A Brief Description 
 
 of the 
 
 State Historical Library 
 Building 
 
 At Madison, Wisconsin 
 
 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 August, 1906 
 
[ 2 ] 
 
 The Building from the University Gymnasium 
 
W'ZW'o 
 
 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
 
 The building was erected by the State 
 (1895-1900) “for the use of the State His- 
 torical Society of Wisconsin, and such 
 other libraries and collections” as might 
 be invited thereto by the said Society. 1 
 It occupies a plot of ground 264 feet square 
 fronting on State, Park, and Langdon 
 streets, deeded to the State for this pur- 
 pose by the regents of the University of 
 Wisconsin. 
 
 Design and Cost. The building was 
 designed by George B. Ferry and Alfred 
 C. Clas of Milwaukee, and is constructed 
 of Bedford (Indiana) limestone. It is of 
 the Ionic order, in the renaissance style, 
 and with its equipment cost, as it stands, 
 about $610,000, appropriations therefor- 
 being provided by the generosity of the 
 state legislatures of 1895, 1897, and 1899. 
 The contracts were, however, chiefly let in 
 1895, at a time when prices were unus- 
 
 'Sec.'l, chap. 257, Laws of Wisconsin for 1897. 
 [3] 
 
Carvers at work on East facade 
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
ually low; it is probable that building and 
 equipment could not today be replaced for 
 a million dollars. 
 
 The form of construction is what archi- 
 tects style “fireproof,” being primarily a 
 steel frame anchored in solid stone walls; 
 floors are of hollow tile, and walls either 
 of the same material or of metal lath and 
 adamant plaster. Exceptional administra- 
 tive care is taken also to prevent fire — there 
 are in the building neither furnaces nor 
 grates, it being heated by steam furnished 
 from the University’s central heating plant, 
 with which it is connected by a tunnel. 
 There are about 2,000 electric lamps; but 
 being Jaid in metal conduits, wires are un- 
 exposed. 
 
 The building is administered by the 
 
 State Historical Society as trustee of the 
 State; but in consideration of the fact that 
 the library and seminaries of the Univer- 
 sity are also housed herein, and that a 
 large percentage of the users are members 
 of the University, the cost of maintenance 
 (exclusive of salaries of the respective 
 library staffs) is divided equally between 
 [ 5 ] 
 
the two institutions. In addition to the 
 State Historical Library (about 145,000 
 volumes and 140,000 pamphlets), and the 
 Library of the University of Wisconsin 
 (115,000 volumes and 35,000 pamphlets), 
 there is also located here the Library of the 
 Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts, and 
 and Letters (7,000 volumes), making a 
 total of over 440,000 books and pamphlets 
 at present within the building. Both of 
 the two principal libraries are now having 
 a rapid growth, and these figures will soon 
 be distanced. 
 
 In the purchase of books, the libraries 
 sharply differentiate — the State Historical 
 Library confining its acquisitions to Amer- 
 ican and British history and biography, 
 religious history, general geography and 
 travels, Shakespeariana, maps, manu- 
 scripts, general periodicals, newspaper files, 
 and public documents (American, Cana- 
 dian, and British); while the University 
 Library limits its purchases to foreign 
 history (except the British Empire) , litera- 
 ture, philosophy, philology, sociology? sci- 
 ence, and the useful and fine arts. Thus 
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
avoiding duplication, it is sought, so far 
 as practicable with the resources at hand, j 
 to cover the entire field of knowledge. 
 
 Although the administrative depart- 
 ments of the two libraries were at the out- 
 set provided for, but one of the two pro- 
 posed bookstack wings (the southern) has 
 thus far been completed; the northern 
 wing has yet to be constructed. The nor- 
 mal book storage capacity of the building 
 was intended to be approximately 413,000 
 volumes, when all shelving was occupied. 
 The building is now filled to a far greater 
 extent than was supposed possible at the 
 outset. The proposed new stack wing 
 would probably house 225,000 additional 
 volumes. The building would then have 
 about sixteen miles of shelving, with a 
 capacity of possibly something over 670,000 
 volumes. The plans provide, also, for an 
 ultimate transverse wing along Park 
 street, connecting the two book-stack 
 wings. 
 
 The basement is occupied by the ventil- 
 ating and plumbing apparatus, electric 
 motors, unpacking and storage rooms, and 
 the State Historical Library’s famous 
 [ 7 ] 
 
collection of newspaper files (which is 
 second only in extent to that of the Library 
 of Congress, at Washington). 
 
 The first (entrance) floor contains at the 
 south end the State Historical Library’s 
 departments of public documents, news- 
 paper files (consultation room*, maps and 
 manuscripts (including the widely-known 
 Draper and Wisconsin collections), and 
 patent office reports (American, Canadian, 
 Australian, and British). At the north 
 end are the seminaries of the University 
 departments of history, economics, politi- 
 cal science, and mathematics, In the cen- 
 tral portion (west side) will be found cloak 
 and toilet rooms for men (south) and 
 women ( north) . An electric passenger ele- 
 vator, at the south end, connects all floors. 
 
