USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1856-1861 > Part 45
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Amelia Parker.
250
34
18
16
24
20
.85
.84
1
North Pond.
Emily Whitney.
250
42
25
17
30
19
.72
62
1
Leesville
Addie H. Barnes.
250
44
15
29
33
26
.84
.81
1
Valley Falls.
Mary E. Both well.
250
52
28
24
37
29
.80
.78
1
Chamberlain.
Joanna F. Smith.
250
23
11
12
17
15
.81
.88
1:
Pond
Mary M. Maynard.
300
66
32
34
50
41
.84
.83
1
Blithewood.
Frances E. Putnam.
250
41
26
15
18
15
.91
.82
1
*45
120 120
0
55
47
.78
.85
1
Francis H. Manning.
+1
80
52
28
66
59
.48
.90 1
..
* Per month.
t Per week.
139
76
63
100
87
.83
.87
2
66
West.
Mary J. Mack,
Lower ..
Pleasant Street, South
66
Upper, ..
East Upper ..
66
East Lower ..
Providence Street
Temple Street.
Upper.
Mary D. Thayer.
250
Front Street, West.
.83
1
Abigail Pratt,
300
93
41
52
72
ADULT SCHOOLS.
Young Men's.
Francis H. Manning.
Evening.
300
250
North ..
East Worcester, Lower.
New Worcester ..
South Worcester.
1 Per evening.
Av. No. belonging
Av. daily att. in
1859 1860
REPORT
OF THE DIRECTORS OF THE
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
THE Directors of the Free Public Library herewith submit to the City Council their first annual
REPORT :
The Free Public Library of the city of Worcester was established by an ordinance of the City Council passed December 23, 1859. Prior to that time the want of such an institution had for a long period been felt by the people of the city, and had repeatedly been made the subject of remark in the inaugural addresses of its chief magistrates. So great, however, would necessarily be the expenditure · of its establishment, that no mayor of the city had felt authorized to treat the matter with any other language that of desire and hope.
But in November, 1859, private and associate munifi- cence enabled the City Council to lay the foundations of the institution which has now entered upon the second year of successful operation. At that time, Dr. John Green, esteemed by all for a life-long service in which professional success and personal virtues had been equally characteristics, made known to the authorities of the city his desire to endow here a public library. This purpose
113
had for many years been cherished by him. In a com- munication addressed to the mayor, and afterwards by a formal deed of gift, he presented to the city his large and valuable private library, consisting of about seven thous- and (7,000) volumes, which had been collected by him at a cost of not far from ten thousand dollars ($10,000), accompanied with such conditions as in the judgment of himself and others would best secure their preservation and use.
.About the same time, and in harmonious co-operation with the design of Dr. Green, the Worcester Lyceum and Library Association, a voluntary and vigorous organiza- tion well known and appreciated here, made donation to the city of its entire library, containing about four thous- and five hundred (4,500) volumes. The liberality and public spirit of this accompanying endowment were duly recognized by the city authorities and expressed in the terms of acceptance.
These two libraries, comprising together about eleven thousand five hundred (11,500) volumes, were duly ac- cepted by the City Council, in behalf of the city, and by the ordinance already referred to were dedicated to the establishment of the Free Public Library of Worcester. Under this ordinance the present Board of Directors was elected in December, 1859, Dr. John Green being by the terms thereof made an honorary life member. In the same month the City Council purchased a lot of land upon Elm street, on which a building for the library might thereafter be erected.
In January, 1860, the mayor, in his inaugural address to the City Council, in terms alike cordial and unequivocal, commended to their care and support the prosecution and development of the enterprise. On the nineteenth (19th)
114
of March following, the City Council voted an appropria- tion of four thousand dollars ($4,000) for the support and increase of the library ; in which act the directors could not fail to recognize a liberal spirit of appreciation of the great public importance of the institution.
