History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 86

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III > Part 86

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There were John Weiss, the keen eye, the facile tongue, the wise leader ; Josiah Stickney, full of years and good taste ; Jesse A. Locke, whose generous and grateful heart made the first pledge of his winter's ser- vices in the legislature to the project ; Joseph Bird, big with hope and fertile in expedients ; Abiel Abbott, the conscientious lawyer, and Charles J. Barry, prompt in every duty, all gone to their reward. Then among those still living there were Alfred Hosmer, the general who had the courage of his convictions; Joshua Coolidge, who knew when to hold back and when the crucial hour required his utmost effort; David T. Iluckins, who held not too long on the funds needed

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for supplies, and James M. Bell, the large and liberal- minded clergyman-these were the men to pioneer this noble undertaking.

It may not be unwise to reflect that they were well sustained by the people. Miles Pratt, who would not hold office himself, gave freely of his counsel, and helped to gather the sinews of war; Joseph Crafts, the daring captain whose raids brought in the last subscriptions to complete the required $6000, Henry Chace, who said the few must always take the lead ; and others whom time fails to allow us to enumerate- these served on committees during those preliminary months when the enterprise wavered and further pro- gress was in doubt, and when one of the committee, Rev. Mr. Stubbert, thought " there was a radical un- preparedness in the public mind for the library ;" and another and a wealthy member of the committee with- held for a time the aid he never could quite give to the project. These were the times of doubt and delay. The time is yet too soon for most to see what the effect in the end shall be. But your historian must, as in duty bound, record the advance already made.

THE NEW PUBLIC LIBRARY BUILDING .- The room on the first floor of the Town-House answered very well the purposes of the library for several years. Beginning by taking the room long occupied first by William Sherman, then William H. Ingraham, and last by Joel Barnard as a dry-goods store, it was soon found necessary to take the other side, occupied for many years by Samuel Noyes for medicines and groceries. Then, by changing the position of parti- tions, taking in an engine-room, certain rooms were obtained for town offices. The location was admirable for the uses of the library, but the growing collection could with difficulty be managed, and the room seemed to grow closer and closer. The question of a new building was discussed in the annual reports and in the local press, until in 1882 the way seemed clear to obtain a new building. In the librarian's report for that year he said, "We have looked forward with longing eyes for several years to the possession of a proper building for this library." In the report for 1881 he said, "Fortunate is the town, too, it seems to us, that others feel this need so pressing that they are willing to offer to the town, dollar for dollar, the means needed to put the library in a sufficiently large, well-ventillated, well-lighted, fire-proof build- ing."

The attempt was made to raise $20,000 by subscrip- tion, and then ask the town to raise as much more for a suitable building. The trustees themselves sub- scribed, showing their good faith, and Hon. Hollis H. Hunnewell, son of Dr. Walter Hunnewell who once lived on Main Street and practiced the healing art in our village, generously offered to give $10,000, one- halt of this. Mr. Samuel Walker offered over $4000 if the library were located on Main Street,1 and other

large amounts were quickly pledged 2 so that even more than the amount stipulated was secured. The town then came together and appropriated $20,000, and appointed a building committee to proceed at once to obtain plans and estimates, and then to pro- secute the work until the building was completed and turned over to the Board of Trustees. The architects chosen by this committee were Shaw & Hunnewell, of Boston; the contractor, David Per- kins, also of Boston.

The plans were shown at the March meeting of 1882, and during the summer the work was pushed on vigorously. It was wholly enclosed before cold weather, finished during the early winter, and on the 12th of February the books were moved in, the venera- ble Joshua Coolidge helping in person to make the transfer from the old rooms to the new.

Following is a general description of the public library building. Its plan, viewed from Main Street, is like an inverted T, being of two principal divis- ions. Standing about eighty feet from the line of street, the building presents a frontage of sixty-two feet, broken by a central projection, gabled, twenty- six feet wide and ten feet deep, containing the main vestibule and basement stairway. The front main division is 24 x 62 feet, divided into a distributing room, 30 x 18 feet, on the right of which is a reading room, 18 x 21 feet, with the addition of a large half- circle window, and on the left a reference and study room of the same size. Works of art can bedisplayed in either of these rooms. Back of these, forming the stem of the T, is a structure 36 x 49 feet, containing a book room 34 x 48 feet, while a projecting portion provides a librarian's room, 9 x 14 feet, opening out from the book-room.