 Marble work. All of the marble used 
 in the building was imported from Italy. 
 That principally in use, for wainscoting, 
 stair-rails, bases, facings, etc., is the so- 
 called English pencil-veined white; treads, 
 risers, and landings are of the blue-veined 
 variety; the panels on both sides of stair 
 railings are of Paonnazzo. 
 
 The pavements of the public corridors 
 [ 8 ] 
 
A marble stairway 
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
are of marble mosaic. The devices 
 seen upon the first floor pavement in the 
 main corridor, represent some of the 
 “marks” used by early printers to individ- 
 ualize and ornament the title-pages of their 
 
 The Aldine mark 
 
 books: England being represented by the 
 mark of William Caxton, 1489; Germany 
 by that- of Melchior Lotter, 1491-1536; 
 Venice by that of Aldus Manutus, 1502; 
 [ 10 ] 
 
France by that of Jehan Frellon, 1540-50; 
 Holland by the Elziver mark, 1620; while 
 modern America is represented by the cel- 
 ebrated mark of the Riverside Press 
 (Cambridge, Mass.). 
 
 At the south end of the second floor are 
 the administrative offices of the State His- 
 torical Library, and at the north those of 
 the University Library; lying between 
 them are the great reading room ( seating 
 240 persons, with some 5,000 general ref- 
 erence books upon the walls), together 
 with the delivery room (with the public card 
 catalogue of the libraries ) and the room 
 for bound periodicals (seating about 40 per- 
 sons). The dark red furniture of these 
 rooms is constructed of mahogany. 
 
 There are two delivery counters — the 
 northern serving the University Library, 
 the southern the State Historical Library. 
 Through the gate in the latter, access is 
 had to the book=stack wing in the rear. 
 Here are six floors of enameled rolled-steel 
 stacks, each floor having a capacity of 
 about 42,000 volumes. The several floors 
 are connected by an automatic electric 
 freight elevator, also by a book lift of sim- 
 ilar mechanism. 
 
 [ 11 ] 
 
At the south end of the third floor are 
 the State Historical Library’s lecture hall, 
 the office of the Wisconsin Academy of 
 Science, Arts, and Letters, and several ad- 
 ministrative rooms connected with the 
 Historical Library; at the north end are 
 the seminaries of the University depart- 
 ments of German, Latin, Greek, French, 
 English, philosophy, and education. Most 
 of these seminaries contain special librar- 
 ies of much value. 
 
 A visitor’s balcony, overlooking the 
 great reading room, lies between. Back 
 of the brass railing is ' the genealogical 
 department of the State Historical Library 
 and the art departments of both libraries. 
 Like that in the reading room below, the 
 red furniture in the balcony is of mahog- 
 any. 
 
 The fourth floor is devoted to the Mu- 
 seum of the State Historical Society. The 
 most popular departments are probably 
 the New England kitchen (east long room), 
 the two rooms devoted to engravings and 
 color prints, the room wherein are kept 
 the relics of Wisconsin in several wars 
 (1812-15, Secession, and Spanish-Ameri- 
 [ 12 ] 
 
The State Historical Library in 1853 
 
 [ 13 ] 
 
can), the ethnological hall (south wing), 
 and the Adams collection of laces and bric- 
 a-brac (south wing). 
 
 Near the north end of the corridor are 
 the now tattered flags carried by Wiscon- 
 sin regiments in the War of Secession, 
 and here temporarily housed until the 
 completion of the new Capitol. 
 
 The majority of the portraits along the 
 walls in the north and south galleries are 
 those of men and women prominent in the 
 pioneering days of Wisconsin. In the east 
 long room, near the New England kitchen, 
 is the original library case wherein, but 
 little over a half century ago, were kept 
 the fifty or so volumes then owned by the 
 State Historical Library. A carriage once 
 belonging to Daniel Webster is in close 
 proximity. 
 
 In this hall are also some impressive 
 relics of the New Richmond tornado of 
 1899; and numerous interesting remin- 
 ders of early Wisconsin in both its French 
 fur-trading and its Anglo-Saxon pioneer- 
 ing stages. One of the earliest printing 
 presses in Wisconsin occupies a glass case 
 by itself, in the south gallery; in another, 
 [ 14 ] 
 
near by, is a wooden anchor of the French 
 regime. In the north gallery are plaster 
 casts of famous Greek marbles, and num- 
 erous paintings of interest — among them 
 a canvas by the Russian artist, Verest- 
 chagin, representing Wisconsin troops in 
 a battle in the Philippines. Other paint- 
 ings of note are in the south gallery (near 
 the elevator), two of them being idealized 
 representations of events in Wisconsin 
 history — the landfall of Nicolet (1634), 
 and Langlade’s attack at Braddock’s defeat 
 (1755). 
 
 The most famous object of historical in- 
 terest in the museum will be found in the 
 ethnological hall— the silver ostensorium 
 presented to the old Jesuit mission at De 
 Pere in 1686, by Nicolas Perrot, then com- 
 mandant for the French in the country of 
 the upper Great Lakes. The collection of 
 prehistoric pottery and copper and stone 
 implements, displayed in this hall, is 
 large and interesting. 
 
 [ 15 ] 
 
Elevation 
 
 The base, with contemporary inscription 
 
 The Perrot ostensorium, 1686 
 
 [16J