CONNECTICUT STATE LIBRARY HARTFORD A BRIEF SUMMARY OF ITS ACTIVITIES FIFTH EDITION Printed for the Library July 12. 1923 PREFACE TO FIFTH EDITION The third edition of the Brief Summary of the Activities of the Connecticut State Library, issued September 17, 1921, on the occasion of the formal transfer of the “Trumbull Papers” by the Massachusetts Historical Society to the Connecticut State Library, having been quickly exhausted, a fourth edition has been made necessary. As the fourth edition served to call attention to and empha¬ size the importance and significance of the precedent set in the care and custody of official records and documents, by the Massachusetts Historical Society in returning to Connecti¬ cut the Governor Jonathan “Trumbull Papers,” and by Mrs. Louis R. Cheney of Hartford, through whom on the same occasion the Governor Joseph Trumbull papers were pre¬ sented to the_ State Library, it is hoped this fifth edition will inform those who may have occasion to consult the Library concerning what help they may expect to receive from or through the State Library, and suggest to those interested ^ in what ways they can be of assistance in its further develop¬ ment. It is also hoped that this new edition may serve to call attention to and emphasize the increasing importance and significance of our growing Department of War Records, » as supplemented by the historical collections now being assembled by the Military Order of Foreign Wars, by the Daughters of 1812, by the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard, by the First Company Governor’s Horse Guard, by “Company K” and other patriotic organizations; and to our Department of Public Records as used and enlarged by the public officials of our State and those of the several counties, towns, and other official districts within its borders. The photostat is doing much towards solving our public records problems. State Librarian. Connecticut State Library Hartford, July 12, 1923 V 5 7. Z ^ c vrl c 6 ^ ^ I ’’HE Connecticut State Library, like practically all . I the State Libraries of the older states, had its foundation in the miscellaneous collection of books which had gradually accumulated in the offices of the 5 several state officials from the beginning. These volumes consisted principally of books purchased to meet tempo- ’ rary official necessities, or which had been presented by ■'sister states, foreign governments, or individuals. Until they had been gathered together, arranged and some one ^ made responsible for their completeness and safety, they were of very little service to the public. In May, 1854, the General Assembly provided for the appointment of a State Librarian and the miscellaneous collection of books belonging to the state which had been accumulating in the office of the Secretary of State were placed in the custody of this new official. During the j sixty-seven years which have elapsed since 1854, Con¬ necticut has had but three State Librarians; viz : Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, who served one year when he re¬ signed; Dr Charles J. Hoadly, who served from September, } 1855, until his death, October, 1900, a period of forty-five years, and the present State Librarian, who came to the State Library in August, 1898, as assistant and was ap¬ pointed State Librarian November 28, 1900. From its rooms in the historic State House on Main Street, now the old City Hall, recently so beautifully restored, the Library was moved to larger and more convenient quarters in the new Capitol in 1878, where it remained until the completion of its new home in our State Library and Supreme Court Building, to which it transferred its activities November 28, 1910. The Connecticut State Library is especially fortunate, : • being central in its location, housed in a building substan- ! tially built, beautiful in its architecture, convenient in * its arrangement, harmonious in its decorations and ^ homelike. It is, to paraphrase the words of another, a ; ' library by the people, of the people, and for the people. 4 CONNECTICUT STATE LIBRARY From time to time as required, new departments have been added and the scope of its activities has been increased. With the other libraries in Hartford it forms a University System. To the judge and attorney the State Library is the ('Law Library of the State, commendably complete in its several lines. To the legislator and man of public affairs it is a Legis¬ lative Reference Library, in which he can, at his own con¬ venience and in his own way, study easily, intelligently and fully, not only the trend of legislation both at home and abroad and learn something of the reasons for and against the several movements, but he can also ascertain there the contents and daily status of each bill in his own legislature. To the town clerk and judge of probate it is a possible, convenient, desirable and safe depository for records, files and papers not in current use, and a source of intelligent assistance, which is theirs for the asking, in matters per¬ taining to binding, repairing, indexing and caring for those records which must be retained in their several offices. To the state officer and commissioner, the State Library is the place where he can find at any time the reports of his own department and similar departments in other states, and a place where he can deposit any special reports, records or other material which may come to him, or which he may care to have in a place of safety, and at all reasonable times have accessible to him and to those who have a right to use them. To the selectman and town treasurer the State Library is the place where they are confident they can find a commendably complete file of the financial reports, of their own towns and neighboring towns, which are so often lacking at home. SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES 5 To the World War Veterans the State Library is the