USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from the year 1876 to the year 1916 > Part 16
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An active and helpful offspring of the church has been its Epworth Mission, which, in 1892, obtained from the city consent to use an unoccupied schoolhouse on Francis Avenue. There mission work flourished on religious, social, and vocational lines, and in 1906 the mission remodeled and occupied its building on Linden Street. In 1895 the former parsonage on Pearl Street was sold, and a minister's home built on Bartlett Avenue. The edifice of the Methodist Church on Fenn Street continued to af- ford to the city, as to the town, the largest auditorium in Pitts- field, having been arranged to supply capacity for seating more than two thousand persons; and it was therefore the scene of important meetings and memorial exercises held during the period of which this volume treats.
Significant of the strength of the veteran society was the es- tablishment of a Methodist mission at Morningside in 1900, for which a wooden chapel was in the same year built at the corner of Tyler and Plunkett Streets. There mission services were regularly held for a number of years. It was not long before a movement to form a new Methodist society in the northeastern part of the city was inaugurated. The project had the benefit of the earnest and stimulating direction of Rev. John A. Hamil- ton; and the result was the organization of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, effected in April, 1914.
The mission chapel, having been enlarged and improved, was occupied by the members of the new church for their first services in May, 1914. The first pastor was Rev. Ralph G. Finley, who was succeeded in April, 1916, by Rev. Robert B. Leslie. Of
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particular advantage to the Trinity M. E. Church during this formative period was the strong support of two auxiliary associa- tions, the Trinity Women's Aid Society and the Men's Brother- hood; and the church, even in its infancy, was enabled to play a prominent part among the religious activities of the Morningside section.
Rev. J. E. Cross, by faith a Second Adventist, began in 1888 to hold religious meetings in a room in the Backus building on Park Square. There the Advent Christian Society appears to have been formed by him in 1888, although the Second Adven- tist Christian Church, with Mr. Cross as pastor, was not formally organized until 1890. Their present church edifice on Fenn Street was dedicated by the Second Adventists on January first, 1891. The pastorate of Mr. Cross was followed by those of Rev. M. A. Potter and Rev. C. K. Sweet, and, in 1899, by that of Rev. Chauncey T. Pike. In 1905, Mr. Pike withdrew from the leadership of the Fenn Street church and assumed direction of the Church of God, having its home in a hall on North Street. Rev. George L. Young became pastor of the Second Adventist Christian Church in 1907; he was succeeded in 1909 by Rev. Harold E. Young; and the present pastor, Rev. Joseph Miett, began his duties there in 1911.
In October, 1902, four residents of Pittsfield, who were mem- bers of First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, began to meet regularly to read from the works of the founder of that faith, Mary Baker Eddy. The attendance at the Pittsfield meetings so increased that in June, 1904, plans were discussed of forming a permanent organization. These were forwarded by two students of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, who, in the summer of 1904, accepted an invitation to come to Pitts- field and who conducted services and meetings at their home on Bartlett Avenue during the following autumn and winter.
A hall was then rented in the Merrill building on North Street, and there the first public Christian Science services in Pittsfield were held on March fifth, 1905. On April fourth was incorporated First Church of Christ, Scientist, Pittsfield, Massa- chusetts, with an initial membership of twenty-two. The North Street hall continued to be used by the church for two
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years. In 1907 a residence at 131 South Street was bought by the church and completely remodeled for its purposes, so as to provide an auditorium and a reading room. Services were first held there on December eighth, 1907; and therc the church has since remained. The First Readers since the formation of the church have been Archie E. Van Ostrand, Cornelius C. Cook, and Henry A. Germain.
Among adherents to the Jewish faith who first made their homes in Pittsfield was Joseph R. Newman, who became a resi- dent of the village in 1857. In the same year came also two brothers, Moses and Louis England. The local Society Ansha Amonim ("Men of Religion") was formed in 1869 by twenty heads of Jewish families, mostly of German lineage. Its original place of worship was in the house of Charles Wolf on Jubilee Hill, near the present corner of Robbins and Columbus Avenues, and the first meeting of record was on November fourteenth, 1869. The society was incorporated in the following year, and the congregation worshiped in the houses of its members until 1882, when a hall was occupied in the building at the north corner of Fenn and North Streets. In 1900 the society migrated to the home which it at present occupies in the Melville building on North Street. A Sunday school has been maintained since 1885.
