Ube Ibarvarb University library 
A SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY AND 
ITS BENEFACTORS, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF ITS INFLUENCE 
THROUGH TWO AND A HALF CENTURIES 
BY 
CHARLES KNOWLES BOLTON ' 
ZVT 
Reprinted from the New England Magazine 
for December, 1893 
CAMBRIDGE 
tSvaijec feenrp 
1894 THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY.1 
Charles Knowles Bolton. 
WITH the death of John Har- 
vard at Charlestown, Sept. 14, 
1638, the history of a library 
at Harvard College may be said to begin. 
For it was his will that one half of his 
property and all his books should go to 
the school or college at Cambridge, to- 
ward which little had as yet been done 
heading runs : "Catalogus Librorum quos 
dedit Dominus Hervertus (Harvardus) 
Collegij hujus Patronus." From these 
titles we draw the only knowledge which 
we have of the taste and learning of the 
owner. Here are the works of Aquinas, 
Beza, Chrysostom, Calvin, Luther; the 
books of this character comprise sixty- 
two per cent of the whole collection. 
Bacon's Essays, John Robinson's Essays, 
Heylin's Geography, and Camden's 
"Remains" show a broader interest; 
while the classics, and Quarles' Poems, 
Chapman's Homer, "Poetarum Flores," 
"Thesaurus Poeticus," with other similar 
titles, add to our impression of the 
man. The entry, " Bayles directions for 
health," may imply precautions which 
availed little in our rigorous N ew England 
climate. One book mentioned in the list 
as " Downam his Warfare " still exists, hav- 
ing been borrowed, probably, from the 
library a short time before the fire in 
1764. It bears the title "The Christian 
Warfare against the Deuill World and 
Flesh." London, 1634.2 
Let us see for a moment how it hap- 
pened that the young minister dying of 
consumption was able to leave to the 
college 17J. and a valuable 
beyond the appointment of twelve promi- 
nent men "to take order for a college." 
In a manuscript book still preserved, 
President Dunster has given a state- 
ment of the contents of John Har- 
vard's library. There are two hundred 
and fifty entries, comprising over three 
hundred books, - a catalogue of the 
first college library in America. The 
2 The titles mentioned in the fac-simile (given on page 
436) of part of President Dunster's list of Harvard's books 
are: - 
1. Ambrosii Dixionarium. 
2. Antonius & Gralerus in Senecam. 
3. Abernethyes physick for the Soule. 
4. Analysis Apocalypseos. 
5. Anglorum prselia. 
6. Aquinatis opera conclusiones. 
7. Aynswort's workes. 
8. Amesii Theologiae Medulla de consc. In Epistolas 
Petri. Contra. Armin. Bellarminus Enervatus. 
9. Augustini Meditationes, opa. 
10. Alstedii Physia Harmonia, Compendium Theologiae. 
11. Apeius in Nov. Testamt. 
12. Anatomy Arminianisme. 
13. Anchorani porta linguarum. 
14. Actus Synodi Nationalis. 
15. Acta Synodalia. 
16. Aschami Epistolae. 
17. Arraingmt of the whole Creature. 
18. Alicati Emblemata. 
19. iEsopi Fabulae. 
20. JEgidius in Arist. Philos. & Metaph. 
21. Academia Gallica. 
22. BaaiAocov Soipov. 
23. Bezae Test. N. ad Annotat. Test. Graec. Lat. In 
Epist. ad Galat. Ephe. 
24. Baynes cn Collos. Ephes. 
1 Facts for this sketch of the library have been taken 
from the histories of Harvard by Peirce, Quincy, S. A. 
Eliot, and W. R. Thayer; papers by Justin Winsor, C A. 
Cutter, A. McF. Davis, H. F. Waters, A. B. Hart, and 
others; Sewall's Diary; the " Harvard Book"; Mass. 
Hist. Soc. Proc.; librarians' reports; and the bibliographi- 
cal contributions of the library. I wish to acknowledge, 
also, the courtesy of Mr. Winsor, the librarian, of Mr. 
Wm.H. Tillinghast, the assistant librarian, and of Mr. T. 
J. Kiernan, the superintendent of circulation. They are 
not to be held responsible, however, for any statements 
that I have made. 
ano 434 
THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
library; for this generosity, which de- 
cided the name of the college, started 
springs of benefaction which have never 
ceased to flow. Robert Harvard, butcher, 
overseer of the poor, and warden, in the 
parish of St. Saviour's, Southwark, Lon- 
don, died in 1625, leaving to his son 
John, a lad of seventeen, "To 
bee payd unto him when he shalbee 
accomplish his age of one and Twentie 
yeres." His widow, Katharine, married 
John Elletson, draper, of London, who 
left property to her at his death. Her 
third husband was Richard Yearwood of 
Southwark, grocer. He also remembered 
his wife in his will, Sept. 8, 1632. 
And finally Thomas Harvard, cloth- 
worker, willed that in the event of direct 
heirs failing, his brother John, the future 
benefactor, should receive a substantial 
part of his estate. The profits of the 
butcher, the draper, and the grocer were 
gathered together in the person of Katha- 
rine Harvard, who on July 2, 1625, willed 
to her " eldest sonne John Hervard 
Clarke " rights in the Queen's Head inn, 
the tenements in the parish of " All 
Saintes Barkeing nere unto the Tower of 
London," with in money, and one 
half the residue of her estate after cer- 
tain bequests were paid. It has been 
said in jest that John Harvard's mother 
was our true alma mater. 
Gifts now came from all parts of the 
world. " The Hon'1 Magistrates & Rev'1 
Elders gave . . . out of their own 
libraryes to the vallue of Two hundred 
pounds "; Richard Bellingham gave 
twenty volumes, Rev. Peter Bulkley thirty- 
seven, and three friends of the college 
procured in England gifts of books valued 
at x£t5o- This collection was kept in 
the building erected in 1637 near the 
Harvard College in 1721. 
THE BUILDING ON THE LEFT IS HARVARD HAXL. 
site of the present Wadsworth House, by 
Nathaniel Eaton. Eaton, the first " mas- 
ter," was discharged on account of mis- 
management and cruelty, having given 
Briscoe, his usher, a " gentleman born," 
two hundred stripes about the head. 
President Dunster seems to have taken 
much interest in the library, if we may 
judge by the careful list of John Har- 
vard's books which he made. 
The "old Colledge " was the centre of 
student life, "conteyning a Hall, Kitchen, 
Buttery, Cellar, Turrett & 5 Studyes & 
therein 7 Chambers for students in them, 
a Pantry & small corne Chamber. A 
Library & Books therein, vallued at 
40011." 
In 1655 Sir Kenelm Digby and in 
1658 Sir Richard Daniel are mentioned 
as donors of books. Gov. John Winthrop 
gave a valuable collection in the same 
year; and Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, whom 
Harvard Hall, 1833. THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
435 
Cotton Mather described as "a tree 
of knowledge, so laden with fruit that 
he stooped for the very children to 
pick off the apples ready to drop into 
their mouths," bequeathed all his 
Latin and some of his English books 
to the college. 