Large arches form the dividing lines between these several apartments, so that really the whole interior, except the librarian's room, is exposed to sight, the effect being to present an interior of generous propor- tions to the eye of the observer. If it is found desirable to divide off more closely the study-room, or reading- room, curtains may be hung between the arches. A unique effect is produced by finishing the internal walls

church, a troublesome one. The church-lot on Church Street had many advocates, es had also the old parsonage lot on Mt. Auburn Street, but this gift of Mr. Walker, and the promised opportunity for a public park adjoining carried the day.

2 The amounts subscribed and the names of the subscribers who did so great a service to tho Public Library and to the town are here given :

H. Il. Ilunnewell $10,000

Charles B. Gardner $100

Samuel Walker

4,200

Rev. R P. Stack 100

Edward Whitney

1,000

Geo. K. Snow 100

Seth Bemis

1,000

Samuel Noyes 100

Mrs. Lucy W. Titcombe . 1,000

J. D. Conant . 100

D. B. Flint .

500

Wm. H. Ingraham 50

Charles J. Barry

500

E. B. Eaton 50

S. R. Payson .

500

Wm. H. Dadmun . 25

Mrs. P. C. Brooka

500

Mre. R. A. Bradford

Solon F. Whitney

200

Mrs. A. L. Richards 25

J. K. Stickney . 100

Mrs. Theo. Chase .

100

T. G. Abbbott . 25

1 The question of location was, as early in the history of the first

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

with faced and moulded briek, upon which the fresco decorations are made, while panels, formed by bands of vement on the corners and angles, are also decorated. Large brick fire-places finished above with terra cotta further embellish the study and reading rooms. All ceilings are open timbered, divided into panels, and lathed, plastered, and frescoed between the beams. The book-room will hold 30,000 volumes, is sixteen feet high on the walls, and slanted up to twenty feet in height to veiling. Galleries can be put in when required, doubling the book storage capacity. The height of the distributing room is fifteen feet on walls. arched up to eighteen feet six inches, for central eeil- ing. The side-rooms are fitteen feet high, level ceil- ing. In the basement, finished in 1888, ten feet in clear, are a large, well-lighted reading-room, a patent office report room, a trustees' room, besides rooms for the steam heating apparatus, toilet and other conven- jences. The floor is concreted with cement and over- laid with hard wood, with air spaces between; the ceiling and walls are decorated with taste, the work having been done by Haberstroh of Boston. A good supply of water and proper drainage are also pro- vided.

French Renaissance is the style of architecture chosen, the basement being constructed of Roxbury rubble stones, the walls above of briek with New Brunswick red freestone trimmings, and the hipped roofs are covered with red slates. The front is dressed quite freely with stone columns, pilasters and window decorations, and present a bold appearance. A large half-circle bay on the southeasterly side forms a beau- tiful feature of the design and increases the size of the reading-room. A flight of stone steps leads to the vestibule, the door of which is at one side of the front projection, and not directly exposed to view from the street. The outside walls have an average height of twenty feet from grade, and the brick walls are four- teen inches thick, having a two-inch air space. The trusses and floor timbers are hard pine. the objects in view being strength, durability and safety. For arch columns and other wood finish of the interior, ash. stained, is used. Large windows of plain glass furnish abundant light. Finials, ridges and conductors are made of copper.

The basement was not finished before the building was delivered to the Library Trustees in 1884. It was not supposed that there would be need of more space than given on the upper floor. Few of the Building Connnitter had had experience with libraries. One of the best librarians of the country, Mr. Cutter, of the Boston Athenaum, said, " It was a good rule to build five times as large as would be needed at once." The area of the single floor was but a little larger than the space in the town house. In less than ten years from the occupancy of the building, addi- tional room will need to be asked for. The shelves in 1590 are so full that inconvenience is experienced, in some departments, in preserving an orderly ar-

rangement of books. The reading-rooms were felt to be limited.

