The San Francisco call., 1906-04-29
BOOK LOSSES
OVER 100000
Great Bancroft Ii
brary Alone Is
Saved.
Public Institution
Has Funds for
Start.

exceeded million volumes, OlSap-
peared in the sea Of fire that swept
over san Francisco last week. Great
aggregations Of invaluable records that
had taken years TO collect disappeared
IN a day. Thousands of volumes. moro
priceless than gold to historians, came
TO the pitiful end of making food for
the flames, and. unlike the city that
fell, will never rise from the ashes.
10 accurate estimate can be made Of
the monetary worth Of the books de-
Etroyed, for dollars and cents cannot
express the loss, but It is believed that
their market value was in excess Of
s., ,O00. 600. Among the collections that
vanished were those contained in the
main Public Library and two Of its
branches, the Mechanics institute liz
brary. the Mercantile Library. the Su-
tro Library, the Pioneer Library, the
Bohemian Club library, the B'nai
Birth library, the French library. the
san Francisco law library and the IL
brary OF the Supreme Court. Tho
number of volumes in these collections
was not less than 100000 and the losses
OF individual owners ran the total up
70 more than million.
librarian George W. Clark Of the San
Francisco Free Public Library tells
what happened TO the city's collection,
which, incidentally, was the eighth
largest institution Of its kind in the
United States:
MAIN LIBRARY GONE:
In the main library In the eastern
wing Of the City Hall We had 150,oG0
books. This was q total loss, the struc-
ture housing the volumes being shat
tered by earthquake and swept by fire.
when our branch collections are
brought together we will have a good
working library Of reference books ana
also a fine collection Of standard liter
ature. We have $3.50 900 that Andrew
Carnegie gave US. which sum is sttll
intact and is. believe. now available.
We have the square block OF land
bounded by Van Ness avenue. Hayes,
Franklin and Fell streets which was
bought with bond issue money, and We
have 81, ,000,o00 Of bond money available
Tor q new library building. Our great
disaster VIII result in hurrytng the
ing Of the new home for San Francis
cos books VIII begin in the near fu-
ture. Meanwhile the various branches
OF the library that escaped. the fire are
open for the return and donations o.
books. Next week the trustees viii
meet 10 devise method OF circula-
ton"
TWO LIBRARIES DESTROYED.
The Mechanics Institute Library and
the Mercantile Library combined a few
weeks ago. Their collections. had not
yet been brought together but both IL
brary structures, the former on Post
street, below Kearny, and the latter
on Sutter street. above Kearny. were
burned. In the two collections were
1000 volumes and all were lost.
The Sutro library OF 100000 volumes.
collected by the late Adolph sutro. was
destroyed. These books were stored in
the Montgomery block and In a build
ing on Battery street. The collection
was OF immense value. as 1t contained
some Of the rarest books in the United
States. The library of the Society of
Pioneers IN their building on Fourth
street ls gone. One Of its priceless fea-
lures were the typewriter remi-
niscences OF pioneers bound IN twelve
volumes. The Bohemian Club lost its
library Of 5000 volumes. many OF them
autograph copies from noted authors.
The French library Of 10000 books.
which was IN the Spring Valley build
ing, is no more. The B'nai Birth IL
brary contributed 10000 volumes to the
pyre.
The flames took the costly library in
the Croeksr mansion Nothing remains
OF the $1,000 volumes OF the San Fran
cisco law library. The Supreme Court
lost its library OF 10000 volumes, and
the fine collections of Appellate Judge
Harrison and II DR.. Taylor. dean Of the
Hastings Law College, are in ashes. A
few private law libraries escaped the
flames, notable among these being the
collections Of former Judge Stack and
Superior Judge Carroll Cook, which
were IN their residences IN the un-
burned district
To sum Up. OF al the big libraries In
San Francisco. one alone is intact, but
luckily that one is OF great value. The
Bancroft library. containing an ina-
mense collection of historical works
was stored at Twenty-sixth and Va
lencia streets and is unda1naged. This
collection was purchased some time ago
~ the University OF California and
doubtless WIN be taken to Berkeley Tor
the use Of the students as soon as pos
sfole.
efayor Schmitz yesterday received
Weny cablegrans. which had been de-
tsyed. from every quarter Of the globe.
ali expressing sympathy for the people
OF San Francisco. Among these were
words OF comfort from Australian cit
Zee. Dublin's Mayor and other Irish Of
fcials throughout Ireland, from New
Zealand, from Baron Kaneko at Toxic.
who agnpathizes with the American