothing was done. The contest has now resolved itself into one between the friends and the enemies of the State House,- those who wish it repaired and those who wish it removed,-without much regard to the claims of the public library. Meantime, the growth of the library will soon make necessary other and better provision than its present narrow quarters afford.

NEW HAVEN, CONN. Yale University Library. -This building, which will cost $125,000 and is now approaching completion, is the gift of the late Hon. Simeon B. Chittenden, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and a memorial of his daughter, Mary Hartwell Lusk, wife of Dr. Wm. T. Lusk, who died in 1871. The architects are J. C. Cady & Co., 111 Broad

way, New York. The style is early Romanesque and the material brownstone of two shades, from the Longmeadow, Mass., quarries. The construction is thoroughly fire-proof. The floors are of iron and brick, and the roof of iron, covered with terra-cotta blocks and tiles; the outer walls are lined with porous terra cotta, and no wood enters into the construction of floors or ceilings. The staircases and lifts are also in an independent section, shut off by iron doors and solid walls.

The main building, which is 50 feet front by 100 deep, is in three stories of 16 feet each. The reading-room, which adjoins it on the south, is octagonal in shape, and has a diameter of 48 feet. The entrance is through an open porch to a lobby, one story only in height, which opens directly into the delivery-room, and also leads to the reading-room. The front or eastern end of the main floor is occupied by three rooms,-the librarian's and two others,-each 15 x 19 feet. Back of these is the delivery-room, 29 x 46 feet, or, including the lobby, 29 x 62 feet. Hat and coat rooms, which are simply enclosed by screens 8 feet high and the delivery counter, shut off the rest of the floor from the public. Back of these áre cases which will hold 25,000 volumes of the books in most frequent demand, and at the end of the room is a space 11 x 46 feet, where some of the cataloguing will be done. The two upper floors are undivided rooms, with floor and wall cases 7 feet 8 inches high, the space above being reserved, after Mr. Poole's plan, for light and air. Both the floors are magnificently lighted, and have a capacity of 80,000 volumes each, which will be increased by the main floor to about 200,000 in all.

The reading-room will accommodate ninety readers, and on the walls are shelves for 4,000 or 5,000 volumes of books of reference. Among the decorative features is a beautiful and costly memorial window, added by Mr. Chittenden to his original gift. The building is ventilated by a fan driven by an electric motor, and heated by steam; indirect radiation on the first floor, with mixing damp ers attached to all the registers, and direct radiation on the upper floors. Underneath the whole building is a dry and light basement, where books will be received and unpacked.

NEW ORLEANS, LA. Charles T. Howard Memorial Library. A description of the building, with ground plan and elevation, is given in the Library journal for September, 1888. For some further details I am indebted to Mr. Nelson, the Librarian. It was designed by the late H. H. Richardson and completed by his successors, Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge. It was erected by Miss Annie Turner Howard as a memorial to her father, at a cost, including furniture, of about $102,000. The material is "Kibbe" Longmeadow brownstone. The bookroom, 75 x 40 feet, with floor and gallery alcoves, the latter accessible only by staircases placed at the far end of the room, has a capacity of 30,000 volumes; and a circular reading-room, 41 feet in diameter, accommodates So to 100 readers. The interior is elaborately and beautifully finished in quartered oak. The building was completed Dec. 31, 1888, and opened to the public March 4, 1889.

NEWPORT, N. H. Public Library. - Hon. Dexter Richards presented to the town of Newport, Feb. 22, 1889, a new library building, furnished with a library, and a permanent fund of

NEW YORK CITY. Jackson Square Library.— The third branch of the New York Free Circulating Library, opened July, 1888, was the gift of Mr. George W. Vanderbilt. The size, cost, and general arrangement are substantially the same as those of the Bruce library. It is in the Dutch style, and contains, in the third story, apartments for the librarian in charge. The architect was Richard M. Hunt.

NORFOLK, CONN. Norfolk Library.- A charming library building, erected by Miss Isabella Eldridge as a memorial to her parents (her father, Rev. Joseph Eldridge, D. D., died in 1875 after long service as pastor there), was opened for use March 7, 1888. For the present Miss Eldridge retains the ownership, as she also provides for the maintenance of the library; but it is free to all residents, and will ultimately be placed in the hands of trustees for the benefit of the town. The cost of the building was $25,000; the architect George Keeler, of Hartford. The first story is of Longmeadow brownstone; the second story and the roof are covered with Akron tiles. The length of the building is 75 feet, the width from 47 to 27 feet. The library-room is 46 x 27 feet, with a gallery, and is arranged with alcoves, having in all a capacity of about 25,000 volumes. There is a large bay window at the end of the room, but no windows in the lower alcoves, which receive light from the gallery windows through large wells in the gallery floor. The first floor contains also a reading-room, a conversation-room, and a reception hall, all furnished with homelike

the librarian. The library opens with about 2,500 volumes, and yearly additions to the value of $1,000 or $1,500 will be made.

