University of Virginia Library

JAMES BISCOE BAKER

548. Visitors' Minutes, 29 June 1886.

549. That knowledge of Baker's bravery under fire may have been a contributing
cause for his appointment as Librarian is merely a conjecture. But
one of the members of the Board of Visitors, W. A. Stuart, was a resident
of Saltville near Abingdon, where Baker was head of a boys' school.

550. 17 October 1834 is the date of birth given in Baker's matriculation
entry.

551. These details are from a vivid account by Professor Thornton in the
Alumni Bulletin, new series, vol. 3, no. 2, April 1903, pp. 37-39. The
article carries a photograph of Baker — whose beard was nearly equal in
length to that of Prof. Noah K. Davis!

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552. Visitors' Minutes, 4 August 1886.

553. University Catalogue, session of 1886-1887, pp. 62 (48,000 volumes),
13 (301 students); session of 1890-1891, pp. 2 (50,000 volumes), xix (472
students).

554. The Albemarle County Deputy Clerk position is mentioned in Alumni
Bulletin, third series, vol. 6, no. 2, April 1913, pp. 289-290; Alumni
News, vol. 1, no. 1, 19 March 1913, pp. 2, 3, 5.

555. Visitors' Minutes, 12 July 1888. The initial salary of the new position,
Clerk of the Chairman of the Faculty, was $500. Visitors' Minutes, 24
April 1890, record its increase to $600. This and the combined Librarian-Secretary
of the Faculty salary, $1,000, together amounted to $1,600. When
the positions were regrouped in 1891, the salaries of the library post and
of the combined secretaryships were each made $800, thus leaving the total
appropriation unchanged. But by the change Baker received $200 less and
Page $200 more than by the previous arrangement.

556. Alumni Bulletin, new series, vol. 2, no. 4, October 1902, p. 35.

557. This and the following quotation given in the text are from Professor
Thornton's article in Alumni Bulletin, new series, vol. 3, no. 2, April
1903, pp. 37-39. Both as Secretary of the Faculty and as Clerk of the
Chairman of the Faculty, Baker would serve in Professor Thornton's office,
Professor Thornton having been Chairman of the Faculty from 1888 to 1896.