Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1913-06-05

pletely the state
of activities of the library, the facts
which 1t gives are sufficiently impress
sive. In the first place as to the
mere bulk OF the collections: with
accessions, during the past year, In
printed books and pamphlets alone or
over 10000 volumes the total collec-
ton of these has now passed the
1000 900 mark Including the manu-
scripts, maps, music and prints the
collection as a whole has passed the
3,000,0 900 mark. The average increase
in books and pamphlets during the
past IL years has been $4,000 vol
umes, and the total for that period
over 100000 volumes, a growth ex-
ceeding that of the entire preceding
century.
OF the 10000 volumes added dur
ing the past year some $1,000 were
the result of copyright, gift, transfer
or exchange, thus coming to the library
substantially without cost, save OF
service. The obligation to this mate
rial alone would evidently justify a
considerable establishment.
In mere dimensions the library has
thus come to be one Of the great COL
lections of the world The report in
dicates, moreover, that 1t Is not to
ignore any department Of literature,
even those remote from ordinary az
fairs, If of interest to the scholar and
investigator, for 1t notes, as a most
welcome accession Of the year, an
important collection Of Judaica,
given by Jacob II. Schiff comprising
some 10000 volumes and covering a
period of nearly three and half mil
leniums from the beginning Of Jew
ish national life to the present day:
and II expresses the hope that this
will develop into a department en-
bracing all Semitica. Other gifts Of
similar import include the collection
| on chemistry, alchemy and related
topics formed by the late DR.. Henry
Darlington Bolton, a Napoleonic COL
lection gathered by Maj. Karow and a
collection Of the prints issued by the
Imperial Press at Vienna
by the Austro-Hungarian government,
and constituting the fifth such col
lection due to the courtesy Of foreign
ceived having been from France,
Germany Italy and japan. In that
sequence
The collection Of prints will here
after be augmented by the income Of
the Hubbard bequest. the principal of
which ($20.000) has now been trans
ferred to the government
The gifts of manuscripts were, as
usual, many and of signal interest.
Among them were the Matthew Fon-
tame Maury papers, containing much
material illustrative of the develop
ment Of scientific knowledge Of the
development Of the United States, of
the diplomatic and naval history of
the Civil war, Of the attempts to es-
tablish a colony of Americans in
Mexico after the war. with autograph
letters of great interest from the
Grand Duke Constantine Of Russia
Humboldt, Macmillan, Carlotta and
Pope Plus TX. For this valuable col.
lection the library is indebted to Mrs.
Mary Maury Worth, the daughter of
the late Matthew Fontaine Maury
and others of his descendants.
! Other important gifts of manu-
scripts include some Van Buren, pa
pers from DR.. Stuyvesant Fish Nor
ris and Mrs. Smith Van Buren,, a not
able collection of Mexican inquisition
papers from David Ferguson, Edwin
M. Stanton papers from Lewis II
Stanton. the Louise Chandler Moulton
collection Of autograph letters from
celebrated English writing poets and
novelists, including three from Rob
ert Browning, one from George Eliot
one from Tennyson, several from
Whittier, Walt Whitman and Hor
ace Greeley, number from George
Meredith, Oliver Wendell Holmes
Stedman and others.
Another gift of autographs interest
was that of the manuscript Of Thorn
as Hardy's "A Group of Noble
Danes" received through Sydney G
Cockerell Of Cambridge, England, al
the hands Of Luther s. Livingston oil
New York.
A gift by J. Pierpont Morgan of 6
set OF autographs documents of the
signers OF the Declaration Of indie
pendence was received since the close
Of the fiscal year.
The most important purchases o.
manuscripts we're Of the papers Of
Yturbide. Emperor of Mexico. 1922
%, and of the papers of James Henry
Hammond of South Carolina. a repre-
sentative in congress In 1885 and 1886
governor Of the state from 1912 L
1874, and senator from 1867 to 1860