The Society Ansha Amonim began as early as 1879 to discard by degrees some of the orthodox forms of worship which it had originally observed, for the records of that year prescribe that the services shall be according to "Minhag America"; and in 1904 the congregation formally adopted the ritual of the Union Prayer Book. At the same time, however, the members of the society continued to aid, by support both moral and financial, their fellow religionists of recent emigration, who preferred to worship according to the orthodox form. The latter became in time able to establish societies of their own. The first of these was the orthodox congregation of Keneseth Isreal, incorporated in 1894. Its earlier meetings were held at 340 Robbins Avenue, and in 1906 it erected the present synagogue on the south side of Linden Street. Another orthodox Jewish society was entitled Ahavez Sholam, incorporated in 1911 and worshiping in 1915 in
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a synagogue on Dewey Avenue. Each of these congregations has purchased land for a communal cemetery, the latter in 1912, on Churehill Street, and the former in 1898, at the northeastern border of the property of the Pittsfield Cemetery Corporation. In 1871, a plot of land was purchased from that corporation by the Society Ansha Amonim for a Jewish burying ground.
The beautiful grounds of the Pittsfield Cemetery Corporation were adorned in 1900 by the erection thereon of a mortuary ehapel, presented by Mrs. Edwin Clapp in memory of her hus- band and dedieated on October seventeenth, 1900. A bequest to the corporation from Thomas Allen provided for a stone gate- way on Waheonah Street, which was built in 1884 and of which the cost, including that of the bronze gates given by Mrs. Allen, was $7,000. The Roman Catholic cemetery on Peck's Road has been graeed by artistie improvement; and in 1903 it was broad- ened by the addition of a traet of land of seventy-five acres, ad- joining it on the northwest and purchased by Rev. James Boyle.
CHAPTER XII
THE BERKSHIRE ATHENAEUM AND MUSEUM
A T the dedication of the edifice of the Berkshire Athenaeum, on September twenty-third, 1876, Thomas Allen, in the course of his address as donor of the building, spoke these words:
"The good fortune of being born in Pittsfield and of being stimulated to exertion by early poverty gave me the opportunity of realizing two wishes. One was to possess and build upon the home here occupied by my father and grandfather since 1765, and the other was to aid in making memorable the town by doing something useful for it. I am not sure but that a cherished belief that this country is to be saved, if at all, by the cultivation of patriotism and the diffusion of intelligence entered into the mo- tive. At all events, I am thankful that I have been blessed with the means and opportunity of accomplishing the two wishes I have mentioned. Having performed what I deemed my part, I shall rest in full faith that the town will per- form its part of the contract, that the institution will be liberally and perpetually sustained, and that its beneficial influence, commencing now, will be continued so long as the town stands".
Pittsfield's part of the contract, to which Mr. Allen referred, was embodied in a vote passed by the town meeting, in 1874, whereby the town agreed to pay to the trustees of the Athe- naeum, upon the erection of the new building, the sum of two thousand dollars annually, "until such time as said trustees shall receive the bequest of the late Phineas Allen, Esq., or such por- tion thereof as shall enable them to realize from the increase thereof, the said sum of two thousand dollars yearly". That the town was disposed to regard this compact without narrowness was soon shown, for the town meeting of 1877 appropriated three, instead of two, thousand dollars for the maintenance of the li- brary and museum.
The institution in its new home was opened for public use on
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October second, 1876. The librarian and curator was Edgar G. Hubbell. There were about 8,000 books in the library; the reading room was supplied with one daily newspaper, and ten weekly and six monthly periodicals. From 1873 to 1879 no purchase of new books was possible. The town meeting of 1879, however, voted an extra appropriation for the specific purpose of buying books, and beginning in 1877 a fund was annually raised by private subscription to procure newspapers and periodi- cals for the reading room. In June, 1879, the librarian reported that the number of volumes on the shelves was 9,248, that 3,211 persons held cards entitling them to the use of the library, and that there had been 25,008 books lent during the preceding twelve months.
