LIBRARY NOTES

Although the library has been without a librarian now for a year and a half the organization was so well perfected and the staff so familiar with the work, that it has proceeded without interruption. The new librarian, Mr. Goodrich, assumed his office the first of January. The same staff of assistants who have been with the library for some time will continue to work with him. This staff comprises an assistant librarian, a library accountant and secretary, a library cataloguer, and an assistant cataloguer. Besides this permanent staff there are twelve student assistants.

Some of its material the library keeps in the form' of special collections. Its most valuable documents are kept in a fireproof filing-case and comprise a quantity of letters, documents, briefs, and miscellaneous papers of the Wheelocks, Samson Occum, Josiah Bartlett, the New Hampshire signer of the Declaration of Independence, Webster and Choate. Here are also found a valuable collection of early New England newspapers, chiefly of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, some dating as far back as 1743, but most of them from about 1770 on.

There are also some valuable relics which the Dartmouth antiquarians have unearthed. Here are gathered together Webster's arm-chair, one of his tall hats made in 1852, the head of a cane presented to him by the Earl of Lonsdale, and his ink-stand. There are also several relics of the Civil War, among them being a banner and a knapsack carried by Dartmouth companies in the war. Then there are miscellaneous collections of . daguerrotypes, engravings, medals, and books, and some relics of merely general interest such as the table used in the Russo-Japanese Peace Conference room in Portsmouth in 1905.

One of the oldest collection of books is the Shurtleff Collection, given by the will of Professor Roswell Shurtleff 1799, from his library. These books are largely philosophical. The Conner Collection of medical books was presented as a memorial to Dr. Phineas S. Conner '59 by his daughter from the books of his library. In the octagon is kept the Kenerson Memorial Collection, provided by a fund from the estate of Austin H. Kenerson '76. This collection is devoted to the standard literature of all languages. A mass of documents and books dealing with Dartmouth College and the town of Hanover has been collected in a space above the third floor of stacks. This is very valuable material for the student of sources of Dartmouth history. The Alumni Alcove in the periodical room has already been treated in this magazine.

In respect to number of volumes the library has already outgrown its quarters. The total number of volumes is now about 120,000, of which number 3,222 were added last year. The library also . receives regularly 270 periodicals.

Among recent acquisitions to its collection of documents, the library has come into possession of some papers of especial interest. A parcel of twenty-one letters has been received, several of which were written by President John Wheelock and others by students in the College during its earlier days. As a picture of the life and forgotten events of these days the letters are invaluable. One of them throws some light on an early cut system. A student, one Stark, a relative of General Stark, was rusticated for six weeks for not attending a recitation as ordered by his instructor, although as he claims, he was at liberty to be absent from this course once each week. In another is a sketch of the old Dartmouth Hotel, the only picture of it known to exist.

The library has also received the oldest annual catalogue known to exist, of the year 1797. All catalogues older than this are for triennial periods. This catalogue merely gives the list of names with the residence of each man. The comparison of the geographical distribution of students at this early date with their distribution at the present time shows how the constituency of the College has kept pace with the growth of the country. In this catalogue, representing one class, men from four states only appear. New Hampshire has sixteen names, twice as many as Massachusetts, which in turn has twice as many as Connecticut, and Vermont is left with only one representative. Another document of interest is the oldest work known to have been printed in Hanover. This is an anonymous "Oration on Early Education," printed by Alden Spooner in 1779 when the village of Hanover was known as Dresden.