USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 64
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Mr. Barker's definite and carefully considered proposition had the effect of clarifying the ideas of those who were interested in the move- ment. It was clearly seen that their proposed enterprise, with its exceptionally comprehensive scope, was of so great magnitude that nothing short of a fund of $100,000, exclusive of the land for the building, would be of any avail. With determination and courage the committees appointed to obtain subscriptions at once entered on their work. Some progress was made towards the desired end, but it was made slowly. A subscription of $10,000 from the late Alexander Duncan and his wife was announced at a meeting held January 1,
1John Russell Bartlett, secretary of the state of Rhode Island, from 1855 to 1872, was, for several years before his death, the librarian of the John Carter Library. Thirty-five years before thus assisting at the foundation of the Providence Public Library, he had performed a similar service as a member of a committee formed to organize the Providence Athenaeum. Mr. Bartlett died May 28, 1886.
2Judge Stiness has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of this library since 1882; and has served as justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court since 1875, and chief justice since May, 1900.
aMr. Nicholson served as a member of the Board of Trustees of this library from 1877 to his death, Oct. 17, 1893. He served as treasurer from 1884 to 1891.
"Mr. Staples was the son of Hon. William R. Staples, one of the founders of the Providence Athenaeum.
"William Francis Channing, M. D., a son of Rev. Dr. William Ellery Channing, was a resident of Providence from 1861 to 1884. He died in Boston, March 19, 1901.
"Mr. Barker served as a member of the Board of Trustees of this library, from 1874 until his death, Oct. 14, 1892.
"Judge Durfee's address; p. 6 of "The new building".
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THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARY.
1873; and on February 26 of the same year $10,000 more, from the late William S. Slater,1 was announced. At about the same time $10,000 was subscribed by the late Mrs. Anna Richmond. Yet, up to the date of the meeting held November 13, 1874, more than three years after the passage of the act of incorporation, at which date the charter was formally adopted, and reports of progress were made, the sum total thus far secured was only $44,500.
The next stage in the movement represents the enlightened action of men who were unwilling to see the results of so much effort come to nothing, through persistence in a policy which was now plainly hopeless. If the "polytechnic institute" type of organization must be admitted to be beyond our reach, with our limited funds-they ap- parently reasoned-surely the "public library" type is not an un- attainable one. Largely through the conscientious efforts of Mr. Frank E. Richmond2 (representing one of the three largest gifts already made) it was decided to apply for an amendment to the charter of 1871, providing chiefly3 for a public library; and this amendment was passed by the General Assembly at the January ses- sion, 1875. The significance of this amendment is thus characterized by Judge Durfee :
"The amendment was unquestionably wise, since it enabled the trustees to concentrate their efforts, and the contributors to contribute only to their favorite object. Nevertheless it also had an effect of a more dubious character. It took from the five societies, originally named in the act, their special interest in the undertaking, and con- sequently, as societies, they ceased to co-operate in it. Their earlier efforts, however, had been exceedingly valuable and merit our grateful recognition and remembrance".4
To this judgment a hearty assent must be given by all who have carefully studied the steps leading to the final establishment of the library. The action of those who saw the necessity for the amendment of 1875 was precisely the action needed at a critical moment in the history of the movement, but the action of the men who had directed the co-operation of the five societies up to this stage was of scarcely less vital importance to the existence of the institution. Enduring honor and gratitude are due to both.
With the change from one form of institution to another, involved
1Mr. Slater's public-spirited beneficence was strikingly shown in the manu- facturing villages in which he was chifly interested. He served as the first president of this library, from 1874 until his death, May 28, 1882.
2Mr. Richmond served as a member of the Board of Trustees of this library from 1875 to 1892. He was the secretary of the board from 1874 to 1884, and the president from 1884 to 1892.
8Section 4 of the charter provides that the trustees "may, if they shall see fit" establish also the other features of the institution originally contemplated.
"Judge Durfee's address, at p. 8 of "The new building".
