 | A survey of research materials in Virginia libraries, 1936-37 |  |
I. HUMANITIES
Section A. General Humanities.
In addition to the sets listed in the section on general
periodicals and society publications,[1]
the University of Virginia
Library contains the Altnordische Sagabibliothek, the Handbuch
der Literaturwissenschaft, Notes and Queries, and the speech
atlases of Germany and Italy and Southern Switzerland; Arkiv für
Nordisk Filologi, Acta Philologica Scandinavica, American Journal
of Philology, American Philological Association Transactions and
Proceedings, Archiv für das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und
Literaturen, Indogermanische Forschungen, Journal of English and
Germanic Philology, Language, Le Maître Phonetique, Modern Language
Review, Modern Philology, Palaestra, Philologische Wochenschrift,
Publications of the Modern Language Association, Revue
de Littérature Comparée, and Studies in Philology. Several of
these are duplicated in other university or college libraries,
notably at the College of William and Mary, Hollins, Randolph-Macon,
Randolph-Macon Woman's College, the State Teachers
Colleges at East Radford and Farmville, Sweet Briar, University of
Richmond, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute,
and Washington and Lee.
The student in paleography would find some material at the
libraries of the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria and
of the Union Theological Seminary in Richmond. Attention has been
given to this subject at two of the women's colleges also: Randolph-Macon
Woman's College and Sweet Briar. At the University of
Virginia there is moderate opportunity for work in classics on
epigraphy and in English on facsimiles of Chaucer manuscripts and
on Elizabethan handwriting.
Section B. Language and Literature.
In CLASSICAL LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES the University of Virginia
Library has 9,164 volumes and a pamphlet collection of about
equal extent. The majority of the standard periodicals are subscribed
to; namely, Classical Journal, Classical Philology, Classical
Quarterly, Classical Review, Classical Weekly, Hermes, Hesperia,
Jahresbericht über die Fortschritte der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaft,
Journal of Hellenic Studies, Revue des Études
Grecques, Revue des Études Latines, and Romania. There are also
such sets as the Inscriptiones Latinae, the Thesaurus Linguae
Latinae, the Loeb Classical Library, and its French counterpart,
the Collection des Universités de France.
The Washington and Lee Library has an excellent general
collection of classical literature numbering about 3,300 volumes
and notable for collected and critical works. Smaller
but live collections of the `dead' languages are at William
and Mary, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Sweet Briar, and
the University of Richmond. It is an interesting fact that
the classical works in the State Library apparently form the
third largest collection in the libraries of the State. It is
also interesting to note how many available library sets there
are of Loeb's Classical Library.
What emphasis there is in the collections of AMERICAN
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE is on the South. The set of books
which one can most confidently count on finding is the Library
of Southern Literature; and many collections contain runs of
the Southern Literary Messenger. The University of Richmond
Library affords a fairly typical example in that it is definitely
collecting the works of John Esten Cooke, Marion Harland,
Mary Johnston, Thomas Nelson Page, Amélie Rives, and Paul
Laurence Dunbar, J. P. Kennedy, William Gilmore Simms, and similar
regional authors. The achievements of the State Library in
such quests are indicated in Dr. Earl G. Swem's invaluable
guide, A Bibliography of Virginia.[2]
The collections at the
State Library, at William and Mary, and at the University of
Virginia are likely to gladden research seekers with obscure
works of minor authors. Another local collecting activity
that is not uncommon is illustrated by the material on Southern
folk-songs at Sweet Briar College.
Apart from this natural emphasis, the collections of American
language and literature tend to be general and standard.
Many of the larger public and college libraries have the
Dictionary of American English; the Cambridge History of American
Literature, Duyckinck's Cyclopaedia of American Literature,
and Stedman and Hutchinson's Library of American Literature;
the works of Charles Brockden Brown, James Fenimore Cooper,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Eugene Field, Benjamin Franklin, Bret Harte,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, Mark Twain, and Henry D.
