THE PRESIDENCY.

In the summer of 1926, the American Library Association will celebrate its jubilee. The Conference, which will probably be held in Philadelphia,

will coincide in date with the one hun

dred and fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and will in many ways be a notable one. For

us of the Boston Public Library it will be a moment of deep pride, for our own Director, Charles F. D. Belden, has been nominated as President of the Association for the year 19251926, and will be the presiding officer on the great occasion.

It is no accident which brings this honor to the Library and to Mr. Belden. Twice before the nomination has been tendered to him, only to be refused. This time the offer has come in a form which demanded acceptance. Mr. Belden will have no opposition for the office; he is the uncontested choice of the librarians of the country for their Fiftieth-Year President; and the Trustees have finely seconded the nomination in the following resolution:

RESOLVED: That the Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston record their satisfaction in the honor that has come to the Library and its Director through the nomination of Mr. Belden as President of the American Library Association, a national association of librarians and library trustees, for the year 1925-1926, and their approval of his acceptance of the uncontested nomina

tion; and assure the Director of their interest and support in his work for the Association. Friday, February 20, 1925.

Probably no one planned the coincidence; but it is of interest to us that the first President of the American Library Association, in 1876, was that great scholar, Justin Winsor, who was then at the head of the Boston Public Library; and that the logic of events has now selected, as the most fitting person to occupy Winsor's chair at the close of fifty years, the present Director of the same institution.

The Boston Transcript did us all a service by printing in its issue of February 27, in which Mr. Belden's nomination was announced, a comprehensive account of his professional history. He is a real librarian, whose career, beginning while he was still a student in the Harvard Law School, has been marked by an unbroken succession of solid achievements. His catalogue of the Law School Library still remains his most conspicuous piece of bibliographical work; but his services in the reorganization of the Social Law Library, in the administration of the State Library during a most critical period, and in our own Library, together with his long and devoted work as Chairman of the Board of Free Public Library Commissioners of the Commonwealth, have been full of fruits, which have received steadily growing recognition. For anything of importance in library work-that of the A. L. A. during the war, that of the Merchant Marine Library Association-Mr. Belden is the obvious leader in this part of the librarian of New England, where the country; he is to-day the outstanding library movement had its rise and its first large development. And more and more, in national library affairs, as in the very significant Commission on Adult Education, recently constituted, Mr. Belden's assistance is eagerly sought.

Once more, we are proud of this fresh recognition - the highest in the gift of the librarians of the country. We greet Mr. Belden, in the words borrowed by the Transcript from Mr. Bostwick, as "a scholar without ped

antry; a man of the world without indifference; a friend of the people without sentimentality."

LIBRARY LIFE offers an apology for its mistake in announcing the price of the new colored postcards from the Abbey paintings, on sale by the Benefit Association. The cards, on which the Association is to be heartily congratulated, are ten cents each, or one dollar and a half (not one dollar, as stated) for the full set of fifteen.

OUR PALACE.

The beautiful building in which we live and work is just thirty years old. "Built by the people and dedicated to the advancement of learning" and "Free to all," it was opened to the public on March 11, 1895, a palace worthy to be the cherished adornment of any city, ancient or modern. It was honestly built, and was equipped with devices for prompt and efficient service, for comfort and for use, which represented the best standards of the time when it was erected. For thirty years, hundreds of employees and millions of readers have used it lovingly and used it hard, and to-day it is not strange that the palace shows

wear.

The President of the Board of Trustees did a courageous and statesmanlike thing when he sent to the newspapers the statement published on February 16, in which he sets forth without concealment the present condition of our palace and its machinery. It was apparently taken for granted that the building was so good that it would last forever, without the steady and vigilant maintenance which every building requires. The ventilating system, once the pride of the architects, has gone to rack and ruin — it is no more. Lighting and heating need complete overhauling. The book railway and its accompanying elevators have been tinkered till they refuse to function without thorough renovation, and, in a greatly enlarged building, the books must now be laboriously carried in the arms of boys and girls, from end to end of the

stacks, upstairs and down, that the public may have even a slow and uncertain service. The pneumatic tubes are constantly on the verge of collapse, and many other features of the library machinery are in a condition in which we almost welcome complete breakdown: "one less thing to try to keep going!"

Noblesse oblige. A palace is a thing of beauty, and consequently an undying joy, even in ruins. But our palace has other functions beyond being the most beautiful municipal building in America. The press of the city has responded with gratifying zeal to Mr. Kirstein's plea, and we hope for an equally generous response on the part of the City Fathers. Service is the Library's only valid excuse for being; and we look forward to the day, not too far distant, when our palace will again be fully equipped for the most severe demands that the people of Boston may make upon it.

