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SIMSBURY, CONN. Free Library.- A brick building, costing $10,000, the gift of Amos R. Eno, will be completed in July. The extreme dimensions are 51 x 36 feet. For the bookroom, 20 x 48 feet, wall cases will be used for the present, and later alcoves, with a capacity of 8,000 volumes. In the second story are living-rooms for the librarian. The building is in the colonial style, and was designed by Melvin H. Hapgood, of Hartford.

SPENCER, MASS. Sugden Library.― Richard Sugden has presented to the town a library building, costing $25,000. The basement is granite, the walls above of brick with Longmeadow brownstone trimmings. The main building is 32 x 60 feet, with a projection in front II x 39 feet. Details of the plans, which were drawn by H. D. Wadlin, of Boston, are given in the Library journal for July, 1888, and a cut in the number for November. It will be arranged at first for 10,000 volumes, but by the use of the gallery the capacity can be increased to 30,000.

SPRINGFIELD, O. Public Library. In the Library journal, May, 1887, the announcement was made that Benjamin H. Warder had purchased, for $12,000, a lot, and on this lot and the one adjoining, the two having a frontage of 100 feet and a depth of 150 feet, would erect a handsome stone building, at a cost of not less than $50,000, which, with the ground, would be donated to the city on the condition that it be used as a public library. The building, the plans for which were drawn by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, is now in course of erection.

22 x 25 feet. In the bookroom, 70 x 50 feet, there is a novel arrangement of the stacks, which are two in number, 12 feet wide and 3 tiers high, and are placed one on each side of the room, with tables for readers between them, much as in the ordinary alcove plan. The capacity of the stack is 150,000 volumes, and in the upper rooms shelves can be provided for 50,000 volumes more. The cost of the building, of which A. Russell, of Syracuse, was the architect, is between $40,000 and $50,000.

STOCKTON, CAL. Free Public Library. A new building, 50 x 80 feet, of brick and granite, was opened for use Feb. 18, 1889. It is in two stories, but only the first is at present fitted up for use. The cost was $11,050, of which $5,000 was a gift from Frank Stewart. The bookroom and reading-room are in one, separated only by a railing and counter, the books placed in wall cases and movable floor cases.

TOLEDO, O. Public Library.—The new building, the completion of which is expected in September, is of brick with stone trimmings, and of fire-proof construction throughout. The extreme dimensions are 140 x 70 feet, reading-room 34 x 53 feet, reference-room 16 x 46 feet, librarian's room 15 x 20 feet. The bookroom, 37 x 83 feet, has at present only a stack of one tier, but with additional tiers its capacity will be 120,000 volumes. The cost of the building is $65,000. E. O. Fallis, to whom I am indebted for the foregoing details, is the architect.

SYRACUSE, N. Y. Von Ranke Library of Syracuse University.—The new library building, which Dr. J. A. Reid made the condition of his gift of the Von Ranke library, was completed April 1. The terms of the gift called for a fire-proof building, but this seems to be at best only of the slowburning order of construction. The material is brick, and the dimensions, 90 x 50 feet, with an L,

WASHINGTON, D. C. Library of Congress.By the action of Congress at the close of the last session, the long dispute over the plans of our national library building has undoubtedly been finally put to rest, and the building will now go on without further interruption. The general plan of Mr. Smithmeyer is retained, but it has been stripped of some of its more questionable features and considerably reduced in expense. This much of good, at least, has been accomplished by the discussion which started in our Association. Of the two plans submitted by Gen. Casey, one providing for a building costing $4,000,000, the other $6,000,000, both agreed in retaining essentially unchanged the central building with its reading-room, and both omitted the greater part of Mr. Smithmeyer's labyrinth of stacks and courts, reducing the former to one-third their total length, and the latter from ten to four. The $4,000,000 plan further shortened the length of the front and materially lessened the capacity of the building, making it sufficient only for the probable growth of fifty-four years. Since the building would, on either plan, be incapable of enlargement, there can, I think, be little doubt that Congress chose wisely in adopting the higher limit, which gives to the exterior walls their original dimensions, and to the building the longer lease of 134 years. Mr. Spofford writes under date of April 16: "Some modifications of

interior arrangements will be made. All the difficulties and dissensions are happily out of the way, and the work of laying granite on the already finished concrete foundations begins this month."

WASHINGTON, GA. Mary Willis Library. Dr. Francis T. Willis, a native of Washington, but now residing in Richmond, Va., has given to his native place, as a memorial of his daughter, a library building, costing about $14,000, with an endowment fund of $10,000, and $1,000 worth of books. The building is of brick on a granite foundation, the dimensions 44 x 60 feet. The library was opened May 1, 1889.