Thoreau - to choose ten of the most popular names. The largest
collection, that at the University of Virginia, numbered 8,079
when the count was made for this survey. Other fairly extensive
collections are at the State Library, Virginia Polytechnic
Institute, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, the College of William
The examination of the material on ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND
LITERATURE in Virginia has resulted in no unexpected or startling
conclusions. There are a score of good collections available
for the general reader, and six or eight with at least
some material on the research level. Of course size of collections
may mean little for research purposes, except in so far
as it indicates the presence of the foundation materials. But
as reported, the largest collections, omitting public libraries,
are as follows: University of Virginia, 13,429 volumes; Sweet
Briar, 6,703 volumes; Randolph-Macon Woman's College, 4,633
volumes; State Library, approximately 3,800 or 4,000 volumes;
William and Mary, about 3,500 volumes; Hampton Institute, 3,465
volumes; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 3,017 volumes, University
of Richmond, about 3,000 volumes.
A different approach to an estimate of the research value
of the collections may be obtained by consideration of the holdings
of certain representative titles. To publish the results
of such a test is, of course, highly dangerous when, as in this
case, the findings were obtained rather casually. But with a
caveat as to undoubted inaccuracies, the results (which once
more demonstrate the scattered condition of research materials
in Virginia) may be indicated as follows:-
Anglia. At University of Virginia.
Anglistische Forschungen. At University of Virginia (incomplete
set)
Cambridge History of English Literature. At College of William
and Mary, Hollins College, Petersburg Public Library, Randolph-Macon
Woman's College, Richmond Public Library, State Teachers
Colleges at Farmville and Fredericksburg, Sweet Briar, University
of Richmond, University of Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic
Institute, and Virginia State Library.
Camden Society. At Randolph-Macon Woman's College, University
of Virginia, Virginia State Library.
Chaucer Society. At University of Virginia, Virginia State
Library.
Deutsche Shakespeare Gesellschaft Jahrbuch. At University of
Virginia.
Early English Text Society. At College of William and Mary,
Hollins, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, University of Richmond,
University of Virginia.
Englische Studien. At University of Virginia.
English Dialect Society. At University of Virginia.
English Journal. At Hampton Institute, Randolph-Macon Woman's
College, Richmond Public Library, State Teachers College at
Farmville, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, University of
Virginia.
Facsimile Text Society. At Sweet Briar, University of Virginia.
Grosart's Reprints. At University of Virginia.
Harleian Miscellany. At Union Theological Seminary, University
of Virginia, Virginia State Library.
Review of English Studies. At College of William and Mary,
Hollins, Sweet Briar, University of Virginia.
Scottish Text Society. At University of Virginia.
Shakespeare Society Publications. At College of William and
Mary, Randolph-Macon, Sweet Briar, University of Richmond,
University of Virginia, Virginia State Library.
Studien zur Englischen Philologie. At University of Virginia.
These location records are for large holdings, though not necessarily
complete ones. Furthermore, frankness demands the admission
that for several titles on this test list (Malone Society
and Spenser Society for example) there seemed to be no holdings
whatever in these libraries.
A note or two should be added to this consideration of
English language and literature collections in Virginia. At
the Alexandria Public Library, which has inherited books which
belonged to the old Alexandria Library and Free Reading Room
founded in 1794, there is a small group of English and American
volumes dating from the beginning of the nineteenth century. At
the College of William and Mary some emphasis has been laid on
the assemblage of critical material of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. At Sweet Briar there is an outstanding
collection of material on George Meredith. Blake and Leigh
Hunt are subjects of attention at the University of Richmond.
At Washington and Lee University there are two collections of
standard works in English and sundry interesting eighteenth
century items in the Franklin Society Library. The University
of Virginia is a subscriber to the film collection of books
printed in English prior to 1550.
The collections in Virginia of books in GERMANIC LANGUAGES
AND LITERATURES are chiefly of a scope for undergraduate instruction
in colleges. In several of the libraries, however,
systematic plans are in operation for increase in sets of
standard authors, in critical works, and in appropriate periodicals.
The most extensive collections seem to be at the Randolph-Macon
Woman's College and at the University of Virginia,
both of these totaling slightly under 3,000 volumes. Other
good working collections are at the Virginia Military Institute,
Sweet Briar, and William and Mary.
