USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 62
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Pontiac Free Library Association-An informal meeting was held in the village of Pontiae on August 6, 1884, to consider the expedieney and ways and means of establishing a public library. A committee was there appointed, consisting of Rev. L. B. Thomas, David Alex- ander (superintendent of the Pontiac Mill), and Dr. D. O. King, with power to draw a constitution and, if sufficient interest was manifested, to report at another meeting. A verbal and favorable report was made at the next meeting and a soliciting committee was appointed, after which a constitution and by-laws were adopted. The organiza- tion was perfeeted on September 18, under the name of the Pontiae Free Library Association. Funds were raised by solicitation, enter- tainments, ete., books were purchased and received as gifts until the number of volumes is now more than 3,000, which are kept in com- modious rooms in a building owned by the company and given rent free to the library.
The Riverside Free Public Library was founded largely through the efforts of Rev. William M. Chapin, of Barrington, who had laid the foundation of a church in that village. A few hundred volumes were eolleeted and the library was opened in July, 1881. In 1883 the association was ineorporated under the title, the Riverside Free Publie Library Association. It was kept in limited apartments until 1892, when the association took steps to ereet a suitable library building, which was finished and occupied in 1894. There are now about 4,000 volumes on the shelves.
Summit Free Library-The town of Coventry had two very early libraries, the history of which is not now aeeessible. One of these was established by the Coventry Library Society, which was ineor- porated in February, 1806, by Joseph Riee, Joseph Bowen, Enoeh King, and others. Bowen's Hill had an early library to which the late Tully P. Bowen, of Providenee, was a liberal eontributor. Also, what
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THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARY.
was called the Anthony Lyceum Library was chartered in January, 1868. The existing Summit Free Library was the result of a meeting held May 27, 1891, at which a soliciting committee was appointed, and another to prepare a constitution and by-laws; these latter were adopted at a meeting held June 27 and received forty-two signatures ; officers were elected on July 6. The annual membership fee is fifty cents, and over 2,000 volumes have been gathered.
Union Public Library-Its predecessor of Tiverton was a so- called social library, established in March, 1820, by the United Society. A somewhat remarkable constitution, consisting of twenty-four articles, was drawn and adopted, which established rather exclusive conditions as to the kinds of books to be admitted, methods of admit- ting members. etc., which hampered the usefulness of the institution, and the last meeting of the society was held January 11, 1845. In March, 1860, the society reorganized, the stockholders voting to sell shares at one dollar each and to circulate books for five cents a week. A fair degree of prosperity followed until 1876, after which the library and its welfare were neglected. In 1889, through efforts of Elmer A. Wilcox, of Providence, and Mary C. Gray, of Tiverton Four Corners, the present Union Public Library was established, to which was given the books of the old library. It opened in April, 1889, and now has 2,239 volumes.
The Valley Falls Free Library Association was formed in 1880, and during a number of years successfully maintained a library and read- ing room. Finally interest declined and the institution was abandoned for a time, after which it was taken in charge and maintained a few years by the branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. In 1899 renewed interest was manifested in having a good library, and an organization with the same title as above given took the affairs of the institution in hand and has since maintained it successfully.
Watchemoket Free Public Library-In February, 1871, a num- ber of women met in Lyceum Hall, on Watchemoket Square, East Providence, chiefly by request of Mrs. Rhoda R. Bassett, wife of Dr. Ahaz Bassett, and there a society was formed called the Ladies' Library Association, with Mrs. Bassett, president. The purpose formed was to make a collection of books for a circulating library, for which small fees would be charged, and ultimately to establish a free public library. Many books were gathered and the library began business in 1872, but was entirely burned in 1876; with money re- ceived for insurance another collection of books was purchased, and now the effort began to carry out the original free library project. In May, 1885, the Watchemoket Free Public Library was incorporated, the town of East Providence appropriating $200, and the opening took place in January, 1886. In 1890 the library was removed to more
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
commodious apartments in the new town building. The institution now receives from the town $500 annually and has on hand 5,870 volumes.