Department of War Records established by the Con¬ necticut General Assembly in 1919, to collect, classify, index and install all available material relating to Con¬ necticut's participation, public or private, in the World War. Here the records of the activities and services of individuals, in their own words, and of organizations, cities, towns, counties and the state, officially—overseas and at home—all on uniform blanks, are being assembled for the benefit of our children and their children. To the Civilian War Workers the State Library is the depository of the records and files of the Connecticut Draft Executive, the State Council of Defense, the State Agricultural, Industrial and Military Censuses, and the reports and returns of war activities from the several cities and towns, and the many organizations interested in war work throughout the state. To the members of the Military Order of Foreign Wars, and of the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard, and First Company Governor’s Horse Guard, “Company K,” the Daughters of 1812, and other similar organizations and societies the State Library is the permanent home of the Historical Collections assembled by their members and friends. To the civil engineer and surveyor the State Library is not only a source of supply of topographical maps of the State as it is today, but the depository of the official copy of the drawings and specifications for all dams and water¬ ways approved by the State Board of Civil Engineers, and the repository of records showing the layout of many counties, towns, school districts, ecclesiastical societies, highways, etc., as they now are or used to be. To the members of the Connecticut Geological and Natural History Survey and those interested along these lines, the State Library is the distributing and exchange agency for the several publications of the Commission. To the minister of our older churches the State Library is a mine of wealth concerning many things which relate 6 CONNECTICUT STATE LIBRARY to the formation, life and activities of the several churches in Connecticut in the days of our fathers. To the genealogist and descendants of Colonial and Revolutionary ancestry our large collection of official records consisting of musterrolls, pay-rolls, lists, receipts and miscellaneous manuscripts, made available by minute indexes, the Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Re¬ cords—the names in each town arranged alphabetically— supplemented by our collection of genealogies and local histories, is the one department thought of. To the members of the Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames the Connecticut State Library is the home of that unique collection of manuscript histories relating to the early homes of our fathers in Connecticut, which are being compiled by this society under direction of a special committee. The student of political economy and government is attracted by our large collection of public documents of our own state, the sister states, the United States, and the Dominion of Canada, Australia and their several provinces, arranged in long series, easily accessible. The inventor and prospective patentee thinks only of our long sets of patent reports and certified copies of specifications and drawings of patents, always at his service. The pupils of our public schools think of the State Library as the home of the old Charter, the Stuart por¬ trait of Washington, the Riley portrait of Charles II, the portraits of our several governors, and the place where they can see the table on which President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the Silver Service from the “Battleship Connecticut” and so many other things of interest to them connected with the history of our own State and the general government. The numismatist has formed his idea of our State Library through that remarkable collection of coins, cur¬ rency, medals, tokens and associated books, recently SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES 7 presented to the State by one of her sons, the late Joseph ^ C. Mitchelson of Tariffville, Connecticut, and Kansas City, Missouri. To the tourist and professional traveler the Connecticut ^ State Library is simply a beautiful, new building, which having been planned from the inside out as well as from the outside in, and having been built upon honor and for time, is acknowledged to be a model of its kind. To the several state libraries of our own country and governmental libraries of Europe, the Connecticut State Library is looked upon as the exchange medium with the State of Connecticut, through which they receive promptly the official publications of the State, and in which may be found the several official publications sent in return. To the sons and daughters of Connecticut, who have inherited or accumulated manuscripts and records which I they have held almost sacred, the Connecticut State Library is regarded as a most fitting depository for these private collections of official and semi-official papers, ^ which have to do with the early life and activities of the State and its several families. To the members of the Massachusetts Historical Society the Connecticut State Library is the new home of the Trumbull Papers closely identified with the early history of the Colony and State of Connecticut, voluntarily returned by the Society, September 17, 1921, after having had them one hundred and twenty-six years; thus marking a new epoch in the care and custody of official records, and recognizing the provisions Connecticut has made for the care and use of such records. To the librarian and his staff the Connecticut State I Library is a group of departments, housed in a model building, with interested and competent assistants, whose aim and purpose is to serve intelligently, promptly, and courteously not only the inquirers of our own generation but, so far as possible, also, those who are to follow. 