216 American Antiquarian Society [Oct., REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN "My library was dukedom large enough. " —Tempest, i:2 HEN Joseph's brethren came to his adopted W country during the seven lean years, they were made happy by discovering an abundance of food stored up for their need. And so it is with the historians and college professors from the far corners of the United States who flock to us all the year long, but especially during the summer vacation and the Christmas holidays, eager for our books and newspaper files, our manuscripts, maps and prints, for which they have hungered during the months when they had available only the less fortunately stored historical granaries of their various institutions. From Florida to Vancouver they have journeyed to Worcester in ever-increasing numbers to buy with their enthusiastic appreciation the rich grain of our histori- cal, biographical, and literary resources. As we watch them at their work, we cannot but share their enthu- siasm when they find here the varied materials they need for the scholarly work in which they are engaged. A Seventh Day Adventist historian from Washing- ton found our collections particularly rich in the rare periodicals, pamphlets, and broadsides relating to the Millerite delusion. A business historian was delighted with our wealth of editions of the early manuals of bookkeeping which he needed for his bibliography. A Yale graduate' student delved into our source material on the question of war guilt at the beginning of the Civil War. A Radcliffe graduate was made happy with an abundance of material on the practice of medicine in Colonial days. 1933.] Report of the Librarian 217 A historian was able, from our resources, to unravel the perplexing problems of the Peru-Ecuador bound- ary controversy; and students of musical history went away satisfied that they knew more about the early use of musical type among American publishers and the introduction of the melodeon into our social life. Bibliographical students revelled in the wealth of our material on the early imprints of Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. A famous historical student came from California to find scores of new titles for his bibliography of the early American drama; and another from Pennsylvania was happy to find many new entries for his history of early American fiction. A student from the Coast found much that was new to him regarding the production of Shakespeare's plays in San Francisco during the gold rush days of the eighteen fifties. From the middle west came a student interested in the transition in domestic economy from forests to prairies, and another wished to investigate the migra- tion to Oregon in the eighteen-forties. A biographer at work on the life of Josiah Priest found much relating to him, including the only available account of his death, in an original letter written by his son. A historian of early poetry found here, after a fruit- less search of many months, the only known copy of Christopher Smart's "Hymns for the amusement of children." Philadelphia, 1791, which he carried away in triumph in a complete typewritten copy. A medical historian found new material on the devestating throat distemper which raged in New England in the early eighteenth century, and a book- plate enthusiast discovered hundreds of new examples to add to her list of plates depicting sailing ships. Another student found out how oxen were shod in the olden days, and a historian interested in land specula- tion just after the Revolution found much unpublished material among the Andrew Craigie papers. An author secured photographs of views of American 218 American Antiquarian Society [Oct., college campuses as reproduced on the various pieces of Staffordshire pottery in our collection, and still another discovered here new material on the architecture of the Mormon temples, including a hitherto unknown view of the temple at Nauvoo. A professor from a southern university found considerable material for his forthcoming "Guide to the opinion-forming press of the United States from 1820 to 1914." Labor unions in the tektile trades, imprisonment for debt, early books on Florida, the introduction of aeronautics into America, and the musical compositions of Lowell Mason were among the subjects successfully developed from the resources of our shelves. One interesting inquiry had to do with the earliest use of Negro dialect in American literature and music; while another reader needed to know when the first elephants were brought to this country and when circuses were first transported on railroad trains. A family historian wished to find a photograph of the interior of a printing office of the period when his grandfather was a printer, and was greatly pleased when we produced a stereoscopic view of his own grandfather's pressroom. A world renowned inventor was made happy with a full account of the attempt made many years ago to salvage a certain famous treasure ship of the period of the Revolution. He was particularly interested because he has a commission from the government to complete the enterprise and bring to the surface the rest of the treasure which still lies buried among the bones of the old ship in the mud at the bottom of a certain famous river. Another southern historian was aided in locating the site and in planning the reconstruction of George Washington's distillery. Early cartoons of Santa Anna were discovered for a biographer at work on a life of "Old Peg Leg," and much material was supplied for a study of the country printers of New York State. 1933.] Report of the Librarian 219 A descendant of the author found here many addi- tions to her list of the first editions of the "Rollo Books," and a student from William and Mary College, many additions to his catalogue of the views of Richmond before 1890. Much new material on early American humorous periodicals and on the bookplates of Andrew Barclay, on Arasmus French, the inventor of the circular knit- ting machine, and on the distances and time required for the sea voyages of sailing ship days was supplied to eager investigators. Many other biographers, historians, and bibliog- raphers spent days or weeks with us and found here under a single roof material which they might not have discovered had they searched the country over. As in the past, a great deal of time was given in assisting Mr. Charles Evans in the compilation of his invaluable bibliography of American imprints which is now within a single volume of completion to the year 1800. Your librarian continues to act as editor of "Sabin's Dictionary of Books Relating to America'^ and this too, it is hoped, will be completed during the coming year. The "Dictionary of American Biog- raphy" has also continued ta draw on our unrivaled collection of American biographical material for the information needed by its compilers; and many pleasant hours have been spent in assenibling material for Mr. Douglas McMurtrie's history of printing in America. " We please to have it grow. " —AWs Well, ii:3 The past year has indeed been a lean one financially, and our total of accessions does not equal that of 1931-2. Still we have been able to add to our collec- tions, largely through the generosity of our friends, many important and even unique items. The total of accessions is, under the circumstances, far from discouraging: 220 American Antiquarian Society [Oct., Books 3,972 Pamphlets 10,948 Prints, maps, manuscripts, etc. 9,488 Miscellaneous unbound newspapers 802 or a total of 25,210 accessions for the year. This year's additions give us a total of 209,101 bound volumes and 329,229 pamphlets, or a grand total of 538,330 titles in the library, exclusive of the more than a half million, of manuscripts, prints, maps, broadsides, etc. POKTKAITS "We will draw the curtain, and shew you the picture." —Twelfth Night, i:B Wherever one looks about the walls of our library, he will encounter oil portraits of the famous men who have made America's history and examples of the work of our early portrait painters. Years ago when Samuel Foster Haven was librarian, there hung in his office a portrait of one of his ancestors. It was here for so many years that visitors took it for granted that this early painting belonged to the Society, but when Mr. Haven finally retired, the old picture went with him and was lost to view until it was recently brought back by one of his descendants. ' This picture is of more than usual interest, for it was a self portrait of Captain Thomas Smith, one of the first native American portrait painters, and it dates back to the seventeenth century. Smith was a sea captain, and it is a bit curious that he should also have had considerable talent as a portrait painter. We do not know how many portraits he executed, but those of his wife and daughter are still in existence. It is most fitting that this old worthy, after his wanderings, should again be placed in our care. To celebrate the return of the Captain to our walls, he has been skill- fully restored to his original rugged and colorful attractiveness, and we hope that he has made his last 1933.] Report of the Librarian 221 voyage. The portrait was deposited with us by Mr. Edmund B. Hilliard. It also seems particularly appropriate that we should have received as the gift of Mrs. M. B. Kaven the oil portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Thomas. Thomas was famous for a generation as the publisher of the old "Farmer's Almanac," the most widely used almanac in all New England, and since we have a complete set of them in our great almanac collection, it is eminently fitting that we should have his portrait as well.