The Westerly Public Library Association-In connection with his great work upon the educational system of Rhode Island, Henry Barnard devoted much energy and effort to advancing library interests throughout the State. It was in 1847, while he was thus engaged, that some of the prominent citizens of the town of Westerly adopted measures for establishing a public library. Rev. Frederick Denison was chosen treasurer and $1,100 were expended for books; these were selected by Mr. Barnard. Among those who took the
WESTERLY PUBLIC LIBRARY AND PARK.
requisite number of shares to insure the establishment of the library were Rowse Babcock, John Hobart Cross, Nathan F. Dixon, Thomas Perry, and O. M. Stillman. The name, Pawcatuck Library,1 was adopted and the library began its successful career of half a century. At a meeting of the association on June 12, 1893, it was voted to give a bill of sale of all the books and other library property to the West- erly Memorial and Library Association upon receipt of a sum of money just sufficient to pay all claims against the old association. This transfer included 5,000 volumes and various pamphlets, etc.
1It should be stated that the Pawcatuck Library Company was incorpor- ated in October, 1797, but what it accomplished or how long it existed is not now known.
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THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARY.
Through the generosity of the late Stephen Wilcox and an appropria- tion by the town of $25,000, a commodious and handsome brick memorial building was erected, which was opened on August 15, 1894. It contains, besides the usual library accommodations, an assembly hall, two small halls for the use of the G. A. R. Posts, with a gym- nasium, bowling alley and baths. All this is free to residents of the town and of Connecticut within the Pawcatuck voting district, except- ing the bowling alley and baths, for which an annual charge is made. The original cost of the building was about $85,000 and an important enlargement has since been made to it. The number of volumes has increased to 14,000, besides several thousand pamphlets and rare his- torical documents. In the year 1899 Mrs. Wilcox purchased the Rowse Babcock property in the village, comprising about eight acres of land and several buildings, and presented it to the Library Associa- tion for a public park; the library building occupies a site on this land.
Whitridge Hall Library, of Tiverton, was founded in 1875, and occupies a part of the building owned by the Whitridge Hall and Bowen Memorial Chapel Association ; it is under charge of a committee of members of that association. The books of the Unitarian Sunday School and various contributions were opened to the public, and in 1881 the institution began receiving small annual appropriations from the State, which has enabled the directors to increase the number of volumes to over 4,000.
Willetteville Free Library-The plan of forming a free public library in Saunderstown, North Kingstown, originated in 1885 at a meeting of the so-called Circle for Mutual Improvement, a literary organization of young people. The undertaking was started and money raised by entertainments and solicitations, and on May 8, 1885, a good library was opened to the public, with one hundred standard bound books. The name, Willetteville Free Library was adopted and the institution was kept alive by energy and public spirit. In 1893 it was found that the library still lacked forty volumes of enough to obtain State aid, in which emergency George T. Baker, of Barrington, sent forty volumes of unbound Harper's Maga- zines from the library in that town, and the State appropriation of $50 was received. The neat building occupied by the library was erected in 1891. There are now 1,429 volumes on the shelves.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
THE PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM AND ITS PREDECESSORS.
(1) The Providence Library, 1753 to 1836-The beginning of the lending library as a permanent institution was due to the same causes in Providence as in Philadelphia, Newport and other towns in the American Colonies. A desire on the part of the more active spirits to read more widely than their individual resources would warrant, led them to send across the water for books. Benjamin Franklin was the moving spirit in the Philadelphia library enterprise of 1731, and he has left on record the causes and motives which led to the formation of the Philadelphia library. Stephen Hopkins was one of the leading spirits in the formation of the Providence Library, his name heading the list in the petition to the General Assembly in 1754, not long after the founding of the library association in 1753.
Like Franklin, Hopkins and his associates found no good book- seller's shop1 in their own town at first, and, in consequence, "raised and sent to England a sum of money sufficient to purchase books to furnish a small library, and, before long, advanced to the point of making it a public subscription library". Like Franklin, also, they looked about for "a proper place to keep the books in". A promising depository which offered was the council chamber in the Providence Town House of that day (known and used also as a "Court House" and a "State House"), which stood on the site of the Meeting street school-house (so called) on Meeting street, next above the Friends' meeting-house. This proved, however, a delusive place of deposit, for the building was burned, with the books in it, on Christmas eve, in 1758. When the successor to this building was erected (the old "State House", so called, or, in legal writs, the "Sixth Judicial District Court House"), still standing on the lot stretching from Benefit street to North Main street), the library at once made its home there.2 This was in 1764, and it so continued until 1816.
