Library Juice 7:23 - November 5, 2004
Contents:
1. Links...
2. What's At Stake! A Message From Barbara Ehrenreich
3. Annotations: a Guide to the Independent Critical Press (3rd edition)
4. Iranian Nobel Prize Winner's Book May Be Banned in US
5. The Father of the American Libraries (1883)
Quote for the week:
"There's no use going to school unless your final destination is the
library."
- Ray Bradbury
Homepage of the week: Noel Peattie
http://www.noelpeattie.com/_________________________________________________________________________top
1. Links...
-----
University of Hawaii LIS program flood pictures:
http://library.kcc.hawaii.edu/main/flood/
http://www.drdriving.org/flood/
Electronic forum to exchange messages about the flood
(which completely destroyed the LIS facility)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lisflood/[ sent to the JESSE list by Rebecca Knuth ]
-----
Librarians For Renewed Democratic Party (Yahoo Group)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LibrariansFor_Renewed_Democratic_Party/[ sent by Kathleen de la Pena McCook to the SRRT list ]
-----
British book-borrowing crisis
(National standards for circulation proposed)
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1335187,00.html[ sent by Mark Rosenzweig to the SRRT list ]
-----
Electronic Book Links (University of Hartford)
http://library.hartford.edu/llr/elecbook.htm[ found surfing ]
-----
BiblioAcid (French librarians)
Blog:
http://www.biblioacid.org/Journal:
http://www.biblioacid.org/revue/[ found surfing ]
-----
NewsLib - listserv for news librarians
http://parklibrary.jomc.unc.edu/newsliblyris.html[ sent by Dru Frykberg to the COMLIB-L list ]
-----
Political power through the Public Library
Mikael Böök
Seminar of VECAM in Hourtin 27.8.98
http://www.kaapeli.fi/book/powerlib.htm[ found surfing ]
-----
H. K. Yuen Social Movement Archive
Documenting the 60's and 70's counterculture movement in the SF Bay Area
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/~lcushing/temp_files/Yuen.html-----
Civilian death toll in Iraq exceeds 100,000
New Scientist Magazine
http://www.newscientist.com/news/print.jsp?id=ns99996596-----
Two by Robert Parry
Consortium News, 11/3/2004Too Little, Too Late
http://www.consortiumnews.com/Print/2004/110304.htmlTop Priority: Media Infrastructure
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110404.html_________________________________________________________________________top
2. What's At Stake! A Message From Barbara Ehrenreich
Dear friends in the library community,
Last summer I heard Sandy Weaver, an organizer with the Graphic
Communications International Union (GCIU), talk about the dangerous and
degrading working conditions endured by employees of one of the world's
largest printing companies, Quebecor World. Afterwards, I went up to her
and asked what exactly Quebecor prints. "Books and magazines," she said.I did a double-take. Books and magazines are my industry too.
Maybe you've been like me-reading and purchasing books and magazines for
all these years without giving a thought to the people who actually
produce them. As a writer, I think we who are committed to promoting a
love of books and learning ought to stand together with the printing
workers at Quebecor World who have taken the courageous step of
organizing for union recognition in the face of a vicious anti-union
campaign of threats, intimidation, and harassment.I got involved in the fight for justice at Quebecor World by calling upon
my fellow writers to sign on to a "Writers' Call for Justice at Quebecor
World." Several of my colleagues have already signed on (see
http://www.justiceatquebecor.org/WritersCallForJustice.pdf). Now, I'm
writing to urge the library community to support the printing workers at
Quebecor World.Quebecor World prints books for some of the most well-known publishing
houses in North America. Libraries are among these publishers' biggest
customers. Because of your purchasing power, you can have a major impact
on the campaign to win dignity and respect on the job for these workers.Here's what I'd like you to do:
1. Click on this link, http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/librarians,
