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WALTER LOOMIS NEWBERRY


THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
SECOND EDITION
CHICAGO, U. S. A.
1908
TRUSTEES
OF
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
JANUARY I, IQo8.
GEORGE E. ADAMs,
EDWARD E. AYER,
ELIPHALET W. BLATCHFor D,
FRANKLIN H. HEAD,
DAVID B. Jones,
BRYAN LATHROP,
GEORGE MANIERRE,
HoRace H. MARTIN,
WALTER C. NEwBERRy,
John A. SPOOR,
LAMBERT TREE,
Moses J. WENTwoRTH,
John P. WILSON.
L92924
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
Walter Loomis Newberry.—Walter Loomis Newberry,
merchant, born September 18, 1804, in East Windsor, Con-
necticut, was educated at Clinton, New York, and fitted for
the West Point Military Academy; but, failing in the physi-
cal examination, entered commercial life (1822) with his
brother in Buffalo, New York. In 1828 he moved to Detroit,
Michigan, and there engaged in the dry-goods business.
During a successful period of five years he bought lands at
various points on the Great Lakes, notably at Chicago, whither
he came in 1833. Here he entered into business with George
W. Dole, Esq., as forwarding and commission merchant, and
dealer in general merchandise; subsequently he became a
banker. In 1841 Mr. Newberry was president of the Young
Men's Association of Chicago, an organization which he was
active in founding, and to which he made the first contribu-
tion of books. This association was the forerunner of the
Chicago Public Library. In 1843 Mr. Newberry served on
the Board of Health. In 1846 he was a member of the con-
vention assembled in the interests of common schools; he
was many years on the School Board, and twice its chairman.
In 1847 he was a director in the pioneer Galena and Chicago
Union Railroad. In 1851 he was city comptroller, and, for
a time, acting mayor. In 1857 he was one of the founders of
the Merchants’ Loan and Trust Company, of which institution
he was long a director. The same year he became a member
of the Chicago Historical Society. He was for six years presi-
dent of the society. His death occurred at sea, November 6,
6 T H E N E w B E R R Y L I B R A R Y
1868. Such, in brief outline, was the life of the founder of
the Newberry Library, a free reference library endowed and
maintained by the moiety of his estate.
The Building.— The trustees of the estate, Mr. Eliphalet
Wickes Blatchford and Mr. William Henry Bradley, made
partition, according to the terms of the will, in 1886 and the
early part of 1887; and in July, 1887, they appointed William
Frederick Poole, LL.D., then librarian of the Chicago Public
Library, librarian of the newly founded institution. Rooms
were leased at No. 9o La Salle Street, August 1, 1887, and
the purchase of books began. These rooms were occupied
until April, 1888, when possession was taken of the three-
story-and-basement building, No. 338 Ontario Street. There
the collection remained until the completion, May 1, 1890,
of the temporary building on the northwest corner of Oak and
State streets. The site of the present building was purchased
June 28, 1889, for the sum of $175,000; being a block with
318 feet frontage on Walton Place, 212.3 feet on Clark Street,
318 feet on Oak Street, and 213 feet on Dearborn Avenue.
Here stood the historic (Mahlon D.) Ogden house, the only
house in the fire district undestroyed by the great fire of 1871.
The foundation of the library building was laid in the summer
of 1890; the superstructure was begun early in 1891, and the
building finished in November, 1893, at a cost of $545,429.28.
The plans were drawn by Mr. Henry Ives Cobb; the
plans of the book-rooms, providing for departmental shelv-
ing, after sketches prepared by the librarian, Dr. Poole. The
style of architecture is Spanish Romanesque; the material
is Connecticut granite. The partition walls are of brick and
tile, the floors of red English tile and marble. The present
building, with its imposing façade, looking south on Wash-
ington Square, is but one face of the edifice called for by the
T H E N E w B E R R Y L I B R A R Y 7
plans. When, in after years, the structure is completed, it
will occupy the entire Square, leaving a central court measur-
ing approximately 180 by 60 feet.
