It will be sufficient to name a few of the other endowed libraries to give an idea of the large number of donors who have given money to libraries. Silas Bronson (Waterbury), Annie T. Howard (New Orleans), Joshua Bates (Boston), Charles E. Forbes (Northampton, Mass.), Mortimer F. Reynolds (Rochester, N.Y.), Leonard Case (Cleveland), I. Osterhout (Wilkes-Barré, Pa.), and above all Andrew Carnegie, whose library benefactions exceed $53,000,000.
It remains to mention another group of proprietary and society libraries.
Since the organization of the government in 1789, no less than one hundred and sixty historical societies have been formed in the United States, most of which still continue to exist. Many of them have formed considerable libraries, and possess extensive and valuable manuscript collections. The oldest of them is the Massachusetts Historical Society, which dates from 1791.
The earliest of the scientific societies, the American Philosophical Society (1743), has 73,000 vols. The most extensive collection is that of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, which consists of 80,000 vols. and pamphlets. For information as to the numerous professional libraries of the United States—theological, legal and medical—the reader may be referred to the authorities quoted below.
In no country has the movement for the development of municipal libraries made such progress as in the United States; these institutions called free or public as the case may be are distinguished for their work, enterprise and the Municipal Libraries. liberality with which they are supported. They are established under laws passed by the different states, the first to pass such an enactment being Massachusetts, which in 1848 empowered the city of Boston to establish a free public library. This was subsequently extended to the whole state in 1851. Other states followed, all with more or less variation in the provisions, till practically every state in the Union now has a body of library laws. In general the American library law is much on the same lines as the English. In most states the acts are permissive. In New Hampshire aid is granted by the state to any library for which a township contracts to make a definite annual appropriation. A limit is imposed in most states on the library tax which may be levied, although there are some, like Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which fix no limit. In every American town the amount derived from the library tax usually exceeds by double or more the same rate raised in Britain in towns of similar size. For example, East Orange, N.J., with a population of 35,000, expends £2400, while Dumfries in Scotland, with 23,000 pop. expends £500. Cincinnati, 345,000 pop., expenditure £26,000; Islington (London), 350,000 pop., expenditure £8200, is another example. In the smaller towns the difference is not so marked, but generally the average American municipal library income is considerably in excess of the British one. Many American municipal libraries have also endowments which add to their incomes.
In one respect the American libraries differ from those of the United Kingdom. They are usually managed by a small committee or body of trustees, about five or more in number, who administer the library independent of American Library Administration. the city council. This is akin to the practice in Scotland, although there, the committees are larger. In addition to the legislation authorizing town libraries to be established, thirty-two states have formed state library commissions. These are small bodies of three or five trained persons appointed by the different states which, acting on behalf of the state, encourage the formation of local libraries, particularly in towns and villages, and in many cases have authority to aid their establishment by the grant out of the state funds of a certain sum (usually $100) towards the purchase of books, upon the appropriation of a similar sum by the local authorities. These commissions are prepared to aid further with select lists of desirable books, and with suggestions or advice in the problems of construction and maintenance. Such commissions are in existence in Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
The reports and other documents issued by some of these commissioners are very interesting and valuable, especially as regards the light they throw on the working of the travelling libraries in country districts. These to some extent are a revival of the “itinerating” library idea of Samuel Brown of Haddington in Scotland, who from 1817 to 1836 carried on a system of travelling subscription libraries in that country. At the time of his death there were 3850 vols. in 47 libraries. The American travelling libraries, often under state supervision, are well organized and numerous, and the books are circulated free. New York was the pioneer in this movement which now extends to most of the states which have established library commissions. There are also town travelling libraries and deposit stations in addition to branches, so that every effort is made to bring people in outlying districts into touch with books.
The municipal libraries of the United States work in conjunction with the schools, and it is generally considered that they are part of the educational machinery of the country. In the case of New York the state libraries have been put under the control of the university of the state of New York, which also inaugurated the travelling libraries. Work with the schools and children generally is more cultivated in the libraries of the United States than elsewhere. In some cases the libraries send collections of books to the schools; in others provision is made for children’s reading-rooms and lending departments at the library buildings. At Cleveland (Ohio), Pittsburg (Pa.), New York and many other places, elaborate arrangements are in force for the convenience and amusement of children. There is a special school, the Carnegie Library training school for children’s librarians, at Pittsburg, and within recent years the instruction has included the art of telling stories to children at the libraries. This “story-hour” idea has been the cause of considerable discussion in the United States, librarians and teachers being divided in opinion as to the value of the service. The chief factors in children’s work in American libraries, often overlooked by critics, are the number of non-English reading adults and the large number of children of foreign origin. The adults do not use the libraries to any large extent, but the children, who learn English at the schools, are brought into close touch with the juvenile departments of the libraries. In this way many libraries are obliged to undertake special work for children, and as a rule it is performed in a sane, practical and economical manner. The preponderance of women librarians and their natural sentimental regard for children has tended to make this work loom rather largely in some quarters, but with these exceptions the activity on behalf of children is justified on many grounds. But above all, it is manifest that a rapidly growing nation, finding homes for thousands of foreigners and their children annually, must use every means of rapidly educating their new citizens, and the public library is one of the most efficient and ready ways of accomplishing this great national object.
With regard to methods, the American libraries are working on much the same plan as those of the United Kingdom. They allow access to the shelves more universally, and there is much more standardization in classification and other internal matters. The provision of books is more profuse, although there is, on the whole, more reading done in the United Kingdom. The largest municipal library system in America, and also in the world, is that of New York City, which, after struggling with a series of Free Circulating Libraries, blossomed out in 1895 into the series of combinations which resulted in the present great establishment. In that year, the Astor and Lenox libraries (see above) were taken over by the city, and in addition, $2,000,000 was given by one of the heirs of Mr S. J. Tilden, who had bequeathed about $4,000,000 for library purposes in New York but whose will had been upset in the law courts. In 1901 Mr Andrew Carnegie gave about £1,500,000 for the purpose of providing 65 branches, and these are now nearly all erected. A very fine central library building has been erected, and when the organization is completed there will be no system of municipal libraries to equal that of New York. It possesses about 1,400,000 vols. in the consolidated libraries. Brooklyn, although forming part of Greater New York, has an independent library system, and possesses about 560,000, vols. distributed among 26 branches and including the old Brooklyn Library which has been absorbed in the municipal library system. At Boston (Mass.) is one of the most renowned public libraries in the United States, and also the oldest established by act of legislature. It was first opened to the public in 1854, and is now housed in a very magnificently decorated building which was completed in 1895. The central library contains many fine special collections, and there are 28 branch and numerous school libraries in connexion. It possesses about 1,000,000 vols. altogether, its annual circulation is about 1,500,000 vols., and its annual expenditure is nearly £70,000.
Other notable municipal libraries are those of Philadelphia (1891), Chicago (1872), Los Angeles (Cal.), 1872, Indianapolis (1868), Detroit (1865), Minneapolis (1885), St Louis (1865), Newark, N.J. (1889), Cincinnati (1856), Cleveland (1869), Allegheny (1890), Pittsburg (1895), Providence, R.I. (1878), Milwaukee (1875), Washington, D.C. (1898), Worcester, Mass. (1859), Buffalo (1837).