Mr. Wellman then read the following resolution which was unanimously adopted by a rising vote.
CHARLES CARROLL SOULE
With profound sorrow, we record the death of Charles C. Soule, whose services and relation to the American Library Association were in many ways unique. Though himself not a librarian, yet in the early days of the public library he was one of those who foresaw the great force which it might be made to exert in our democratic civilization; and to promote the wise realization of this vision, he labored unceasingly as a member of this Association for more than thirty years and was a constant attendant at the meetings. He served as vice-president in 1890, as member of the Institute for six years, as member of the Council for eight years, as trustee of the endowment fund for twelve years, and as a member of the Publishing Board for eighteen years. But his distinctive contribution was in efforts towards the improvement of library architecture; and here by his study and writings, as well as by creating the office of advisory expert in building, he did more than any other man to further the planning of library buildings for library work.
In reciting the tale of his accomplishment, it is impossible to forget the man. Unselfish and high-minded, a good counsellor and a consistent friend, he ever showed eager and affectionate interest in the work of his fellow members, and especially in the success of those beginning their careers. Above all, he possessed a generous faith in his associates and an unfailing good will. These were but a few of the qualities which enabled him to achieve so much for the public library, and which endeared him to hosts of librarians throughout the land.
Dr. PUTNAM: Mr. President, this is proposed as a minute for the records of the Association. It is therefore headed "John Shaw Billings."
The resolution was unanimously adopted by a rising vote.
JOHN SHAW BILLINGS
April 12, 1838—March 18, 1913
A member of the American Library Association 1881-1913—Its President, 1901-02
It is seldom that the death of an individual removes from two professions a unit of singular power in each. But such was the loss in the recent death of John Shaw Billings; a scientist in a department of science intensive and exacting, a librarian rigorously scientific in a profession broadly humane. To the former he made original contributions which constituted him an authority within special fields; but also in his great Index-Catalog of Medical Literature, one which assured certainty and promoted advance in every field—and left the entire medical profession his debtor. As a librarian, having first brought to preeminence the professional library entrusted to him, he was called to the organization into a single system of isolated funds and institutions, achieved that organization, and lived to see it, under his charge develop into the largest general library system in the world, with a possible influence upon our greatest metropolis of incalculable importance to it, and through it, to the welfare of our entire country.