University of Virginia Library

MCGREGOR LIBRARY

The following resolution was adopted:

The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, having reviewed the report of the
Curator of the McGregor Library for the period of its first ten years, hereby resolve.

That the gift of this great collection of Americana, the first such Library to come to the
South, has had an inestimable value in the advancement of the humanistic studies at the University and
that its effect on the life and culture of the South and of the nation, though not measurable in exact
terms, has been extensive and wholesome;

That by attracting scholars to the University, not less than by making available to its own
faculty and students the historical monuments of our past, it has fostered the growth of the understanding
of our own heritage; that it has strengthened the traditional Virginian beliefs in our American
forms of life and government; that it has served to broaden and interpret the influence and meaning of
the expression "Jeffersonian Democracy"; and that it has stimulated the study and appreciation of
history in a manner and by a means not heretofore available in this region of the United States.

That the Rector and Visitors have observed with profound satisfaction the steady growth of
the McGregor Library and its services to many schools of the University; that at least one tangible
measurement of the Library's influence can be found in the phenomenal increase in the study of history
since the establishment of the McGregor Library, the faculty in American history having exactly doubled,
and during this same ten-year period, the graduate enrollment of students in history having come to exceed
that of all other schools in the humanities, while undergraduate enrollment has jumped to nearly
one thousand students, giving history third place among the undergraduate schools.

That any diminution of the income of the McGregor Library for acquisitions, with resultant
decrease of strength and usefulness, would be viewed by the Rector and Visitors with the keenest regret.

The Rector and Visitors further resolve that for the next ensuing ten years they propose to
continue at least in its present strength and capacity the staff and maintenance of the Rare Book and
Manuscript Division of its Library, of which the McGregor Library is an integral and important part;
that the $2,500.00 which has annually for ten years been spent by the University for additions to the
McGregor Library be reassigned to the Rare Book and Manuscript Division for the next ensuing ten years,
and in the event of further appropriations from McGregor Fund that this money or appropriate parts of
it be specifically designated for additions to the McGregor Library in the same manner as under the
original Deed of Gift.

They resolve further that application be made by the President of the University to McGregor
Fund for a ten-year annual grant for additions to the McGregor Library, so that the growth of the library
along the lines laid out by the late Tracy W. McGregor and the Trustees of McGregor Fund may be continued
at least on its present level.

That the Rector and Visitors would be especially gratified if the Trustees of McGregor Fund
would consider an eventual endowment of the McGregor Library, which would constitute a lasting guarantee
that this "Library of American History" would maintain the permanent and continuous growth essential to
the vitality of such a library.

That the Rector and Visitors would urge upon the Trustees the continuance of the wise counsel
and friendly help of an Advisory Committee for the McGregor Library such as has met semiannually during
this ten-year period, and that they would hope that the Trustees of McGregor Fund would be willing to
have representatives from their number continue to serve on such a committee.