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in the amended charter of 1875, came also the change in corporate name. The institution was no longer to be known as "The Board of Trustees of the Free Library, Art Gallery, and Museum in the City of Providence", but as the "Providence Public Library".1 It is sig- nificant that, while, in respect to use, the institution was thus placed within the category of the ordinary American public library (of the type of the Boston Public Library), in respect to control it was left where it was before, outside of the city government-an incorporated institution, with only the mayor, ex-officio, representing the city officials in its membership, and filling its own vacancies, instead of having them filled by the City Council.
The granting of the amended charter of 1875 found the institution already in possession of an organization, the necessary officers having been elected under the original charter. At a "meeting of the con- tributors", held November 13, 1874,2 for the purpose of accepting the charter of 1871, the four trustees entitled to hold office under the terms of that charter were duly chosen; and at a meeting of these trustees immediately afterwards, the following officers were elected: Presi- dent, William S. Slater; and secretary, Frank E. Richmond. The trustees then chosen were the following: Alexander Duncan, William S. Slater, Mrs. Anna Richmond, and Joseph A. Barker. To these should be added the Mayor (chosen in accordance with the terms of the charter), the late Thomas A. Doyle, whose connection with the early stages of the library movement was an important one. Mayor Doyle gave much time and interest to the matter, presiding repeatedly at the preliminary meetings.
While it is true that, as societies, the five societies heretofore repre- sented on the Joint Committee ceased to hold official connection with the institution after the charter amendment of 1875, yet individual members of these society committees still remained among the most cordial supporters of the library. The names of eight of them are found among the members of the Board of Trustees of the library.3
The object of the change in the charter was entirely a practical one, being intended as an effective measure to bring about a result which
'The phraseology is that of "public library"; rather than "free Public library", as in some instances, but the library is none the less a free one. Be- ginning with the 8th annual report, in 1885, the "Form of bequest" has been printed on the outside of the rear cover of the annual reports, stating the exact phraseology of the library's name, "Providence Public Library."
2This date, therefore (1874), is appropriately taken as that of the founding of the library, and is the date inscribed on the library seal, designed for the library by Mr. Bertram G. Goodhue, of Boston, in 1895. See Judge Stiness's historical note on the "date of organization", at p. 7 of the 18th annual report.
3Namely, Joseph A. Barker, 1874-92; Thomas A. Doyle (Mayor), 1874-81, 1884-86; George A. Leete, 1875-84; Zachariah Allen, 1875-82; William Binney, 1875-83; Amos C. Barstow, 1875-77; William T. Nicholson, 1877-93; and John H. Stiness, since 1882.
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THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARY.
had long been "hanging fire"; and there is perhaps no evidence to show whether in retaining the feature of independence of municipal control there was a full appreciation of its significance. It at once differentiated this "public library" from all the others in New Eng- land, with the possible exception of that at Waterbury, in Connecticut. The results have, however, been far-reaching. The funds at the dis- posal of the library have doubtless been more limited than might otherwise have been the case, but, on the other hand, there are few libraries in which questions of administration have been decided on a basis so unbiased and so absolutely free from political consideration as in this instance.
The next two or three years were in part devoted to securing the necessary funds for ensuring the opening of a library to the public, and partly to measures for actually carrying that design into execu- tion. In order to attain this result there were needed books, a place for the books, and a librarian. An encouraging step in this direction was taken February 17, 1875, in accepting the offer of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, one of the five societies which had been acting in co-operation. The proposition made by this so- ciety included the offer of "ten thousand dollars in money and books"; and, as it proved, the books comprised 6,222 volumes. When the library opened, these books formed about sixty per cent. of the total ; and they were thus much more than a respectable nucleus. A vigorous step in advance was also taken, in the appointment, February 8, 1877, of a committee "to devise a plan for establishing a Public Library as soon as possible". The membership of this committee was worthy of the vigorous purpose embodied in the resolution, namely, Alexander Far- num, Joseph A. Barker, and Frank E. Richmond. Their report was made May 5, 1877. It embodied a careful canvass of all the funds in hand, $73,750, and the suggestion of two possible locations in which to open the library. Following its adoption, a series of supplementary resolutions was adopted, creating an Executive Committee, a Finance Committee, and a Library Committee, and also providing for the election of a treasurer. A few days afterwards, May 7, 1877, the members of these committees were appointed by the president, and their work was at once vigorously prosecuted. Mr. Alexander Farnum had also been elected treasurer, Sept. 29, 1876. At the next meeting, May 19, 1877, Mr. Farnum, for the Library Committee, reported a nomination for the position of librarian; in accordance with which Mr. William E. Foster, a graduate of Brown University in the class of 1873, who had been engaged in library work in Massachusetts for four years, was elected. The librarian entered on his duties June 1, 1877, establishing himself for the present in rooms hitherto occupied by the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, in
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
the third story of the building at the south corner of Weybosset and Orange streets. The volumes owned by that association were carefully compared with lists of supplementary purchases to be made. These purchases were received and catalogued, with the volumes already in hand ; and a system of classification was also adopted for the whole. One of the two locations which had been suggested was selected by a vote passed May 19, 1877, and this room, at the Exchange Place end of the second story of the Butler Exchange, was supplied with the necessary book-cases and other fittings. Lastly, two assistants and one messenger were engaged, the books transferred from the Weybosset street quarters to the new library quarters, and a date announced for opening the library to the public. On the evening of February 4, 1878, accordingly, the new quarters were thrown open to the public, with no formal exercises, but for inspection and for the issue of library cards; and on the following morning, February 5, 1878, the library was opened for circulation.