to send via fax the "Librarians' Call for Justice at Quebecor World" to
selected publishers who use Quebecor World as their printer. A copy of the
"Librarians' Call for Justice at Quebecor World" will also be sent to
Pierre-Karl Péladeau, CEO of Quebecor World.The publishers who will receive your fax are:
HarperCollins, Lisa Herling, CEO
Houghton-Mifflin, Anthony Lucki, CEO
McGraw-Hill, Harold McGraw III, CEO
Pearson, Marjorie Scardino, CEO
Penguin USA, David Shanks, CEO
Random House, Peter Olson, CEO
Reed Elsevier, Jim Casella, CEO
Scholastic, Richard Robinson, CEO
Simon & Schuster, Jack Romanos, CEO
St. Martin's, Sally Richardson, CEO
2. If you routinely purchase from publishers not listed above, please
make a copy of the "Librarians' Call for Justice at Quebecor World," and
send it to those publishers. Chances are good that they use Quebecor World
for at least some of their printing. This puts the publishers on notice
that we are concerned, will keep asking questions and demand
accountability until Quebecor World stops its vicious anti-union
campaign.3. Spread the word! Send this message on to your colleagues in the
library community, and urge them to get involved. When publishers hear
from customers like you, they listen.If you want more information about Quebecor World and the GCIU's
organizing drive, please contact Amy Masciola at GCIU, 202-721-0533, or
go to http://www.JusticeAtQuebecor.org .Thanks for reading this and showing solidarity with our fellow workers in
the communications industry!In solidarity,
Barbara Ehrenreich
_________________________________________________________________________top
3. Annotations: a Guide to the Independent Critical Press (3rd edition)
For Immediate Release - October 19, 2004
CONTACT: Elissa Thomas: 410-440-3846
altpress[at]altpress.org, Alternative Press CenterThe Alternative Press Center presents a book release party for
Annotations: a Guide to the Independent Critical Press (3rd edition)Saturday, November 20, 2004, the Alternative Press Center will hold a book
release party and celebration of the arts at St. John's United Methodist
Church, 2640 St. Paul St., from 8 p.m.-midnight.The event will feature a celebration of the literary, visual, and
performance arts: photography exhibits by local artists, music by local
bands, and spoken word by Olu Butterfly.On site there will be an extensive display of hundreds of independent
periodicals from all over the world that are featured in Annotations (3rd
edition). Editors and writers from periodicals based out of nearby cities
will be on hand to answer questions and discuss the independent press.MORE ABOUT THE BOOK
Annotations is by far the most comprehensive resource for independent
critical periodicals, surveying 385 journals, newspapers, magazines, and
newsletters from all over the world with an emphasis on social change
movements. The periodicals cover a wide range of fields, including: media
studies, political science, diasporic communities, feminism, urban
planning, GLBT studies, Third World studies, economics, history,
sociology, literature, liberation theology, community organizing, the
arts, and peace studies.Annotations contains:
- a foreword by media critic Robert W. McChesney
- 200-word descriptive annotations
- subscription information
- circulation, advertising, financial and staff statistics
- a comprehensive list of noted columnists and contributorsAnnotations is a valuable resource for librarians, students, teachers,
researchers, activists, policymakers, urban planners, writers, and
journalists. The periodicals covered address a wide range of crucial
issues and offer to the public a range of visionary solutions unreported
by the mainstream media. The periodicals also contain extensive
information about nonprofit funding, applying for grants, resources for
conscious consumerism, and hundreds of book/film/music album lists and
reviews.JOIN THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS CENTER ON NOVEMBER 20 AS WE CELEBRATE THE
PERIODICALS COVERED IN ANNOTATIONS (3RD EDITION) AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO
THE CURRENT RENAISSANCE IN INDEPENDENT MEDIA!