March 27, 1667, "Mr Solomon 
Stoddard was chosen Library keeper." 
It was the rule that "No prson not 
resident in the Colledge, except an 
Overseer," and " no Schollar in the 
Colledge, under a Senior" could bor- 
row a book; but a master of arts 
could take books without being re- 
quired to ask permission of the presi- 
dent. In 1675 the entire library of Dr. 
John Lightfoot, the orientalist, came 
to the college by will. It included 
the Targums, Taimuds, Rabbins, and 
other religious works, by the reading 
of which, says Gibbon, " he had be- 
come almost a Rabbin himself." 
The old building had now begun to 
leak and decay. Forty-four towns 
subscribed to the New college, later known 
as Harvard Hall. Sir Thomas Temple 
contributed and Sir George 
Downing, a graduate in the class of 1642, 
gave Into this building the library 
was moved in August, 1676, Daniel 
Gookin, the librarian, receiving fifty 
shillings for his pains. 
The new building in its turn became 
the centre of college life. In the library, 
which occupied the room over the hall, 
Chief Justice Sewall, Librarian in 1674. 
In 1679 there is a record of " i doz. 
Stooles made for ye Colledge Library " ; 
in 1695 six leather chairs, and six more 
in case the treasury should allow of it; 
and in 1697-98, Mr. Tho. Fitch was paid 
for six Russia chairs. But with this mate- 
rial growth the donations of books kept 
pace. In 1678, Theophilus Gale, D. D., 
bequeathed his library, more than equal 
to all the volumes in the college before ; 
and in 1682, Sir John Maynard, " His 
cf- (QfakfilftJvi■-i 
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Bequest of John Harvard. 
important meetings were held. Here in 
1717, Chief Justice Sewall dined, having 
come out to see about the erection of 
Massachusetts Hall. 
Majesty's sergeant at law," gave eight 
chests of books, valued at 
Sewall, in his diary, April 4, 1689, says : 
" Was Shew'd the Library and Chapel of 436 
THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
Corpus Christi Colledge and the Cellar. 
. . . Library may be ab' the bigness of 
Harvard." Thus through the generosity 
of friends on either side of the Atlantic the 
library had reached a respectable size. 
" 'Tis, I suppose," says Cotton Mather, 
England character was formed. Theology 
and biblical criticism, with an occasional 
work on government and political history, 
dominate the collection. The poems of 
Chaucer, and Parkinson's work on flowers 
and plants, become almost unique in their 
class. That reading in England 
was not limited to works like those 
at Harvard is evident from Thomas 
Hollis's letter to the corporation 
on receiving an address from the 
college to be presented to King 
George II. at his accession. " What 
have courts to do to study Old 
Testament phrases and prophe- 
cies?" he writes; "it is well if 
they read the Common Prayer- 
Book and Psalter carefully." That 
the library was a power at this 
time may be judged from the un- 
favorable notice by Neal, a contem- 
poraneous writer : " The library is 
very defective in modern authors, 
which may be one reason why the 
stile and manner of the New Eng- 
land writers does not equal that of 
the Europeans." 
In relation to the management 
of the library, Mr. Hollis wrote in 
1725: "Your library is reckond 
here to be ill managed, by the ac- 
count I have of some that know it, 
you want seats to sett and read, and 
chains to your valluable books, like 
our Bodleian Library . . . you let your 
books be taken at pleasure home to Mens 
houses, and many are lost." And again : 
"A publick library ought to be furnished, 
if they can, with Con. as well as Pro. - 
that students may read, try, Judg." 
Thomas Hollis, who thus kindly ad- 
vises the college, was the first of six 
benefactors1 of the name who gave gener- 
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Part of First Page of Catalogue of John Harvard Collection. 
" the best furnished that can be shown 
any where in all the American regions." 
And yet, on certain lines, the library 
was curiously deficient. Mr. Weeden 
notes that it "contained in 1723 no 
volume from Addison or his fellows, 
nothing of Locke, Dryden, South, or 
Tillotson; Shakespeare and Milton had 
been acquired recently." It may be that 
the students felt this deficiency and sup- 
plied it according to their own judgment, 
for in the year mentioned above Cotton 
Mather wrote that the students' rooms 
were filled with books, " which may truly 
be called Satan's library." 
In a thin quarto with the title Catalogue 
librorum bibliothecce Collegij Harvardini 
Quod est Cantabrigice in Nova Anglia 
are preserved the titles of some three 
thousand works which formed the college 
library in 1723. By these books New 
Benefactors by the name of Hollis. 
Thomas Hollis, 
1659-1731. Trustee of 
his maternal uncle, 
Robert Thorner, who 
left to Harvard £500. 
John 
Hollis. 
I 
Nathaniel 
Hollis, d. 1738. 
Timothy Hollis, 
who gave money 
to the college. 
Thomas Hollis, 
heir of ist T. H. 
d. 1735- 
Thomas Hollis " of Lincoln's 
Inn," d. 1774. 
His heir, Thomas Brand 
afterward 
Thomas Brand Hollis, 
d. 1804. THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
437 
ously at a time when gifts were doubly 
valued. They had no official connection 
with the college, but admired the courage 
of the early settlers. Some of the books 
given by the Hollis family bore on the 
leather covers owls, or daggers and liberty 
caps, as seemed appropriate to the sub- 
jects of the works. 
During the 17th century nine grad- 
uates served as librarians. Chief Justice 
Sewall, the second librarian, held the 
office for a short time in 1674. During 
the 18th century there were forty-two 
librarians, including President Holyoke 
of Harvard, Mather Byles the younger, 
and Benjamin Prat. In those days the 
names of students were arranged in the 
order of their social position. Prat, who 
became Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the province of New York, stands 
at the foot in a class of thirty-four. 
The Massachusetts Gazette of Thurs- 
day, Feb. 2, 1764, had this article : - 
" Cambridge, January 25th, 1764. 
" Last night Harvard College suffered the most 
ruinous loss it ever met with since its foundation. 
In the middle of a very tempestuous night, a 
severe cold storm of snow, attended with high 
wind, we were awaked by the alarm of fire. 
Harvard Hall, the only one of our ancient build- 
ings which still remained, and the repository of 
our most valuable treasures, the public Library 
where the fire could not be perceived till the whole 
surrounding air began to be illuminated by it. 
When it was discovered from the town, it had risen 
to a degree of violence that defied all opposition. 
It is conjectured to have begun in a beam under the 
Thomas Hollis, 1659-1731. 
hearth in the Library, where a fire had been kept 
for the use of the General Court, now residing 
and sitting here, by reason of the small-pox at 
Boston : from thence it burst out into the library. 
The books easily submitted to the fury of the 
flames, which, with a rapid and irresistible pro- 
gress, made its way into the Apparatus-Chamber, 
and spread through the whole building. In a 
very short time, this venerable monument of the 
piety of our ancestors was turned into an heap of 
ruins. . . . The Library and the Apparatus, which 
for many years have been growing, and were now 
judged to be the best furnished in America, are 
annihilated." 
