University of Virginia Library

XXXIV. The Library

On the threshold of the session of 1903–04, the
number of volumes in the library was said to be about
fifty thousand, and in 1908–09, about seventy thousand.
Among the most interesting of all these volumes was still
the Hertz collection of classical texts, which, during this
period, was withdrawn from the obscurity and confusion
of their former storage place and accurately classified.
It was found that the majority of these works
were printed in the Latin, Greek, and German tongues;
the minority in numerous other languages; but not one
of them in English. The dates of the editions, in many
cases, went back further in the past than the foundation
of Jamestown; and some of the volumes were in existence
when the Spanish Armada bore down upon the southern
coast of England. One was printed in the year of
Shakspeare's birth; another had come from the Aldine
press of Venice only twenty-three years after the foot
of Columbus first touched the shore of San Salvador;
while a few volumes were the product of the famous
Elzevir Press at Amsterdam, forever consecrated in the
eyes of bibliophiles.

Among the gifts which increased the variety of the
contents of the library during this Period, were several
hundred letters in manuscript written by Joseph C.
Cabell, the coadjutor of Jefferson. They threw a clear
light upon the social and political spirit of his times. In
1909–10, Ambassador Jusserand, representing the French
Government, presented a large number of books descriptive
of French history, letters, art, and archeaology.
A full set of Buffon's splendid volumes on Natural History
was given by Dr. George Tucker Harrison.

Another addition of the first importance was the
twelve thousand volumes which had been bequeathed by

Edward Wilson James, of Norfolk, Virginia. Mr.
James, having inherited a large fortune, had found his
most congenial occupation in reading and in collecting
books. His taste for literature had been formed in an
older school, and discovered its highest gratification in
the perusal of the classics written in his own language,
embracing all those which had conferred literary fame
on America as well as on the mother country. One by
one, the volumes had been purchased and thoughtfully
digested, until the whole collection seemed to be but
the visible shadow of his inner moral and intellectual life.
It was in the midst of these books that he passed away
suddenly, and around him as he lay dead, so many days
before his decease was known, were scattered the copies
of that quaint Lower Norfolk Antiquary, into which he
had breathed so much of his own original personality, so
redolent of a day when good literature had not yet found
a rival in the high-flown fiction of the modern bestseller.

And this was true in another way of the collection of
nearly four thousand volumes which Dr. Bennet W.
Green left to the library by his last testament. This
collection was made up of more recent titles, but it had
been chosen with extraordinary discernment. It was
particularly rich in works on Virginian and American history,
and on the topic of philology, in which his interest
had been that of a highly discriminating student. Dr.
Green, like Mr. James, was a wealthy bachelor, who had
the disposition of a cultivated recluse, with no other interests
to distract his attention from the pursuit of the
only genuine recreation of his life,—the enjoyment of
books; and in that department, his judgment was at once
solid and refined. No volume bearing upon any of the
subjects which appealed most strongly to his thoughtful

mind remained unpurchased; and it followed that the collection
which he gradually formed after his retirement
from the practice of his profession, represented, in the
line of his special leanings, a small library of conspicuous
merit.

The books belonging to Professor Mallet which his
widow presented in 1913 related to the vocational themes
of medicine, physics, and economic geology. One of the
largest gifts ever received by the library was made by Dr.
William P. Morgan, of Baltimore. About one thousand
of these volumes were of a medical turn; but the remaining
three thousand ranged over an extraordinary
variety of topics,—fiction, extending from the author
of Sir Charles Grandison to Zola, ornithology, voyages,
biology, art, and music. There were twenty-three volumes
on the horse alone, and about fifteen hundred on
the campaigns of the War of Secession. "There is not
one title in this collection," wrote Dr. Morgan, "that
has not appealed in some way, and will not again appeal,
to some person. It includes unique books, like Professor
N. P. Smith's manuscript introductory lectures. The
oldest book on microscopy is among them. I have found
a deal of modern medicine and modern thought in the
books of the Ancients. Hippocrates was a successful
practitioner. Lucretius antedated Charles Darwin.
You will find in this collection books of both."

Mrs. James A. Harrison, in 1914, presented a section
of the library which had been left by her deceased husband,
Professor Harrison, one of the most accomplished
and cosmopolitan scholars of his time. Another gift
of value was made by Mrs. Colston, of Cincinnati, a
granddaughter of Andrew Stevenson, a former rector
of the University; in 1915–16, she transferred to the
library her grandfather's books, which included among

their number, many of the English standard works. A
carefully picked group of volumes relating to botany and
theology was bequeathed by Rev. Haslett McKim; and
about thirteen hundred medical authorities were received
from the estates of Dr. John S. Wellford, of Richmond,
and Dr. Herbert Nash, of Norfolk. Interesting
gifts of separate books were the Sayings of Jesus, clipped
by Jefferson; the Bible which he used, presented by Mrs.
Burke, of Alexandria; and a copy of Palladio's drawings,
found in Rome, and presented by the American ambassador
to Italy, Thomas Nelson Page.

By 1913–14, the library had increased to eighty thousand
volumes. It had now become the largest in the
South, and the forty-fifth in the entire American list.
Its value had risen in proportion. On the side of the
Romantic and Teutonic languages, its contents bore a
favorable comparison,—in excellence, at least,—with
the collections of the wealthy institutions of the North.
It was peculiarly rich in works relating to Confederate
and Virginian history, and also in such as threw light
upon the various educational, political, and racial problems
of the Southern States. It also possessed many
volumes belonging to the provinces of biology, travels,
geography, English and foreign literature.