_________________________________________________________________________top
4. Iranian Nobel Prize Winner's Book May Be Banned in US
2003 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Joins Battle Against Treasury Department for
Free Speech; Iranian Human Rights Lawyer's Memoir May Not Be Published in
the United StatesFor more information, please contact PEN American Center at (212) 334-1660,
ext. 106.New York, New York, October 26, 2004 - Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian human rights
activist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, has filed suit
against the U.S. Treasury Department in federal court in New York because
regulations of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control
("OFAC") prohibit the publication of a book she wants to write about her
life and her work for readers in the United States. Ms. Ebadi and The
Strothman Agency, LLC, a literary agency that wants to work with her,
filed the suit which will be joined to a legal challenge mounted by
publishers and authors last month.Ms. Ebadi's predicament provides a perfect illustration of the harm the
OFAC regulations cause. Ms. Ebadi has been imprisoned for her human rights
work in Iran. She could not publish the book she wants to write in Iran,
but the OFAC regulations also prevent anyone from publishing it in the
United States. As long as the regulations stand, the book will not come
into being.The regulations were first challenged in a lawsuit filed on September 27,
2004, by the Association of American Publishers Professional and Scholarly
Publishing division (AAP/PSP), the Association of American University
Presses (AAUP), PEN American Center (PEN), and Arcade Publishing.The publishing and authors' groups point to Ms. Ebadi as exactly the kind
of author whose work should be published in the United States."Do we really want to deprive an Iranian human rights activist of the
opportunity to communicate with the American public?" asked Marc H.
Brodsky, Chairman of AAP/PSP and Executive Director of the American
Institute of Physics. "These regulations are counter-productive and should
simply be scrapped." Brodsky also responded to recent statements OFAC has
made in defense of the regulations, in response to the September 27 suit:
"According to OFAC, publishers who have concerns should just come to them
for a license, but publishers should not have to ask their government for
permission to use their constitutional right of free speech."The regulations stem from U.S. trade sanctions imposed on particular
countries. Congress has declared that trade embargoes may not be applied
to "information and informational materials," but OFAC has defied that
prohibition and maintained regulations that prohibit the publication of
many books and articles by authors in Iran, Cuba and Sudan. The
regulations are being challenged as violations of the specific
instructions of Congress as well as the First Amendment.The OFAC regulations specifically forbid the publication of works by
authors in Iran, Cuba and Sudan unless the works in question have already
been completed before any American is involved. Americans may not
co-author books or articles with authors in the embargoed countries and
may not enter into "transactions" involving any works that are not yet
fully completed - even though authors, publishers an agents generally must
work with one another well before a new work is fully created - and
Americans may not provide "substantive or artistic alterations or
enhancements" or promote or market either new or previously existing works
from the affected countries, unless they obtain a specific license from
OFAC. Violators are subject to prison sentences of up to 10 years or fines
of up to $1,000,000 per violation.Both Ms. Ebadi and the groups that initiated the challenge agree that Ms.
Ebadi is only the most prominent example of a valuable voice that has been
silenced. "There are untold numbers of less prominent authors whose
stories have no chance of reaching us. The embargoes are cutting Americans
off from scholars, dissidents, scientists and others in regions that are
of enormous public concern," said Peter Givler, Executive Director of
AAUP. He cited books on history, music and archaeology that university
presses have been unable to publish, and even an article that had to be
withdrawn from the scholarly journal Mathematical Geology. "Ms. Ebadi's
inability to publish her memoirs provides another example of the chilling
effect the regulations are having on publishing in America."In her court filing, Ms. Ebadi decries the "enforced silence" the OFAC
regulations impose, calling it "a critical missed opportunity both for
Americans to learn more about my country and its people from a variety of
Iranian voices and for a better understanding to be achieved between our
two countries.""At a time when building mutual understanding between peoples and nations
seems to us more urgent that ever, these regulations only serve to
reinforce distances and divisions," said Larry Siems, Director of the
Freedom to Write and International Programs at PEN American Center. PEN
and Arcade are planning to publish an anthology of works by Iranian
writers, poets, and critics since the Iranian Revolution that expose the
turmoil and repression of recent years."Some of the work can't be published in Iran because of government
censorship there," said Dick Seaver of Arcade Publishing. "If publication
is blocked by government interference here, what's the functional