The library in operation, 1878 to 1901 .- The library was thus placed at the disposal of the public; its development has depended on the efforts of those who have served it as officers. The first two presidents died in office, Mr. Slater in 1882, at the end of the library's fourth year, and Mr. Leete,1 who succeeded him, two years later, in 1884. Mr. Leete was succeeded as president by Mr. Frank E. Richmond, who had for ten years discharged the duties of secretary. From this time on, by the new by-laws adopted at this time, the president has been the ex-officio chairman of all the standing committees. When Mr. Richmond, on account of confining business cares, withdrew from the Board of Trustees in 1892, he left behind an enviable record of un- remitting service to the institution, as secretary and president, extend- ing over nearly seventeen years. Mr. Richmond was succeeded as president, in 1892, by Hon. Thomas Durfee,2 for many years chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, who had been elected to membership in the board in 1888. His term of service as president at the time of his death, in 1901, was longer than any that had preceded it. The library has had but two secretaries in a period of nearly twenty- seven years. Mr. Frank E. Richmond's difficult and extraordinarily useful service as secretary extended from 1874 until his election as president in 1884, when he was succeeded by Mr. Edward I. Nicker- son,3 who had been chosen a member of the Board of Trustees in 1878.
1Mr. Leete, who at first represented Mr. Duncan's interests on the Board, was elected a member in 1875, serving until his death, April 12, 1884.
"Judge Durfee was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1846; and served as chief justice from 1875 to 1891. He died June 6, 1901.
3Mr. Nickerson's membership in the board represented the bequest of $10,000 from the late Joseph R. Brown, of the firm of Brown & Sharpe, who died July 23, 1876.
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THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARY.
His secretaryship has already passed the seventeenth year, which is longer than the position of cither president, secretary, or treasurer has been held by anyone else. The position is noteworthy in that respect, among libraries in general, and also for the increasing and absorbing demands on the time of the holder. The records of the board and also of the Executive Committee arc a striking testimony to the exceptional interest and industry of this member of the board.
The Finances of the Library .- The Finance Committee .- The choice of the Board of Trustees for its first treasurer fell upon Mr. Alexander Farnum,1 who had been clected a member of the board, at large, in 1875, at the first meeting held after the amendment of the charter. The choice was a most fortunate one, owing to Mr. Farnum's long experience with investments and the conducting of financial institu- tions on a large scale. Mr. Farnum's service as treasurer was of extraordinary value, and lasted until his death, in 1884, when he was succeeded by Mr. William T. Nicholson. Mr. Nicholson's service, which continued until 1891, was also of great value to the library, owing to his minute familiarity with all the details of organizing industry. The blank forms used in all the financial operations of the library, as well as the auditor's records, kept at the library, were devised by Mr. Nicholson, and bear witness to his intelligence and skill. Mr. Nicholson was succeeded in 1891 by Mr. Samuel H. Tingley,2 at that time cashier of the Mechanics' National Bank, whose term of service has continued to the present time. Mr. H. E. Thurston was appointed assistant treasurer in 1897, and he still holds the position.