Following the above is a more detailed 
statement of works lost in the fire. The 
most important of these have been men- 
tioned in the order in which they were 
given. 
From the college library, numbering at 
that time five thousand volumes, the most 
valuable in the country, only one hundred 
books were saved. From these, which 
included one volume from Rev. John Har- 
vard's library, the present college library 
has grown. 
I have given this rather full account of 
the first library, not from any special 
value that its books would have to-day, 
nor from any influence which it could 
have had upon the new library, but be- 
cause it made Cambridge and Boston for 
a century and a half in some respects the 
literary centre of the western world. 
• Thomas Hollis of Lincoln's Inn 
and Philosophical Apparatus, was seen in flames. 
As it was a time of vacation, in which the students 
were all dispersed, not a single person was left in 
any of the Colleges, except two or three in that 
part of Massachusetts most distant from Harvard, 438 
THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
The enormousness of the loss which 
Harvard had sustained aroused the sym- 
pathy of England and the colonies. 
Gov. Bernard, two days later, urged 
upon the House cf Representatives the 
duty which the province owed the col- 
lege, and it was voted to rebuild Harvard 
London, the General Assembly of New 
Hampshire, Rev. George Whitefield, Mr. 
A. Kincaid the king's printer at Edin- 
burgh, Jasper Mauduit of London, Daniel 
Mildred of the same city in behalf of 
a " meeting for the sufferings of the 
Quakers," Barlow Trecothick, aiderman 
of London, the trustees of the 
British Museum, Hon. John 
Hancock, who gave liberally 
and provided a handsome car- 
pet for the library, Thomas 
Hollis, and others. 
This Thomas Hollis, " of 
Lincoln's Inn," had inherited 
from his father the large estate 
of the first benefactor, a great- 
uncle of the same name, and 
also the estate of his grand- 
father, Nathaniel Hollis. He 
gave many thousands of dollars 
worth of books, and seemed to 
take the greatest delight in 
searching out rare works for 
"the public library of Harvard 
College." He left at his death 
in 1774 a fund of five hundred 
pounds for the purchase of 
books. This now amounts to 
$2,400. Mr. Sibley has esti- 
mated that over one fifth 
(2,156 volumes) of the entire 
college library in 1781 had 
been given by Thomas Hollis. 
His heir, Thomas Brand Hol- 
lis, continued his benefactions 
into the nineteenth century. 
The gifts from the Hollis 
family, the brothers, Thomas, 
John, Nathaniel, Nathaniel's 
son and grandson Thomas, and 
the last 'Thomas's heir, Thomas 
Brand Hollis, extended from 
1719 to 1804. The early 
benefactors of the Harvard library in- 
cluded the Catholic Sir Kenelm Digby, 
the Episcopalian Archbishop of York, 
the Methodist George Whitefield, the 
Quaker Daniel Mildred, and the Baptist 
Thomas Hollis. 
In 1766 the new Harvard Hall was 
completed; the library occupied the 
upper room at the western end, and the 
philosophical apparatus the eastern room. 
The chapel was under the library, and 
I' ■ucWjUiijjT' 
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Titlepage of the only remaining Book in the John Harvard Collection. 
Hall out of the public funds. A com- 
mittee of correspondence was formed 
among the graduates to collect subscrip- 
tions. Thomas Hollis, the same year, 
sent fifty-six volumes; and among other 
donors were the Archbishop of York, 
two societies for propagating the Gospel, 
Rev. William Harris of Devonshire, and 
Rev. John Usher of Bristol, R. I. In 
the years following are mentioned : Dr. 
Erskine of Edinburgh, Dr. Fothergill of THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
439 
the dining-room under the philosophical 
room. When University Hall was fin- 
ished in 1815, the chapel and dining- 
and the joy of architects-was encouraged 
by the following rule: " All the great 
donations of books, to the value of fifty 
pounds sterling or upwards, shall be kept 
by themselves, the name of the donors 
being written in large gold letters over 
the donations respectively." This plan 
was followed in the arrangement of Gore 
Hall - the old part - and made a very 
imposing room, with its splendid pillars 
and its groined ceiling. The " two senior 
classes " could borrow any books allowed 
for the common use of the college ; but 
(Rule VI.) " no scholar shall have a right 
to borrow a book out of the library oftener 
than once in three weeks." Three books 
could be taken at a time and kept six 
weeks (Rule VII.) ; and "the librarian 
shall permit the scholars to enter the 
library, not exceeding three at a time." 
Rule XVIII. provides for the library being 
" aired one day in a week at least, and 
swept and dusted once a month or oftener 
if necessary." 
A list of the donors of books, prints, 
portraits, etc., between 1780 and 1840, 
was prepared by Dr. T. M. Harris, libra- 
rian in 1791-1793. It fills seventeen 
pages in Quincy's " History of Harvard 
Thomas Palmer. 
room were removed to that building. 
The library thereafter occupied both 
rooms on the second floor, until its final 
settlement in Gore Hall in 1841. The 
siege of Boston in 1775, however, neces- 
sitated a temporary removal of the books 
to Andover ; from there a part were taken 
to Concord for the use of the students. 
In June, 1776, recitations were resumed 
in Cambridge, and the library was re- 
opened. In an " account of damages 
done to the colleges by the army after 
April 19, 1775," there is a record of 
£2 8t. due the college for damage to the 
library stairs. Under the title " Dona- 
tion of Books by the General Court 
from Sequestred Libraries, April 16, 
1778," the college records give a list 
of over two hundred and fifty volumes 
received from the committee of seques- 
tration. 
In 1790 the collection had grown to 
twelve thousand volumes, and a catalogue 
was printed. The conception of a college 
library one hundred years ago was very 
unlike that held to-day, as may be seen 
by a glance at the " laws " printed in 
1790. The arrangement of books in 
alcoves - the pride of the benefactor, 
Ezra Abbot. 
University," and records one thousand 
names. From the bequest of Samuel 
Shapleigh, librarian 1793-1800, about 440 
THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
$3,000 were realized for the purchase "'of 
modern books in polite literature, poetry 
and prose, but neither in Greek or Latin." 
It may be well to summarize here the 
legacies and gifts from which the library 
now has an income for the purchase of 
books:- 
Legacy from N. I. Bowditch$2,100 
" " J. B. Bright (one half for the 
library =)25,000 
" " Edwin Conant, now . . . 27,700 
" (" Constantins ") from E. A. Soph- 
ocles 26,000 
Gift of children of Mrs. H. J. G. Denny, 
now5,200 
Legacy from Eliza Farrar, now .... 5,250 
Gift of G. W. Wales, annually .... $200 
Legacy from James Walker, now . . . 15,800 
Gift of Roger Wolcott in memory of J. H 
Wolcott10,000 
In 1818, Col. Israel Thorndike pre- 
sented to the college the library collected 
by Prof. Ebeling of Hamburg. This 
contained over 3,000 volumes relating 
to America, besides 10,000 maps and 
charts. The collection of Americana was 
strengthened five years later by the pri- 
vate library of D. B. Warden, American 
consul at Paris, which was given by Sam- 
uel A. Eliot. In 1819, Drs. Jackson, 
Warren, Gorham, Channing, and Bige- 
God had carried us fafeto New England, and wee 
J had buildedourhoufes, provided neceifaries for our 
i li veh-hood,rear'd convenient places for Gods worfhip, 
1 and fetled the Civill Government: One of the next 
things we longed for, and looked after was to advance Leaintng and 
perpetuate it to Pofterity; dreading to leave an illiterate Miniftery 
to the Churches, when our prefent Mimfters fliail liein theDuit. 