difference between Iran's censorship and ours?"The groups challenging the OFAC regulations point out that the regulations
violate the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA), the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the First Amendment. TWEA and IEEPA were
twice amended by Congress, in the Berman Amendment and the Free Trade in
Ideas Amendment, to make it clear that transactions involving "information
and informational materials" are exempt from trade embargoes. The AAP/PSP,
AAUP, PEN, and Arcade contend that OFAC's regulations directly contradict
the statutes that authorize trade sanctions and infringe the First
Amendment rights of publishers, authors and the public. "Accordingly to
Congress and the Constitution, Americans are entitled to receive ideas and
information from authors anywhere in the world," said the organizations'
lead counsel, Edward Davis. Ms. Ebadi's suit makes the same contentions on
behalf of authors and the literary agents who help them prepare and market
their works.Since the effect of these OFAC regulations became clear late in 2003, as a
result of several rulings issued by OFAC, publishers, authors, and public
interest groups have pursued a number of paths to making OFAC enforcement
consistent with the protection for "information and informational
materials" mandated by Congress in the Berman Amendment and the Free Trade
in Ideas Amendment. "We decided to pursue the legal challenge because our
efforts have not yet yielded a resolution that is satisfactory on either
the law or the principle," explained Mr. Brodsky. The plaintiffs hope for
a decision by early next year.Edward Davis and Linda Steinman of the New York office of Davis Wright
Tremaine are lead counsel for the AAP/PSP, AAUP, PEN and Arcade. Marjorie
Heins of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU and law professor Leon
Friedman are co-counsel for PEN and Arcade. Ms. Ebadi and the Strothman
Agency are represented in their suit by Philip A. Lacovara, Anthony J.
Diana and Ryan P. Farley of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw.Links to the relevant OFAC rulings, the legal papers of AAP/PSP, AAUP, PEN
and Arcade, and additional materials:
http://aaupnet.org/ofacArticle in the Wall Street Journal about Ebadi's case:
http://www.pen.org/corefreedoms/91.htmlLibrary Journal article:
http://www.pen.org/corefreedoms/92.htmlAbout the AAP/PSP
Members of the Professional/Scholarly Publishing (PSP) Division of the
Association of American Publishers, Inc. (AAP) publish the vast majority
of materials used in the U.S. by scholars and professionals in science,
medicine, technology, business, law, reference, social science and the
humanities. The Division's 182 professional societies, commercial
publishers and university presses produce books, journals, computer
software, databases and electronic products.About the AAUP
The AAUP counts among its members 111 nonprofit scholarly publishers
affiliated with research universities, scholarly societies, research
institutions and museums located in 43 states. Collectively they publish
around 10,000 books each year and over 700 journals in virtually every
field of human knowledge.
http://aaupnet.orgAbout PEN American Center
PEN American Center is an organization of over 2,500 prominent novelists,
poets, essayists, translators, playwrights, and editors. As part of
International PEN, it and its affiliated organizations have defended free
and open communication within and among nations for more than 80 years.
The 2,500 PEN American Center members are a major voice of the national
and international literary community.
http://pen.orgAbout Arcade
Arcade Publishing, Inc. is an independent book publisher based in New York
City. Founded in 1988, it publishes fiction and nonfiction by authors from
around the world, including works by some of the most prominent authors of
our time. Arcade is the publisher of the upcoming PEN Anthology of
Contemporary Iranian Literature.
http://arcadepub.com
_________________________________________________________________________top
5. The Father of the American Libraries (1883)
by Bunford Samuel
The Century; a popular quarterly. Volume 26, Issue 1 (May 1883)It was in the year 1731, the fourth of King George the Second's reign,
that the Philadelphia, the oldest American library, and, so far as is
known, the first of all lending libraries, took its beginning. Fifty
young men, artisans and gentlemen of that town, joined themselves into a
literary association, and subscribed a hundred pounds for the purchase
of books, agreeing also to pay each ten shillings annually during fifty
years for the same purpose. It has lasted through changes of government
and fashion, and possesses an interest beyond its mere local importance,
from the historic associations which gather around it. Polished granite
and enameled brick might tower around, but its dark old red brick front
maintained an unshaken dignity as did Franklin's statue - "with a gown for
his dress, and a Roman head," as the Doctor, when asked his wishes,
quaintly expressed them. Banks might chink their money; courts,
post-office, and custom-house disgorge their bustling crowds next
door,--but as you passed through its vestibule, embellished with old
leathern firebuckets, and the door swung noiselessly behind you, all
became quiet. You might have been miles from the life outside, for any
information coming through your ears. A repose fell on you insensibly.
