1C VIAU AMBORLIAD

2 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.

away pleasantly and profitably the heavy hours they may be constrained to pass in our city. I trust the Councils will take this object into consideration, and that some movement will be speedily made to effect so useful and important an object."

The subject was again brought forward in the Intelligencer, June 8, by one who signed himself "Pioneer." No city, he said, was better supplied with valuable books than Washington. But these were available to the public only for purposes of reference and at such hours as made their use impracticable, so that citizens were as little benefited by them generally as residents of the most distant state. At the same time, he continued, citizens of Washington were great book lovers: their own collections and the patronage of the bookstores was evidence of that; and a small fraction of the amount expended for books and literary intelligence would furnish a collection for public benefit on a liberal scale. A subscription of ten dollars by each gentleman in the government office would make possible the erection of a building large enough to accommodate not only a library and reading room but also offices, the revenue from which might be sufficient for the maintenance of the institution. The basement and first floor, he thought, might be given up to offices and dwellings, while the second floor should be devoted to the library, reading room and lecture hall in front, with rooms for literary clubs, art studios, etc., in the rear. The collection of books could be made with even less difficulty. Every man had useful books, which, if placed before the public, would be useful to others. Let every subscriber to the proposed library have the privilege of paying one half of his subscription in books at the appraisal of a board or committee. In this way alone several thousand volumes might be collected, and

their usefulness, now circumscribed to a single family, be indefinitely extended. The purchasers of a new work would, after reading it, offer it to the public through the library. In connection with the library there should be a reading room furnished with the most valuable newspapers, magazines and scientific journals. The privileges of the association should be open to all the citizens of Washington on equal terms, shares being not more than five dollars each, and transferable.

Mr. Watterston's suggestion for a free public library was preferred to the suggestion put forward by "Pioneer, " and at a meeting of the citizens of Washington, presided over by Mr. Watterston (October 9, 1849) it was

"Resolved, That a committee of seven (one from each ward) be appointed to prepare a suitable plan for a public library, to be established in this city; That they be authorized to make application to the stockholders of the City Library, to ascertain upon what terms they will agree to transfer their respective shares of stock for the purpose above mentioned; that they be requested to solicit donations of money, books, maps, etc., of the citizens of Washington, and of other cities, to add to said library, and to apply to the city Councils for the use of a room in the City Hall, and also for an appropriation for the gradual increase of the library, and the payment of a competent person to take charge thereof.”

The following persons were appointed the committee, viz., George Watterston, Peter Force, C. J. Abbot, J. W. Maury, P. R. Fendall, Dr. Roberts, Dr. J. E. Morgan, and on motion, C. A. Davis.*

At a meeting of this committee on the same evening it was

"Resolved, That a subcommittee of three be appointed, whose duty it shall be to wait on the Directors of the Washington library, and request a meeting of the Directors, or of

*National Intelligencer, October 17, 1849.

the Stockholders, as the said Directors may deem best, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the said Directors or Stockholders will consent to transfer the property of the said library company to such managers, directors or others, as may hereafter be appointed, for the establishment of a Free Public Library in this city, provided assurances can be given that the same shall be held and preserved for the purposes and uses of a Free Public Library, as aforesaid, and also the terms and conditions upon which such transfer can be made."

Messrs. George Watterston, Abbot and Davis were appointed the committee, and the resolution communicated by the chairman of the committee, Mr. Watterston, to the Directors of the Washington Library Company. In reply to this communication the Directors passed a resolution (October 30) asking for information regarding the plans for the new library, its management and support, and inquiring what assurance could be given that the new library would be established upon as firm and permanent a basis as that of the Washington Library.* On the following day this resolution was communicated to Mr. Watterston by Mr. James F. Haliday, secretary of the company, with his personal assurance that the members of the Library Company would cheerfully unite with their fellow citizens in any measures for the establishment of a free library upon a basis equitable, certain and permanent.† The sixth of November a committee consisting of Messrs. Brodhead, Anderson and Sessford was appointed to confer with the Citizens' Committee regarding the proposed free library. On the twenty-third of November Mr. Watterston addressed a second letter to the citizens of Washington repeating his arguments of February 10, and, on the sixth of February, 1850, Mr. Joseph C. Smith made a statement to the directors "Journal of the Washington Library Company," October 30, 1849. + Watterston manuscripts.

of a plan to transfer the Washington Library to the city authorities, the nature of which is not described. * With this the plan for the reëstablishment of the Washington Library as a free public library disappeared.

After the failure of the Watterston movement little was done to secure a public library in Washington until after the war. That little was done by newspaper correspondents. In May, 1850, a correspondent of the Republic suggested that every ward in the city should have a large well-lighted, well-ventilated reading room and library, where youths should be welcomed and respectfully treated by the librarian, upon the single condition that no word should be spoken.

In October, 1850, Mr. Smith made similar proposals with a view to inaugurating his scheme for the School and School District American Institute. This scheme,

set forth at some length in the National Intelligencer, October 19, 1850, provided for a free library and reading room, such as those in Massachusetts and New York, in each school district in the United States. The people of Scotland, of the Presbyterian Church, had free use of the libraries appended to each church: would not the addition of a library to each church in the District of Columbia, he uged, be greatly beneficial to the members of said churches, and promote the establishment of such libraries in each district.

There was only one more suggestion of a public library before the war. In 1854 it was said that Mr. W. W. Corcoran was erecting a handsome and substantial building on H Street between Thirteenth and Fourteenth for a Mechanics' Library. But this appears to have been mere rumor: for in 1857 the Union

*

66

Journal," February 6, 1850.

† Republic, May 2, August 29, September 7, 1850.

Union, November 9, 1854.

(December 5) complained that the building had been monopolized by a society, and that those who wanted books were still forced to beg members of Congress to obtain them from the Library of Congress, directly in opposition to the rules of that institution.

The more conservative and respectable citizens believed that no other public library than the Washington Library was needed;* others were content to remain dependent upon the charity of benevolent Congressmen; all became more and more absorbed in political debate and military events.

The Earliest Congressional Measures.

After the War the free public library movement entered a second phase. The question was now taken up in Congress. The events which led to Congressional action were these: On the fourteenth of April, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's theater; on the sixteenth of July a Government clerk wrote to the Chronicle suggesting that a free library would be the noblest and most appropriate monument to the great martyr that could be raised on the spot where he had offered up his life for the cause of universal freedom, and urging that a memorial be addressed to Congress, asking for an appropriation for the purchase and fitting up of Ford's theater as a library and lectureroom for the use of the civil employees of the government. For the maintenance of the library, said he, "Let a tax of one dollar a month be imposed upon each government employee whose salary amounts to $1,200 per year, and upon all others in like proportion to the amount they receive."

This suggestion was discussed by the Chronicle in a long editorial on the following day. It made no refer*Telegraph, April 29, 1852.