The Cordova daily times., 1921-10-04
GREAT CHICAGO LIBRARY BORN
 AFTER FIRE
,2y Associated Press,

fire that destroyed this city recalls that it's public library. now the sec ond largest in the world. was born in that conflagraton. The library owes it's start to British sympathy for the stricken city which found it's ex pression in books.
 The prime mover in England was Thomas Hughes, author of Tom Browns School Days" His proposal resulted in 12,000 volumes besides a sum of money being sent here from Great Britain. The children's room in the library is called the Thomas Hughes Room"
 The chief prize of the Chicago pub lie library is an autographed copy of "The Early Years of the Prince Con sort" that Queen Victoria sent. It was volume of memoirs of her hus band that she had had compiled. The queen inscribed it for Chicago on No vember 13. 1871. five weeks after the fire of October 9. and long before a city library had taken shape here.
 Hughes had visited Chicago several years before the fire and made mum. Der of friends On hearing of the dis aster he enlisted Queen Victoria. Clad stone, then premier. others high in the government. authors such as Car lyle and DisraeH, and leading pub fishers. They joined their names to a circular of appeal to the people of Great Britain.
 Support was urged on the ground that the new library of Chicago is to be q mark of sympathy now and to. ken of that sentiment of kinship which, independently of circumstances and in dependently of every other considera. tion. must ever powerfully effect the different branches of the English race"
 The appeal was at once taken up by the British press. A noted publisher at LeipsiC began the collection of books in Germany. A thousand vol tunes were sent by the Germans.
 This activity abroad led the citi- zens of Chicago to bestir themselves. Hughes and his associates took it for granted that Chicago had had pub lie library and that it had been de- stroyed They supposed they were helping to replace it. There had, how of hafnro
 Chicago began to take the necessary steps to start library On April 3, ! 1872, six months after the fire, the city council passed an ordinance for a free city library. The city then got law through the legislature author | izing a library tax
 After its fearful experience. Chi i cago felt no place would be proper to ! receive the precious books from abroad except one that was thorough | ly freproof The only fireproof thing i left in the city was an abandoned iron water tank that had served as a reser- voir for the south side IL was 60 feet in diameter and 20 feet high It was roofed over, a hole cut in the side for door, shelves built around it's carving sides. and turned into a li- brary There during 1872 and 1873, l2OO0 volumes received from English contributors and elsewhere were stored, and in May. 1874 the library proper was opened
 The British contributions included autographed works of Gladstone. Her, bert Spencer. John Stuart Mill, Dis raeli Carlyle, Kingsley, Huxley. John Bright, Lyell, Freeman and Rosetti. Lady Treyelyan, sister of Macaulay, autographed set of his works she had edited The British government sent 1000 volumes including a calendar of state papers with a copy of the 'Domesday Book" Oxford university bound several thousand volumes with it's best binding, and Cambridge uni versity and great British publishers Contributed Iiberally. The British rafsnt office put the Chicago library or it's mailing list and is still sending it's publications.
 A number of the autographed vol rnes have been preserved in a memor- iaI collection
 Out of this start the Chicago public 1ibrarv has grown to collection ol 100000 volumes. Its annual clrcula ,ion is g 900 900. which places it ahead 1 of any library in England.