In the meantime, the Athenaeum was beginning to serve the community in other directions. Conditions were made, in 1878, with the Berkshire Historical and Scientific Association, under which the association established its headquarters on the second floor of the Athenaeum building; and there, in the west room, a collection of objects of scientific and antiquarian interest soon grew to a considerable size. The east room on the same floor was equipped as a lecture hall and became the home of several literary societies, notably of the Wednesday Morning Club of women, formed in 1879. In the central room a gallery of art gradually manifested itself. This was stimulated during the summer of 1880 by the temporary establishment of a Loan Art Exhibition. The exhibition remained open several weeks; in the evenings it was occasionally enlivened by concerts of music; and it proved to be a potent attraction to many visitors. The variety and quality of the display, lent from Berkshire homes, were surprising. The paintings, for example, included a Rem- brandt, an Albert Durer, a Salvator Rosa, and a Murillo. The assembled collections, in particular, of laces and of Chinese jewelry were pronounced to be unique. The educational, as well as the esthetic, value of the exhibition was unusual; and it revealed to the community the possibilities of the Athenaeum as a focal point of the county's artistic and historical interests.
Mr. Hubbell, the librarian, was an assiduous gatherer of local pamphlets and memorabilia, and this department of the library
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was well supplied, while the collection of governmental documents, diligently nurtured by Henry L. Dawes, was of exceptional completeness. But the number of books adapted to general cir- culation, especially among boys and girls, was not adequate to the growing use of the library by the public, and the system of cata- loguing demanded expensive revision. In 1883 the trustees re- solved to take bold action. They determined to make the Phin- eas Allen estate immediately available, to anticipate its future payment to the Athenaeum, and to borrow on that anticipation a sum sufficient to rearrange the library, to catalogue it suitably, and to buy new books. Moreover, they had in their hands a fund for the purchase of books, bequeathed by Mrs. Thaddeus Clapp, who, during her lifetime, had been a liberal giver to the institution. Nor should it be forgotten that the town was cus- tomarily ready to increase somewhat the regular annual appro- priation to which it deemed itself bound.
In accordance with this decision of the trustees, the circulat- ing department of the library was, in 1883, practically renewed. 4,249 volumes were added; the entire library was newly cata- logued and arranged. Having been closed for eleven weeks, the library was reopened December fifteenth, 1883. That the steps taken were of public benefit soon seemed to be evident, for in the following June a greatly increased circulation of books was re- ported.
In November, 1888, Mr. Hubbell resigned the position of li- brarian and curator, and he was immediately followed by Harlan H. Ballard. The new librarian's first annual report, made in June, 1889, showed that there were in the library 15,890 books, of which 3,303 were volumes of public documents. For several succeeding years a gain was maintained in the total number of books, so that it reached 20,000 in 1893. At the same time, further numerical growth appeared to be impossible under the existing limitations of space in the Athenaeum building. The trustees of the institution, however, were convinced that the legitimate demand upon the library by the public, and especially by the children of the public schools, was rapidly increasing, and was likely to increase still more rapidly in the near future; and they conceived that the obligation of their trust compelled
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them to spare no effort to provide at once for the substantial en- largement of the building presented in 1876 by Thomas Allen.
The Phineas Allen estate had become disencumbered of an- nuities, and had been paid to the Athenaeum in 1891. The property which thus passed into the possession of the institution was valued at about $70,000. To expend a considerable part of it for the purchase of land and for the erection of an addition to the building for library purposes was, of course, to deprive the Athenaeum of much income, and to make it almost completely dependent for maintenance and growth upon the annual grant from the city, and upon the beneficence of private donors. On the other hand, the trustees were apparently unable to believe that they could reasonably expect hearty municipal or private interest for an institution whose facilities were so cramped and inadequate for public needs that it could neither fully prove its present usefulness nor convincingly indicate what it might do in the future. More library space seemed to be absolutely essen- tial, and the need of it was accentuated, if possible, by a bequest of books by Miss Elizabeth Stuart Newton in 1892, and in 1895 by the donation of 2,000 volumes from the library of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, presented by his son, Mr. Justice Holmes, of the United States Supreme Court. The latter donation, indeed, could not even be unpacked and placed on the shelves.