Andas wee were thinking and confuiting how toefted this great 
Work ;it pleafed God to ftir up the heart of one Mr. Harvard (a god* 
Jy Gentleman and a lover of Learning, there living amongft us) to 
give the onehalfe of hisEftate (it being in all about 1700.I.) to* 
wards the erecting ofa Colledge, and all hisLibrary: after him anofe 
ther gave 300. 1. others after them call in more, and thepublique 
hand of the State added the reft :• rhe Colledge was, by common 
cenfent, appointed to be at Cambrtdge,(a place very plea fant and ac* 
commodatcj and is called (accordingro the name of the firftfoun- 
dtr) Harvard Colledge, 
From " New England's First Fruits, in respect of the Progress of Learning in the College at Cambridge 
in Massachusetts-bay." 
LONDON, 1643. 
Legacy from H. A. Haven, now .... 3,100 
" " F. B. Hayes10,000 
" " G. Hayward, now .... 5,250 
" " Thomas Hollis, now . . . 2,400 
" " S. Homer, now2,100 
Gift of F. A. Lane, $5,000, now . . . 5,200 
Legacy from J. A. Lowell, now .... 23,000 
" " C. Minot, about .... 60,000 
" " Lucy Osgood7,000 
" " Mary Osgood7,000 
" " F. Sales, now3,917 
Gift of S. Salisbury, $5,000, now . . . 5,250 
Legacy from Mrs. A. E. P. Sever . . . 20,000 
" " S. Shapleigh, now .... 4,000 
G. B. Sohier Fund. Surplus over $250 
from the income of $6,500. 
Subscription Fund, now10,500 
Legacy from Charles Sumner, now . . . 37,350 
Gift of Mrs. Cole in memory of I. Tucker, 5,000 
Legacy from T. W. Ward, now .... 5,205 
low presented a library to the Medical 
School; and at the death of Samuel Liv- 
ermore, in 1833, the Law School came 
into possession of his fine library of for- 
eign law. In 1820, Thomas Palmer, of 
London, bequeathed his collection of 
1,200 volumes for the college library. 
He was a graduate of Harvard. 
An effort now made to have the rules 
of the library changed to allow a more 
general consultation of books received 
the support of the librarian, Charles Fol- 
som, and was partially successful. The 
preparation of a catalogue of the library 
soon after, by Benjamin Peirce, librarian 
from 1826 to 1831, increased its useful- THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
441 
ness. The work was printed in 1830-34, 
and consisted of an author catalogue, with 
a supplement, a subject catalogue, and a 
catalogue of maps and charts. Acces- 
sions were added on long cards, on which 
were written donors' names, with notes 
concerning bindings, etc. This cata- 
logue, still used, is probably the oldest 
card catalogue in the country. 
When the Ursuline Convent, in what is 
now Somerville, was burned by a mob on 
the night of Aug. 11, 1834, the civil 
authorities did little towards suppressing 
the lawlessness. The Roman Catholics 
felt keenly the injustice, and there were 
rumors of retaliation. Among the stories 
in the streets was one to the effect that 
the library of Harvard College would be 
destroyed on a certain night. Franklin 
Dexter headed a party of students and 
graduates secretly brought together to de- 
fend Harvard* Hall. Robert C. Winthrop 
was their " first lieutenant." At dusk 
sentinels were stationed at the windows, 
muskets in hand, ready to renew the 
sounds of war which had not been heard 
within its peaceful walls since the days of 
1775. At one time they sent out a 
waiter - for they fight bravely who eat 
heartily - with a gun to reconnoitre to- 
wards Charlestown and locate the en- 
emy. He returned in disgust, saying that 
he could hear nothing but frogs I At 
another time a horseman came at full 
speed to announce that one thousand 
Irishmen were on their way to 
Cambridge. But rumor spent it- 
self by morning, the Catholics 
having wisely followed the more 
conciliatory advice of their bishop. 
In 1841 the University library 
consisted of four branches, - the 
Theological library in Divinity 
Hall, with some 700 volumes; the 
Medical library in Boston, with about 
1,000 volumes; the Law library in Dane 
Hall, with about 6,100 volumes; and 
the main or College library, with nearly 
40,000 volumes. There were also Greek, 
Latin, and Oriental manuscripts. 
The library was now ten times the size 
of that burned in 1764. The accumula- 
tions of three quarters of a century had 
outgrown Harvard Hall; and during the 
administration of the librarian Thaddeus 
William Harris, a new building, Gore 
Hall, was erected for its reception. It 
took its name from Christopher Gore, 
governor and senator, whose bequest at 
his death, in 1827, was the largest ever 
received by the college. As the legacy 
was unrestricted, the corporation felt that 
the need of a new building for the 
library outweighed every other demand 
upon their resources. Gore Hall is built 
of Quincy granite, which is too hard to 
permit the elaborate ornamentation used 
in pure Gothic. Before the east wing 
was added in 1877, it formed a Latin 
cross, with octagonal towers rising to 
the height of eighty-three feet. The 
design of the exterior is a modification 
of King's College Chapel at Cambridge, 
England. 
It seemed probable that Gore Hall would 
hold the library for a century to come. 
To strengthen the collection of recent 
publications, thirty-four gentlemen gave 
in 1842 $21,000. William Prescott left 
the sum of $3,000, which was expended 
with his coffers full, can meanly enrich 
himfelf by the coinage of falfe and bafe 
money/ may furely be treated with con- 
tempt.' 
After all, fir, I may juftify this warmth 
/by his*own authority, and in his own 
words : " J'ai blame le vice en lui/avec 
" hardieffe parceque le vice nc doit pas 
'\trouver d'azyle fur le trone.7'' 
T cJa. vt® V <L'~i <n3 I am, &c. 
LLuvU t <*F Si . ~'^oT| **lvtv vt j 
Fac-simile of the Margin of a Book in the Carlyle Collection, 
with Carlyle's Notes. 
for rare Americana. In 1852, through 
the efforts of Henry Ware Wales and 
Henry A. Whitney, valuable addi- 
tions were made to French and English 
poetry. To Mr. Wales was due, also, a 
collection of Sanskrit and Italian litera- 
ture. In 1859, William H. Prescott 
left to the library his books and manu- 
scripts relating to the reigns of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella; and in i860, Clarke 
Gayton Pickman bequeathed his library, 442 
THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
consisting mainly of modern literature,- 
a most welcome addition. 
