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Page 64
It is a coincidence merely, but nearly all the great libraries of the
city are grouped within a block or two of Astor Place, making that short
thoroughfare the scholarly centre of the town. In its immediate
vicinity, on the corner of Second Avenue and Eleventh Street, stands the
fire-proof building of the New York Historical Society, whose library
and collection of paintings and relics form one of the features of the
city. This Society dates back to the year 1804, when Egbert Benson, De
Witt Clinton, Rev. William Linn, Rev. Samuel Miller, Rev. John N. Abeel,
Rev. John M. Mason, Dr. David Hosack, Anthony Bleecker, Samuel Bayard,
Peter G. Stuyvesant, and John Pintard, met by appointment at the City
Hall and agreed to form a society "the principal design of which should
be to collect and preserve whatever might relate to the natural, civil,
or ecclesiastical history of the United States in general and of the
State of New York in particular." Active measures were at once taken for
the formation of a library and museum, special committees being
appointed for the purpose. The range of the collection embraced books,
manuscripts, statistics, newspapers, pictures, antiquities, medals,
coins, and specimens in natural history. The Society made the usual
number of removals before being finally established as a householder.
From 1804 to 1809 it met in the old City Hall, from 1809 to 1816 in the
Government House, from 1816 to 1832 in the New York Institution, from
1832 to 1837 in Remsen's Building, Broadway, from 1837 to 1841 in the
Stuyvesant Institute, from 1841 to 1857 in the New York University, and
at length, after surmounting many pecuniary obstacles, celebrated its
fifty-third anniversary by taking possession of its present structure.
Meantime, the efforts of the library committees had resulted in a
collection of Americana of exceeding interest and value, the nucleus of
the present library. In its one specialty this library is believed to be
unrivalled. The Society has issued some twenty-four volumes of its own
publications, in addition to numerous essays and addresses. Besides
these, its library contains some seventy-three thousand volumes of
printed works, chiefly Americana, many of them relating to the Indians
and obscure early colonial history. Eight hundred and eleven genealogies
of American families--the fountain-head of the national history--are a
feature of the collection. The library also possesses one of the best
sets of Congressional documents extant, also complete sets of State and
city documents. There are four thousand volumes of newspapers, beginning
with the first journal published in America,--the "Boston News-Letter"
of 1704,--and comprising a complete record to the present day. There are
also tons of pamphlets and "broadsides," and several hundred copies of
the inflammatory hand-bills posted on the trees and fences of New York
during the Revolution. The library is also rich in old family letters
and documents containing much curious and interesting history. The
Society is very conservative in its ways,--more so than most
institutions of the kind. Theoretically, its stores of information can
be drawn on by members only, but, as a general thing, properly
accredited scholars, non-residents, have little difficulty in gaining
access to them, provided the material sought is not elsewhere
accessible.
Lafayette Place is a wide, quiet thoroughfare, a few blocks in extent,
opening into Astor Place on the north. On the left, a few doors from the
latter street, stands the Astor Library, in some respects one of the
noteworthy libraries of the world. John Jacob Astor died March 29, 1848,
leaving a will which contained a codicil in these words: "Desiring to
render a public benefit to the city of New York, and to contribute to
the advancement of useful knowledge and the general good of society, I
do by this codicil appoint four hundred thousand dollars out of my
residuary estate to the establishment of a public library in the city of
New York." The instrument then proceeded to give specific directions as
to how the money was to be applied: first, in the erection of a suitable
building; second, in supplying the same with books, maps, charts,
models, drawings, paintings, engravings, casts, statues, furniture, and
other things appropriate to a library upon the most ample scale and
liberal character; and, third, in maintaining and upholding the
buildings and other property, and in paying the necessary expenses of
the care of the same, and the salaries of the persons connected with
the library, said library to be accessible at all reasonable hours and
times for general use, free of expense, and subject only to such
conditions as the trustees may exact. It was further provided that its
affairs should be managed by eleven trustees, "selected from the
different liberal professions and employments of life and the classes of
educated men." The mayor was also to be a trustee by virtue of his
office. The entire fund was vested in this board, with power to expend
and invest moneys, and to appoint, direct, control, and remove the
superintendent, librarian, and others employed about the library. The
first trustees were named in the will, and Washington Irving was chosen
president.
Dr. Joseph G. Cogswell, who it is said first suggested the idea of a
library to Mr. Astor, was appointed first superintendent and despatched
to Europe to purchase books, which he succeeded in doing to the best
advantage, the political disturbances of 1848 having thrown many
valuable libraries on the market. Meantime, a building had been
commenced on the east side of Lafayette Place, on a lot sixty-five feet
front by one hundred and twenty deep; but as the books arrived before
this was completed they were placed temporarily in a hired house in Bond
Street. The new building, which was opened January 9, 1854, was in the
Byzantine style, after the design by Alexander Saeltzer, the lower story
being of brownstone and the two upper stories of red brick. The main
hall or library-room, beginning on the second floor, was carried up
through two stories and lighted by a large skylight in the roof. Around
the sides of this room were built two tiers of alcoves capable of
holding about one hundred thousand books. The library opened on the date
mentioned with about eighty thousand volumes, devoted chiefly to
science, history, art, and kindred topics, the trustees agreeing with
the superintendent that the design of the founder could only be carried
out and the "advancement of knowledge" and "general good of society" be
best secured by making the new library one of reference only.
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