New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-08-22
THE WOMAN'S LIBRARY


Brady, Henry Ward Beecher, and Socn Robinson
and SO great the feeling then aroused in favor Of
tie project that nearly three thousand dollars were
subscribed on the spot. Mrs Poe ell the lady who
was the author Of that movement has since then been
steadily working toward the accomplishment of her
loDgcontemplated purpose. The institution has been
Incorporated trustees being appointed whose excellence
no one will question when it is stated that they are
ing the rent t the rooms in which the library to
lie opened.
There has been much controversy az TO the neces-
sity desirabity Of library specially for women
that have made Investigations as to the rela-
tive number Of books taken from libraries by and
women in the city. The Astcr Library, it Ia well
knowp is principally valuable library Of references
the great CT readers supplied from the mercan-
tile Library, the Society Library, the Apprentices Lii
brary, and some twenty or thirty small circulating
libraries wbib we find scattered all over the city.
The advocates Of a separate and distinct Womans Lii
brsry say that the fees at the Society Library $40 per
YEAR are altogether too high for the majority of
woman readers; that in the Mercantile Library they
have 10 pay s. year. while men pay but 81, from
vi ich they secure not only the benefits Of the Library
ard eadpg-room but also Of the classes and that it
is not pleasant to cote the Apprentices Libra where
the charge is 81 to women, while it is gratis TO boys.
Tire aeDf anee Of males and females at the reading
room Of the Cooper Unon and the library Of the Mer
camille Library Association noted with much precson.
The figures taken at the Cooper Union show that in
spite Of the considerable number Of women who visit
the readngroom from the School of Design for Women
there gradual decrease In the attendance of women,
which indicates that this experiment Of a common
readpgIoI viii in the END be hardly more SUCCESS
full than that made in the reading Of the Mercn
tile Library. During the FIVE mont tbs from March TO
July inclusive, the attendance Of women, compared
with y at Of men, has gradually fallen from onefour-
tenth in March to one-ffteenth in April, one-eght-
eenth in May, one-nneteenth in June, and to one
twenty-third in July. The actual decrease is some
What greater it being from $40 in March to 63S in
July. When we consider the favorable circumstances
under which this readiDgro0m was opened, and the
| very neiderable attendance of women which it re-
ceves from the School of Design this great faingo
only shows in stronger light the repugpance which
women have TO a readng-roOm which is public to both
| sexes 1t remains to be seen whether reading-room
intended exclusively for feminine USE will be better
patroDized. From the SOcieIy Library very large
portion of the books taken are taken by women; the
precise figures we are unable to give. In the Mercan
tile Library in five average days during the present
month, the number of books actually taken was: by
women, 24s; by men, 89j; averave of 80 taken by
women, and 1870 by men, per day. very large pro-
| portion Of the books taken by women from this Lii
! braIy are Of course, taken in the of men who
belong to the Association, very few taking ont
books in their own names Many, too, of the books
actually taken by men, for women to read so that
of the readers furnished with books by the
Mercantile Library, fully one-half women.
| The number of book, from Apprentices Library,
read by women, is very email.
That there libraries do not supply the great demand
for reading which exists among women large numbers
Of whom find al their amusement in books, while the
corresponding classes of find theirs in lodges and
barrooms is shown by the many circulating libraries
provided by private enterprise. These circulating libra
rice have been informed by the Propi 'tors OF
/ some Of them, sustained almost exclusively by
women, the average proportion Of men and women
actually coming for books being about one of the
former to ten of the latter, although the names under
which these books are taken, are equally divided
between these two sexes. In many Of these libraries
the charge for books is s. per year or 10 cents per
volume taken ont; in the latter case deposit Of the
valce of the book ia required The number and pros
perty Of these est .bshments show that the public
libraries at present existing, supply but small
portion of the great feminice demand for books aud
are the best vindieaon of the need for The Womans
Library, the special object of which is to supply this
| general demand.
The nsttu ion viii commence its public operations
| during the month of September in room on the
second-hoor of the University Building, the windows
Of which look out TO the westward on the Washing
ton parade @ ound The room is spacious neatly car
| peted and wen furnished, and on its walls in the
space not yet occupied by bookcases hang some fine
eDgrsvings. The library has already four or five
thousand volumes, which Miss Powell has selected
herself and which she has been enabled to secure for
this purpose at wonderfully low prices all the book
publishers to whom she has applied having manifested
substantial interest in the institution. Indeed, the
total expenditure thus far, has been but about a
thousand dollars. And yet the selection Of books Is
good one including much Of the standard literature OF
the language mainly Of the lighter sort, in solid and
and elegant binding. 1t is intended to add most Of che
popular books art such Of chief interest to
the students in the School Of Design for Women, anda
| good collection Of works medicine. The Library
will if the expectations of It's founders realized, be
nucleus also for clsses similar 10 those Of the Mer-
camille Library and it is hoped that it will do some
thing in the way of advancing the interests and multi
plying the pursuits of women The principal patrons
Of The institution thus far have BEEN Mr.. Benjamin
II. Field who has given 2OOOi Mr. Joseph Rowland,
who has given $500, and Mr.. Wilson G. Hunt, who
has givan 500 TO it, these gentlemen are among the
trustees and have done much to aid Miss Powell in her
| labor, aside from their donations. Among employees
of women the largest benefacors of the institution
thus far have been w. II. a. S. c. Thomson, who
have added 5000 TO its funds. Further efforts TO in
crease its usefulness and place on firm foundation,
l. l.