On April 12, 1892, Mr. Blatchford, sole surviving and
acting trustee, conveyed the Library property, estimated at
$2,624,918.48, to the following board of thirteen Trustees:
Honorable George E. Adams, Mr. Edward E. Ayer, Mr.
Eliphalet W. Blatchford, Mr. Edward S. Isham, General
Alexander C. McClurg, Mr. Franklin MacVeagh, Mr. William
Harrison Bradley, Mr. Daniel Goodwin, Mr. Franklin H.
Head, General Walter C. Newberry, Judge Lambert Tree,
Mr. Henry J. Willing, Mr. John P. Wilson. Since this date
the Library has lost six of the original trustees, Messrs. Isham,
Willing, McClurg, Goodwin, deceased; and Messrs. Bradley
and McVeagh, resigned. Their places have been filled by
Messrs. David B. Jones, Bryan Lathrop, Horace H. Martin,
George Manierre, John A. Spoor, Moses J. Wentworth.
The original intent was to make the Newberry Library a
general reference collection; but the scheme of co-operation
entered into with the John Crerar Library in 1896, involving
the transfer to the younger institution of the Newberry books
relating to Science and the Useful Arts (7,800 volumes and
pamphlets) and the entire Medical Department (72,679 books
and pamphlets, exclusive of 7,167 duplicates) modifies to this
extent the initial design. If the Newberry be now a class
library, it is a class library closed only against extensive col-
lections devoted to certain well-defined branches of learning
grouped under the broad and elastic term, Science. Natur-
ally, if not necessarily, the departments are at varying stages
of development. -
Department of History.— The department of history,
including biography and travel, contains many of the great
8 T H E N E w B E R R Y L I B R A R Y
w
collections, basic works, and political documents requisite for
the study of universal history. In works relating to America
its strength is exceptional. As any book in Mr. Edward E.
Ayer's collection of Americana can be consulted at the New-
berry Library, on twenty-four hours' notice, the entire Ayer
collection is at the disposition of students in this department.
While the Ayer collection is essentially ethnological, devoted
to the history, character, manners and customs, institutions,
arts and crafts, myths, religions, and languages of the North
American Indians, it necessarily covers the principal sources
of information in regard to the discovery, exploration, con-
quest, and colonization of the North American continent.
In Indian history, particularly the history of the relations
between the Indians and the Government of the United States,
the Ayer library is very strong, containing over 2,300 assorted
Congressional Documents, as well as the complete reports of
the Commissioners of Indian Affairs and of the Board of
Indian Commissioners. The whole is supplemented and
illustrated by manuscript documents, treaties, letters, Indian
drawings on maguey paper and skins, and by Indian por-
traits — engravings, water-colors, oil-paintings, and photo-
graphs. Since 1898 the scope of the collection has been
extended to include Hawaii and the Philippine Islands. With
reference to the Philippines, it already contains most of the
early and important works, and a number of unpublished
manuscripts. It has also a good working collection of lin-
guistics — grammars and dictionaries in both the Hawaiian
and Philippine dialects, as well as text-books, religious treatises,
and a large number of Tagalog corridos. -
The genealogic division of the department of history is,
at present, noteworthy rather for the analysis of its contents
than for the size of the collection. It has a practically ex-
T H E N E W B E R R Y L I B R A R Y 9
haustive index, presented to the public in 1,103 folio vol-
umes of typewritten Indexer Books. This division draws to it
in considerable numbers patrons living at a distance.
Department of Documents.- This department contains
upward of 25,000 volumes and pamphlets issued by the
United States Government, by foreign governments, by
States of the American Union, and by their more important
municipalities.
Department of Philosophy.— The department of philos-
ophy, a good working-collection, includes philosophy proper,
religion, Sociology, and education. -
Art and Letters.-The art collection consists of works
on asthetics and the history of art, including architecture,
painting, and sculpture, together with biographies of artists.
|Numismatics is classed here, also ceramics, the history of
costume, and the various arts and crafts. The books deal
rather with completed work illustrating the history and devel-
opment of the several orders of art than with constructive
and technical processes. There are many periodicals covering,
as do the books, the wide field from archaeological research
to contemporary arts and crafts.