And yet, notwithstanding these gener- 
ous gifts and bequests, the library was 
unable to acquire the best books of the 
day. Mr. Cutter, in an article in the 
North American Review for 1868, says, 
" If there is no money now to buy the 
best books of the day, when there is 
money, it will be wanted to buy the best 
books of that day." A gift by William 
Gray of $5,000 annually for five years 
had helped grandly while it lasted. But 
now a new difficulty arose. Gore Hall, 
with its 120,000 volumes, was fast reach- 
ing the limit of its capacity; and from 
this time on appeal after appeal was sent 
forth for aid to meet the problem now 
menacing the helpless corporation. 
John Langdon Sibley had become 
librarian in 1856. His predecessors to 
the beginning of the century were, T. W. 
Harris, Benjamin Peirce, Charles Folsom, 
in 1825, free from debt. He then en- 
tered the Divinity School, and was at the 
same time appointed assistant librarian, at 
a salary of $150, the salary of the librarian 
(T. W. Harris, the eminent entomologist) 
being $300. In 1827 he became pastor of 
the First Church in Stow, Mass., but re- 
turned four years later to devote his time to 
literary work. In 1841 he again became 
assistant librarian ; he was librarian from 
1856 to 1877, and librarian emeritus 
until his death in 1885. Mr. Sibley was 
very diligent and thorough in his habits 
of work. His biographical sketches of 
early Harvard graduates will remain a 
monument of patient and accurate re- 
search. 
From the collection of 41,000 volumes 
which he aided in removing to Gore Hall 
in 1841, the library grew to 160,000 vol- 
umes in 1876. From $5,000, which 
yielded $250 a year for the library, the 
permanent fund grew to $170,000. 
Fac-simile of Milton's Writing in an Album formerly owned by Charles Sumner. 
Joseph G. Cogswell (afterward librarian 
of the Astor library, New York, and a 
friend of Goethe), Andrews Norton 
(father of Prof. C. E. Norton), J. L. 
Abbot, S. C. Thacher, Peter Nourse, and 
Sidney Willard, who succeeded Samuel 
Shapleigh in the year 1800. Mr. Sibley 
had worked his way through college, 
standing well in his class, and graduating 
Under Mr. Sibley began the present 
practice of reserving standard works in 
the reading-room where they may be 
consulted without the delay of sending to 
the shelves. 
He begged from his friends the old 
books and pamphlets which lay unused 
in their garrets. At last, he says, " I 
acquired the name of being a sturdy THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
443 
beggar, and received a gentle hint from 
the college treasurer to desist from beg- 
ging, which I as gently disregarded." In 
his final report made in 1876, referring to 
the library, he says : " It has been, dur- 
ing more than half of a long life, the 
chief object of my interest, and I have 
given to it the best of my ability and at- 
tainments, and now my eyes have become 
so dimmed that I am unable to read this 
report." 
Ezra Abbot became assistant librarian 
in 1856, with exclusive charge of the 
cataloguing and classification of books. 
He resigned in 1872 to accept the Bussey 
Professorship of New Testament Criticism 
and Interpretation at the Cambridge Di- 
vinity School. Although his reputation is 
founded upon his work as a biblical 
scholar, the author and subject card cata- 
logues in the college library are worthy to 
be associated with his name. The plan 
of writing titles on cards permitted un- 
limited growth without destroying the 
alphabetical arrangement, and without 
the rewriting or repasting incident to a 
manuscript catalogue. This now seems 
a natural system, but thirty years ago 
there were members of the visiting com- 
mittee whom a successful experiment only 
could convince. The public alphabetical 
catalogue was begun in October, 1861, 
and rapid progress was made. At the 
same time the subject catalogue or " In- 
dex " was carried on. In July, 1863, 
when Mr. Abbot wrote his interesting 
report of the work being done, this cata- 
logue contained a record of about twenty- 
two thousand volumes and five thousand 
pamphlets. The main subjects were ar- 
ranged alphabetically: Agriculture, Archi- 
tecture, Astronomy, etc., each with its 
" Special topics " and its subdivisions, 
arranged according to the alphabet. This 
plan allowed minor allied subjects to stand 
in the same drawer instead of at opposite 
ends of the catalogue : - 
ARCHITECTURE. 
§ Churches. 
§ Spires. 
ARCHITECTURE - Biogr. 
§ Richardson, H. H. 
Architecture - Hist. - U. S. 
§ Boston - Trinity Church. 
The subject catalogue was enlarged 
and improved while Prof. John Fiske 
served as assistant librarian in 1872-79. 
But in twenty years the minor subjects 
had become so numerous that an alpha- 
betical list was needed. This Mr. Sam- 
uel H. Scudder made preparation for by 
John Langdon Sibley 
devising a decimal system of numbers, 
which gave to each subject in the cata- 
logue, large and small, a number by 
which it could be referred to in the list. 
Mr. Wm. C. Lane (the present librarian 
of the Boston Athenaeum) then under- 
took a careful revision of the cards, and 
assigned to the subjects numbers accord- 
ing to Mr. Scudder's system. An " In- 
dex to the Subject Catalogue " appeared 
in 1886-91. 
The manner of cataloguing a book has 
been described in an essay by Mr. Fiske, 
entitled "A Librarian's Work" (Darwin- 
ism, and other essays). 
During his lifetime the Hon. Charles 
Sumner sent to the library over fifteen 
thousand pamphlets, besides many 
and maps. He used to say that he pre- 
ferred having them at the library rather 
than at his residence, because at the 
library he could find at once any particu- 
lar pamphlet he wished to see. After 
his death in 1874 the library received 444 
THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
by his will about 3,750 books and some 
$50,000, the money to be used as a fund 
for the purchase of works relating to 
politics and fine arts. Mr. Sumner was 
distinctively a book lover, who drew pleas- 
ure from the associations which time had 
woven about his books as well as from 
their contents. Surrey's Poems, from 
Horace Walpole's library, and Cicero's 
" Letters to Atticus," once owned by Ma- 
dame de Pompadour, brought with them 
memories of Strawberry Hill and of the 
French court. Here are the " Pastor Fido" 
owned by Congreve, and the Greek Testa- 
ment which once belonged to Racine. 
The more remarkable books in the col- 
lection form about one tenth of the 
whole. A copy of Ossian's Poems in 
tember of the year 1630 in reading this 
book. Another memento of Milton is 
his autograph, " Joannes Miltonius An- 
glus," following the lines : - 
" - if Vertue feeble were 
Heaven it selfe would stoope to her. 
Coelum non animu muto du trans mare curro." 
The little album in which these words 
occur once belonged to a Neapolitan 
nobleman, Camillus Cardoyn, whose hos- 
pitality brought about him, at Geneva, 
many prominent men of the 17 th cen- 
tury. 
Pope's "Essay on Man," 1733, with 
his own corrections, and a Bible, printed 
at Cambridge in 1637, bearing the auto- 
graph of John Bunyan, are among the 
treasures of the collection. There is a 
fragment of Faust and Schbfifer's Bible of 
1462, the first edition having a date, 
place, and printer's name on the title- 
page, and part of Waldsee-Muller's " Cos- 
mographiae Introductio," in which the 
name America was first suggested for the 
new continent. 