WILKESBARRE, PA. Osterhout Free Library.The library building, originally a church, cost, with

the necessary alterations, about $10,000. The di mensions of the main building are 93 x 48 feet; of the rear building, 35 x 45 feet. The bookroom has a present capacity of 27,000 volumes, with room for additional cases. The library was opened for use Jan. 29, 1889.

WEST CHESTER, PA. West Chester Library Association. A building containing on the first floor library-rooms, and on the second floor a lecture-room, was completed April 1, 1888, at a cost of $6,000. The first story is of brick with granite trimmings; the second story frame and plaster. The architect was T. Roney Williamson, of Philadelphia.

REPORT ON INDEX TO PORTRAITS, ETC.

BY R: R. BOWKER.

POOLE'S Index to Periodical Literature, it has often and most truly been said, has doubled the working value of every collection of periodicals in the libraries which are so wise as to make adequate use of this help. The proposed Fletcher Index to general literature will be scarcely less useful in opening the wealth of treasures on specific subjects massed in collected works or in books of general title. It has been suggested that the third of this series of publications should be the index to portraits, and possibly to views and designs, which I suggested a good many years ago, and upon the feasibility of which I was deputed at the Catskill meeting to report at this conference. The report is not now so full as I would like to make it, as the general request through the columns of the Library journal for information as to work which is being done in this line has not called out many responses, and I have not been able personally to fire as many interrogation points into all possible corners of the library field as our friend Mr. Bardwell has done in regard to scrap-book work. Indeed, most of the portrait indexing of which I have learned, is the result of private enterprise rather than of library work; and the offers of coöperation, should such an enterprise be

undertaken, have also come chiefly from the same direction. This report, therefore, will be rather a preliminary than a final one, and I trust that the larger representation of the library profession at this conference will give the means of presenting through the Library journal, or at another conference, a more adequate statement of the work of this sort already in hand.

The Index Society of Great Britain, of which many American librarians were members, included some such scheme in its early prospectus, but nothing seems to have been accomplished in this direction beyond the indexes by E. Sully, of portraits in the European magazine, London magazine, and Register of the times, each in a separate alphabet, included in Vol. 4 of its publications (1879), and the indexes by Robert Bowes, of Cambridge, of portraits in the "British gallery of portraits," "Jordan's portrait gallery," "Knight's gallery of portraits," and "Lodge's Portraits," in Vol. 7 (1880),- all of these being separate alphabetical indexes to the several periodicals or works mentioned. Mr. H. B. Wheatley, the Secretary of the society, proposed an index of painted portraits, and an index of engraved British portraits was also planned. The society has, nevertheless, confined itself mostly to indexes of obituaries and special local work of less interest on this side of the water. The seven indexes mentioned, how

ever, provide a protoplasmic germ for such an index as is under consideration.

Linderfelt three years since planned a general index to portraits and views of places in Harper's weekly, Frank Leslie's, London Graphic, London illustrated news, Illustrirte Zeitung, Ueber Land und Meer, and L'Illustration, but has only completed a few volumes of Harper's weekly.

Considerable material for the indexing of American portraits is comprised in the collections for editorial purposes of the great illustrated papers. In the Harper editorial rooms, for instance, a catalogue is kept up to date of all portraits engraved in each of the four illustrated periodicals of that house; and a similar index exists, I believe, in connection with Frank Leslie's illustrated publications. The Harper establishment also has an index partially in shape for the considerable collection of photographic and other portraits which it has not so far engraved, but which it holds in readiness for that purpose; but this, of course, is outside the sphere of the index proposed. Mr. S. H. Horgan, of the American Press Association, which supplies portraits for newspapers throughout the country, keeps also for commercial purposes a very large collection of portraits in duplicate. He obtains two copies of all illustrated periodicals, one for binding, the other for cutting. The portraits cut out are filed in a cabinet letter file, just as letters would be treated; and the bound files are indexed, as to living men and women, in one of the Burr ledger indexes. Mr. Geo. J. Hagar, of Newark, N. J., who supplies much biographical material for "Appleton's Annual Cyclopædia " and for press purposes otherwise, keeps a portrait collection similarly arranged in connection with his notes concerning living persons, and has also a card index to all portraits in Harper's weekly and in Frank Leslie's. He, it will be seen, has duplicated in considerable measure the work done at Harper's and Frank Leslie's editorial offices and by the American Press Association. But this duplication can scarcely be avoided, as the material of most value in these cases is the latest, which would be outside the possibilities of any bound book.