The department of letters is a well-equipped and efficient
collection of imaginative literature, and of history and criti-
cism dealing with the periods and forms of its development.
The lives of authors are shelved here, also periodicals and the
publications of learned societies devoted to the study of litera-
ture. While most of the foreign books are in German, French,
Spanish, or Italian, many other languages are represented.
Department of Philology.—The department of philology
was suddenly brought into prominence, June, 1901, by the
acquisition of the famous library — 16,500 volumes and
pamphlets — of Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte; a collection of
IO T H E N E w B E R R Y L I B R A R Y
basic data for the study of the nature and the history of man
as developed through speech. The primary aim was to bring
together specimens of all the languages and dialects of Europe;
but it was soon heightened to the acquisition of some speci-
men of every known language possessing even the most rudi-
mentary literature. To this department was added the
present year (1907) the (Wilberforce) Eames collection, con-
sisting of 3,257 volumes and pamphlets relating to British
India, Afghanistan, Tibet, and Further India; many of these
being first translations into English or another modern tongue,
accompanied by the original text. The department of
philology contains 34 manuscripts inscribed on native paper,
palm leaves, copper, and birch bark.
Department of Music.— In 1889 the Library secured the
musical collection of Count Pio Resse, of Florence, consisting
largely of works of Italian writers on the theory and the his-
tory of music. To the Resse collection have been added, from
time to time, the orchestral and vocal scores of the great com-
posers, supplemental works on the history and the theory of
music and on musical instruments, together with biographies
of musicians, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and periodicals.
Other Collections.— To the foregoing collections are to
be added (1) the elegantly bound Clarke collection of works
— 1,453 volumes and 429 pamphlets — on fish, fish-culture,
and angling; (2) the collection of works on Egypt; (3) the
Bailey collection of works on China; (4) the Blatchford col-
lection of works on libraries and library buildings; (5) the
collection of English and American hymn-books. -
Department of Bibliography.— Of the department of
books about books it need be said only that it is, of necessity,
one of the strongest in the Library, adequate to the stringent
and continuous demand made upon its resources.
T H E N E W B E R R Y L I B R A R Y II
The Museum.— The Museum, opened January, 1897,
presents as its special feature the choicer items of the Probasco
collection, about 1,200 volumes of masterpieces in the arts of
calligraphy, illumination, printing, illustration, and binding.
The arrangement is chronological, exhibiting the origin and
development of the book. The manuscripts, numbering over
15o, are written for the most part on vellum or parchment, and
are in a fine state of preservation. To Greece belongs the oldest
and rarest of the manuscripts, the Evangelia Graece — probably
of the twelfth century — with its distinct black-lettered script,
rubrications, and four miniatures of the Evangelists. The
fifteenth century is represented by a heliographed facsimile of
the beautiful Breviarum Grimani, from the Library of San
Marco, Venice. Among the modern manuscripts are poems of
Burns, Bloomfield, and Thomson, and sermons of Cotton
Mather and Increase Mather.
The Museum has the four Shakespeare folios, 1623, 1632,
1664, 1685.
Early Printing.— The Museum contains choice works of .
the old masters of typography, including over three hundred
incunabula. Among these are the Latin Bible printed in
Strasburg, 1466, by Heinrich Eggestein, and Cicero's De
Amicitia of the same year, printed in Cologne by its first
typographer, Ulrich Zell.
Early Engraving.— Specimens of first attempts at
engraving are to be found in such books as the copy of
Roswitha, the 1499 Aldine edition of Hypnerotomachia
Poliphili, and the early books of emblems.
Binding.— Many of -the 1,200 volumes in the Museum
are excellent specimens of bibliopegy, dating from the fifteenth
century to the present time. Among the books from Italian
binderies are: Plinius Secundus, Historia naturale, Venetia,
I 2 T H E N E w B E R R Y L I B R A R Y
1548, bound in brown calf after the style of Thom. Maoli;
two books from the library of Jean Grolier, both having his
motto on the cover, and one containing a manuscript note and
autograph. -
Bindery.— The Newberry Library maintains its own
bindery. The Rudolph method of pamphlet binding is pecu-
liar to the institution. Extracts, from periodical publications,
fugitive essays, and other works presenting a variety of sub-
jects in one volume, are treated as collections of pamphlets.