MR. MAYNARD.

On February 20, the Board of Trustees appointed George S. Maynard to succeed Mr. Rowlands as First Assistant in the Special Libraries Department. Mr. Maynard has done a valuable piece of work in the creation of an efficient Technology Division. where, prior to his appointment in 1916, there had been nothing but an unorganized mass of material, with no one especially trained to administer it. Mr. Maynard's training in library technique, combined with a faculty for organization, has enabled him to introduce methods and machinery in the work of his Division, which have quickly proved their practical value. As First Assistant, he will be called upon to put into effect a judicious and carefully planned reorganization of the work and service of the Department as a whole.

OUTWARD BOUND.

In the last round-up of books for American sailors, in 1923 - conducted by the American Merchant Marine Li

brary Association - the people of Massachusetts contributed 42,000 volumes. There are over 200,000 men in our merchant marine. Nine hundred ships are now on the waiting-list for sea libraries.

The seafarer has many leisure hours, and books are almost always the only practical resource for recreation and self-improvement. Books of adventure, detective stories, standard novels, biography, history, science, technical works, "everything between covers" will be welcome and "read to pieces."

Let each of us give, not only a few discarded magazines and best sellers, but at least one book of real value. Sailors of America, we're here!

SICK LIST.

LIBRARY LIFE extends its sympathy, this month, to several sick associates: Miss Ida Denny, North End Branch; Miss Anne Connolly, South Boston Branch; and Miss Clara Maxwell, South End Branch.

Members of the Library Staff and habitués of the Fine Arts Department will rejoice over the return of Miss Loraine Sullivan after an illness of three months' duration. Mr. William Mulloney, of Bates Hall Centre Desk, and Mr. James Lannon, Engineers' and Janitors' Dept., have returned to their duties, each having had a painfu! siege with the prevalent influenza.

dens, they shimmered in the Southern moonlight, they were even imaginatively perched on huge toad-stools.

The first prize, of five hundred dollars, was awarded to Mrs. Alice Preston, a graduate of the Normal Art School. Her poster showed a little girl in an old curiosity shop, full of all sorts of interesting, old-fashioned articles-queer tea-pots, back-scratchers, vases in odd shapes, etc. It is of interest that Mrs. Preston owns all the curios which she portrays on her successful cover.

There were, of course, several entertaining remarks made by observers, and the attendant in charge was careful not to miss any of them. The first day, before the publicity managers had "got in" their work, two little Jewish children came in. Children: "What's this?" Attendant: "Cover exhibition." Children (in unison): "Aw, Gee! Giving 'em away? Gimme one?”

The day after the earthquake, a tiny tot stood before a drawing of a house precariously tilting on the edge of a precipice. Apparently the upheaval had made enough impression upon her to color her remarks. "Oh, if that had been in the earthquake, it would have fallen. Muvver, you wouldn't want to fall off there, would you?"

One of the artists to receive honorable mention was Mrs. Marjory Woodbury Smith, a classmate of Mrs. Preston. Her cover has a decided Chauve Souris atmosphere. In the corner is a little girl leading a pig by a rope.

POPULAR.

During the past fortnight, the Fine Arts Exhibition Room has been a rendezvous for artists and those interested in art, not to mention those whom accident or curiosity had drawn to the scene. From a thousand posters submitted in competition for the House Beautiful cover prize, one hundred and twenty were chosen by the judges for exhibition. Attractively arranged. about the room, they afforded the visitors an hour of widely varied pleasure. The designs included many types. Old houses were the favorite subject; they peeped out from hollyhock gar

to the hind leg of the pig rather than being fastened around its neck. When asked to explain this unusual location, Mrs. Smith said very seriously that an authority on such subjects told her that was the proper way to lead a pig. It is easy to see that she took the advice to heart, because, if one examines the neck of the pig closely enough, he will see a dark rim-not dirt, but the former resting place of the rope.

We are all glad that the Library was the scene of this unique display of modern cleverness in art, and we look forward eagerly to the fourth annual exhibition of the House Beautiful covers, next year.

F. B. B.

In honor of the one hundred and eighteenth anniversary of the birth of Longfellow, February 27, an exhibition of his autograph letters and first. editions has been arranged in the Barton Room.

