Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1921-09-07
RUGG ON VERMONT BOOKS
Dartmouth College Librarian Speaks
at County Historical Meeting.

Old Stone House, in Brownington on
Wednesday, August 81. The weather
was perfect, but the attendance was
smaller than usual, as the meeting
was originally called for an earlier
date and many did not know of it's
postponement. After everyone had
chance to inspect the house, the
business meeting was held at the
church. The reports of the officers
were read and accepted and practical
ly the same officers were reelected.
Mrs. Ferrin and Mrs. Seavey of
Brownington, and Mrs. Whipple of
only pupils of Mr.. Twilight living.
Mrs. Ferrin was present at the
meeting. Familiar songs were sung
during the exercises with A. G. Owen
of Barton acting as leader. Prayer
was offered by Rev. R. A. Hamilton
i-of Orleans. The principal address
of the day was delivered by Harold
G. Rugg, assistant librarian Of
| Dartmouth College, upon vermont
Books" extracts from which are as
follows:
4 "Mr. President, members Of the
| Orleans County Historical society,
ladies and gentlemen: 1t gives me
very great pleasure to return to my
native state to speak to you infor-
mally about my special hobby, Ver-
mont books.
at has been said that every per-
son should have hobby, some ave-
cation which will make him forget
the cares and troubles of life. / can
imagine for the Vermonter no more
interesting hobby than that of col
lecting and preserving posterity, Ver-
mont books and pamphlets.
"Those Of us who are Vermonters
are proud of our state. We are
proud of our beautiful scenery. Our
mountains, lakes, and valleys are an
unfailing source of delight. We are
proud Of the history Of our state from
its first settlement to the present
time, for no state presents a more in
teresting and unique history than
Vermont. We are proud also of the
makers of our history. We wish to
impart this knowledge of Vermont
history to those not familiar with it..
What better way is there of spread
ing this knowledge than through Yer
mont books. Many of the most in
teresting events in the history of the
state are not known to the general
public, but only to the few who have
especially interested themselves in
collecting Vermont material. To know
the history of our state we must con-
suit the original state documents and
papers as we'll as later books. To a
large extent these documents and pa
pers have been collected and preserv-
ed in book form.
"Local history is being studied
more and more and the time is COM
ing in the near future, hope, when
local history will be taught more gen.
orally in the schools. / was told a
few years since that history of ST..
Johnsbury was to be written for spe-
cial use in the schools and to supple
ment the scholarly work of DR.. Fair
banks, but have heard nothing
| about the fate of this book. I hope
| it may appear in the near future.
Pupils and teachers will turn to the
! local libraries and to local historians
for material. AS local Vermonters
we should see to it that our local
| libraries are able to meet this de-
mand for Vermont books. Most IL
/, braries contain histories of the Unit
ed States and of foreign countries
but are woefully lacking in historical
material relating to Vermont. Much
of this Vermont material is, unfor-
tunately, difficult to procure, but
many items of great interest may of
ten be secured for the mere asking.
Other items may be picked up fre-
| quently in the country at auction
sales for small sums and still others
may be purchased after visiting old
attics. One of the great delights of
the book collector is to be able to
! in, 10 90 ~, IL
England home and to be able to pull
caves and to be rewarded with old
books and pamphlets. Often most OF
these are of no value but frequently
one is rewared with a book or PAM
phlet which has long been desired.
"a few books are absolutely inde-
spensable to every Vermont library,
whether public or private. Every Ii
brary, for instance, needs general
history Of the state. Hiland Halls
"History of Vermont from its Dis
covery to its Admission to the Un-
ion," published in Albany in 1868, is
scholarly work but unfortunately
| long out of print. Benjamin Halls
"History of Eastern Vermont" is
another valuable book which is es-
sential for the thorough study of
Vermont history. Rowland Robin
sons vermont, Study Of Indepen-
dence," published by Houghton Miftiin
Company. is, believe still ip print
and not an expensive book. 1t should
be in every library. Miss M. /. Kim
balls Vermont for Young Vermont
ers,' is good. as is E. d. Collins "A
History of Vermont published first
in 1903 and reprinted in 1916 in a
revised edition. AS they have been
used in the Vermont schools the books
of Edward Conant are familiar to all.
Ira Aliens History of Vermont
published in London in 1913, Zadock
Thompson's histories and the history
lby Rev. Samuel Williams, first issued
| in 1894, are all extremely valuable.
and the volume by Allen rather hard
to obtain. Aliens and Williams his
tories written at such early dates
are extremely valuable. These au-
thors had exceptional opportunities
for gathering historical data, in some
cases almost first hand from the very
makers of Vermont history 1t has
been a source of regret that no ex-
haustive. up-to-date Vermont history
has been available, but fortunately
| Walter H. Crockett has seen his wav
clear to meet this demand and his
exhaustive four-volume history Of the