NORTON, MASS. Public Library.-A detailed description of this substantial building, dedicated Feb. 1, 1888, is contained in the Library journal for February, 1888, and more fully, with illustrations, both of the exterior and interior, in a separately published report of the dedication. The walls are of brick and Longmeadow brownstone, rising from a base of Milford granite. The principal dimensions are: library-room, 24 x 34 feet and 18 feet high; reading-room, 15 x 20 feet; librarian's room, II x 14 feet. The books are at present arranged only in wall cases, but later an alcove arrangement and a gallery are contemplated. The cost of the building has not been made public, but $25,000 is thought to be a fair estimate. Stephen C. Earle, of Worcester, was the architect.

OLIVET, MICH. Leonard Burrage Memorial Hall, Olivet College.-The expected cost of the building, designed by Arthur B. Jennings, 145 Broadway, N. Y., is $25,000, of which the donor whose name it bears, contributes $20,000. The material is field stone, chiefly granite boulders, trimmed with Ionia sandstone. The extreme dimensions are 110x 52 feet. The stack, which is of two tiers and fire-proof, is 50 x 36 feet; deliveryroom, 36 x 22 feet; reading-room, 30 x 22 feet; librarian's room, 11 x II feet. The second story contains two rooms, 30 x 22 feet and 18 x 12 feet, for special study. The capacity of the stack is 63,000 volumes. In the basement under the stack and in the attic, provision can be made later for 43,000 volumes more. Another stack can be added in the rear, at right angles with the present stack, which will double the capacity given above. The building is to be completed during the coming winter.

OLNEYVILLE, R. I. Free Library. The Association has received a bequest of land and money, and will build within a year, but the plans have not yet been fully decided upon.

writes me that he proposed to build and equip a library costing $500,000, if the city would appropriate $15,000 a year to carry it on. This the city was unable to do without special legislation, having already exceeded the legal limit of indebtedness. After much delay a bill was passed, and now only awaits an ordinance of the City Council. Meantime, Mr. Carnegie suggested that, as there had been so much delay, it might be better to wait until the Allegheny library was completed on the ground that the second could be built better than the first.

PORTLAND, ME. Public Library.-The new Baxter Building, occupied jointly by the public library and the Maine Historical Society, was dedicated Feb. 21, 1889. It was the gift of James Phinney Baxter. The building, which is of brick and stone, 75 x 100 feet, with a large vault and fireproof room, cost $50,000; the land, $25,000 more. Both the libraries are placed in stacks of four tiers each.

QUINCY, ILL. Free Public Library. - This building, just completed, is fully described, with illustrations, in the Library journal for March, 1889. The funds of the Quincy Library, a subscription library of long standing, and private subscriptions provided for its erection. The cost of the building alone was about $23,000, of the building and lot $35,000. The material is a grayish white limestone, from the neighboring bluffs. The bookroom, which is arranged as a stack of one tier, has a present capacity of 20,000 volumes. A second tier can be added, and there is also space in the rear for a future extension. Patton & Fisher, of Chicago, were the architects.

RALEIGH, N. C. North Carolina State Library. - The library was removed in March, 1888, to the new "Supreme Court and Library Building," an L shaped building, of which the Supreme Court occupies the two lower, and the library the two upper, stories. The reading-room is 40 x 35 feet, and 25 feet high, and the bookrooms have a capacity of at least 100,000 volumes.

RIDGEWAY, MICH. Jonathan Hall Memorial Library. This is a brick building on a stone foundation, erected by Rufus T. Bush, of Brooklyn, N. Y., as a memorial to the father of Mrs. Bush. The dimensions are 20 x 40 feet, the cost $3,500. It was dedicated Nov. 16, 1887.

RUTLAND, Vт. H. H. Baxter Memorial.- For the following details and a floor plan of this library, erected by the wife and the son of the late H. H. Baxter, I am indebted to the architects, Brunner & Tryon, 39 Union square, W., New York. The building is in the Romanesque style, and built of rock-faced gray marble. It is 48 feet front by 73 feet deep, and contains a bookroom, 27 x 30 feet; two reading-rooms, each 16 x 20 feet; and a librarian's room, 11 x 13, adjoining which is a large fire-proof book closet. The books will be arranged, for the most part, in alcoves around the semi-circular end of the bookroom; while the reading-rooms contain cases for holding prints and folios. The estimated capacity of the shelving is 15,000 volumes; and 8,000 volumes, fine editions in choice bindings, have already been gathered, against the completion of the building, which will be about January next. The library is strictly for reference. The cost of the building is not far

from $25,000.

ST. LOUIS, MO. Mercantile Library.- The place of the present meeting, not less than the description of the building already published in the Library journal for January, 1889, makes further notice here unnecessary. The St. Louis Mercantile Library Association cannot be too warmly congratulated on the possession of its delightful rooms, and a productive property worth, above all encumbrances, $500,000, and on the enterprise which has brought about this happy result.

SALEM, MASS. Public Library. The heirs of the late John Bertram offered to the city his homestead for a public library, on condition that the city should appropriate money for the necessary alterations, for the support of the library, and should raise by subscription, or otherwise, a permanent fund of $25,000. The generous offer was promptly accepted. The value of the gift is estimated at $50,000. The house is of brick with freestone trimmings, and easily adapted to its new use, while the grounds furnish ample room for any needed enlargement in the future. The alterations are nearly completed, at a cost of about $7,500, and it is expected that the building will be occupied next month.