"In the college library, borrowers have generally been excluded from the rooms in which books are kept, while the reverse has been true in the society libraries.
"In June, 1841, the professors of the college with the assistance of some of the gentlemen of the vicinity formed a society since known as the 'Northern Academy.' This society, which was afterwards chartered and has been continued in different forms until the present time, early began the formation of a library. While many old books have been collected, its principal value lies in pamphlets and files of newspapers, some of which covering a number of years extend back beyond the Revolution. This collection, now swelled to several thousand, has always been in connection with the college library, although for several years a want of shelf room and a greater want of funds to place it in usable condition, have made it of little practical value. In 1850, the three libraries having changed little comparatively, numbered 19,000 volumes. The 'Northern Academy,' exclusive of the unbound, had over 1,000 volumes, thus making fully 20,000 volumes accessible. A distinction must be made between the figures given under the different dates (which indicate the number that were actually in the libraries), and the number according to catalogues. The latter were made by adding to former lists the books received during different years, when in fact the additions during some of these years did not more than make good the losses. It frequently happened that ten percent of the catalogued number could not be accounted for. While the society libraries have continued with nearly the same annual additions—an average actual yearly increase of over a hundred volumes,—the great growth of the college library has taken place since 1850. Since that year have been received the donations of books for the different departments of instruction and the funds upon which the constant growth of the library depends. Of these funds the first had its origin in 1846, when Edmund Parker of Nashua, Isaac Parker of Boston, and Joel Parker of Keene, gave $1,000. This was subsequently increased by the latter to $7,000, and in his will (which founded the Law School), provisions were made, that will, when available, place this fund at $20,000. In 1852, Dr. George C. Shattuck, whose name is associated with the Observatory, gave $1,000 for the department of Mathematics as applied to Mechanics and Astronomy. To this during the same year he added $200 for Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, and $800 for the Latin language and Literature. At the same time Dr. Roswell Shurtleff, Emeritus Professor, gave $1,000 for better providing with books the departments of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy. These three donations were intended principally for the use of instructors, and were accompanied with restrictions from general circulation. In 1859, by the will of Dr. Henry Bond of Philadelphia, several hundred volumes were received, and provisions were made for a library fund which when available will be about $11,000. The late Hon. Samuel Appleton established in 1845, a fund which was increased in 1854, and is known as the Appleton Fund. The income of this has been partially applied to the purchase of books relating to Natural Philosophy."
"The Press" in Hanover is worthy of notice in this connection. We quote from a published address by Professor Sanborn:
"No man lives in Hanover to-day, who can tell when any newspaper was first printed in the town, or when it ceased to be printed. Even the papers themselves have perished. Here and there, a stray number, or possibly a bound volume, may be found among the useless lumber of an attic. There was a press in Hanover, before the close of the last century. It is reported that a newspaper was published there prior to the year 1799. I have been unable to find a copy of it. In 1799, Mr. Webster delivered a Fourth-of-July oration before the citizens of Hanover, which was published in that town. A eulogy, by the same orator, on a deceased classmate, was also published the next year. Moses Davis, a citizen of the place, began the publication of the 'Dartmouth Gazette,' August 27, 1799. How long he continued to edit and publish the paper, I cannot certainly ascertain. A paper bearing that name was published for at least twenty years. I have a number of the 'Dartmouth Gazette' dated June 23, 1819, being No. XLIII., vol. 19. The whole number to this date of the paper, in this form, is 1025. It was then printed and published by Charles Spear. It would seem, therefore, that the paper which originated with Moses Davis, lived for more than twenty years. It was a valuable paper, containing a careful summary of foreign news, sometimes long orations of English statesmen, and an accurate record of local events. The original pieces were quite numerous, written by occasional contributors, many of them students of the college. The editorials were brief; in fact, a majority of the early numbers contain no words which appear as editorial. The political articles were decidedly favorable to the Federal party, but moderate in tone. During the first three years of the existence of this paper, Daniel Webster, then a student, was a frequent contributor; he wrote both prose and poetry, more frequently the latter. The topics were trite, but the thoughts were always serious and elevated. In the issue of December 9, 1799, Mr. Webster published a poem on winter; he was then a Junior in college. The European wars commanded his attention and saddened his reflections.
"Mr. Webster continued to write for the paper after leaving college. In his published correspondence, there is a letter from the editor importuning him to write the 'Newsboy's Message' for January, 1803. He says: 'I want a genuinely Federal address, and you are the very person to write it. And this solicitation, sir, is not from me alone—some of our most respectable characters join in the request.'
"The 'Dartmouth Gazette' was the champion of the college during the entire period of its controversy with the State. Many of the ablest articles written in defence of the college, appeared in its columns. I regret that I cannot give the entire history of this useful paper; it did a good work in its day, and we may now say literally, 'peace to its ashes.'
"During a portion of the existence of the 'Dartmouth Gazette,' while it was edited by Charles Spear, another paper was printed by Moses Davis, called 'The Literary Tablet,' purporting to be edited by Nicholas Orlando. Whether this is a nomme de plume or a real name, I cannot determine. Three volumes are known to have been published. It lived for three years at least. The third volume dates from August, 1805, to August, 1806. It was a folio of four pages, three columns to a page, of about fourteen inches by twelve in size. It was printed every other Wednesday for the editor.
"A new paper appeared in Hanover, June, 1820. The prospectus was as follows:
"'A new weekly paper in Hanover, N. H., to be entitled the "Dartmouth Herald." The "Dartmouth Gazette" having been discontinued, the subscribers, at the solicitation of a number of literary gentlemen, propose to publish a paper under the above title. Besides advertisements, the "Herald" will embrace accounts of our National and State Legislatures, and the most interesting articles of news, foreign and domestic; notices of improvements in the arts and sciences, especially agriculture and the mechanical arts most practiced in our own country; and essays, original and selected, upon the mechanical and liberal Arts, Literature, Politics, Morals and Religion.
"'The original articles will be furnished by a society of gentlemen; and it is confidently expected will not be unworthy of the interesting subjects, to which a considerable space will be allotted in this paper.