The Board of Directors was formally organized January 6th, 1860, by the choice of A. H. Bullock as President, and Albert Tolman as Secretary. Both libraries were found occupying the third story of the Worcester Bank Block, where they had been kept for some time previous ; and although many inconveniences must necessarily attend the opening of these quarters . for public resort and use, it has been deemed by the Board, for reasons of econ- omy and the better preservation of the books, expedient not to remove them from this place until they can be transferred to their permanent abode in the building now being finished for them. The rent which has been paid for the use of the premises during the year has been two hundred and five dollars ($205). The necessities of re- binding a portion of the volumes, and of covering them, together with other unavoidable causes, delayed the opening of the library for public use until the middle of April. a
At that time, the library, as a free public institution, was opened, under the charge of Mr. Z. Baker as Libra- rian, at . a salary of five hundred dollars ($500) per annum. At a later day, as the exigency required, Miss C. Barnes was selected as assistant, at a salary of two hun- dred and fifty dollars ($250) per annum. Both of these officers have, in the opinion of the Directors, discharged their duties with approved assiduity and fidelity. Stand- ing Committees of the Board were appointed respectively on the Library, on the Building and Library Rooms, and
115
on Finance and Accounts, who have had charge of these several departments.
The purchases of new books, commenced soon after the appropriation had been made by the City Council, have been under the direction of the Committee on the Library, consisting of Messrs. Isaac Davis, Stephen Salisbury, John Green, W. A. Smith, Henry Chapin and Dwight Foster. The number of books purchased and added to the library has been about two thousand (2,000,) at a cost of eleven hundred and seventy dollars and thirty-six cents ($1,170.36.) In every instance the committee has availed itself of the largest attainable discount. from the usual prices. It is not deemed advisable to attempt any considerable further additions to the library until the new building shall be completed, as in the rooms now occupied there is no space unimproved. But upon its transfer to the library build- ing, the necessity will be at once felt of a very considera- ble increase. Without liberal accessions at that time, the just expectations of the inhabitants cannot fail to be dis- appointed.
Donations of books have been received during the year as follows :
Mrs. Gray, - -
20 volumes,
T. W. Higginson, -
-
-
8
66
John Nichols, -
1 volume. - 110 volumes. -
Eli Thayer, (pub. doc.,)
Emory Washburn, - -
1 volume.
Charles Sumner, (Cong. Globe, -
4 volumes.
Stephen Salisbury, - -
1 volume.
A. McFarland Davis, (exec. docs.) - George F. Hoar, -
44 volumes. 2
The volumes contributed by Mr. Hoar are the Encyclo- pædia Britannica, the whole set of this work being his donation, commenced while the library was the property of the Lyceum Association. Mr. Thayer has also present-
116 V
ed a large number of other volumes of public documents, mostly duplicates. The entire library, therefore, now com- prises about fourteen thousand (14,000) volumes.
The rules and regulations established by the Directors for the government of the library have been as few and simple as possible, with a proper regard to the security and preservation of the books. The only guaranty re- quired for their return uninjured has been the liability to a fine for a book kept over time, and to make good any loss by reason of injury or failure to return it. In some other cities having a similar institution, this security has been provided by requiring a deposit to be made by the borrower with the Librarian at the time of taking the book. How admirably the more liberal rule has worked here, and how fully warranted the Directors are proved to have been in placing a larger confidence in the honor and integrity of borrowers and readers, will be apparent from a statement of the results of their experience.
At the time up to which this report is made, the fif- teenth (15th) of December, comprising the period of eight months of actual public use of the library, thirty-one thousand four hundred and fifty-four (31,454) volumes had been delivered to borrowers, thus averaging nearly one hundred and fifty-three (153) each day. There are on the records more than three thousand two hundred (3,200) different names of applicants, and the list is increasing at the rate of from ten to twelve per day. The order and condition in which the books have generally been returned has been highly satisfactory. And notwithstanding the large number of borrowers and the frequency with which most of the volumes have been loaned out, expressed by the figures already given, the number of books lost or not returned on the fifteenth (15th) of December did not ex-
117
ceed one dozen ! This circumstance, while it reflects the highest credit upon the people of our city, may well be regarded as justifying the most encouraging hopes of real- izing the great benefits which a library free to all is de- signed to confer upon the whole community.