Attempts to purchase land in the rear of the building were initiated in 1893. These having decisively failed, in the opinion of the trustees, they petitioned the legislature for the right to take one-quarter of an acre of land upon the payment of an adjudi- cated price therefor, under the law of eminent domain. The course taken by the trustees did not escape vigorous and well- intentioned censurc from many citizens, but nevertheless the petition was granted in 1895.
Upon the land thus acquired, a large extension of the main building toward the south was erected and equipped at a cost of about $50,000, and was ready for occupancy in the spring of 1897. The general design of the addition was devised by the librarian, Mr. Ballard, and elaborated and made technically complete by the architects, Messrs. Hartwell, Richardson and Driver of Boston. The execution of these plans allowed to the circulating
THE BERKSHIRE ATHENAEUM AND MUSEUM 179
library a floor space of nearly 4,500 square feet whereon it was estimated that about 70,000 books could be conveniently arrang- ed. The addition placed the growth of the library beyond the possibility of merely physical restraint for many years. The community had at its service, and free of cost to itself, a library building ample for a long future period. But the financial en- dowment of the institution had been greatly reduced. A con- temporary report of the president of the corporation put the case in this way: "The Athenaeum has been fostered and made a most prominent and useful educational institution largely by private generosity, of the benefits of which the citizens of Pitts- field have the unstinted use, and now the city may wisely adopt and recognize it as part of its educational system and as a ward of the municipality, deserving its hearty and ungrudging support and care".
The city was then without official representation in the cor- porate management. In 1897, the trustees voluntarily altered the organization of their board and obtained from the legislature an amendment of their charter, by which the successive mayors, the chairmen of the school committees, and the city treasurers become trustees of the Athenaeum during the tenures of their municipal offices. It was believed that by virtue of this measure the city might require, through its treasurer, the rendering of whatever account it demanded of the funds it might appropriate for the support of the Athenaeum, that it might recommend, through the chairman of its school committee, the extent to which the institution should co-operate with the public schools, and finally that it would be safeguarded by the mayor's intimate knowledge, gained as a member of the board of trustees, of the use made of its appropriations. Under this closer relationship between the Athenaeum and the city government, the annual municipal appropriations increased. In 1898, the appropriation was $5,000; it was $10,000 in 1915.
By the enlargement of the building, the efficiency of the li- brary was soundly stimulated. A new and elaborate catalogue, on the so-called card system, was begun at once and within a few years was carried to completion by the regular library staff. In 1899 the number of volumes in all departments was 34,000, the
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circulation of books cxcecded 80,000, and a librarians' training class was opened with six pupils, who in return for instruction gave the library their services for one year. A branch circulating library was established ncar the Russell factory village, and in 1902 the total circulation first touched 100,000. In widening the public use of the library, and especially of the reference de- partment, much was accomplished by enlisting the co-operation of teachers. The working staff increased so that in 1915, still under the leadership of Harlan H. Ballard, it numbered twelve, organized in five working departments. There were then 64,000 books in the library, and the circulation was 104,000.
This growth was unassisted by any substantial addition to the relatively small permanent endowment of the institution. Legacies from Henry W. Taft, Dwight M. Collins, and F. A. Hand were of necessity devoted mostly to the payment of current expenses and the cost of structural repairs. Other private donors contributed money from time to time to provide for special needs or for the purchase of books of a particular sort. Such were, for example, the Berkshire Ministers' Club, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and the givers of the equipment of a children's room. But it is to be said that in general the growth in usefulness and size of the library of the Athenaeum, from 1897 to 1916, was maintained by relying rather upon internal economy than upon extraneous aid.