At the Randolph-Macon Woman's College there are complete
sets of the works of Auerbach, Börne, Chamisso, Feuerbach,
Fontane, Görres, Goethe, Grillparzer, Gutzkow, Hauptmann, Hauff,
Heyse, Hoffmann, Keller, Klinger, Laube, Lenz, Lessing, Liliencron,
Ludwig, Mörike, Nietzsche, Schiller, Scheffel, Seidel,
Stifter, Storm, Sudermann, Tieck, Vernhagen von Ense, Wagner,
Wedekind, and Wieland.
The University of Virginia Library, in addition to sets
Edda, the Codex of the Flateyjahrbòk, Lüdike and Mackensen's
Deutscher Kulturatlas, the Sammlung Kurzer Grammatiken Deutscher
Mundarten, and Wilhelm's Corpus der Altdeutschen
Originalurkunden; also the Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutschen
Sprache und Literatur, Jahrbuch and Schriften der Goethe
Gesellschaft, Neue Rundschau, Wörter und Sachen, Zeitschrift
für Deutsche Mundarten, Zeitschrift für Deutsche Philologie,
and Zeitschrift für Deutsches Altertum.
The general statement made with respect to the Germanic
field can be repeated for ROMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES;
namely, that the present collections in Virginia are mainly
suitable for undergraduate instruction. But there is promise
that several of the collections will, in the not distant future,
afford attractive opportunity for research. The most obvious
deficiency seems to be in the periodical and society publications.
The brief and rather staccato notes which follow include
only the largest collections in the various languages. It will
be noted that the women's colleges are well and favourably
represented.
In FRENCH the Randolph-Macon Woman's College has 2,469
volumes, with emphasis on the so-called classical writers. The
collection contains a goodly number of sets of complete works,
some historical and critical material, and such works on the
language as Brunot's Histoire de la Langue Francaise des
Origines à 1900, Nyrop's Grammaire Historique de la Langue
Francaise, and Plattner's Ausführliche Grammatik der Franzosischen
Sprache.
The Mary Helen Cochran Library at Sweet Briar College has
2,192 volumes in French. The emphasis follows the curriculum
courses and is mainly on the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
centuries; but material on the French theatre has been
assembled from the origins to the present. There are some
notable items on the bibliography and on the history of the
literature.
The collection of French books at the College of William
and Mary numbers about 1,850 volumes. The greatest stress has
been laid on the classical period and on types of literature;
and there are approximately 150 volumes of critical works.
The library which serves both the University of Richmond
and Westhampton College has a well chosen collection of the
works of the principal French writers, with some emphasis on
the modern French drama.
At the University of Virginia there are 1,611 volumes in
the French collection. A start has been made in the acquisition
of material on linguistics and of periodicals; and there
may be found such works as Godefroy's Dictionnaire de l'Ancienne
Langue Francaise, Meyer-Lübke's Grammatik der Romanischen
Sprachen, and the collections of the Classiques Francais de
Moyen Âge and of the Société des Anciens Textes Francais.
The library at Washington and Lee University also contains
a set of the Société des Anciens Textes Francais and a good
collection of standard authors. There are approximately 1,500
French works in this library.
The Walter Hines Page Library at Randolph-Macon College
has been enriched by the John Marvin Burton Collection of Romance
Languages and Literatures, the French section including
general and critical works numbering 1,013.
In ITALIAN the University of Virginia Library has 923 volumes.
The periodicals include the Archivio Glottolozico Italiano
and the Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana, and
there are sets of the Scrittori d'Italia and the Storia Letteraria
d'Italia. Some special attention has been given to the
assemblage of editions and criticisms of Dante.
At Sweet Briar College the collection in Italian numbers
432 volumes. It is well adapted to the present needs of undergraduate
work, the main emphasis being on `the golden age' and
the nineteenth century.
Similar statements can be made concerning the collection of
250 Italian volumes at the College of William and Mary and the
collection of 243 volumes at Randolph-Macon Woman's College.
Of SPANISH books the University of Virginia has 2,140 volumes.