The interest in the institution, which these statements of themselves illustrate, has been manifested by all classes and ages and by both sexes. Any one, not previously acquainted with the workings of such an establishment, who may have been at any time a witness of the large and frequent attendance at the library, the zeal and animation with which the calls for books have been made, the new faces daily appearing at the desk of the Librarian, the spirit of inquiry and enthusiasm which has marked these demonstrations, and the good order which has uniformly prevailed, must have been impressed with the visible proofs of the practicability and efficacy of a free public library as an agency for the diffusion of knowledge. And as we follow up the work in our conceptions, and behold the library by the process of constant accretions augment- ed to twenty thousand, thirty thousand, forty thousand, fifty thousand volumes-comprising the wide range of popular and current literature, history, biography, travels, the sciences and the useful arts, the domain of moral and religious truth, of poetry, of æsthetic taste, in short, all that can entertain, instruct and educate,-made a part of the daily study and contemplation of perhaps a majority of our entire population,-we are still perceiving only the outlines of an institution whose finest proportions lie beyond the reach of sight, in the imperishable ele- ments of popular culture and virtue. At no distant day, if this department of our city shall be sufficiently sustain- ed by municipal support, all the results which those most
16
118
sanguine can now anticipate, are morally certain to be appreciably developed.
By the terms of the donation, the library presented by Dr. Green, known as the Green Library, is to be used only on the premises where it is kept. This feature, it is believed, will fully commend itself as experience shall illustrate its benefits. Already the uses of this de- partment have been frequent and of great importance. In consequence of the inconvenience resulting from its pres- ent location, the public advantages of the Green Library cannot be fully realized in its use ; but when removed to the new building it is confidently expected that the full value and interest of this department to the public will rapidly and constantly be developed. The varied uses for which it may then be put in requisition will doubtless cor- respond to its comprehensive design. In communicating Dr. Green's gift to the city, in December, 1859, the Mayor believed himself warranted in suggesting a degree of as- surance that the care and interest which the donor had manifested in the collection of his library, would follow it as it should pass into the possession of the city, and not abandon it there. Any additions to the Green Library, in its present place, would be impossible. But, perhaps, without transcending the limits of propriety, it may be stated that it is believed the donor has already procured a very consider- able number of valuable books, awaiting only the opportu- nity which the opening of the new building will afford for making them a part of the collection before referred to.
The conditions connected with the establishment of the institution required that before the City Council should construct a library building, the plans should receive the approval of this Board. The Directors might therefore approve, or refuse to approve, any plan submitted to
119
them ; but their authority ceases there, and the direction of the work of building very properly belongs to the City Council. Accordingly, at a meeting of this Board held on the sixteenth (16th) of April last, the plans for a building made Mr. C. K. Kirby, of Boston, an architect of high repute, were submitted by a committee of the City Coun- cil for the consideration of the Directors. After inspec- tion and discussion, it was voted by the board to approve the plans, and this action was officially communicated to the City Council. The building is now far advanced in the stages of erection ; and the Directors look forward with interest to the time when the library may be placed within its walls, and be set apart to the public use, with accommodations more befitting the objects of a free public library, and better calculated to awaken a general sense of their value and importance than the limited and inconve- nient quarters at present occupied. This event may be expected to transpire during the coming season.
The appropriation for the Library in 1860 made by the City Council, as before stated, was - - $4,000 00
The expenses, including purchases of new books, rent, sala- ries, &c., &c., have been - - This leaves remaining to be drawn by the Directors from the above appropriation, the sum of - - $1,648 86
2,351 14
A detailed account of all expenditures is appended to this report. It will be seen that the whole sum expended has been $2,439.40 ; but of this amount $88.26 has been paid from money received by the Librarian for fines, &c., leaving $2,351.14, as before stated, chargeable to the ac- count of the appropriation for 1860.
A. H. BULLOCK, JOHN GREEN, ALBERT TOLMAN,
JOHN J. POWER,
WM. A. SMITH,
ISAAC DAVIS, STEPHEN SALISBURY, - HENRY CHAPIN,
D. S. MESSINGER,
DWIGHT FOSTER,
W. W. RICE,
GEO. M. RICE.
WORCESTER, January 10, 1861.
120
Expenditures for the Free Public Library in the year 1860, made under the direction of the Board of Directors :
Paid William Allen, record book, -
-
-
$3 50
Horace Ayres, lamp and sundries, -
-
-
2 34
60 Zepheniah Baker, salary as Librarian, -
431 00
66 books bought, -
312 76
John D. Baldwin & Co., advertising, - -
-
3 50
Callina Barnes, salary, Assistant Librarian, -
177 00
Braman, Perham & Co., gas fixtures and labor,
42 01
Crosby, Nichols & Co., books,
-
-
263 42
Victoria Fisher, covering books,
-
14 00
Calvin Foster & Co., sundries,
1 96
Myra E. Gale, covering books,
-
-
-
6 00
W. Alfred Hacker, coal,
8 00
Charlotte P. Hawes, covering books, -
15 25
William R. Hooper, advertising, -
-
-
2 25
Henry J. Howland, printing, -
-
-
82 24
56 Isaac Mason, building fires and sweeping,
37 50
Edward Mellen, Jr., books, -
-
519 67
Susan F. Perkins, covering books, -
6 00
William H. Sanford, books and sundries,
-
27 83
Simeon Thompson & Co., books,
32 50
66 Albert Tolman, cash paid out,
-
-
-
14 12
Jennie Towne, labor,
-
3 00
Joseph S. Wesby, binding books,
.