While the enlargement of the building in 1897 appeared to guarantee suitable accommodation for a public library com- mensurate with the city's probable desires for many years, no relief was afforded thereby for the further development of the collections of natural history and art. The single room which could be devoted to the Athenaeum's art gallery had been filled in 1886 by a collection of casts of antique statuary, selected in Europe by Rev. C. V. Spear; and therein also had been placed the valuable statue of "Rebekah" by Benzoni, a generous gift by Mrs. Edwin Clapp. A bequest of money to the institution by Bradford Allen, of which the expenditure was restricted to works of art, became available in 1887, and by means of it paintings were added to the gallery; and under the will of Miss Elizabeth Stuart Newton the Athenaeum acquired excellent
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pictures, which had been obtained abroad by Miss Newton's father in 1845. But during the final years of the last century the art gallery, of which the enrichment had long been at a standstill, attracted only the desultory visitor. The museum, although in better case, so suffered from lack of room that con- venient arrangement of its exhibits was prohibited. In 1898 Daniel Clark of Tyringham contributed several extraordinary collections of minerals, coins, and Indian and antiquarian relics, which were displayed on the library floor of the Athenaeum and not properly in the museum at all.
In short, the trustees had been compelled to energize one function of the institution and to allow others to become attenuat- ed. The officers had felt themselves obliged to choose the de- partment of the Athenaeum which it was most important ade- quately to maintain; and they had chosen its free library. The intent of the founders and early benefactors was far broader, but it was in apparently unavoidable peril of defeat. And pre- cisely at this juncture the skies were brightened.
It was in April, 1902, that the following letter was made public, addressed jointly to William R. Plunkett and Walter F. Hawkins.
"I am prepared to carry out the purpose I have mentioned in my several interviews with you of erecting a building to be used as a Museum of Natural History and Art, and of furnishing the same, in part, with suitable objects of artistic and scientific interest, to which additions may be made from time to time by other friends of Berkshire County.
"I intend to establish the Museum in Pittsfield as the most central and convenient accessible point for the inhabitants of the county in general, and to proceed with the building as soon as I have procured a suitable site.
"On or before the completion of the Museum, I propose to convey it to a corporation or board of trustees, and shall be glad if you will undertake the organization of such a corporation.
'Yours very truly,
"Zenas Crane."
The site selected by Mr. Crane was on the east side of South Street, near Park Square, and the building, which he caused to be erected there in 1902, was of two stories and in size seventy-four by forty feet. The materials were Roman brick and Indiana
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limestone, and the style was an adaptation of that of the Italian renaissance. The architects were Messrs. Harding and Seaver of Pittsfield. The building contained six exhibition rooms, and it was first opened to the public on April first, 1903.
In the meantime, Mr. Crane, always having in mind the people of Berkshire County as the beneficiaries for whose profit and enjoyment the new Museum was to be established, had com- municated to the trustees of the Athenaeum his opinion that the two institutions should be under a single management. Their purposes were similar; their real estate was contiguous. Mr. Ballard, the librarian and curator of the Athenaeum, was well- equipped by experience to act as the curator of the Museum, and was willing so to act without further compensation. The trustees of the Athenaeum accordingly moved with grateful promptness. Upon their application, early in 1903, the legisla- ture enacted amendments to their charter, whereby the corporate name was altered to "The Trustees of the Berkshire Athenaeum and Museum of Natural History and Art", and whereby the corporation was authorized to elect nine additional trustees, and from time to time thereafter to reduce the whole number of trustees to not less than ten, in addition to those holding office as representatives of the municipal government. To the officers of the corporation thus altered, Mr. Crane, on March thirty-first, 1903, quietly handed his deed, conveying the new Museum and the land on which it was situated to the trustecs. "This mag- nificent gift," it was by them voted, "the trustees and their suc- cessors will hold in their fiduciary capacity for the use and benefit of the public, 'to aid', in the language of the charter of the cor- poration of which they are the legal representatives, 'in promoting education, culture, and refinement.'"
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