Old pictures looked down on you, and soberly bound books. The wired
cases, and the old green tables in the alcoves, seemed to have been
there always. Its habitués all knew one another, as well as all about
one another's great-great-grandfathers. They laughed decorously over old
jokes;--a new joke would have seemed hardly in other. Everything
breathed quiet and long-continued good understanding. The epithet "old"
came naturally to one's lips. "That good old library," Thackeray calls
it, writing to Mr. William B. Reed.The little fiction of the English law, that the king can never die,
might almost be applied in the same sense to many members of the library
whose shares, like the English throne, have never been vacant, one of
the family always inheriting it. Out of a beadroll as long as that of
Homer's ships a few instances may be given of this curious persistency
of shares in families. Colonel William Bradford became a shareholder in
1769. His son, William Bradford, Attorney-General of the United States
under Washington, next held the share, which is still in the family. Dr.
Thomas Cadwalader, lieutenant-governor of the province, and father of
two Revolutionary officers, General John and Colonel Lambert Cadwalader,
was one of the original directors in 1731, and his descendants are still
shareholders. Governor Thomas McKean, one of the signers of the
Declaration, acquired in 1777 a share, which his family still holds.In fact, it might have been thought that as it had existed, so it would
always exist. With its ease, its long existence, and connection with men
whose names belong to the history of their age, it had become a sort of
conservative social influence. It was unagitated by questions of
cataloguing, undisturbed by debates whether a library should be merely a
reservoir, or should also assume the function of a filter. In brief, its
periods of existence were unmarked by any of those interrogations with
which, nowadays, we see fit to punctuate every experience of life.
Nevertheless, the Library Company underwent, as shall presently be told,
an entire change of scene. The old building has been abandoned to the
Philistines and now flaunts a large gilded sign - a sign of the times - on
its astonished front. And a void exists in the breasts of many ancient
Philadelphians, unsatisfied by the knowledge that the cultured Bostonian
or the scornful New Yorker, as he emerges from the railroad station on
Broad street, is confronted by the finest building wholly devoted to
library uses in America, and one which has few, if any, equals in Europe.The library was well sponsored, being Franklin's "first project of a
public nature." John Dickinson, Godfrey the mathematician, Benjamin
Rush, Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, and Franklin himself,--who
was also at one time librarian,--were among its early directors, and it
was cradled in buildings whose names now form part of our fund of
national recollections. Franklin says:"At the time I established myself in Philadelphia there was not a good
bookstore in any of the colonies southward of Boston. In New York and
Philadelphia, the printers were indeed stationers; they sold only paper,
etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common school-books. Those who loved
reading were obliged to send for their books from England; the members
of the Junto (his club) had each a few. We had hired a room to hold our
club in. I proposed that we should each of us bring our books to that
room, where they would not only be ready to consult in our conferences,
but become a common benefit, each of us being at liberty to borrow such
as he wished to read at home.
***
This was accordingly done, and for some time contented us.
***
Yet some inconveniences occurring, each took his books home again. And
now I set on foot my first project of a public nature, that for a
subscription library. The institution soon manifested its ability, was
imitated in other towns and in other provinces.
***
Reading became fashionable, and our people having no amusements to
divert their attention from study, became better acquainted with books,
and in a few years were observed by strangers to be better instructed
and more intelligent than people of the same rank in other countries."That the leaven did indeed work as Franklin said we may infer from the
fact that in a few years Philadelphia took a decided lead in the art of
printing, in amount as well as execution, and that it had a larger
number of newspapers. From direct testimony, including that of the Rev.
Jacob Duche, who, though of foreign extraction, became himself a
director of the Library, and afterward made himself notorious by an
attempt to persuade Washington to forsake the American cause, we would
infer that the character of the society was decidedly literary. He
writes, in 1774:"There is less distinction among citizens of Philadelphia than among
those of any other city in the world.