The periodicals include the Bulletin Hispanique, the Bulletin
of Spanish Studies, Hispania, the Revista de Filologia Española,
and the Revue Hispanique; there are several general sets,
such as the Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, the Clasicos Castel
lanos, and the Grandes Escritores Argentinos; and sundry historical
and critical writings, as for example the Historia de la
Lengua y Literatura Castellana by Cajador y Franca and Roxlo's
Historia Critica de la Literatura Uruguaya. Emphasis has to
some degree been centered on Cervantes.
At the College of William and Mary there are approximately
800 volumes of Spanish. These include files of Hispania and of
the Revue Hispanique and such important sets as Nueva Bibliotheca
de Autores Españoles and Poetas Liricos Castellanos.
Smaller collections, chosen chiefly for undergraduate studies,
are located at Sweet Briar College, at Virginia Military Institute,
at the University of Richmond, and at Randolph-Macon Woman's
College. There is a file of the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies at
Sweet Briar College. Sweet Briar and the Randolph-Macon Woman's
College subscribe to Hispania. Sets of the Bibliotheca de
Autores Españoles are at Virginia Military Institute and at the
University of Richmond; and of the Clasicos Castellanos at Virginia
Military Institute and Randolph-Macon Woman's College.
Material in OTHER LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES is scattered and
small in amount with the exception of the collections of Semitic
and related languages at the Union Theological Seminary in Richmond
and at the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria.
Some mention of this will be made in Section E, Religion.
In FOLKLORE the University of Virginia Library has 386 volumes,
which include runs of Folklore (London Folklore Society),
Folklore Society Publications, Journal of American Folklore, and
Transactions of the Folklore Society. Folklore of the South,
particularly of Virginia, and Negro folklore are emphasized. This
collection has been assembled in part to supplement the activities
of the Virginia Folklore Society and of Prof. A. K. Davis, Jr.,
author of `Traditional Ballads of Virginia.' The collection of
American, English, and Scottish ballads is fairly good.
Negro folklore and negro folk-songs are emphasized at the
Collis P. Huntington Memorial Library of Hampton Institute.
This collection contains about 200 volumes.
Four other institutional collections of folklore material
may be mentioned for Virginia, each numbering from 150 to 200
volumes. At the Richmond Public Library and at the State Teachers
College in Farmville special attention has been given to ballads;
at the University of Richmond the emphasis is on negro folklore;
and at the College of William and Mary the collection is general
in interest.
Swem, Earl G. A Bibliography of Virginia ... Richmond,
Bottom, 1916-17. Two volumes. (In Virginia. State Library.
Bulletin: VIII, 2-4; X, 1-4). Part one. Titles of books in
the Virginia State Library which relate to Virginia and Virginians;
titles of books written by Virginians and of those printed
in Virginia; with index.
Section C. Fine Arts.
On the general subject of the history of fine arts the
libraries at the College of William and Mary and at the University
of Virginia have about 300 volumes each.
The College of William and Mary receives the following
general art periodicals: American Magazine of Art, Antiquarian,
Antiquity, Apollo, Art and Archaeology, Art Bulletin, Art Digest,
Art in America, Arts and Decoration, Connoisseur, Deutsche Kunst
London Studio, Parnassus, and School Arts Magazine. Somewhat
similar lists of periodicals are recorded by Hollins College,
the Richmond Public Library, Sweet Briar, the State Teachers
College at Farmville, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the University
of Virginia, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Virginia
State Library.
Carnegie collections on fine arts have been located at
Hampton Institute, Hollins College, Randolph-Macon Woman's
College, Sweet Briar, University of Virginia, Washington and Lee,
William and Mary, and probably at other institutional libraries.
Of the publications of art galleries and institutions and
museums the University of Virginia currently receives the following
bulletins:- Beaux Art Institute of Design, Boston Museum of
Fine Arts, Allied Architects of Los Angeles, Minneapolis Museum
of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of
Design, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, and Worcester Art
Museum. Similar groups of publications of this character can be
found at the Norfolk Public Library, the Richmond Public Library,
the State Library, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and William
and Mary.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond is developing
an important reference collection which is available to the
museum staff, the museum membership, and to duly accredited art
research workers. This at present contains approximately 2,000
volumes. The collection embraces both decorative and fine arts.
