Hamilton Library Association Reports, 1881 and 1900

To mark the 125th anniversary of the Hamilton Library Association Cumberland County History reprints here the Association's first annual report, for the year 1881, and a subsequent annual report, for 1900.

The first of these gives an account of the bequest of James Hamilton of 1873, the organization and charter of the board of directors of 187 4, the rental of space for its library, consideration of the purchase of the "old stone church on South West street, " and the construction of a hall of its own in 1882, "a very pretty and suitable structure of brick and two storied," at a cost of $1789.85. To bring in some income, the Association rented rooms in the building to the Y.M.C.A. and the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity of Dickinson College.

The library collection grew slowly and erratically, mostly by gift, and was little used. Income remained low and inadequate. Even the directors missed meetings, and sometimes no one came at all. No minutes survive—perhaps none were kept-from 1884 to 1893. Things changed in 1900.

The opening of the J. Herman Bosler Memorial Library in Carlisle relieved the Association of its obligation to be a "town library," and permitted it instead to concentrate on county history. And Dr. Charles Francis Himes, retired professor of physics at Dickinson College, was elected president. He was a man with strong historical leanings, the author of several historical monographs, and the inheritor and custodian of a large mass of manuscripts of county, town, and college history as the son-in-law of Joseph A Murray and secretary of the trustees of Dickinson College. As his report of 1900 indicates, Himes was energetic and far-seeing, and in this report he laid out a program for the Association. He called for repair and renovation of the Association's hall and for adequate security and preservation of its collections. Provision should be made for wider and easier access to the books. Public meetings should be scheduled, at which members would present papers of interest on local history; and these papers should be printed, thus to "accomplish permanent record and wider dissemination of facts." And, as always, there was concern about finances.

An account of these early years was presented by the late Dr. Milton E. Flower at the centennial dinner meeting of the Association on April 22, 1975; it is printed in the annual report for that year.

Read the entire article