The library has also been most fortunate in the membership of its Finance Committee,3 one of the three "standing committees". Not until 1889 was any appropriation received from the city of Providence. The sum of $125 was received from the State of Rhode Island at the end of the library's first year, in 1879, in virtue of the State law respecting public libraries, a sum which was increased to $150 in 1880, as the number of volumes in the library increased, and in 1882 to $200, beyond which, as a "maximum", the State could not go. All the resources of the library consequently during its first eleven years,
1Mr. Farnum was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1852, and served as speaker of the house, in the Rhode Island General Assembly, in 1865. He was a director of the Providence Athenaeum, 1860-65, 1866-70, and was president in 1882. He died May 11, 1884.
2Mr. Tingley had been active as a member of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers.
3The members of the Finance Committee have comprised the following: William S. Slater, William Binney, George A. Leete, William T. Nicholson, John H. Stiness, Benjamin F. Thurston, Frank E. Richmond, Nicholas Shel- don, George F. Leete, Cornelius S. Sweetland, and Thomas Durfee.
From 1879 to 1885, there was also an Audit Committee, comprising the following: Joseph A. Barker, William T. Nicholson, George A. Leete, Edward I. Nickerson and Nicholas Sheldon.
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with the exception of this small sum from the State, were drawn from the income of gifts and bequests,1 as they accumulated, none too rapidly, it is true, but in a steady and almost continuous stream. It is therefore fortunate that the Finance Committee has from the start . comprised men who were not only familiar with the most intelligent methods of investment, but who were also able to deal in an enlight- ened manner with the far more difficult problem of deciding when an institution is justified in encroaching on its capital. There has hardly been a time, from the financial report of March 12, 1878, until that of March 15, 1900, when this practical and ever- present question has not been seriously and anxiously debated. That the question has been decided so many times in the affirmative has, however, been due not only to the fact that the expenditure has been so urgently demanded at the time, but also to the strikingly significant fact that the library has never yet been without a promising financial future opening before it, even in its most seriously straitened years. From the generous bequest of Moses B. Lockwood,2 antedating even the opening of the library, and paid over in 1882, to that of Henry L. Kendall,3 whose death occurred in 1883, and whose estate was settled in 1889, and still further to that of John Wilson Smith,4 who died in 1891, and whose bequest became partly available in 1893, and is ex- pected to yield still more in future (as is also true of other estates still unsettled), the library has never been without a more or less definite assurance of funds to be provided in future. The Lockwood bequest comprised $32,021.92; the Kendall bequest upwards of $275,000 (the largest thus far), the Smith estate,5 thus far, $101,856.45. With these generous gifts received from men no longer living should be mentioned that of the late John Nicholas Brown, for the purpose of completing the library building, a munificent gift footing up to $268,595.75.
1Mr. Joseph A. Barker's generous bequest, in 1877, was followed, five years later, by an offer, dated Aug. 5, 1882, to contribute $10,000, if an equal sum is contributed by any other person or persons by the 1st of January following. A printed appeal to the public (a copy of which is annexed to the "Records", under March 14, 1883), was thereupon prepared and circulated. A few gener- ous sums were subscribed, but the amount fell far short, and it was only through Mr. Barker's liberal construction of the offer that the Kendall be- quest, announced in July, 1883, was regarded as complying with the condi- tions. Mr. Barker's subscription of $10,000 was promptly paid over, on the payment of the first installment of the Kendall gift, in December, 1883.
2Mr. Lockwood, who was not only a public-spirited manufacturer of Provi- dence, but an active member of the Providence Franklin Society, died May 13, 1872.
3Mr. Kendall was a distinguished citizen of Providence, actively engaged in manufacturing and financial enterprises, and died July 10, 1883, at the age of 78.
4Mr. Smith was a lawyer of much ability, averse to prominence, but of much keenness of discernment. He died Aug. 6, 1891, at the age of 78.
"From a bequest of Mr. Smith's sister, Miss Mary A. Smith, has also been received $500.
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THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARY.