Certain collections of prints, slides, and photographs have
already been recorded under Part One, Section J, Illustrations.[4]
The notes which follow supplement but do not duplicate that
record.
Collections of prints are accessible at the College of
William and Mary, at Sweet Briar, at the State Teachers College
at Harrisonburg, and at Washington and Lee University. As
slides are usually a part of the teaching materials of the
Carnegie sets, they are likely to be accessible at the libraries
which are so fortunate as to possess these sets. In addition,
the library at Randolph-Macon College owns 715 slides, chiefly
of classical architecture. Sweet Briar has approximately 2,000
slides on various art subjects. Hampton Institute has a collection
of 15,000 mounted pictures for lending purposes. The Norfolk
Public Library also has an extensive loan collection of
pictures and photographs. At Roanoke College, in Salem, the
Davis F. Bittle Memorial Library possesses 7,000 pictures
illustrative of art through the ages. And at the Union Theological
Seminary there is a steadily growing collection of photographs
The decades of severe depression following the War between
the States tended to eliminate the study and practice of
MUSIC from the primary and secondary school systems, and thereby
retarded emphasis in college curricula and in library collections.
At present, however, there are a number of collections
in musicology of fair size scattered through Virginia; several
interesting special subjects are being emphasized; and the
Carnegie collections and the Foster Hall reproductions of the
songs of Stephen Foster have evidently been eagerly welcomed.
Brief notes concerning a dozen or so of the larger collections
in the State are given herewith.
The material on music at the University of Virginia consists
of well over 500 volumes of musicology in the general
library and of 23,103 volumes and pieces in a special music
library, a total of approximately 23,600 items. The section in
the general library includes biography, history, theory and
technique, and works on musical instruments; and there are files
of thirteen serials. The section in the special music library
is composed of the following groups:-
| Bound | Unbound | Total | |
| Books about music | 21 | 63 | 84 |
| Full orchestral and ensemble scores | 20 | 269 | 289 |
| Orchestral parts, without scores | 156 | 156 | |
| Ensemble | 21 | 274 | 295 |
| Piano music | 95 | 1,528 | 1,623 |
| Vocal music | 134 | 18,639 | 18,773 |
| Grand opera | 73 | 88 | 161 |
| Light opera | 19 | 41 | 60 |
| Flute music | 3 | 3 | |
| Organ music | 27 | 27 | |
| Violin music | 12 | 12 | |
| Phonograph records (discs) | 1,164 | ||
| Boston Symphony Orchestra programmes | 380 | 380 | |
| Periodicals | 2 | 49 | 51 |
| Total in special library | 388 | 21,551 | 23,103 |
The library at Hampton Institute contains 1,146 volumes and
pieces on music, including the Carnegie and Stephen Foster collections
and several periodicals. As is fitting for an Institute
so widely and favourably known for its singers, the emphasis is
on negro music and the work of negro composers.
At the Mary Helen Cochran Library at Sweet Briar College
there are 1,005 volumes and pieces of music. These include the
standard biographies, histories of music, and texts on theory,
and the standard collections. Of special interest are the first
madrigals composed by John Wilbye, fifty compositions of Dufay
and his contemporaries ranging from A.D. 1400 to 1440, and such
works as Beck's Les Chansonniers des Troubadours et des Trouvères
and Arnold Schering's Geschichte der Musik in Beispielen.
The Cocke Memorial Library at Hollins College subscribes
to several periodicals in music, and it has the Carnegie collection
with an extensive assortment of phonograph records. There
are sixty-seven volumes on theory and technique, 140 volumes of
biographies of musicians, and forty volumes on the history of
music. The collection contains altogether 639 volumes.
In the library at the Randolph-Macon Woman's College there
are 434 volumes and pieces, including dictionaries and encyclopaedias
and runs of five periodicals.