Scattered writings, properly falling under one head, are bound
securely and economically; and at the same time room is left
for continuous interplacement. Single pamphlets are also
inclosed in cardboard.
The Catalogue.— The catalogue also is a distinctive
feature. While it is a “dictionary” catalogue, the entries,
instead of being made on cards, are made on narrow slips of .
pasteboard inserted in card-holders bound into expansive
Indexer Books and in a series of card-holders revolving over
two drums. The Indexer Books, constructed on the same
principle as the Rudolph binder, are manufactured in the
bindery. The Indexer Books are used for the shelf-list, du-
plicate copies of which serve as finding-lists of the various
departments: The classification used is Cutter's Expansive
Classification, adopted with some modifications, specially in
the notation of class and book numbers.
The Healy Portraits. –The forty-six portraits in oil, on
the walls, were painted by the late George Peter Alexander
Healy, and presented by him in 1886.
Inter-Library Loans.— While the Newberry Library is a
non-circulating library, exception is made in favor of univer-
sity professors and authors living at a distance. On their

T H E N E w B E R R Y L I B R A R Y I3
request books are sent to librarians in charge of libraries near
the residence of the applicant.
On January 1, 1908, the Library contained 192,440
volumes and 44,542 pamphlets, maps, manuscripts, etc., a
total of 236,982. The number of current periodicals on file
was 896. The patronage of the Library averaged, for the
year 1907, 228 visitors per day. The Library is open from
9 A.M. to Io P. M. every day in the year except Sundays, New
Year's Day, Decoration Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving,
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, New Year's Eve. Closed
also during the first two weeks in August.
Trustees of the Newberry Library, 1908.-George E.
Adams, Second Vice-President, Edward E. Ayer, Eliphalet
W. Blatchford, President, Franklin H. Head, David B. Jones,
Bryan Lathrop, George Manierre, Horace H. Martin, Walter
C. Newberry, John A. Spoor, Lambert Tree, First Vice-Presi-
dent, Moses Wentworth, John P. Wilson.
Secretary of the Board of Trustees.— The present
Secretary, Mr. Jesse L. Moss, took office December, 1898.
The Librarians.— The first Librarian, William Frederick
Poole, LL.D., held office from 1887 until his death, in 1894.
Mr. John Vance Cheney, the present Librarian, resigned the
librarianship of the San Francisco Free Public Library to take
charge of the Newberry Library, December 1, 1894. Mr.
Alexander Joseph Rudolph entered the service of the Library
on the same date, as First Assistant Librarian.
J. V. CHENEY, Librarian.
REGULATIONS
I. The Library is open every day, except Sundays and legal
holidays, from 9 A.M. to Io P. M. -
2. Readers, before entering the book-rooms, must deposit
wraps, canes, umbrellas, books, parcels, etc., in the cloak-
room, and receive checks for the same.
3. Conversation at the reading-tables and loud talking, or
smoking in any part of the building, are prohibited.
4. Attendants are instructed to allow no person to leave a
book-room with a book or parcel.
5. Readers will apply for books by filling out an application
slip *R. presenting it to the attendant in the room where books
of the Class desired are kept and consulted.
6. Readers who wish to use, during the evening, books kept
in departments which are closed at 5 o'clock, may file their
applications, and the books desired will be found the same even-
ing in General Reading-Room.
7. Books of great value or rarity are shown only on special
application to the librarian, and must be used in the presence
of an attendant.
8. In copying or taking notes, pencils or fountain-pens may
be used, but not pens and ink. The tracing of engravings and
architectural plans is not permitted.
9. Readers, before leaving the book-rooms, must return the
books used to the attendant, in order that their application slips
may be checked and cancelled.
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