33 10
George F. Williams, sundries,
1 94
Obed Williams, charcoal,
-
-
3 06
Worcester Bank Block, rent,
205 00
66 Worcester Gas Light Co., gas,
-
71 05
Amount drawn from the appropriation,
2,351 14
· The Librarian has received for fines, - Catalogues and cards sold, - -
99 15
166 67
The Librarian has expended for repairs in rooms and
stoves, - -
-
-
- 45 56
Express and postage,
-
-
- 12 37
Blank Books and Stationery,
- 15 63
Extra attendance, - -
-
-
-
14 70- 88 26
Cash on hand, - -
-
-
-
78 41
Total expenditure,
166 67
.
2,439 40
ALBERT TOLMAN, Sec'y.
WORCESTER, January, 1861.
1
- $67 52
-
-
· 31 14
T. O. H. Perry Burnham, books,
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
REPORT
OF THE
COMMISSIONERS OF HOPE CEMETERY.
To His Honor the Mayor, the Aldermen, and the Common Council of the City of Worcester :
THE Commissioners of Hope Cemetery, in each of their previous annual reports since the organization of the Board, having presented precise statements of the general aspect, condition, plan of management and improvement of the grounds under their charge, and his Honor, the Mayor, who is himself a member of the Board, in his late inaugural address, having in appropriate and impressive terms, adverted to this interesting and cherished concern of the city, it remains only, as necessary or proper, in the present report, to comply with that injunction of law which requires an account of the particular acts of the Commissioners, and of their receipts and expenditures the past year.
Immediately after the place of the retiring Commissioner was supplied by the City Government, the Board was duly organized for the year. The completion of the di- vision fence, on the eastern boundary of the cemetery, which had been commenced, by the setting of stone posts, the preceding season, was the first object of attention, and
122
the work was prosecuted and finished in an effective and durable manner, by attaching to these posts, by means of iron bolts and clamps, sawed chestnut rails of suitable di- mensions, and by firm and substantial boarding. A fence five feet in height, is thus constructed along this whole line, of forty-nine rods in extent, which will prove an ef- fectual protection to the grounds on that border, and from the indestructible character of the most expensive parts, may be maintained, through all time, at little comparative cost in reparation or removal.
The clearing of the grounds from decaying vegetable matter, the rubbish of falling limbs and leaves blown about by the winds and storms of winter, and the repair of the avenues and paths, more or less affected by alternate frosts and heavy rains, must ever be a tax upon the labor of each opening season. All these objects received the early care of the Commissioners, and throughout the en- tire year the cemetery lot has been kept in a neat and attractive condition. The labor has all been performed under the personal, vigilant, and faithful direction of Mr. Curtis, one of the Board, who was constituted superin- tendent for this purpose, and whose judgment, economy, and good taste, have met the approval of his associates.
Applications having been pressed upon the Commission- ers for an increased number of lots, presenting more vari- ety of position, and greater preference in selection, it was deemed best to survey and lay out a section of ground on each side of Magnolia Avenue, in a prominent part of the cemetery. Fifty-seven lots have thus been created, ap- praised, and offered for purchase. Nine additional lots on Juniper Avenue, in the eastern part of the cemetery, have also been opened for selection, thereby increasing the number of lots for sale, the last year, sixty-three, and to
123
the full extent of the demand. The range of lots for free burial has also been extended, and improved access had to them. A portion of land sufficient for about thirty lots, south of and adjoining Pine Avenue, has been cleared, preparatory to laying out and offering the same for pur- chase, in lots, at low prices.