8 CONNECTICUT STATE LIBRARY The preceding, I imagine, are some of the ideas which have become clustered about the name of the “Connecticut State Library,” and may we not say that all of them are right, simply looking at the Library from their own point of view, and thinking along the lines in which they are especially interested. WHAT IS THE CONNECTICUT STATE LIBRARY? It is the: 1. Supreme Court Law Library. 2. Legislative Reference Department. 3. Department of War Records. 4. Archives Department. 5. Depository of Public Records. 6. Department of Local History and Genealogy. 7. Examiner of Public Records. 8. Depository of Connecticut State, Town, Municipal and Society official publications. 9. Depository for the official publications of the United States, the several states of the Union, the Canadian Government and Provinces, and of the Australian Colonies. 10. Custodian of Portraits of Governors. 11. Custodian of State Library and Supreme Court Building. 12. Library Exchange Agent for Connecticut State Publications. 13. Exchange Agent for Connecticut Geological and Natural History Survey Publications. 14. Depository of the Historical Collection of . a Military Order of Foreign Wars. b First Company Governor’s Foot Guard. c First Company Governor’s Horse Guard. d “ Company K.” e Daughters of 1812. 15. Depository of historical and genealogical gifts to the State. Among these gifts are the following: a Sherman W. Adams Collection of official rolls and lists relating to the French and Indian War. b Dorence Atwater Collection of manuscripts relating to Andersonville. c Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records. SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES 9 A f * d Brandegee Collection of Portraits of Col- Justices of the United States. e Stephen Dodd Collection of manuscripts relating to the early history of East Haven. / Enfield Shaker Collection. g Sylvester Gilbert Collection of papers relat¬ ing to the American Revolution. h William F. J. Boardman Collection of books and manuscripts relating to Genealogy. i Boyd Collection of Woodbury records and papers. Charles Hammond and H. M. Lawson Col¬ lections of manuscripts relating to the early history of the Town of Union. k Col. Edwin D. Judd Collection of Civil War military rolls and papers. I Dwight C. Kilbourn Collection of Books pamphlets and manuscripts relating to Con¬ necticut, New England and the South. m Ellen D. Lamed Collection of books and manuscripts relating to New England. n Daniel N. Morgan Historical Collection, including Table on which the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. 0 Deacon Lewis M. Norton Collection of manu¬ scripts relating to the Town of Goshen. p Orville H. Platt Collection relating to Finance, Indians and Insular Affairs. q Capt. John Pratt Collection of military papers, 1778-1824. f Major E. V. Preston Collection of Civil War military rolls and papers. 5 Col. Daniel Putnam Letters. t Sherwood Collection of Connecticut News¬ papers. V Governor Jonathan “Trumbull Papers.” u Governor Joseph Trumbull Manuscripts. w Gideon and Thaddeus Welles Collection of American newspapers from 1820 to 1840, approximately. X Charles T. Wells Collection of books relating to New England. y Robert C. Winthrop Collection of manu¬ scripts relating to early Connecticut, z Samuel Wyllys Collection of manuscripts relating to witchcraft and other crimes in early Connecticut. w CONNECTICUT ST A TE LIBRARY FORMAL TRANSFER OF THE TRUMBULL PAPERS BY THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT September 17, 1921 EXERCISES IN MEMORIAL HALL at Two o’clock Hon. Everett J. Lake, Governor of Connecticut, Presiding ADDRESS: On behalf of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, United States Senator from Massachusetts. President of the Society and Chairman of its Special Committee on Transfer. ADDRESS: ¥ On behalf of the State of Connecticut. Hon. George P. McLean, Ex-Governor of Conneeticut and United States Senator. Acceptance of the Care and Custody of the Trumbull Papers. George S. Godard, State Librarian of Connecticut. After the luncheon at the Hartford Club, given by * Governor Lake to the members of the Special Committee representing the Massachusetts Historical Society, and other invited guests, the party was escorted to the State Library by the First Company, Governor’s Foot Guard, y Major Lucius B. Barbour, Commanding. SUMMAR Y OF A CTIVITJES // MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY > Boston, April 21, 1921. f To THE Governor of Connecticut. Sir: In 1795 Mr. David Trumbull gave to the Massa¬ chusetts Historical Society the papers of his grandfather, Jonathan Trumbull, once governor of Connecticut. They were at the time bound in twenty-four volumes and, with the exception of one volume that was unfor¬ tunately destroyed by fire in 1825, they have been care¬ fully preserved in the Society. With them were received four letter books and a volume of letters by William Samuel Johnson to Governor Trumbull — making twenty- eight volumes in all. Believing that as official records i they belong properly to the State of Connecticut, the Society has voted to return them to that State, and has constituted us a committee to make the transfer. ^ It is with pleasure that we notify you of the de¬ cision of the Society, a decision made of its own initiative and without suggestion from other interests. A copy of the report on which the Society based its action is en¬ closed. The twenty-eight volumes of papers will be de¬ livered to the representative you may commission to receive them, who may give the proper receipt. We remain. Respectfully yours, Henry Cabot Lodge ^ James Ford Rhodes Arthur Lotd Worthington Chauncey Ford Committee. ;W\RR15QN.(« LITCHflELOp; COUNTY g : COURT m \ Mou^e p I r^i'i- wkh/wM'/a 'iitmuifcfe*; Facsimile Print of Divight C. Kilbourn Collection Book Plate Connecticut State Library Hartford