***
Literary accomplishments here meet with deserved applause. But such is
the taste for books, that almost every man is a reader."The Company, in its first choice of reading matter, took the advice of
James Logan, the confidential friend of Penn, "esteeming him to be a
gentleman of universal learning and the best judge of books in these
parts." It is noticeable that, in their list of about fifty authors, the
only ones which may be said to belong to light literature are the
"Guardian," "Tatler," "Spectator," and Addison's works. The books were
imported from England, and with them came the first gift to the Library.
Peter Collinson, a London mercer, wrote:"Gentlemen, I am a stranger to most of you, but not to your laudable
intention to erect a public library. I beg your acceptance of my mite,
'Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy' and 'Philip Miller's Gardener's
Dictionary.' It will be an instance of your candour to accept the
intention and good-will of the giver and not regard the meanness of the
gift."The books were at first kept in the house of Robert Grace, whom Franklin
characterizes as "a young gentlemen of some fortune, generous, lively,
and witty, a lover of punning and of his friends." Afterward they were
allotted a room in the State-House; and, in 1742, a charter was obtained
from the Proprietaries. In 1790, having in the interval absorbed several
other associations and sustained a removal to Carpenter's Hall, where
its apartment had been used as a hospital for wounded American soldiers,
the Library was at last housed in a building especially erected for it
at Fifth and Chestnut streets, where it remained until within the last
few years.It brought only about eight thousand volumes into its new quarters, for
it had languished somewhat during the Revolution and the war of words
which attended our political birth. But it had received no injury. Two
meetings had been called to consider measures of removal to a safe
place, but whether its members were engaged in taking care of their
country or of themselves, they did not attend the meetings, and the
red-coats marching in on the little visit they paid us after Germantown,
found the books, and red them, too. But the red-coats behaved, in this
instance, at least, peaceably, paying loyally for their use and not
damaging nor confiscating nor carrying away a single volume.Many relics of the Revolutionary time are stored in the Library, among
them a colossal bust of Minerva, which stood behind the chair of the
Speaker of the first Congress that met in Philadelphia. The writer of
this paper is at Logan's library-table, sitting in a chair used by
Washington, while Dickinson's writing-desk holds some books on the
right, West's portrait of Franklin looks from overhead, and a lock of
Washington's hair hangs near his left hand. Penn's and Cromwell's
clocks, too, keep remembrance of other times, and go on ticking, as if
reckless of a balance. Besides memories, however, the library gathered
little during those sads days of the Revolution. But when the scene
changed, and the weeping women who tended the wounded in churches and on
door-steps after the defeat at Germantown were replaced by the
triumphing cavalry who rode through the shouting streets to the
State-House to lay at the feet of Congress the captured standards of
Cornwallis, our Company felt the reaction, and in a little while sent an
order to London for books - its first importation in nine years.Two years after removal to its quarters on Fifth street, the Library
received the most valuable gift of books it has as yet had. James Logan,
friend and adviser of Penn and of the celebrated Colonial Governor,
Thomas Lloyd, President of Council, and holding other high trusts in the
Province, had gathered a most important collection of books. Mr. Logan
was translator of Cicero's "Cato Major," the first classic published in
America, beside being versed in natural science. His library comprised,
as he tells us, "over one hundred volumes of authors, all in Greek, with
mostly their version; all the Roman classics without exception; all the
Greek mathematicians. *** Besides there are many of the most valuable
Latin authors, and a great number of modern mathematicians." These, at
first bequeathed as a public library to the city, became a branch of the
Philadelphia Library under certain conditions, one of which was that,
barring contingencies, one of the donor's descendants should always hold
the office of trustee. And to-day his direct descendant fills the
position, and is perhaps the only example in this country of an
hereditary office-holder.The Library lost a few books by its one experience of fire, in 1831, and
nearer our own times gained an important addition by a courtesy it was
enabled to do the British Government. The story takes us back to the
Revolution of 1688. On the flight of James II, from his throne, his lord
high chancellor of Ireland converted the state papers of which he had