Besides these larger amounts, there has been from year to year a succession of most generous and heartily appreciated gifts. In 1877, the year before the library was opened, there was received a gift of $10,500 from Miss Julia Bullock ; in 1878, a bequest of $1,852.86 from Miss Fanny Mason; in 1879, $1,000 from the late Henry J. Steere; in 1889, $5,000 from the late Samuel M. Noyes; in 1891, $2,000 from the late Albert J. Jones, as "book-funds"; in 1893, $1,000 from Mrs. Benjamin F. Thurston (for industrial books) ; in 1895, $1,000 from Misses Clara A. and Elizabeth A. Hoppin (for a "book-fund") ; in 1896, $1,000 from Mrs. Thomas P. Shepard ( for the library building) ; in 1898, $10,000 from the late B. B. Knight; and in the same year $1,000 from Hon. Thomas Durfee, the president of the board,1 and also in 1900 a bequest of $10,000 from Mrs. Adah Steere. To these should be added also the other sums, varying in size, which represent a lively interest in the library on the part of the public, bringing up the entire amount paid in, from private generosity, to $819,895.70.2 It is true that a sum as large as this, received at one time, would have yielded a larger income than has ever yet been at the disposal of the library. It seems equally certain that these gifts would not have been received through these successive years if the library had not expended what it received in service to the public. It was the spectacle of a library, in actual operation, which appealed to the generosity of these donors.
As regards the question of municipal support, the library has passed through two successive stages. The first of these extended from the foundation of the library to the year 1889, and was characterized not only by entire independence of the municipal organization on the part of the library, but by the absence of any municipal appropriations for the library. In other words, the library had been in operation for eleven years, for the benefit of the citizens of Providence, before re- ceiving a dollar of money from the city.
The second stage extends from 1889 to the present time, during which the library has remained on an equally independent basis, but has received each year an appropriation from the city, varying in amount, not "for the support of the library", but "in aid of" it.
"There is not included in the above the amount left for the purposes of a public library by the will of the late Seth Padelford, dated Nov. 24, 1877, the conditions of which are not yet fulfilled, and are perhaps unlikely to be. The donor, who served as governor of Rhode Island, 1869-73, was a member of one of the "joint committees", in 1871, mentioned on p. 652, above.
2"Report of the Finance Committee", at p. 14-17 of the pamphlet, "The new building". Mrs. Steere's bequest was received later.
Steps have been taken for supplying the library with portraits of several of these generous donors. That of Henry L. Kendall was painted, in 1895, by John N. Arnold; that of John Wilson Smith in 1897, by Mr. Arnold; that of Alfred M. Williams in 1899, by Hugo Breul; and that of Joseph A. Barker, in 1900, by Miss Cornelia Green.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
The steps leading to the action taken by the eity government in 1889 represent a movement very natural in its development, and originating largely outside of the library. In November, 1888, the needs and elaims of the library had been made the subject of diseussion, at a gathering of some of the most influential eitizens, at a dinner of the Providenee Commereial Club. In the inaugural address of the ineom- ing mayor, the late Hon. Henry R. Barker, January 7, 1889, attention was ealled to the needs of the library, and the Mayor asked the Couneil to consider whether the advantages conferred does not "warrant the giving of peeuniary aid thereto".1 Meanwhile, a bill, prepared with the approval of the president and other members of the Board of Trustees of the library, had been introduced into the Rhode Island General Assembly, relating to appropriations for publie libraries. In place of this bill, however, a later bill was substituted, the conditions of which were to apply only to this library, and which authorized the eity of Providenee, through its City Council, "to appropriate in any year a sum not exceeding twenty eents on each one thousand dollars of the ratable property of said eity." This aet was passed by the General Assembly, April 24, 1889. At a meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 27, 1889, a committee was appointed to present a petition to the City Council, requesting it to act in aeeordanee with the provisions of the aet of the General Assembly. This committee consisted of two members of the board, Messrs. Richmond and Niehol- son, together with the librarian, Mr. Foster. The petition eame before the City Council in the usual manner, and was referred to a "Joint Committee on the Publie Library", which had been appointed January 11, 1889. This committee comprised the following members: Edward G. Burrows and Henry T. Root, of the Board of Aldermen, and Messrs. Samuel T. Douglas (chairman), John W. Angell, and Mortimer H. Hartwell, of the Common Couneil. The report of this committee was presented June 10, 1889.
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