The library at the University of Richmond has a total of
736 volumes and pieces on music. Of these 112 volumes on
musicology are in the main library and seventy-nine volumes on
musicology are in the Margaret James Memorial Room. In the
latter special collection there are the following musical scores:
| Organ | 39 | pieces |
| Piano | 235 | pieces |
| Violin | 2 | volumes |
| Vocal | 45 | pieces |
| Exercise and teaching books | 25 | volumes |
| Galbraith organ collection | 110 | pieces |
| Watson collection | 89 | pieces |
At the College of William and Mary there is a collection of
about 3,000 scores in the custody of the Music Department. The
library itself has a good collection on musicology, twenty-six
volumes of song scores and spirituals, and an interesting old
collection of fifty bound volumes of English and American scores
dated before 1820.
Let who will make either the laws or the songs of the State,
the Virginia State Library has proved its readiness to collect
both. It contains a good selection of works on musicology and
has files of several music serials, the total number of volumes
and pieces being about 850. There are also fifty pieces of Virginia
music, and approximately 100 pieces of Confederate music.
Many of the public libraries contain a useful selection of
books on musicology. Somewhat specially notable in this respect
are the public libraries in Richmond, in Petersburg, and in
Hopewell.
Both the Packard-Laird Memorial Library of the Virginia
Union Theological Seminary have made very good beginnings on
collections of hymnology.
Of general materials on the THEATRE the State Library has
about 300 volumes, these being scattered through the various
topics in this field. Of somewhat special note are a group of
the monumental works on costume, a good selection of the
histories of the theatre and of the stage, and a collection of
early Virginia playbills.
The University of Virginia Library contains approximately
200 volumes on this subject, with some emphasis on the history
of the stage, on costume, and on scenery, stage decoration, and
lighting. In addition there is an extension drama collection
which numbers well over 10,000 printed copies of plays, mostly
modern.
In the library at the State Teachers College at Farmville
there are 152 volumes on theatre history, technique, costume,
dancing, pageantry, and allied subjects which have been so
admirably chosen as to make this well nigh a model collection
of its size.
At Hollins College, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Sweet
Briar, and William and Mary there are also collections on the
theatre which are well selected both for present curriculum use
and also as foundations for possible future expansion.
Of material on ARCHITECTURE the University of Virginia Fine
Arts Library contains 1250 volumes. The attempt has been made
to cover the general field. The works on the history of architecture
are considerable in number, and there is some stress on
the more modern periods, particularly the Renaissance. Current
numbers of the following periodicals are received: American Architect
and Architecture, American Builder and Building Age, American
Home, Architectural Concrete, Architectural Forum, Architectural
Record, Architectural Review, Architecture, L'Architecture
d'aujourd'hui, California Arts and Architecture, House Beautiful,
Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Landscape
Architecture, Moderne Bauformen, and Pencil Points.
At the library of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg
there are about 600 volumes on architecture. This collection
includes fifty-five volumes on the history of architecture
and a dozen or more current periodicals. Emphasis has been placed
on architectural engineering.
About 500 volumes on architecture are to be found at the
of periodicals, and offers material for study of types of
architecture. The period most stressed is that of colonial days
in America.
At the library of Hampton Institute there are over 400 volumes
on this subject and sets of Architectural Forum, Architectural
Record, Architecture and Building, and House Beautiful.
The emphasis is on residences and public buildings.
In PAINTING AND SCULPTURE combined there are a few more than
1,000 volumes at the University of Virginia Library. In sculpture
(584 volumes) the Greek and Roman phases of the ancient period
are stressed; in painting (422 volumes) the division is by schools,
the English, Italian, and Spanish predominating. But these
collections are well balanced, and the works have been selected
with care.
The State Library has 300 volumes on painting and seventy-five
on sculpture. The material covers the whole field but the
emphasis is on American artists.
At Hampton Institute the library collection includes 334
volumes on painting and twenty-eight on sculpture. The number of
works on individual painters is comparatively large.
Sweet Briar College has 356 volumes on these two subjects
combined. This collection is strong in historical works.