THE PRATT GIFT .- The "Asa Pratt" Fund .- In 1888, after some correspondence with Mr. Charles Pratt, of Brooklyn, New York, son of Mr. Asa Pratt, late of Watertown, as to the details of a scheme in which he wished to benefit the working people par- ticularly, of his native town, he offered to give for the Asa Pratt heirs the sum of $5000 for the es- tablishment of a fund to furnish periodicals of use particularly to the industrial portion of the commu- nity, on condition that the town would fit up the lower rooms for reading-rooms in an appropriate and substantial manner. The following is an exact copy of the offer of the gift and the attending conditions :

Mr. Asa Pratt lived in Watertown for over sixty years. He died November 9, 1878, leaving his widow a life interest in his estate. She having recently died, the children, in closing up the estate, are desirous of commemorating as a worthy example one of whom it was said, " He conducted business as a manufac- turer of furniture in Watertown in his own name for nearly fifty years. Many pieces of furniture have been in constant use for more than half a century and are still in good condition, thus giving evidence of the integrity of his work. He raised a large family and although in humble circumstances he always paid one hundred cents on the dollar and taught his children to follow his example." All who knew him said : " Asa Pratt was an honest man."

Learning from your published report, and other- wisc, that the establishment of an additional reading- room has been proposed which shall be particularly for the benefit of the industrial portion of the people, and knowing it would be consistent with the memory of his life (he was for many years a member of the Board of Public Education), and to aid the efforts of her people for such education as tends specially to make all men more useful citizens, the executors of his estate, on the behalf of his children, hereby offer to give to the town of Watertown the sum of five thousand dollars (or its equivalent, five thousand- dollar fifty-year five per cent. gold bonds), for the es- tablishment of a fund to be known as the " Asa Pratt Fund," upon the following terms and conditions, viz. : that

"I. The town shall finish the basement room of the library building, or provide other similar suitable room, with an independent entrance from the outside, properly supplied with sufficient light and heat and the necessary appropriate furniture, and keep the same open and access- ible to the public not less than the library above, of which it shall form a part.

"2. Said fund shall be kept safely invested. and a part of the yearly income thereof as stated below shall every year be paid over to the trus- tees of the public library and by them be applied to the purchase of such periodical literature, including papers, us in their opinion shall be of particular interest and use to the industrial portion of the commun- ity, and which consequently may be of use to all. The part of said yearly income to be thus paid over and applied every year, shall be for each of the first five years the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars ; for each of the second five years, one hundred and seventy-five dollars, and for each of the third five years, two hundred dollars, and so on ; that is

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to say, at the beginning of every period of five years after the first five years, the yearly allowance for said purchase shall be increased twenty- five dollars over such allowance during the preceding period of five years. The balance of said yearly income in excess of what is paid over to said trusteee and expended under the foregoing provision shall be added to and become a part of said principal.

"3. No sectarian influence shall govern in the selection of reading mutter purchased with any portion of the income of said fund.

"4. The care, control and investment of said fund, and all addi- tione thereto, and the general supervision of the trust hereby created. and the power to carry into effect its purposes and spirit, shall be vested in a permanent board composed of three reputable freeholders of the town, one of whom shall be Mr. H. W. Otis, the other two to be ap- poiuted by the trustees of the Free Public Library and the Selectmeu ut the town acting jointly. All vacancies on account of death, removal from town, resignation, or otherwise occurring in the Board, may be filled in like manner by the joint action of the Trustees and Selectmen. Members of the Board may hold their membership during their pleasure, provided they comply with the terms and sprit of this trust.

"5. The town auditor shall have the right whenever the town, the selectmen, or the trustees wish it, to inspect the securities in which said fund may be invested, and report as requested.

"H. W. OTIS, Executor.

" I engage to be responsible for the payment of the above aum as soon as the towu shall take satisfactory action.