The early record-books of this library are still preserved in the archives of the Providence Athenaeum (the "Register" and "Minute book", respectively). The earlier of these, the "Register", extends from 1753 to 1835,3 and opens with a copy of the subscription list, which had been circulated March 22, 1753, the names of the subscribers here being entered alphabetically. The first meeting of the subscribers was held December 15, 1753, at the "house of Joseph Angel". At a meeting held August 2, 1754, a committee headed by Steplien Hopkins
1The first bookseller in Providence appears to have opened a shop about ten years later than this, in 1763, namely, Daniel Jenckes. His bookshop, accord- ing to the late Henry C. Dorr, was near the Great Bridge, at the sign of Shak- speare's Head. (Dorr's "Planting and growth of Providence", p. 197.)
2Sketch of the "Providence Library", at p. 27 of the "Appendix" to the 1st annual report of the "Athenaeum", 1837.
3The other volume, (the "Minute book"), extends from 1774 to 1835.
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THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARY.
was appointed, on "rules and orders". Nicholas Brown was appointed the first librarian. An absolutely complete roll of the successive librarians is perhaps not accessible, but the names of at least twenty are found between 1753 and 1835, comprising, among others, Silas Downer (the orator of the Sons of Liberty in 1768), David Rowland, Theodore Foster, George R. Burrill, Walter R. Danforth, Charles F. Tillinghast, and Horatio Gates Bowen.1
The total number of volumes belonging to the library at the time of the fire, in 1758, is not known. About seventy of the treasures of the library, however, were at that time in the hands of readers, and were thus preserved.2 An asterisk has been used to indicate these interest- ing survivors of a primitive period, not only in the manuscript "Catalogue" of the books belonging to the library in 1762 (entered at pages 40 to 56 of the manuscript "Register" mentioned above), but in the printed catalogue of 1768, which reprints the manuscript list. An earlier list is copied at pages 15 to 34 of the same volume. Some of these books also are still preserved on the shelves of the Providence Athenæum of to-day, as well as a copy of this printed catalogue of 1768.
The valuable library thus founded was apparently well cared for in its early years, but, like many other American institutions of the eighteenth century, it did not survive the American Revolution with- out serious detriment. It had, however, performed a useful service on the removal of Rhode Island College to Providence from Warren, in 1770. "On this occasion", to quote from the historical sketch prefixed to the "Charter" of 1818, by John Howland, "the Library Company offered the use of the books to the officers and students of that institu- tion", until a library could be procured sufficient for it.3 (Page iv.) Some light is thrown on the conditions of the library's decline by Mr. Howland's remark that, "the doors being left open to accommodate the members of the Legislature, other persons, in the absence of the Librarian, had access to the books", and many, he adds, "were lost".
This catalogue of 1768+ is a publication of uncommon significance, as showing the subjects and authors that interested the men of that day. It is entitled a "Catalogue of all the books belonging to the Providence Library". Providence: Waterman & Russell, 1768.
1Mr. Bowen was also librarian of Brown University, 1824-40.
2Sketch of the "Providence Library" at p. 27 of the 1st annual report of the Athenæum.
3 It appears, however, that the college possessed at least a small collection of books, at the time of removal. (Guild's "History of Brown University", p. 66-67.) The first librarian, John Dorrance, was appointed in 1773. (Koop- man's "Historical catalogue of Brown University, 1764-1894", p. 19, 29.)
4This catalogue, which is a rare publication, is found in the Providence Athenæum and the John Carter Brown Library.
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The library in 1768 contained full sets of Pope, Swift and Addison, the Spectator, the Tatler, and the Guardian. It contained Homer, Plato, Shakspeare, Milton and Bacon. History was represented by Thucydides, Xenophon, Plutarch, Sallust, Tacitus, Clarendon, Hume, and Burnet. Prince's "New England Chronology" appears to be the only work of American history comprised, except Herrera and La Hontan, which last entries would seem to show that there were critical scholars in the membership of this society. Other lines of reading are represented by Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Gay's "Beggar's Opera"; others by Coke, Vattel, Puffendorff, and Grotius, and Thurloe's "State papers"; others by Baker on the "Microscope", Woodward on "Fos- sils", Boerhave on "Chemistry", Sir Isaac Newton's "Principia", and Benjamin Franklin's "Experiments and observations on electricity", then of very recent publication. There was also a work, now very rare, entitled "Lex mercatoria rediviva".