Material on OTHER FINE ARTS is not extensive in amount and is
scattered through the State. For example there are fair collections
on drawing and handicrafts at Hampton Institute; on interior
decoration at the Petersburg Public Library, at the State Teachers
College at Farmville and at Fredericksburg, and at the University
of Virginia; on furniture at Randolph-Macon Woman's College and
at the Richmond Public Library; on landscape gardening at the
Farmville State Teachers College, at the Virginia Polytechnic
Institute, and at the University of Virginia; on engraving at the
Roanoke Public Library and at the State Library; on photography
at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the State Library, and the
University of Virginia; and from the Virginia Military Institute
is reported a library interest in sporting as a fine art!
Section D. Philosophy.
At the University of Virginia Library there are somewhat over
6,000 volumes on philosophy, the special field of interest being
the philosophic systems, ethics, and logic. Esthetics is also
Aristotle, Bacon, Spencer are among the philosophers largely
represented by works and critical commentaries. The files of
periodicals include the Aristotelian Society Proceedings, Erkenntnis,
Hibbert Journal, International Journal of Ethics, Journal
of Philosophical Studies, Journal of Philosophy, Journal of
Speculative Philosophy, Journal of Symbolic Logic, Mind, Monist,
Philosophical Review, Philosophy, and Revue Philosophique.
The collections in philosophy at the College of William and
Mary and at the Episcopal Theological Seminary both number approximately
1,500 volumes. At William and Mary ethics is the
strongest section, and the modern period is most emphasized. At
the Episcopal Theological Seminary there are some valuable sets
of the classical and mediaeval philosophers, with emphasis merging
into the philosophy of religion.
The library at the Randolph-Macon Woman's College has about
1,400 volumes in philosophy, with stress on Aristotle and other
classical philosophers. Berkeley is also featured in this collection.
Among the periodicals are the Hibbert Journal, International
Journal of Ethics, Journal of Philosophy, Journal of Symbolic
Logic, Mind, Personalist, Philosophical Review, Philosophische
Studien, Philosophy, and Philosophy of Science.
Washington and Lee University has about 1,000 volumes in
philosophy, this being a general collection.
Section E. Religion.
In the field of religion there are two collections in Virginia
which are outstanding for purposes of research. These are
at the Spence Library of the Union Theological Seminary in Richmond
and at the Packard-Laird Memorial Library of the Virginia
Theological Seminary at Alexandria.
The Spence Library has a total collection of about 55,000
volumes, of which at least 20,000 may be classed as specifically
on the subject of religion. There is an excellent equipment of
general encyclopaedias and reference sets, and adequate reference
and periodical materials are available in each subdivision of the
subject. The works on primitve religion include basic sets
such as Creuzer's Symbolik und Mythologie der Alten Völker,
Frazer's Golden Bough, and Gray and Moore's Mythology of all
Races. The non-Christian religions are represented by their
sacred writings and by treatises thereon. On the history and
culture of Israel there 292 volumes exclusive of archaeology, and
there are thirty-one volumes on contemporary Judaism. The Talmud,
Targums, Mischna, and other Rabbinical writings appear in Hebrew
and also in Latin, French, and English translations. Of the Old
volumes of editions in Greek and of critical works on the Greek
Old Testament, and thirty editions in English. There are 686
volumes of commentaries dealing with the Old Testament, 260 volumes
dealing specifically with Old Testament criticism, and 120
volumes concerned with such related subjects as the transmission
of the Bible, the canon and text of the Bible, and the Bible as
literature.
It is in its collection on the New Testament, however, that
the Spence Library offers one of its more important fields for
research; and of this section there is available a somewhat
elaborate catalogue.[5]
The collection includes facsimile copies
of all the major uncial manuscripts except Vaticanus or Codex B,
with collations of about seventy cursive manuscripts and texts of
various ostraca; copies of all the notable printed editions of
the Greek New Testament with the exception of the Complutensian
or 1514 Ximenes, of which the Library owns the Plantin reprint of
1584; sets of commentaries to the number of sixty and single volume
commentaries on the New Testament to the number of 800; and
files of such periodicals as the Harvard Theological Review,
Journal of Biblical Literature, Journal of Theological Studies,
and Zeitschrift für die Neuetestamentliche Wissenschaft.