custody into family papers; in other words, he kept them. His grandson,
on leaving America about the beginning of this century, presented them
to the Library of Philadelphia. This gift, containing the private
correspondence of James I. with the Privy Council of Ireland, the Diary
of the Marquis of Clanricarde, a letter of Queen Elizabeth, and other
manuscripts, the Company - being bound by no reservation to its giver - took
an opportunity of restoring to the British Government. This courtesy was
responded to by the gift, on the part of the English, of a large and
valuable series of Government publications.In 1869 died Dr. James Rush, son of Benjamin Rush, and himself well
known as the author of a work on the human voice, and as husband of a
lady who almost succeeded in naturalizing the salon in this country. By
his will about one million dollars were devoted to the erection and
maintenance of an isolated and fire-proof library-building, which was to
be named the Ridgway Library, in memory of his wife. This building was
offered to the Philadelphia Company, and the bequest was accepted. That
institution had by this time accumulated about one hundred thousand
volumes, containing many of those rarities for which there is an eternal
struggle between the bookhunter and fire, rats, plate-hunters, worms,
and kindred vermin. It owns some fine specimens of illuminated
manuscripts, exemplars of Caxton, Fust, and Shoeffer, the inventors, or
at least sharers in the invention, of printing; of Pynson, Wynkyn de
Worde, Sweynheym, and Pannartz; a work of Jenson, believed to be unique;
of Koburger, and other works irreplaceable if lost. It is therefore
gratifying to those who are aware of the heavy toll fire has levied on
knowledge to know that the collection has been, in so far as may be,
placed out of reach of a danger which the original "twelve leathern fire
buckets and a ladder," procured by the directors, might not have averted.A building of the Doric order was erected, which with its grounds covers
an entire square or block, and is calculated to contain four hundred
thousand volumes, or three times as many as the Library at present has,
and to this building the more valuable books of the Library were removed
in 1878; the fiction and more modern works being placed in another
designed in imitation of the old edifice, and nearer the center of the city.When it is added that Dr. Rush's bequest included also the
correspondence and papers of his father,--which contain among many
others letters from distinguished persons, letters from Washington,
Franklin, Hamilton, Kosciuszko, etc., and that mysterious diary of
Benjamin Rush which John Adams alludes to, and which played an important
part in the controversy between Mr. Bancroft and Mr. William B. Reed,
but which nobody seems to have viewed,--it will be seen that few more
valuable gifts have been made to the public. To the public, it may be
said, for although this library is in its origin and maintenance
entirely a private institution, the use of its books is freely given to
any respectable reader. I have tried briefly to show that this oldest
American library has had an honorable career, and exerted an appreciable
and wholly good influence; while illustrating something of that peculiar
character of quietness which Philadelphia has retained since Penn
directed that the people should so build their houses "that there may be
ground on each side for gardens, or orchards, or fields, that it may be
a green country town, which will never be burnt and always wholesome."
Indeed, few institutions have been more naturally the growth of a
community, or better illustrate the good effects of such unstimulated
growth, than the old Philadelphia Library.Bunford Samuel.
_________________________________________________________________________top
L I B R A R Y J U I C E
ISSN 1544-9378
Library Juice is supported by a voluntary subscription
fee of $10 per year, variable based on ability and
desire to pay. You may send a check payable in US funds
to Rory Litwin, at 614 N. 18th St. E., Duluth, MN 55812,
or, alternatively, you may use PayPal, by going to:
https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=rlitwin%40earthlink.netYou can also support Library Juice and Libr.org by buying our
wonderful swag at http://www.cafeshops.com/librTo subscribe or unsubscribe, email Juice-subscriptions[at]libr.org
with a request worded in plain english and "Subscribe" or
"Unsubscribe" in the subject line. Tell me what's up!Library Juice is a free weekly publication edited and
published by Rory Litwin. Original senders are credited
wherever possible; opinions are theirs. If you are the
author of some email in Library Juice which you want removed
from the web, please write to me and I will remove it.Copyright to material in Library Juice should be considered
to belong to the original authors unless otherwise stated.
Works by Rory Litwin may be used freely for non-commercial
purposes with appropriate attribution.Your comments and suggestions are welcome.