On several occasions the Providence Library seemed likely to obtain a new lease of life. In 1798, for instance, a new act of incorporation was considered desirable, and it was also thought necessary, says Mr. Howland, "to adopt such other measures as might render the Institu- tion more useful and respectable, and to bear some proportion to the progressive increase of the town". (Page iv.)
It appears from the act of incorporation in 1798 that the "Standing Committee" of the Providence Library Company consisted of Jabez Bowen, Moses Brown, William Richmond, John Smith, Nicholas Brown, Joseph Jenckes, and Paris Jenckes Tillinghast. The board of "Directors" comprised the above-named members, together with Joseph Tillinghast and Theodore Foster. (Charter of 1818, p. 7, 10.)
The new charter was granted at the October session, 1798, and soon afterwards "subscriptions were opened for new shares, for the purpose of increasing the library ; and a considerable number of books" were obtained; but, it is added, experience proved that "the valuable objects contemplated by the liberal spirit of the Proprietors could not be realized while the Library remained in a place so inconvenient", to which the proprietors had access only a few hours in each week.
Accordingly, in 1816, measures were taken "to add to the Provi- dence Library" a very respectable literary establishment which had been purchased by a number of gentlemen in this town, "and these gentlemen were admitted as Proprietors, on their transferring the same to the Corporation". It was at this time that the books were finally removed from the state house and transferred to the new library quar- ters. The charter was amended in 1817, and again in 1818, at which time the pamphlet, above quoted from, entitled "Charter and by- laws", was published1 (including also a "Catalogue" of 28 pages).
From time to time a proposition looking to the erection of a separate 1"Voted that Mr. John Howland be requested to" "cause a cata-
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THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARY.
building was brought up. In 1809 an offer of a lot of land, "North of Angell Street", was made by Moses Brown. Later, a deed, dated Oct. 14, 1830, from the heirs of Nathan Waterman to the Providence Library Company, conveyed to the proprietors the Waterman homestead (now occupied by the University Club), at the corner of Benefit and Water- man streets, providing that if a library building should not be erected on the lot within the next five years, the deed should lapse.1 On March 31, 1831, H. G. Bowen, Moses B. Ives and Charles F. Tillinghast were appointed a committee "to procure drafts and estimates of a building". On September 5, 1831, Zachariah Allen,2 Moses B. Ives, and Richard J. Arnold were appointed a committee "to erect a build- ing for a library". On October 13 of the same year this committee reported plans for a stone building, to cost about $6,000, and their report was "approved," with the hope that the funds might be raised.
The conditions, however, were unfavorable for the continued pros- perity of the Providence Library, especially in view of the fact that in this same year, 1831, a rival institution had been incorporated under the name of the "Providence Athenaeum", its object being to provide a library more nearly up to date. The records of the next five years comprise repeated entries in regard to "treating with" the Athenæum Library ; and the final entry on the minutebook is dated May 14, 1836, at which date the "meeting adjourned sine die". The officers of the Providence Library Company in this final year of its existence were as follows: Directors, Joseph Mauran, Joseph L. Tillinghast, Joseph K. Angell, Welcome A. Greene, William Giles Goddard, Richard J. Arnold, Zachariah Allen, Moses B. Ives, and Thomas B. Fenner. Treasurer, Allen O. Peck; secretary and librarian, Horatio Gates Bowen.
(2) The "Providence Athencum"3-(1831 to 1836.)
The existence of this institution was apparently due to the inade- quacy of the efforts of the Providence Library to serve the public. Four names are mentioned in its act of incorporation, in 1831, as rep- resenting the organization,-Cyrus Butler,4 John Mackie, Charles Dyer, and Richard W. Greene. The officers elected at the first organ-
logue of the Books together with the Charter and amendments thereto to be published". "Minute book", Nov. 3, 1817.
1It did lapse-no building having been erected by the year 1835.
2Mr. Allen's name appears in connection with library matters in Providence more than forty years later, as an organizer of the Providence Public Library, in 1871.