Mr. Sumner's friends in England as 
well as America, knowing his taste for 
autographs, contributed to his growing 
collection. Here we find the handwrit- 
ing of Queen Elizabeth, suggestive of 
her own magnificence ; of Henry VIIE, 
Charles V., Louis XIV., Henry of Na- 
varre, and Frederick the Great; of Riche- 
lieu, Mazarin, Mirabeau, and Voltaire. 
His collection of missals and illuminated 
manuscripts, some in the most beautiful 
examples of the binder's art, others in 
their original massive boards and clasps, 
are of rare interest. 
In 1875 the library received by be- 
quest from President Walker $15,000 and 
a collection of over 3,000 books. 
In 1877 an addition to Gore Hall was 
completed. This east wing, constructed 
as a " stack," with iron floors and sup- 
ports for the shelves, will hold three hun- 
dred thousand volumes. On account of 
the unequal increase of different subjects, 
many shelves have been filled years ago. 
In such cases a notice directs one to a 
less crowded part of the stack, where later 
additions to the subject are to be found 
in the library. But in many cases this 
second place has been filled, and here a 
Justin Winsor. 
LIBRARIAN OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
two volumes, 1806, attracts one on ac- 
count of the simple name " Byron," which 
records a former owner. The English 
poet has shown his fondness for Ossian 
by many marginal notes, written in his 
flowing hand, and punctuated by dashes. 
Milton is represented by a first edition of 
the " Paradise Lost," and by his copy of 
Pindar used at college and filled with 
manuscript notes. On the titlepage is 
the date " Nouemb. 150 1629." Pro- 
fessors and tutors had fled at the ap- 
proach of the plague, and the student, 
John Milton, spent his leisure until Sep- THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
445 
reference to a third overflow has been 
made. A searcher for books would soon 
be convinced of the pressing need of a 
new library building at Harvard. That 
this overcrowding must lead to confusion 
and delay in the delivery of books is evi- 
dent. 
With the enlargement of Gore Hall be- 
gan the most important period in the 
history of the library, - the administration 
of Mr. Justin Winsor, the present libra- 
rian. Mr. Winsor received his education 
at the Boston Latin School, at Harvard 
ciation (1876-86). His historical work 
naturally led to the presidency of the 
American Historical Association and to 
the position of corresponding secretary 
of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 
The " Memorial History of Boston " (4 
vols., 1880-81) and the " Narrative and 
Critical History of America" (8 vols., 
1884-89), edited by Mr. Winsor, are 
works of recognized authority. The 
latter, which has been truly characterized 
as " a work of monumental importance 
and value," owes much to his voluminous 
Harvard University Library. 
College ('53), and at Paris and Heidel- 
berg. In 1868 he became superintend- 
ent of the Boston Public Library, where 
he remained until he became librarian at 
Harvard in 1877. As a leading advocate 
of the present library methods, which 
have revolutionized the profession, mak- 
ing public and college libraries centres of 
active thought and interest in their in- 
dividual communities, it was most fitting 
that he should have been chosen the first 
president of the American Library Asso- 
notes on early bibliography and cartog- 
raphy. His " Reader's Handbook of 
the American Revolution, 1761 to 1783 " 
(1879), "Bibliography of the Original 
Quartos and Folios of Shakespeare" 
(1876), " Halliwelliana," and other 
works, are too well known to need men- 
tion. His " Life of Christopher Colum- 
bus," which recently appeared, is still 
fresh in all minds. 
Mr. Winsor's first report, in 1878, 
chronicles a number of interesting im- 446 
THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
provements in the methods of the library. 
The "Bulletin," or quarterly list of acces- 
sions, was made to cover not only the 
additions to the college library, but also 
those made to the libraries of depart- 
ments. From the type used in the "Bul- 
letin" titles of books are now printed on 
cards for the catalogues. To the Museum 
of Comparative Zoology, the Divinity 
School, the Law School library, the Ob- 
servatory, the Scientific School, the Pea- 
body Museum, and the Botanic Garden, 
duplicates of these cards are sent when- 
ever a title touches their fields of work. 
Classroom libraries - German, Classical, 
library. Among these may be mentioned : 
Mr. Winsor's " Shakespeare's Poems : a 
Bibliography of the Earlier Editions," his 
" Bibliography of Ptolemy's Geography," 
and his " Calendar of the Sparks Manu- 
scripts in Harvard College Library " ; 
Prof. C. E. Norton's "Principal Books 
relating to the Life and Works of 
Michelangelo with Notes "; Mr. Wm. 
H. Tillinghast's annual "List of the Pub- 
lications of Harvard University and its 
Officers"; Mr. R. Bliss's "Classified 
Index to the Maps in Petermann's Geo- 
graphische Mittheilungen, 1855-81," and 
his Index to those in the Royal Geograph- 
Interior of the Harvard University Library. 
Philosophical, Political Economy, Mathe- 
matical, etc. - and eight laboratory libra- 
ries now send their books to the central 
library to be catalogued. Thus the 
library has become, as the librarian in 
his first report expressed the wish that it 
might, " not merely in complimentary 
phrase the centre of the University sys- 
tem, but in actual working, indispensable 
and attractive to all." 
At the end of the " Bulletin" special bib- 
liographical studies were appended from 
time to time, and afterward reprinted 
from the electrotype plates, forming the 
"Bibliographical Contributions" of the 
ical Society's Publications, 1830-83; 
Mr. Wm. C. Lane's " Dante Collections in 
the Harvard College and Boston Public 
libraries"; Prof. G. E. Woodberry's 
" Notes on the MS. of Shelley in the 
Harvard College Library "; Mr. A. C. 
Potter's " Bibliography of Beaumont and 
Fletcher"; and Prof. Charles Gross's 
"Classified List of Books relating to 
British Municipal History." 
Mr. Winsor, in his report, says : " I see 
no good reason why, in regard to books 
not in common demand', there cannot be 
greater reciprocity of use among these 
neighboring libraries. ... I try never to THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
447 
forget that the prime purpose of a book 
is to be much read; though it is equally 
true that we are under obligations to pos- 
terity to preserve books whose loss might 
be irreparable." In carrying out this 
principle, books have been sent to schol- 
ars as far south as New Orleans, and as 
far west as Wisconsin and New Mexico. 
A very general use is made of the library 
by scholars in all parts of New England. 
He encouraged reading by placing many 
works of the best authors in alcoves where 
they could be handled. Certainly those 
only who handle books learn to love 
them. He welcomed literary and scien- 
tific workers not connected with the col- 
lege, believing that the cause of true 
learning would thus be advanced. 
The following tables, taken from the 
reports of 1878 and 1892, show the growth 
and extent of the University library : - 
of books from the Harvard " Annex " in 
1892 numbered in, and the books 
taken 886. The library at the " Annex," 
about 5,500 volumes last year, supplies 
all the ordinary works of reference. 
The percentage of undergraduates in 
the college who used the library sixteen 
years ago was fifty-seven. In 1891-92, 
over eighty per cent used the library,- 
ninety-two per cent of the Seniors and 
Juniors, eighty-two per cent of the Sopho- 
mores, and sixty-one per cent of the 
Freshmen. This did not include many 
who took out reserved books over night. 