" CHAS. PRATT, " 232 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., March 3, 1888."

The town, at the regular annual March town-meet- ing, after very tull discussion, took the following ac- tion :

" Voted, That the town accept the gift of the heirs of Asa Pratt with thanks, and will gladly comply with the conditions of the gift.

" Voted, That the trustees of the Public Library and the Selectmen he a committee to take into consideration the whole matter of providing for a reading room, aud, if thought expedient, a trustees' room, aud that a Bum not exceeding $3000 be put at their disposal to accomplish the ends in view."

The following obituary notice copied from the Boston Journal of November 12, 1878, acquires addi- tional interest to our readers, in view of the action of the town at its annual meeting in accepting the pro- ceeds of Mr. Asa Pratt's estate increased by the gen- erosity of his sons, to establish a fund for furuishing reading matter for a new reading-room in the Free Public Library building for the benefit of working- men :

" ASA PRATT .- Asa Pratt, one of the most venerable and esteemed cit- izons of this eection, died in Watertown on Friday last, in the eighty- fifth year of his age. He was the son of Jacob Pratt, who was born in Malden in 1754, where he lived until his death in his ninety-first year. His son Asa, at the age of fourteen, was put out to learn a trade. After serving an apprenticeship of seven years in Boston in learning the trade of cabinet-making, he removed to Watertown and started business on his own account, September 18, 1818. For about fifty years he continued his business ou substantially the same spot where he started it, until old age compelled him to rest. He was an houest man and did honest work. His dealings with men were true ; he feared debt, and aniid the many struggles of maintaining a large family, he would never contract debts that he could not meet to the last dollar. He never made changes, but stuck to his trade in the same place. He bought his little home where he took his bride as a young man, and it was the home of his children until he had to build larger, but within two hundred feet of the same spot he lived for sixty years uutil his death. He bad remarkable health. lle was a kind father and singularly unselfish in all his rela- tions of life. He could not brouk a mean or selfish thing of any kind. lie had a large family. Seven of his children survive him, displaying the same traits of industry, honesty and generosity. He was a charter member of the Pequosette Lodge of Freemasons, aod before his death was the oldest member of that order. The social, genial, faithful ways which first won him esteem among his fellow-Masons continued to the end. For the past ten or fifteen years, since he gave up his business,

A a Pratt has lived a quiet, meditative life. He had neither poverty uor riches. His wants, which were simple, were all supplied, and he had a little for every call of charity. Ile leaves his widow, now in her seventy-eighth year, in comfortable circumstances, aud with a goud name, which is better than riches."

Several of the workingmien of the town who felt a deep interest in the project of a free reading-room, addressed the following letter to Mr. Chas. Pratt, who represents the Pratt heirs. It secured a large number of signatures :

" WATERTOWN, March 12, 1888. " To CHAS. PRATT, EsQ., Brooklyn, N. Y.

" Dear Sir,-The undersigned citizens of Watertown, and householders whose homes represent the earnings of their own hands in some form of productive industry, desire to thank you for the gift that hus come through your kindness to the claes we represent.

" We are workingmen, and we think that we appreciate the united and social condition of a large class of our people sowiewhat more di- rectly and fully thau those conditions can be understood by persons who see theui only from the outside, and we have long f. It the pressure of a public need that, up to this time, has not been met. But now your gen- erous remembrance of your former home opens the way to a good we have hoped for, but which has been beyond our reach. We couldently expect to see the most beneficial results from your bequest, and we wish to assure you that our best endeavors shall be giveo to turn our experi- ments into facts.

"The list of names at the end of this note will uot he a long one, but each name will staud for a man who sends you greeting and the thanks uf a grateful heart.

" Hoping that you will long live to see the good that will come from your gift, we remain sincerely and faithfully yours."

The selectmen of the town meeting with the trustees of the Public Library, according to one of the condi- tious of the trust, appointed with Horace W. Otis, Charles Brigham and Albert O. Davidson, trustees of the Asa Pratt Fund.