3The name borne by this early institution was not immediately duplicated by the new organization, which was known as "The Athenaeum". In 1850, however, this name was changed to "The Providence Athenaeum."
4Founder of the Butler Hospital.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
ization under the charter, June 18, 1831, were as follows: Tristam Burges,1 president ; John Mackie, first vice-president; Rev. Frederick A. Farley,2 second vice-president; Thomas H. Webb, secretary; and John R. Bartlett,3 treasurer. This library was short-lived, as a sep- arate organization, since steps were almost immediately taken looking to the consolidation of the two rival libraries.
(3) The Movement for Uniting the Two Libraries.
It is fortunate that such an enlightened view of the matter was taken by the representatives of the two libraries. "These institutions", to quote from one of the early accounts, "which had, for several years, divided the patronage and the sympathies of the community, gener- ously relinquished their separate organization, that no obstacle might exist to a union". After several successive conferences the books of both libraries were purchased, and the sum total thus secured for the new library was about 4,080 volumes. Of these about 1,680 were pur- chased of the Providence Library Company ( for the sum of $1,000.00) ; and about 2,400 were purchased of the Providence Athenaeum (for about $4,000.00).
The signers of the call for the first of these conferences (fifty-nine in all) included Moses Brown, Charles F. Tillinghast, Benjamin Hoppin, Thomas H. Webb, Philip Allen, John Whipple, Moses B. Ives, Robert H. Ives, Nicholas Brown, John Carter Brown, and other well-known names. At this meeting, held January 25, 1836, Zachariah Allen was chosen chairman, and William S. Patten,4 secretary. A draught of an act of incorporation was laid before the meeting by William R. Staples,5 and was adopted in an amended form. The peti- tion to the General Assembly for the passage of the charter is still preserved in print, and contains the signatures of 283 persons, many of them very well known in the life of the city of that day. The charter was granted by the General Assembly at the January session, in 1836, and the library was incorporated under the name of "The Athenæum". An amendment to the charter, in 1850, changed this name to "The Providence Athenaeum".
1Mr. Burges was a graduate from Rhode Island College, in the class of 1796, and served in the National House of Representatives, from Rhode Island, 1825-35.
2Mr. Farley was a graduate from Harvard College in the class of 1818, and was an eminent clergyman in Providence from 1828 to 1841.
3Mr. Bartlett was later connected with the John Carter Brown Library, as librarian, and served as Secretary of State of Rhode Island, from 1855 to 1872.
4Mr. Patten was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1818, and served as Chancellor, from 1867 to 1873.
5 Mr. Staples was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1817, and served as chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, 1854-56.
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THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARY.
(4) The Present Library (The Providence Athencum) -1836 to 1901.
Shortly after the granting of the charter, the association was or- ganized by the election of the following officers: President, John Pitman ;1 vice-president, Professor William Giles Goddard ;2 treasurer, William R. Staples; and secretary, Thomas White. Later in the same year Stephen Tripp was elected treasurer, in the place of William R. Staples; and Samuel W. Peckham in the place of Thomas White; and Mr. Peckham's connection with the institution continued unbroken until his death in 1895. The library was thrown open for use, October 10, 1836, in the second story of the Arcade, and in these quarters the library remained until July, 1838. The new institution was fortunate in its infancy in securing valuable gifts for its better accommodation. The Board of Directors received a communication from the heirs of the late Thomas Poynton Ives, on the 9th of March, 1836, offering "to furnish a lot of land opposite the Town House3 at the junction of Benefit and College streets, for the site of an edifice to be erected of stone or brick for the suitable accommodation of the Athenæum, His- torical+ and Franklin5 societies-the lot and building to be owned by the Athenaeum, and the other societies to be accommodated therein, upon terms to be agreed on". They also offered, the lot being valued by them at $4,000, to pay $6,000 towards the erection of such a build- ing, and $4,000 towards the purchase of books for the Athenæum, making a total of $14,000, "upon condition that the sum of ten thou- sand dollars more be made up, to be applied to the same building, and four thousand dollars more towards the purchase of books, by the sub- scriptions of responsible persons (and exclusive of moneys received for shares to be sold in the Athenaeum, prior to 1st of June next) ".
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