The Library possesses a large and valuable collection of Longfellow's works. From the earliest volume to the last, almost all the poet's works are represented by first editions. The number of autograph letters is about fifty. Half of them were written in 1832 and 1833, while Longfellow was professor of modern languages at Bowdoin College. They are addressed. to Charles Folsom, who was at the time chief reader at the University Press, Cambridge. Longfellow was then busy editing text-books-French, Spanish, Italian grammars and readers-and his letters contain instructions, or ask advice, concerning his books. But they are full of personal matters also. They certainly should deserve the attention of students of Longfellow. There is no space here for an elaborate disquisition on these letters; we quote a few short excerpts only, to show their general tone.

On Thursday morning, December I, 1832, writes the poet :

I thought the mail of last evening might possibly bring me a letter from you no letter came.

but

Pray what is going on in your quarter of the world? I have not heard a whisper for the whole winter through. For my own part I have been busy in writing down some of my reminiscences of Europe, and if you should see a thin volume of sketches in a brown cover, and lettered No. 1, quietly reposing some morning of May in your pigeonhole at the Post-office you must not be surprised; for stranger things have happened. Mr. Gray is trying to find me [a] publisher; but I fancy he finds it rather hard work, since I hear nothing from him upon the subject. . . .

And three months later:

I herewith send you No. 1 of the Sketches of Europe, concerning which I wrote you some time since. The publication has been delayed from day to day, beyond all patience, by a thousand "lets and stops" quite beyond my control. But the work is at length completed, and will appear incessantly; il paraîtra incessamment.

All this refers to "Outre-Mer," rarest of Longfellow's works, a copy of which sold lately for 440 dollars. The Library received its copy in 1904, by exchange, from the library of Bowdoin College.

In its issue for February 27, the Boston Transcript published an article descriptive of our Longfellow collection and autographs. But the letters have never been published. It is interesting to note that their very existence was a surprise even to the descendants of the poet. Miss Alice Longfellow, daughter of the poet, and Prof. H. W. L. Dana, his grandson, first learned from the Transcript's article of these letters. Miss Longfellow possesses the largest collection of Longfellow autographs; the poet's letters, written to George W. Greene -for long in the possession of J. C. Chamberlain - were bought back by her several years ago. In order to complete their collection, Prof. Dana has asked permission to make photostats of our letters.

These manuscripts were given to the Library in 1904 by Mrs. Norton Folsom, from the estate of Charles W. Folsom. But while seven-eighths of the Folsom estate were vested in Mrs. Folsom, the rest was held in trust for several persons whose share could not be transferred by gift, so the Library agreed to pay one hundred dollars to purchase the remaining equity.

Z. H.

Thirty odd members of the staff gathered in the New Boston Bowling Alleys on Thursday evening, February 26, for the sixth annual bowling party of the staff. The scores were excellent, and it is almost needless to say that "a good time was had by all."

Prizes were awarded to Mr. William Clegg, of the Periodical Room, for the highest men's single string, 117; to Mr. William Swan, of the Bindery, for the highest men's total, 289; to Miss May Burke, of the Issue De

partment, for the highest ladies' single-string, 89; and to Miss Harriet Mulloy, of the Ordering Department, for the highest ladies' total, 231. The committee in charge consisted of Mr. John O'Brien, chairman, Miss Margaret Calnan, Miss May Burke, Miss Anna Manning, and Mr. Emil Hofman.

Mr. John O'Brien, of the Bindery, is the recipient of a charming letter of thanks from Reverend Dr. Gordon, of the Old South Church, expressing his appreciation of "Pidgy," the poem on the pigeons in the church tower, of which Mr. O'Brien had sent him the

original manuscript. Incidentally, Mr. O'Brien's latest song, "Sweetheart Eileen," is now in press and will shortly be on sale in the music stores.

Fred Allen, a former employee of the Library, who is well known among the older members of the staff as Eddie Sullivan, lately played his annual engagement in Boston with the "Greenwich Village Follies." He had a column of jokes in a recent number of Variety.

Among recent distinguished visitors. to the Library was the Reverend Abbé van Cauwenbergh, librarian of the University of Louvain. He showed deep interest in the various departments of the Library, and spent much time in looking into the methods of work here. We have a special interest in the library of Professor van Cauwenbergh, which is now being rebuilt with American aid, from the fact that our Library recently sent to Louvain one hundred selected volumes as a gift.

Miss Ethel Hazelwood, of the Branch Department, was awarded an $18.00 storage battery by station WNAC, as a prize for writing the best letter telling about their program.

The Massachusetts Maine Daughters, the leading organization of Maine women in the state, held an open