The arrangement of the Commissioners for a gradual preparation of the grounds and the laying out of lots, to be commensurate only with the progressive requirement for their use, approves itself to their observation and ex- perience. The soil, once broken and graded, is the more readily washed by rains, filled with weeds and made un- sightly, and unless cared for by individual proprietorship, becomes at once a direct tax upon the institution. While therefore the Commissioners will study to have at all times in preparation, a sufficient number of lots to meet a reasonable demand, by every variety of taste in location and selection, they will continue to restrict them within such limit as will best comport with the economical man- agement, general good order, and harmonious appearance of all parts of the cemetery.
The surface of the land, heretofore laid into lots, between Aspen and Chestnut Avenues, being extremely irregular, and the grade precipitous and unsightly, in this most con- spicuous portion of the grounds, the Commissioners, with the consent of the proprietors of lots, reduced the irregu- larities to a convenient level, and very greatly improved the appearance of this prominent feature of the place. The use of the earth, in filling abrupt and deep depressions near by, was more than an equivalent for the cost of the work.
'Considerable additional paving has been done to the gutters, across and by the sides of the avenues, which were most exposed to being washed by heavy rains.
124
Ornamental trees have been planted out, and manures and surface dressings applied to the soil, wherever it was thought to be beneficial.
The City Government of the last year, upon the appli- cation of the Board of Engineers of the Fire Department, "for the appropriation of a lot in the cemetery for the final resting place of such firemen as may die otherwise unprovided for, to be known and used as the 'Firemen's Burial Lot,'" authorized the Commissioners "to convey to the Board of Engineers, in trust, such lots as they may see fit, for the purposes specified in the petition." A com- mittee of the Board of Engineers selected a site, embracing an area of four lots, numbered on the plan 65, 66, 67 and 68, on Sycamore Avenue, for the location of the burial place. The ground was the very apex of a sharp acclivity, but the position was a commanding one, and in the judgment of the Commissioners, if properly graded, and especially if adorned by cultivation and appropriate commemorative structures, as was suggested, it probably might be, pecu- liarly suited to the object. As the earth from the top of the mound was needed to fill deep depressions and ine- qualities in the surface of immediately adjoining lands, the Commissioners caused the height of the elevation to be reduced by several feet, the earth to be deposited where it was most wanted, and with this preparation, surrendered the lot to the use to which it was appropriated. No conveyance, however, has yet been made, as the neces- sary and proper restrictions and provisions in reference to the enclosure, improvement and care of the ground, have not been settled between the department and the commis- sioners.
In the Commissioners' Report of the last year, it was mentioned, that an effort had been made to procure a con-
1
125
veyance of land on the southerly border line of the cem- etery, for the purpose of straightening that line as well as obtaining a desirable acquisition of property. The object has now been satisfactorily accomplished, and a deed of about three acres of land obtained from Mr. C. S. Bancroft, for the consideration of one hundred and thirty-one dollars and fifty-six cents. By this purchase, an acute angle in the former existing lines is avoided, and a saving will be effected in the cost of fencing alone, nearly or quite equal to the price paid for the land. Besides, the ground is thickly covered with a thrifty growth of young wood, which, at no distant day, will be of considerable value, and when cleared off, the earth is well adapted to the pur- poses of interment. The deed, duly executed, is in the hands of the City Treasurer.
The expenditures under the direction of the Commis- sioners, the past year, have been eight hundred and seven dollars and eighty-one cents, inclusive of the purchase of the land of Mr. Bancroft, or exclusive of that outlay, six hundred and seventy-six dollars and twenty-five cents. The resources have been, a balance remaining in the hands of the Commissioners, at the close of the preceding year, of forty-six dollars and twenty cents, a balance in the City Treasury to the credit of the Commissioners from former appropriations, of three hundred and forty-four dollars and sixty cents, together with an appropriation made by the City Government for the year 1860, of four hundred dol- lars. There has also resulted from the sales of grass cut from the land in the course of cultivation, and from brush and wood in the process of reclamation, the sum of one hundred and twelve dollars and eighty-four cents, making the aggregate of receipts nine hundred and three dollars and thirty-one cents. Deducting from this latter sum the
17
126
amount of expenditures in the management, care and im- provement of the grounds, of six hundred and seventy-six dollars and twenty-five cents, (exclusive of the purchase of land,) the charges fall short of the receipts two hundred and twenty-seven dollars and six cents, or inclusive of the purchase, ninety-five dollars and fifty cents, of which bal- ance thirty-six dollars and forty-five cents are in the City Treasury, and fifty-nine dollars and five cents in the hands of the Commissioners, to the credit of the coming year.
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