Three Centuries of a City Library / an Historical and Descriptive Account of the Norwich Public Library Established in 1608 and the present Public Library opened in 1857

by Geo. A. Stephen

LECTURES, READING-CIRCLES, AND EXHIBITIONS.

For a long period lectures have been regarded as an important part of the educational or “extension” work of organised public libraries throughout the country, but in the case of Norwich lectures were instituted as a means of promoting the extension of the Library itself. As soon as the first stone of the building was laid the Committee in January, 1855, authorised the Secretary to make arrangements for a course of lectures at the Bazaar, St. Andrew’s Street, in order to promote the objects of the Library, and by the April meeting lectures had been given by the Rev. A. B. Power (twice), the Rev. A. Reed, the Rev. J. Compton, the Rev. J. Gould, Mr. J. Fox (twice), Mr. J. H. Tillett, and Professor Edward Taylor, of Gresham College. Charges were made for admission, in aid of the funds of the library, and the net proceeds amounted to about £10, the attendances having been “better than usual at lectures in Norwich.”

In October, 1861, a sub-committee was formed to arrange weekly penny readings, interspersed with lectures, in the large room at the Library on Thursday evenings, and in April of the following year the Secretary reported a net balance in hand of £9 : 6 : 0, which sum was spent on books for the Library. In September, 1863, the Committee evidently intended to continue the penny readings, as it was resolved that Mr. Dowson, a member of the Committee, should have full liberty to make arrangements for conducting the penny readings during the following winter session.

A course of popular lectures in connection with the Library by distinguished scientists was inaugurated by Mr. F. W. Harmer, J.P., F.G.S., F.R.Met.Soc., in the year of his mayoralty, 1888. (Parenthetically it may be remarked that he has the distinction of being the oldest member of the Public Library Committee, he having served on it continuously since 1880.) Hoping to place the scheme on a permanent basis, Mr. Harmer suggested the appointment of a Committee of the Corporation to carry out arrangements for a yearly series of similar lectures on science by distinguished men, under the provisions of the Gilchrist Trust, and the matter

was referred to the Library Committee. The first of these series, delivered early in 1889 by Sir Robert Ball, Dr. Lant Carpenter, Dr. Andrew Wilson, Professor Miall, Professor Seeley, and the Rev. Dr. Dallinger, were “crowned with complete success.” Under the management of the Committee another course was delivered during the following winter, when the lecturers were Sir Robert Ball, Dr. Andrew Wilson, Mr. Louis Fagan, and Mr. Henry Seebohm, and two lectures were given during the winter of 1890-91, by Sir Robert Ball and Dr. Andrew Wilson respectively. Unfortunately, for reasons of economy, these were supplemented by a series by local gentlemen (which were given in Blackfriars’ Hall), but the result was the reverse of successful, and led eventually to the abandonment of the original scheme. Lectures by Sir Robert Ball and Dr. Andrew Wilson, with others by local gentlemen were given, however, in the winter of 1892-93, and in the following winter by Sir Robert Ball, Dr. Andrew Wilson, and Dr. Drinkwater. No lectures were given in the winter of 1893-94 as the University Extension Lectures then inaugurated were regarded as sufficient, but these appealed to a different class, and never took the place of the others.

In that year the Committee-room was in frequent use by three public circles of the Norwich Branch of the National Home Reading Union, and by the Norwich Students’ Association, which again used the room in 1894-95. The National Home Reading Union continued to use the room for several years.

Lectures organised by the Committee were again revived in 1916 on the occasion of the Tercentenary of the death of Shakespeare, when the following lectures were delivered at the Technical Institute, the lecture room at the Library being too small for the purpose: “Shakespeare as National Hero,” by Sir Sidney Lee, D.Litt., F.B.A.; “Shakespeare and the English Ideal,” [84] by the Dean of Norwich (The Very Rev. H. C. Beeching, D.D., D.Litt.); “Shakespeare and Music,” by Mr. A. Batchelor, M.A.; “Dramatic Companies in Norwich of Shakespeare’s Time,” by Mr. L. G. Bolingbroke; and “The Plant Lore of Shakespeare,”

by Mr. Edward Peake. For the first two lectures one shilling was charged for admission, and the net proceeds were sent to the Jenny Lind Hospital in Norwich (£7 : 12 : 6) and the Camps Library (£8 : 5 : 6). The remaining lectures were free, but collections were taken on behalf of the Camps Library, and £3 : 19 : 6 was received.

The Shakespeare Tercentenary was also commemorated by an exhibition in the Reading Room, consisting of books, prints and other material illustrative of the life and works of Shakespeare. The prints were arranged in groups as follows: Portraits, Shakespeare’s country, Contemporaries, Actors, Costume, Music, Pictorial illustrations of Shakespeare, Elizabethan London, and Shakespeare Memorials.

In connection with the Gray bicentenary, which took place on December 26th, 1916, the Dean of Norwich, who is a member of the Public Library Committee, delivered a lecture on Thomas Gray at the Technical Institute on December 15th, when the Deputy Mayor, Alderman H. J. Copeman, J.P. (Chairman of the Public Library Committee), presided. A small exhibition of prints, and works by and about Gray was arranged in the Reading Room.