Most of the bibliographical dictionaries and even such works as Champlin & Perkins's "Cyclopedia of painting and paintings" and Mrs. Clements' books, are singularly deficient in giving clues to the portraits of people of whom they give sketches. On the other hand there is some printed material in such publications as the “List of portraits of Washington," etc., and I may refer also, in connection with views, to Mr. Whitney's index to portraits of library buildings, which you have noted in the Boston Library bulletins and in the Library journal.

In regard to portraits in books, Mr. Bunford Samuel, one of the assistant librarians of the Library Company of Philadelphia, has "been through, roughly speaking, about 13,000 volumes on the shelves of the Ridgway Branch with a result of about 4,500 portraits." Mr. Cutter has had under way at the Boston Athenæum an index to portraits and engravings of pictures in the art works in his important library, now extending to between 5,000 and 10,000 portraits. The index of maps, etc., at the Harvard Library, made by Mr. Bliss, and the index of designs started by Miss Sargent at Lowell, may also be referred to. Mr.

I trust that the reading of this report at the Conference will give other clues as to the directions in which to seek further information. I am not sure, in fact, but that the only net result of the investigation which I was directed to undertake will be in presenting a list of work which is being done in this direction, with the view of enabling those seeking information to know where to ask for it, exchanging results instead of duplicating work. The main question, of course, is the feasibility of printing such an index to portraits (and possibly of views) as is proposed, and I fear it would be almost impracticable to find a commercial basis for the undertaking. Its utility would be very great to a number of publishing houses, especially proprietors of illustrated periodicals, and in some libraries. But these probably would not translate their need for such an index into a considerable amount of money, and it does not seem probable that outside of perhaps 100 libraries the demand for such a work would be sufficient to justify any considerable investment. "Poole's Index," in its 1,442 pages, contains above 150,000 entries; "Phillips's Dictionary of biographical references," in the 987 pages of the main alphabet, includes about 100,000 entries. The number of persons of whom painted or engraved portraits exist, can only be guessed at-possibly a guess of 50,000 would be as near as any, and in some cases there would be over 100 portraits to be referred to. Even if the index were confined to portraits which are a part of books, excluding both individual engravings and painted portraits in galleries, a volume of from a third to a half the size of "Poole's Index" would probably be

required, and I have grave doubts whether the mechanical cost of such a volume could be provided for by the subscriptions likely to be received, and some doubt as to whether the editorial labor would meet with sufficient return, not in money, but in the usefulness of the index. On this last

point, however, the librarians here in conference will be better qualified to judge, and I trust this report will serve the double purpose of bringing out information as to other work of the kind in progress, and an opinion as to the value of such an index, if it can be made.

For the discussion on this paper, see PROCEEDINGS (Third session).

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SUNDAY OPENING OF LIBRARIES.

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BY MARY SALOME CUTLER, NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY.
be run on the "town-pump
principle, and
will point us to the fact that the Boston Athe-
næum has been open on Sunday for seventy-
five years, and that Harvard College Library,
an acknowledged leader, has opened its doors
from 1 to 5 on Sunday, since Oct. 3, 1880,
with a growing use from that day to this.
They will also remind us that this action was
approved by Phillips Brooks, in his capacity
as Chairman of the Board of Overseers.
the same time there is a clear distinction be-
tween libraries for scholars and libraries for
the mass of people; between working libra-
ries (mental laboratories) and those designed
for recreation and general culture. Argu-
ments which obtain for opening the one do
not hold good for the other. We therefore
choose not to complicate the matter by a
minor issue, but to ask ourselves in all seri-
ousness the practical question: Should free
libraries be open on Sunday?

UR theme has the advantage of being an
unhackneyed one, at least in the ordi-
nary channels of library discussion. With
the exception of a single casual mention at
the Thousand Isles, it has never before been
brought up at a meeting of the American
Library Association. The Government Re-
port, our text-book of library science, contains
no mention of it. The index to the Library
journal gives us forty-three references to the
subject, but only three to an article covering
more than a single page. It has no mention
in the ten numbers of Library notes. In 1877,
while entertaining their American cousins, the
British librarians had a little informal talk on
this subject. In 1879, a Sunday opening
motion was withdrawn by Mr. Axon, in def-
erence to the feelings of the opposition, and
in the three following years similar motions
were tabled without discussion. (See Library
journal, v. 2, p. 274-5; v. 4, p. 420; v. 5, p.
265-6; v. 6, p. 258; v. 7, p. 231.) However
this may be accounted for, we would claim for
it an important place among the practical
problems that must be solved by the modern
librarian in raising his library to the highest
power of usefulness.