Mr. Kiernan, the superintendent of 
circulation, reported in 1892 the follow- 
ing record of persons registered and 
entitled to take books away : - 
Students . . . .1,831 
Instructors . . .196 
Others .... 298 
Total . . . 2,325 
One more record may be of interest, the 
number of readers in the library on Sun- 
day afternoons during term time (thirty- 
seven Sundays). During the last eight 
years there has been an increase yearly; 
in 1883-84 there were 2,448, and in 
1891-92 there were 3,284 users of 
books. There has been a marked in- 
crease in the use of the library in all 
departments during the past year. 
On the morning of Feb. 5, 1881, oc- 
curred the death of Thomas Carlyle. 
In his will, dated Feb. 6, 1873, he left 
to the Harvard library his books relating 
to Oliver Cromwell and Frederick the 
Great. A letter of many pages, in the 
clear, simple writing of Ralph Waldo 
Emerson, addressed to President Eliot, 
relates the circumstances of the bequest. 
Enclosed with it in the same scrapbook 
there is a copy of Carlyle's will. His 
"poor and indeed almost pathetic col- 
lection of books," with the exception of 
those " hereinafter specifically given," 
are to go to his brother John. A little 
later are the words : - 
PRINCIPAL DEPARTMENTS. 
EXTENT IN 1878. 
EXTENT IN 1892. 
VOLUMES. 
PAMPHLETS. 
VOLUMES. 
PAMPHLETS. 
Gore Hall (College Library). 
175,000 
170,000 
301,252 
287,556 
Law School .... 
16,907 
28,157 
3,544 
Scientific School 
2,083 
146 
3,355 
800 
Divinity School. . 
17,000 
24,027 
4,500 
Medical School 
2,000 
2,033 
Museum of Zoiilogy 
11,970 
5>ooo 
22,757 
253 
Astronomical Observatory 
6,662 
7,i76 
8,569 
Botanic Garden 
2,921 
i,i93 
6,260 
3,425 
Bussey Institution . 
2,077 
681 
3,225 
Peabody Museum . 
270 
305 
1,243 
1,352 
Totals 
236,890 
I77>325 
399,485 
309,999 
The Medical School depends almost 
entirely upon the collections of the Bos- 
ton Medical Library Association. The 
accessions to the University library 
(excluding the laboratory and classroom 
libraries) have varied from 7,247 volumes 
in 1880 to 16,468 in 1888. Borrowers 
" Having with good reason, ever since my first 
appearance in Literature, a variety of kind feel- 
ings, obligations and regards towards New Eng- 
hnd, and indeed long before that a hearty good 
will, real and steady, which still continues, to 
America at large, and recognising with gratitude 
how much of friendliness, of actually credible 448 
THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
human love, I have had from that Country, and 
what immensities of worth and capability I be- 
lieve and partly know to be lodged, especially 
in the silent classes there, I have now after due 
consultation as to the feasibilities, the excusa- 
bilities of it, decided to fulfil a fond notion that 
has been hovering in my mind these many years; 
and I do therefore hereby bequeath the books 
(whatever of them I could not borrow, but had 
to buy and gather, that is, in general whatever of 
them are still here) which I used in writing on 
Cromwell and Friedrich and which shall be 
accurately searched for, and parted from my 
other books, to the President and Fellows of Har- 
vard College, City of Cambridge, State of Massa- 
chusetts, as a poor testimony of my respect for 
that altna mater of so many of my transatlantic 
friends, and a token of the feelings above in- 
dicated towards the Great Country of which Har- 
vard is the Chief School." 
The " Carlyle collection " is interest- 
ing chiefly for the marginal notes made 
by their owner. They are characteristic 
of the man, kindly meant, but blunt in 
their directness. Carlyle seems to have 
taken this method of talking with the 
author. Each volume has Carlyle's book- 
plate - a crest, simply, with his name 
below - and usually "T. Carlyle, Chel- 
sea," in his own hand, with the date. 
As a note to the Eikon basilike of 
Charles L, of England, mentioned in 
Walker's " Anarchia anglicana " (Vol. IL, 
p. 139), Carlyle writes in pencil: " shew- 
ing him (had it been he, which palpably 
it was not) to have been the most perfect 
Pharisee, inane Canter, and shovel-hatted 
Quack that ever went about in clear- 
starched surplice and formula ! - Do but 
read it." 
In the " Lettres " of the Due de Belle- 
Isle, 1759, p. 83, he writes: " ExcelF 
letters of the fine old Duke's dictation, 
- very physiognomic of the chief man 
in his time and country. Nothing like 
him extant now in France or here! 
(1856.)" 
A note to "The Life and Actions of 
Frederic, the victorious King of Prussia," 
etc., London, 1758, reads : " Adieu, thou 
other stupid farrago! (29 Novr 1855; 
11% p. M.)" 
In the " Histoire des revolutions de 
Pologne," Warsovie, 1778, Carlyle has 
written : " Feeble, ineffectual, totally 
inane & hazy Book (one Salvandy writer, 
it seems) : such an Epic-Subject probably 
deserved such a Homer ! 
" Finished my distressing survey of it, 
io April, 1859." 
In " Letters concerning the Present 
State of Poland," by John Lind, London, 
1773, Part IL, p. 64, occurs this note: 
" You are pretty much like a dog gone 
mad; and have taken no human pains 
to know black from white, or is from is- 
not, upon it - unfortunate barking in- 
dividual ! " 
Finally, two notes to Mirabeau's CEu- 
vres, Paris, 1821, Tom. III. (Histoire 
secrete de la cour de Berlin), pp. 403 and 
246, are particularly interesting: "No 
Gov1 ever had a spy of such ability. What 
a sight (for France and for himself) that 
of such a man employed as a ' spy.' A truly 
grand power of insight is visible in this 
poor Book, - the only really genial Book 
(such as it is !) I have ever read on 
Prussia. Dim vacant twilight all the 
others, this blazes like noonday. Poor 
Mirabeau!" And on page 246: "A 
dreadfully ugly fellow; and such a flash 
of insight, such a fire of faculty in him 
withal; - enough to swallow a poor official 
man, or consume him to ashes ! " 
These few extracts are from the cata- 
logue of the collection issued by the 
library. Many of his replies to state- 
ments in books and comments on their 
authors are unintelligible without the text 
which prompted them. 
The Boston Public Library and the 
Library of Congress at Washington have 
outstripped the Harvard library in the 
last few years; but the duplicate copies 
of popular books in the one, and dupli- 
cates received under the copyright act 
by the other, lessen the apparent differ- 
ence in size. The value of the Harvard 
library is well shown by a summary of 
its special collections.1 
American history, biography, genealogy, and 
geography, 22,348 volumes, of which 16,762 
relate to the United States. The libraries of 
Prof. Ebeling and D. B. Warden form the basis 
of the collection. 
American poetry, a considerable gift from the 
children of the late Prof. Henry W. Longfellow. 
Angling, nearly 1,000 titles, from John Bart- 
lett of Cambridge, besides a collection of Em- 
blems. A catalogue of these is in preparation. 
