Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-09-22
THE STATE LIBRARY.
A Brief Eistory OF Its Formation and
Contents.

OF Librarian Wallis has attracted consldera-
BILE attention to the State Library, and as
many questions are asked concerning 1t, a
brief sketch Of this institution may be Of In
terest. Prior to 1850 there seems TO have
been but few scattering books belonging to
the State. An Act of the Legislature, dated
April 9Th of the year named, directed that
such books should be collected and placed in
the custody of the Secretary of State, who
was declared to be State Librarian. AT this
time there was no provision for fund for the
library, and another Act was passed May l,
1852, which provided that each and every
officer commissioned by the Governor
should pay the sum of five dollars to the Sec
rotary of State and the Controller of State
was directed to reserve s. from the pay OF
each legislator for that and all subsequent
sessions, which was to go into fund to be
known as the State Library Fund. This Act
also provided for a Board of Directors for
the library, to consist OF the Governor. Treas
urer, Controller, President Of the Senate and
Speaker of the Assembly, and the Board
were directed to expend the money in the
| Library Fund for furniture, books, ETC., as
they thought were "best suited to the wants
of the Legislature" An Act supplemental
to the Act of 1850 was approved May II,
| 1853 directing that all fees of whatever de-
! scription collected by the Secretary Of State
should be transferred TO tie Library Fund.
! By an Act of the Legislature approved
April 10, 1860, William G. Stratton
was authorized to make catalogue of the
books, etc, belonging to the State Lii
brary, for which he received 81, 200,
! n Act al
which placed the cOntrol of the Library under
Board of Trustees, consisting of the Gov
ernor, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
J. w, Winans, II. W. Harkness and j. +.
Morse, the last three to hold office for four
years, their SUCCESSORS to be elected by the
| Joint ballot of the Legislature. The Board
was authorized to appoint Librarian, and
w. G. Stratton was appointed to that posi-
tion. By al Act of March q, 1864, the
same members were retained as Board of
Trustees. February 2S 1866 the Act was
amended by makiag the Attorney-Genersl
ex oficio member of the Board, instead Of
the Governor and Chief Justics of the Su-
preme Court, and the other four members
vera J. w. Winans, Ii. W. Hardness, G. G.
w. French and W. G. Belcher. About this
time the Supreme Court decided that the
Chief ustice could not hold the office of Trustee
Of the State Library. The Political Code of
the State, enacted in 1872, placed the library
under the control Of Board of Trustees, to
consist of FIVE members and to be elected by
the Legislature in joint convention. The
fund was also made to consist Of the fees col
lected by the Secretary of State and the Sur
veyor. General By the Act of 1885, and af-
forwards Incorporated in the Political Code,
the members of the Legislature during ses-
sions, and State officers at all times, are al
lowed to take books from the library, but a
clause stipulates that all books taken by the
former shall be returned at the close of the
session, and that before the Controller draws
the last warrant for the salary Of any mem
bar he must be satisfied that all books have
been returned, or, if lost or injured, paid
for to the amount of three times their value.
W. @. Strstton was succeeded as Librarian,
after many years, by J. Neely johnson. The
next Librarian was r. o. Crsvens. who was
succeeded in April, 1882, by Talbot H. Wal.
lis, whom iC is now sought to remove. The
constantly increasing number of books caused
the Legislature to pass an Act in 1866 author
izing the appointment by the Librarian of a
deputy, and second on5 was allowed in
1870. The present deputies are Q. Z. Gum,
having charge of the law library, and f. f.
Freeman, in the general library.
In 1856 collection Of books, known as
The Law Library of San Francisco" COM
posed Of 3, 500 standard law books, was pur-
chased for abo1t S17, 900. This purchase in
cluded some rare statutes and reports. This
was the largest accession the law library ever
received. but it has been added to from year
to year until it now embraces over II 800
books. The department OF reports is com
plete TO date. II contains full sets of all the
American, English, Scotch, Irish and Cana
dian reports, together with digests, statutes,
etc. There is also a large collection of treat
ises, embracing all the standard authors and
most recent editions full sets of leading law
journals and periodicals Of England and
America, and considerable collection of
works on French, Spanish and laws Of other
foreign countries.
Political science, political economy and its
kindred subjects, finance, banking, commerce
and statistics, are represented by nearly all
the standard authors. Fine arts, poetry,
bellss-lettres history, etc. ewellrepresented.
The sciences have received attention, and the
library contains many valuable works on
architecture, sanitary and civil engineering.
The magazine department is well supplied,
while the dramatic department is very full,
including very rare editions of Shakespeare
Cumberlsnd's British Theater, GA volumes
Bells Theater, "a volumes, 3 dated 1895
Modern Standard Drama, 45 volumes
Minor Drama, q volumes Drydens Dra-
matte Works, volumes, dated 1885; The
German Theater, volumes, dated 1880;
Thomas Otway's Plays, 3 volumes, dated
l76S; Comedies Of Plautus, translated by
Thornton, dated 1769; Rowe's Dramatic
Works, dated 1920: Willier's Dramatic
Work., dated 1754; Dndsley's Collection Of
Old Plays, dated 1916; Lscey's Acting Plays,
100 volumes, and many others equally as
valuable and rare.
Ia the department Of biography, personal
- akc =, - ~
ber of volumes in this department reaching
into the thousands. In lexicons, cyciopedias,
etc, there is scarcely anything further to be
! desired while in the department of bibli0-
! graphY, it ia probably safe TO say that not one
| standard work Of Importance is lacking, and
there are several that are extremely rare. In
the fne arts the library contsins many hun
dreds of choice and valuable works.
Among soma of the books that are priced
on account Of thsir rarity or age is monkish
prayer book written on parchment some time
in the twelfth century; Bible printed In
1901, an elegant specimen of early printing /;
Virgilii Maroni's Opera, Venice, 1874; Ho-
meri ''Odysses," IN Lstin and Greek, Cau-
labrigal, 1864; OVid's "Metsmorphoses,"
mythologizsd and represented in figures, By
George Sandys 1910; fine copy Of George
Sandy's translation made on the banks of
the james river, and said to be the first
tranelation from the classics ever made In
America Sir Thomas More's "Commou-
wealth of Utopia" London. 1859 ;
Cokes " Institutes" London. 1929. for
merly the property of General William Il.
Dsvie, Minister PlenipOtehtiBry of the
United States to France under Washington's
administration Sir VIM. Stsndford's Les
Plses del Coron, London, 1888; the history
of the Knights of Malta, by De Vertot, 2
vols, London, 1728; Holmshed's Chronicles
of England and Scotland, London, 1907 (;
aud the Rise and Progress of the English
Commonwealth of Auglo-Ssxon Period. 2
vols 1882.
The library has risen from the few volumes
in 1850 to oae of the finest public libraries in
the United States, with total of over 1000
books.
The present Trustees of the library are
Henry Edgerton, NJ. F. johnson aud A. Q.
Freeman, Of Sacramento J. J. Owens, of
San Jose, and l. S. BelcheI, of Marysville.
Ths names Of the present Librarian and
deputies are given above, but if the present
investigation results the same az recent
State investigation, no disinterested person
can name the occupants of the positions on
January l, 1884.
a VIcToRY.-rhe proprietors of the Me-
chsnics' Store frequently offer prizes of diff
ferent kinds for competition among their EN-.
pi0ves. This week there was cash prize
offered to the department producing the bast