Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-10-29
MONUMENTS For ALLEN AND
CHITTENDEN.

~ was proposed hN Walter Hill Crock
cit that the So'i"tv he empowered to
seek WAYS ANA means for the erection
on tn" state Capitol grounds OF monu-
ment~ to tho memory Of Ira Allen and
Thomas Chttenden. two men who prob
ably had more TO do with the birth and
early development OF this commonwealth
than have any other two or five or ten
men In her entire history, and to whose
memory public testimonials are we'll
nigh entrel" lacking. No greater man
ever lived in Vermont than Ira Allen.
He was the founder Of our college and
long was our State treasurer and his
lifelong efforts tended toward the growth
and development of his adopted State.
while Thomas Chittenden. our first gov
ernor was throughout his long career a
man to whom we owe an everlasting
obligation. His efforts in our behalf
have been far-rcaChing ami fruitful 1t
is shame that long ago statues to the
memory Of these men We're not erected
at the seat of the government they serv-
ed so long and so faithfully, and the
sug' estion of MIR. Crockett at the Yer
mont Historical socictv meeting was
most prliseworthy.
The following report of the librarian of
the society, Mr., Dorman b. f. Kent,
shows IN as few words as possible the
condition of tho society during the year
just past:
REPORT OF LIBRARIANS
"'ro the Hon. W ". Stickney. presi-
dent Of the Vermont Historical So
cicty:
consideration my report as librarian and
custodian of the books and collection
belonging to this society for the year
ending October /, 1917 During the FAST
twelve months | have secured with the
monel nllow,G u3 by tho State slxty-nine
genealogies thirtv-two town histories and
by gift. purchase and exchange. we have
acquired some ninety-seven old volumes
entirely Of an historical nature. No new
cataloGueing has been done during the
year ~ large portion of the new books
received is stored in the dome in the hope
that "roomler days. if may be allow
ed the term, may sometime be ours.
AT the beginning of this year, having
long known that our collection of Yer
mont town histories was nowhere near
Sonpitte, wrote TO all the town
clerks In the State, residing In towns
whose histories had been written. I
stated to these gentlemen that the YER
mont Historical society was by moral
right the custodian of books manu-
scripts and curos relating to tho
history OF the State and that we We're
lacking certain Vermont town histories
OF which. If such was the case, theirs
were among the number | inquired If
they had In their possession any unsold
copies and II so the cost and added that
while we were entirely willing to pur-
chase the works, we had furnished for
many years every library In the State
and every town clerk whose town had
no library, copies of our published his
torIcal matter and the courtesy OF ex-
change would be thankfully appreciated.
Some town clerks l discovered had I'm
their keeping no histories of their res
pective towns but from these letters I
was enabled to acquire by gift or pur-
chase nearly all the lacking items on
our shelves This was of course dupli-
eating in our collection the complete set
lof Vermont town histories laid by the