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 HE new building of the State Historical So- 
 ciety of Wisconsin, at Madison, is one of the 
 most artistic, well built, well arranged, and 
 conveniently equipped library structures in 
 the United States. Its cost, fully equipped 
 and furnished, was about $600,000 ; but con- 
 tracts were awarded at a time (1896) when 
 prices were at their ebb — the building would 
 now (1901) probably cost a million. 
 
 The statutes providing for the construc- 
 tion of the building permitted the Society to 
 invite thereto such other State - supported 
 libraries'as it deemed proper. From the first 
 it was well understood that the library of the 
 University was also to be housed beneath 
 the same roof. Ample provisions were there- 
 fore made for the latter, and to this fact the 
 plans owe their somewhat peculiar arrange- 
 ment. The attempt has been made, and we 
 believe successfully, to provide for two dis- 
 tinct libraries, separately administered, but 
 using the reading and consultation rooms in 
 
 common. By joint agreement the Histori- 
 cal Society retains the general administration of the entire 
 building, such as heating, lighting, cleaning, repairing, polic- 
 ing, and the special custody of all rooms to which the public 
 are admitted; but the University controls the aclual daily use 
 
0~L T 22. 
 
of its own offices, seminary rooms, storage rooms, and the space 
 assigned to it in the south-west book-stack wing. When the 
 north-west book-stack wing is constructed the University libra- 
 » ry will be transferred thereto. This wing will be in direCt con- 
 
 nection with the administrative rooms of that library. 
 
 There are entrances upon all four fagades. The principal 
 fagade is on the east, facing the “ lower campus ” of the Uni- 
 versity, and the city. The best and most familiar views of the 
 structure are from the south-east on State Street, and the north- 
 east on Langdon Street, but these fail to give an adequate con- 
 ception of its depth from east to west. The situation is com- 
 manding. As the ground slopes upward to the west (rear) a 
 balconied terrace is rendered necessary on the east, north and 
 south sides. The outlook from the general reading room is an 
 interesting roof-view of the neighborhood, with pretty glimpses 
 of Lake Mendota, dissedled by the University gymnasium and 
 neighboring residences ; from the roof there is visible a wide 
 sweep of land and water. 
 
 The building, designed by Ferry & Clas, architects, of 
 Milwaukee, is constructed of buff Bedford limestone, from Bed- 
 ford, Ind. The architecture is of the Ionic order, in the renais- 
 sance style, and in some points resembles, although less elabo- 
 rate than, the Milwaukee Public Library and Museum building 
 by the same architects. While the exterior of the structure is 
 distinctly the work of the architects the interior arrangement 
 — as is proper, for this is a librarians’ workshop — is in all es- 
 
A STACK ROOM 
 
 sential particulars the plan of those who are to occupy it. 
 Their wishes — based on experience, on the peculiar needs of 
 the Historical and University libraries, and on wide observa- 
 tion and study of other great reference and college libraries in 
 this country and abroad — have been faithfully observed by the 
 architects, and it is believed that the building is as nearly per- 
 fect, from a librarian’s point of view, as is possible under the 
 circumstances. 
 
 The building is heated by steam conveyed in a tunnel 
 leading from the neighboring central power plant of the Uni- 
 versity, and is furnished throughout with pneumatic heat reg- 
 ulators. It is lighted solely by electricity, obtained from the 
 
local city plant. Drinking water is furnished from the city 
 system of artesian wells; water for cleaning comes from the 
 University pumping station. 
 
 In the basement, besides the fans and heating and plumb- 
 ing machinery, are located unpacking, duplicate, and storage 
 rooms, toilet and dressing rooms for the janitorial staff, bicycle 
 rooms for readers, and the bulk of the large colledlion of bound 
 newspaper files for which the Wisconsin Historical Library is 
 famous; these are placed on steel shelves furnished by the Art 
 Metal Construction Co., of Jamestown, N. Y. 
 
 Upon the first (or main entrance) floor are public toilet and 
 cloak rooms, and the departmental libraries devoted to maps 
 and manuscripts and public documents ; there is also here lo- 
 cated the public consultation room for newspaper files, the 17th 
 and 1 8th century files being in this room upon steel shelves of 
 the “ Standard ” pattern. Upon the same floor the University 
 School of History, and School of Economics and Political Sci- 
 ence have their headquarters, together with seminaries for the 
 departments of Mathematics and Commerce. 
 
 Upon the second floor the offices of the State Historical 
 Society are ranged along the south side, and those of the Uni- 
 versity Library upon the north ; between is the principal feat- 
 ure of the building — the great reading room and its annex, the 
 “ Poole periodicals ” room. The reading room, fitted with solid 
 mahogany furniture, seats 240 readers ; the “ Poole room,” as 
 the students facetiously term it, is fitted with a double-storied 
 
MAIN READING ROOM 
 
“ Standard ” all-steel stack. Connected with the reading room 
 are the delivery desks and the public card catalogue; immedi- 
 ately over these is the visitors’ gallery, to which alone the non- 
 reading public is admitted. The reading room, upon the walls 
 of which are 5,000 selected reference books, communicates with 
 the impressive loggia extending along the front of the build- 
 ing. 
 
 Upon the third floor there are, upon the south side, a lec- 
 ture hall, convenient toilet rooms, a staff room, and a study for 
 the superintendent ; on the north side are seminary rooms for 
 the University, devoted to German, Greek and Latin, French, 
 English, and Philosophy and Education. Between are the 
 visitors’ balcony above mentioned and study rooms. for visitors. 
 In each of the seminary rooms there is a special library, and 
 upon the visitors’ balcony is the State Historical Society’s de- 
 partmental library of Genealogy and Art. 
 
 The fourth floor is devoted to the Society’s museum and 
 portrait gallery, with a well-appointed photographic dark room, 
 public toilet rooms, janitors’ room, etc. 
 
 When the building is completed, there will, as above in- 
 timated, be two book-stack wings ; at present only the south- 
 west wing has been constructed. There are six stories of the 
 stack, each about 7 feet 4 inches high, fitted with steel book 
 shelves of the “ Standard ” pattern, furnished by the Art Metal 
 Construction Company. In addition to an eledtric service ele- 
 vator and an electric book-lift, a continuous stairway connects 
 
NEWSPAPER ROOM 
 
 the several floors. Upon each floor of the stack are desks and 
 tables for the use of those specialists and advanced students 
 who have received permission to go to the shelves ; alternate 
 cases are shortened to make room for small study desks. Each 
 floor of the stack will shelve 40,000 volumes — thus the stack 
 wing now completed has a capacity of 240,000. Adding the 
 books in the reading room, the periodical room, the several de- 
 partmental libraries, the newspaper stack in the basement, the 
 libraries of the University seminaries, and the proposed north- 
 west stack wing, as yet unbuilt, the normal capacity of the 
 building will ultimately be about 685,000 volumes. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ANOTHER OF THE SIX STACK ROOMS 
 

 POOLE’’ READING ROOM