We propose to-day to narrow the discussion to the consideration of public libraries, though we have gathered statistics including other classes. Much that will be said applies to libraries in general; moreover, the various kinds shade into each other, e. g., the proprietary often does the same work as the free public. The strongest advocates of the plan will try to convince us, with at least some show of reason, that even libraries for scholars should

We are met at the outset by the statement that the plan proposed is a dangerous step, because its inevitable tendency is to secularize the Sabbath. It is looked upon as the opening wedge, which would lead gradually to a breaking down of the day of rest. From the libraries and art galleries to the museums is a single step, and by and by the lowering of public conscience will call for Sunday concerts, and a little later Sunday theatre going will be looked on with complacence. Meanwhile, if men must work that others may be amused, the passion for gain will soon demand increase of labor in other directions. They picture to us the French Sunday, a Sabbath only in name and in reality

a seventh day of labor, and with this in mind we feel that those who have these matters in hand should think twice before running any risk of such a consummation.

In Cardiff, Wales, where there is a free library and museum, an offer was made of a valuable donation of pictures, on condition that the picture gallery be kept open on Sunday. The reply of the committee (after refusing to call for the opinion of the tax-payers) expresses the sentiment of that large class of earnest and conscientious citizens who oppose such movements :-" Resolved, that in the opinion of this committee, seeing the logical issue of opening museums on Sunday must involve an enormous increase in Sunday labor, and so lead to the virtual enslavement of working men and to the prejudice of national interests, it is undesirable to accept the offer of Col. Hill on the condition named."

2. Because it tends surely to secularize the Sabbath.

3. Because the working man does not want it.

From what has been said, we may perhaps see that these various objections appear to us weak or weighty, according to our idea of Sunday itself, and that, in fact, the whole Sunday question is involved in this discussion. If, therefore, we would come to an honest and reasonable conclusion, we must not shrink from facing this much vexed and perplexing subject of dispute. Suppose we inquire what is the purpose of Sunday and what is the purpose of establishing libraries.

This is the position taken by Bishop Potter, in an admirable article in the New Princeton review for 1886 (v. 2, p. 37-47), an article which seems to me one of the best presentations of this side of the Sunday question. It shows an entire absence of the Pharisaical spirit and a thoughtful consideration of the best interests of the laboring class. He makes a strong point of the claim that the working men themselves do not desire Sunday opening. This feeling is expressed by a vote taken in England in 1882, where, he says, 62 trades unions, representing 45,482 members, voted in favor of Sunday opening, while 2,412 societies and 501,705 members voted against such opening; and further by the opinion of such men as Broadhurst and Mundella, who were originally working men, and stand in the House of Commons as representatives of that class. Both of these men opposed the motion before Parliament to open national museums and libraries on the day of rest, the stand taken by them largely influencing the vote (208 to 84) which defeated the measure.

Summing up the objections, we would say that Sunday opening is opposed by many of our best citizens:

1. Because it compels additional Sunday labor.

Is it not true that there are two well-defined and distinct conceptions of Sunday observance, and also two equally well-defined and distinct conceptions of libraries?

Rest from bodily labor in the strictest sense, and a day devoted to purely religious exercises, is the ideal Sunday of the Jew, the Puritan, and of a large body of Protestant Christians of our time. An investigation of our early State laws shows a legislation on the subject very nearly uniform in its purpose, in its prohibitions and penalties. Ordinary work, business, travel, recreation, fishing, hunting, visiting, riding, driving cattle, walking in the fields, loitering, selling liquor, and using tobacco were restricted; church-going was commanded, and punishments like fines, whipping, putting in the stocks, cutting off ears, and imprisonment were rigidly inflicted. During the early days of Virginia history, before the organization of the General Assembly, absence from church was visited with a night's imprisonment and a week's slavery; for the second offence, a month's slavery, and for the third, a year and a day. (See Cooke, John Esten. Virginia, 1883, p. 112.) Passing by the severity of those early days and coming down to the New England Sunday two or three generations ago, we find the same idea in a milder and more attractive form. Perhaps some of us have spent a Sabbath in one of those old New England towns where the modern spirit of inquiry and doubt has not yet penetrated. An air of peace and calm pervades the place. The church-going,

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