The gifts to the library, during the Ninth Period, were
not limited to small or large packages of books,—endowment
funds, either from living persons or by will,
were received in considerable amounts. Richard B.
Tunstall, of Norfolk, in 1907, gave the sum of one thousand
dollars to establish a memorial in honor of his wife,
the memorial to take the shape of a collection of
American and English poetry. The sum of five thousand
was also received under the testament of Judge Lambert
Tree, of Chicago, an alumnus, to be expended at

the discretion of the librarian. Arthur Curtis James,
of New York City, in 1911–12, presented four hundred
dollars for the purchase of books relating to the negro.
But a far more important bequest of funds than had been
previously made was contained in the will of Dr. B. W.
Green: five-sixths of his estate, valued at one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, was, by its provisions, to be added
to the endowment of the library.

Between July, 1907, and July, 1908, the library's
total income from all sources was estimated at $4,267.23;
and of this slender sum, $2,691.00 was in the form of
receipts from permanent funds and annual appropriations.
The income from the permanent funds alone was
$2,000 during the sessions of 1911–14, while the general
appropriation, during that year, amounted to
$6,398.00,—which also included the money due for salaries.
Previous to 1912–13, a part of this annual sum
was apportioned to the several professors for the purchase
of books relating to the subjects of their respective
departments; but, in the course of that year, this
rule was tentatively abandoned. In 1914–15, the annual
appropriation to cover all expenses and purchases was
fixed at $9,198.00.

What proportion of the students entered their names
for books? How many volumes were taken out
from year to year? It should be borne in mind that only
the general library is considered in these two inquiries.
There were, by 1910–11, eight departmental collections
housed beyond the precincts of the central collection,
which was still preserved under the dome of the Rotunda,
—there was the astronomical library, stored in the
McCormick Observatory; the biological and botanical,
in the biological laboratory; the engineering, in the mechanical
laboratory; the geological, in the Brooks Museum;

the Hertz, in Cabell Hall; the physical, in the
physical laboratory; the law, in Minor Hall; and the
medical, in the basement of the Rotunda. All these
libraries were for consultation under their roofs alone,
and, for that reason, we do not include them in the
estimates of circulation which we are about to give.

Independently of the patronage of the summer school,
the number of volumes withdrawn in 1908–09 was 6,789,
and in 1910–11, 9,060. Between March 1, 1911, and
March 1, 1912, the number reached the higher total
of 10,040; but this, doubtless, included the books which
had been taken out by the students of the summer school.
It was estimated for these twelve months that about one-half
of the young men attending the University made use
of the library in this manner. During the next twelve
months, the total was 10,401; and of this number, 6,494
were debited to the students of the regular session, 1,551
to the students of the summer school, and 1,700 to the
professors and others. The number withdrawn by card-holders
was 613. Between March 1, 1914, and March
1, 1915, the number debited to students of the regular
session was 6,149; of the summer school, 1,093; and to
professors and others, 1,093. About fifty-four per cent.
of the whole number of matriculates obtained books from
the library during these months; and in the course of
1915–16, the percentage rose to seventy-eight, and in
1917–18 to ninety-four. A very full collection of volumes
relating to the World War had been added by this
time to the library; and this, perhaps, explains in part
the larger proportion of borrowers.

In 1906, it was decided that the possible advantage of
throwing open the library at night to readers should be
tested in practice; and down to 1909, this new regulation
continued in force. It was then abandoned, as the attendance

did not seem to justify its prolongation. During
1913–14, the experiment was resumed, and the result
turned out to be more encouraging, although even then
the nightly attendance did not go beyond fifty students.
Previously, it had not reached a higher average than
eight. Throughout the year ending February 1, 1918,
the library was closed in the evening, owing to the necessity
of restricting the budget to the smaller income which
had followed the declaration of war in the preceding
April. By 1915–16, the package system was in active
operation; and the draft on the resources of the library
was further increased by the organization of a league
composed of the high schools of the State, which constantly
called for authorities for use in each of their debates.

In the course of the Ninth Period, numerous additions
were made to the art collections of the library,
and the other public apartments of the University.
Likenesses of distinguished members of the Faculty, who
were either dead, or had recently retired from their
chairs, were given by private individuals. Among the
portraits were those of the elder Rogers, Tuttle, Stone,
Whitehead, Mallet, McGuffey, Coleman, Barringer, J.
A. Broadus, Courtenay, Noah K. Davis, Gildersleeve,
Gilmore, Gessner Harrison, Schele de Vere, Towles,
Venable, Holmes, and Patterson. A bronze bust of
John B. Minor was presented by W. A. Clark, Jr. There
was also a bust of Jefferson, and a bust of Washington,
among the gifts. Of the portraits of the men who had
been associated with the University in some administrative
capacity, the most conspicuous were those of Chapman
Johnson, Wertenbaker, Francis W. Gilmer, Joseph
Bryan, and Armistead C. Gordon. There were also
portraits of alumni,—James L. Gordon, J. Pembroke

Thom, Cameron E. Thom and George Ross; the headmasters,
McGuire, Norwood, Blackford, and McCabe;
Henry W. Grady, John L. Williams, R. H. McKim, J.
Thompson Brown, J. R. Thompson, Linden Kent, John
W. Daniel and Walter Reed; of distinguished soldiers,—
J. E. B. Stuart, John S. Mosby, and William Smith; of
benefactors of the University,—W. W. Corcoran, Leander
J. McCormick, Edward W. James, A. H. Byrd, and
Samuel W. Austin; and of the famous educator and publicist,
J. L. M. Curry.

Jefferson M. Levy presented a picture in oils of the
Apostle Paul brought before Agrippa, and Thomas F.
Ryan, Church's famous canvas of the Natural Bridge,
also in oils. There was, besides, an oil painting of a
group representing Jefferson, Martha, his daughter, and
Thomas Jefferson Randolph, his grandson. This was
the gift of Mrs. Burke, of Alexandria, a descendant of
the statesman.