On the history of the early Christian Church the Spence
Library contains about 600 volumes including such massive early
sets as those by Baronius Soranus, Basnage de Flottermanville,
William Cave, Eusebius Pamphilus, and James Saurin. On the
Reformation there is a valuable group of seventeenth and
eighteenth century treatises and approximately 250 modern works;
and about fifty volumes, some early, deal with the various
Councils. The material on the Church of England is small in
amount (seventy-five volumes) but includes several seventeenth
century titles; and a similar collection deals with the Catholic
Church. Contemporary Christian Theology is represented by about
100 volumes specifically concerned with the conflict of science
and religion and about 100 volumes specifically concerned with
the current restatement of Christian thought; and there are
sizeable collections on Systematic and Dogmatic Theology and on
Practical Theology.
With reference to Christianity in America there are some
400 volumes dealing with the history of denominations, and a considerable
amount of material on the organization and activities
of missionary societies. But the most important and significant
Seminary is its large collection of manuscript and printed
records of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. The
manuscript section has already been briefly described in Part One,
Section F., Manuscripts.[6] In addition there are complete files
of printed minutes and reports of various organizations, large
and small, within the jurisdiction of that Church; and there are
bound volumes of seventeen Presbyterian church papers and of
twenty-one theological reviews and journals under Presbyterian
editorship or control. This material is accessible for research
purposes, and there is steady continuation in collecting
activities.
The Packard-Laird Memorial Library of the Virginia Theological
Seminary has a total collection of approximately 32,000 volumes,
of which somewhat over half are on the specific subject of
religion. As in the case of the Spence Library, this special
collection is located in what is in effect a general collection
— a situation which of course often proves convenient for research
scholars. In both of these libraries, for example, there
may be found material dealing with Aramaic, Assyrian, and
Chaldean languages and with Semitic languages in general. There
are also the essential encyclopaedias and reference works, and
good background material in history, literature, and philosophy.
The Packard-Laird Library also has a special association collection
of books from the Lee library (Richard Henry Lee and Thomas
Ludwell Lee) at Stratford.
The quality of this library may be perhaps indicated by a
casual and unsystematic and of course very incomplete list of
works which appear on the shelves; namely, the Apostolic Fathers,
the Babylonian Talmud, the Consilia Ecclesiae, the Egypt Exploration
Fund Publications, Frazer's Golden Bough, the History of the
Popes, Hook's Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, the International
Critical Commentary, the Library of Anglo-Catholic
Theology (eighty-two volumes), Migne's Patrologie, the three sets
of the works of the Nicene Fathers, Picart's Religious Memories
of the World, the Sacred Books of the East, the works of Cocceius,
Erasmus, Hieronymous, Servanus, and files of the American Biblical
Repository, the American Journal of Theology, the Jahrbuch für
Deutsche Theologie, and the Journal of Sacred Literature.
By a more statistical analysis, there are in round numbers
400 volumes on non-Christian religions, 800 on the Old Testament,
700 on the New Testament, 600 on primitive Christianity, 150 on
Christianity in the Roman Empire, 300 on the Reformation, 500 on
the history of the Church of England, 1,000 on Christian theology,
250 on American church history, and 400 on missions. The pamphlet
collection is extensive, and the large task of arrangement
and filing is likely to yield material of value. Some notice
One, Section F., Manuscripts.[7]
Other large collections of books on religion can be found
at the University of Virginia (over 8,000 volumes), at the Virginia
State Library (approximately 5,500 volumes), and at the
College of William and Mary (between 3,000 and 3,500 volumes).
All three collections are well organized, but do not include any
considerable proportion of rare items. At the University of Virginia
there is some emphasis on contemporary Christian theology.
The State Library is well supplied with the collected works of
outstanding preachers, such as Phillips Brooks, Thomas Chalmers,
Myles Coverdale, Henry Drummond, John Foxe, Tyndale, John Wesley,
and George Whitfield. In the extensive collection of Virginiana
which the library at William and Mary possesses there are many
individual church histories of Virginia.
In most of the libraries which have been so frequently
named in this survey report for Virginia the collections on
religion are comparatively large. It is evident that credit is
due to clergymen as a class for their notable generosity as
donators of books.
| A survey of research materials in Virginia libraries, 1936-37 | |