It should be stated that Mr. Pratt has done more than he promised. He placed the funds ($5000) in the hands of the special Board of Trustees, he sent the librarian money to furnish the reading-rooms entire with fitting and durable furniture, and as an earnest of his pleasure in the first year's administra- tion of the fund, sent the library a check for a hun- dred dollars for reference books, which has been ex- pended for valuable works that have been much called for by students of art and manufactures and history. It is the express direction that these be all credited to the " Asa Pratt Fund" in honor of his father, whose useful life was spent in this place.

It may be too soon to record the influence of this gift in enlarging the effectiveness of the public library. That it is gladly and thankfully used by many young men and women is apparent to those constantly in the rooms.

CATALOGUES, AND USE OF THE LIBRARY .- As a new card catalogue is being prepared for the use of the public, it may be well to state the fact that a card catalogue of the whole library was begun in 1868, long before there was any Library Bureau, and consequently when few card catalogues were known outside of Harvard College. The Boston Public Library had begun one for the use of the librarian and assistants, not yet for the public : the Boston Ath -

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

entenm pasted its titles into great blank-books like | ever-recurring question as to what books should be serap-books. allowed in a public library. Should they be selected This catalogne was begun as the aid of the librarian in doing his work, and was written mostly nights and holidays. It was patterned after the catalogne of Mr. (afterwards Prof.) Ezra Abbott, assistant librarian of Harvard College Library, with of course simplification of the subject portion of the catalogne, with more specific subjects as adapted to a smaller library. The work done twenty years ago is the basis of work done now. with reference to a certain standard of literary excellence? Should they accord with certain political or religious creeds ? Should they treat only of facts of science or history ? Should they ignore all that has misled or deceived the expectations of the past ? Is it best or to be allowed to try to catch the eye and exeite the imagination of the thoughtless by some- thing within the scope of their minds? In the administration of this library, the experiment of try- ing Mrs. Southworth and Oliver Optie for those who else would not, perhaps could not, read Scott and Dickens, Irving or Bancroft, has been made. Science and philosophy have on the other hand been given out to babes. The effects have been noted. This is a field for intelligent experiment. It should not be expected that the results of modern enlture can be gained by relapsing into the freedom of that accidental untrained life which our fathers found among the aboriginal savages. Christian science and Christian philosophy, aided by the best literary pro- duct of the world to the latest.day are no more than equal to the best results desired and possible.

All other lists and catalogues, as shelf-lists, acces- sion catalogue and bulletins have been kept up from the beginning, every title thus being written five or six times in different relations for different purposes in the manuscript lists. No labor of this kind has been spared to make the library a well-organized and effective instrument.

The library has had good direction from trustees and experts in the choice of books, so that for the purposes to which this has been put, in the edneation of this town, it may be said to be fairly equipped with good books of good authors.

Considerable attention has been given to assisting pupils of the schools and other learners to the use of the materials which the library contains.

Its life seems to be comparatively active. It has nearly three volumes for every man, woman and child in town, and these are read on the average twice each year. This rate would give Boston a library of a million and a half of volumes, and a eirculation of about three millions annually.

Its friends expect it to do much better than this. A love of reading, and the habit of thinking by the aid of the printed page, seems not to be the natural inheritance of all people. Doubtless the new era of progress which started in Europe with theinvention of printing and the use of the printed page, the emergence of universal intelligence from the gloom of the Dark Ages, has to be wronght over again in the personal history of each individual of the race. Agassiz traced in the snecessive beds of fossil rocks the zoological history of the world ; this he found again repeated in like order of development in each individual of the higher species of the present time, by tracing the progress from the first signs of life in the embryo to the condition of maturity. It is clearly within the province of the historian to note the successive stages of growth of use and usefulness of publie libraries, to note both the carly and successive stages in the growth of the public library as a complete organism, and to note the early and successive stages of growth in the minds of individuals brought or coming within the sphere of its activities. This large view helps to elear the air of much confusion of ideas in understanding the nature of the life of a public library, and prepares wonderfully to settle intelligently the many questions constantly arising in regard to the proper administra- tion of these great public trusts. For instance, the

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 86

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278