1 For a detailed account see " Notes on Special Collec- 
tions in American Libraries. By W. C. Lane and C. K. 
Bolton. Cambridge, Mass. Issued by the library of Har- 
vard University, 1892." THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 
449 
American slavery, 869 bound volumes of 
about 2,300 titles, largely due to the generosity 
of Charles Sumner and Col. T. W. Higginson. 
British local history, a growing collection. 
Mediceval European history, includes the 
records of many cities and monasteries. It has 
been much strengthened by a gift from Denman 
W. Ross, and by the bequest of Prof. E. W. 
Gurney. 
Roman or civil law, nearly 1,000 volumes. 
Congressional documents, number 2,800 vol- 
umes; one of the most complete sets in the 
country. 
Dante, 1,372 volumes; from Prof. C. E. 
Norton's gift in 1884, and since then from the 
annual appropriation of the Dante Society. 
Milton, 278 volumes, largely from the collec- 
tion formed by George Ticknor. 
Cromwell and Frederick the Great, 422 vol- 
umes, received under the will of Thomas Carlyle, 
and recently increased by Mrs. Alexander Carlyle. 
Folklore and mediaeval romances, over 5,800 
volumes, supposed to be the largest in existence. 
Classics and classical philology, 17,848 volumes, 
supplemented by the collection of the classical 
seminary in Harvard Hall. 
Sanskrit literature, about 400 printed texts, 
about 500 MSS., the gift of Mr. Fitzedward Hall, 
and 500 MSS. purchased in India. 
Maps, about 12,000 loose sheets, probably the 
largest collection in the country. 
Biblical criticism is well represented; and there 
is a very fine collection of the rarest Bibles, selected 
by the late George Livermore and Ezra Abbot. 
Ritualism and doctrinal theology, the Treat 
collections, 587 volumes, given by John Harvey 
Treat (H. U. 1862) of Lawrence. 
American aboriginal linguistics, of consider- 
able value, containing among other rarities Se- 
bastian Rasle's Abenaki Dictionary. 
Manuscripts, aside from the Sanskrit men- 
tioned above, include the collection of Jared 
Sparks. Two other manuscripts of interest are 
the book in which the poems of Shelley were 
written when he composed them, either by him- 
self or by his wife, and Thackeray's " Round- 
about Papers." 
Law and trials are included in the Law School 
library. 
To the efforts of Mr. Sibley and the interest 
shown by Hon. S. A. Green of Boston the college 
library owes a large part of its valuable collection 
of pamphlets on all subjects. 
The archives of the University, includ- 
ing the manuscript records arranged by 
President Quincy and President Sparks, 
and an extensive collection of printed 
matter relating to the University, are now 
in charge of the librarian. A calendar of 
the MSS. is in preparation. 
There is no name more honorable in 
the annals of the college or in the politi- 
cal and literary history of the country 
with which to close this long roll of bene- 
factors to the library than that of James 
Russell Lowell. While United States 
minister to the court of Madrid his letters 
contain frequent and affectionate refer- 
ences to the library whose interest he 
ever had at heart. It was the same at 
the court of St. James. No fresh honors 
caused him to forget the college. Eng- 
land had sent to it her gifts through two 
and a half centuries, and more than any 
other man, perhaps, he represented to 
her the fruit of her long benefactions. 
To him the library owes many of its rarest 
works in Spanish, old French, and early 
English. In a letter from Spain, dated 
April 15, 1878, he speaks of these books : 
" I buy mainly with a view to the college 
library, whither they will go when I am 
in Mount Auburn, with so much undone 
that I might have done." Yet it is not 
books so much which give the library of 
Harvard University its history and its 
character; these are to be found, chiefly, 
in the lives of the men who have studied 
within its walls, and in the strong faith of 
those who, believing in its mission, have 
given of their treasures the bounty which 
makes it a power. THE DISTRICT SCHOOL AND THE ACADEMY IN 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
George H. Martin. 
THE half-century from 1790 to 1840 
is the picturesque period of Massa- 
chusetts educational history. In 
the prelude to Dr. Holmes's ophidian 
story, " Elsie Venner," there is a descrip- 
tion of a " deestrick skule," in Pig- 
wacket Center, from the mastery of 
which the handsome young medical stu- 
dent moved onward and upward to more 
congenial work in the Apollinean Female 
Institute in a distant town. The institu- 
tions of which these are types, the dis- 
trict school and the academy, are the two 
foci about which move in orbits of greater 
or less eccentricity all the educational 
events of the time. Exerting a profound 
influence upon the generation which was 
trained in them, they have affected 
scarcely less strongly the imagination of 
the generation which has followed them. 
The traditions which gathered about 
them and the embellishments of literary 
art to which they readily lent themselves 
have idealized them into the source of 
most that is great and good in New Eng- 
land character. 
We have in a preceding paper1 marked 
the early stages of evolution both of the 
school district and the district school. 
We heard the scattered families and the 
isolated hamlets calling for school privi- 
leges, and we saw the master sent upon 
his rounds to keep the " moving school." 
We saw that later, in many towns, lines 
were drawn squadroning out the territory; 
and to the people within these lines their 
share of the school money was given to 
use as they saw fit. But for a century all 
this was informal, de facto but not de jure. 
In 1789 this division of districts was 
sanctioned by law. A law which sanc- 
tions also invites, and rapidly, after this, 
district divisions were fixed. But the 
new law gave no powers to the district. 
If a schoolhouse was needed, it must be 
built by the voluntary contributions of 
the people. This state of things could 
not long continue, and in 1800 the chief 
element of sovereignty - the power to 
tax - was conferred upon the people 
of the school districts. They were au- 
thorized to hold meetings,. to choose a 
clerk, to decide upon a site for a school- 
house, and to raise money by taxation 
for buying land and for building, repair- 
ing, and furnishing the house. 
The next step followed naturally, per- 
haps necessarily. In 1817 the school 
districts were made corporations, with 
power to sue and be sued, to enforce 
contracts, etc. Ten years later the struc- 
ture was completed by the law which 
required the towns having districts to 
choose for each district a prudential com- 
mittee-man, who should have the care of 
the school property in the school dis- 
trict, and the selection and employment 
of the teachers. Instead of choosing 
these men in town meetings, the towns 
might allow them to be chosen in the dis- 
tricts, and this was usually done. 
The school district now, from being a 
mere social convenience, has become a 
political institution - imperium in im- 
perio. The year 1827, therefore, is a 
memorable one. It marks the culmina- 
tion of a process which had been going 
on steadily for more than a century. It 
marks the utmost limit to the subdivision 
of American sovereignty, - the high-water 
mark of modern democracy, and the 
low-water mark of the Massachusetts 
school system. 
Two limitations upon the power of the 
districts should be noticed. The whole 
amount of money to be spent in support- 
ing the schools of the town was still to be 
determined by the town and to be raised 
by tax under town authority. After 
being raised and appropriated to the 
'"Massachusetts Schools before the Revolution," pub- 
lished in the November number of the New England 
Magazine. 
450