At the head of the list of library benefactors stands the name of Andrew Carnegie, whose first library gift was made in 1881 to Dunfermline, his native town in Scotland. His second gift of a library was made in 1890 to Allegheny, Pa. Pittsburgh received a large central building in 1895 and later eight branches. The total amount given by Carnegie and the Carnegie Corporation for library building in the United States and Canada was $43,665, 000. In its gifts for library buildings the corporation, organized in 191r, followed the wishes of its founder, until its gifts for libraries were discontinued in 1917.
College and University Libraries.—The history of college and university libraries is also a record of generous gifts from private collectors and friends of education. Harvard college library dates from 1638, when John Harvard bequeathed to it his collec tion of 33o volumes. By 1764 the library had grown to 5,000 ,Tolumes, when all but one of the original volumes were destroyed by fire. The library of Yale college was founded in 1700, but grew so slowly that even with the 1,000 volumes received from Bishop Berkeley in 1733 it had only 4,000 volumes in 1766, and some of these were lost in the Revolutionary War. The library of King's college, renamed Columbia college after the Revolutionary War, dates from 1756, when Joseph Murray, a governor of the college, bequeathed to it his private library. It is estimated to have had only about 2,000 volumes at the outbreak of the Revolution. Though stored in the city hall for safe keeping, many of the books were carried off by British soldiers and the rest scattered and never recovered except for a few volumes which are now in the library of Columbia university. The rehabilitation of the library after the Revolution was accomplished very slowly. In 1863 it had only 14,941 volumes.
20 years for over a century, and this rate of growth has been equalled or exceeded by most of the larger college and university libraries, especially in recent decades. In 1927 the number of volumes in these libraries were: Harvard, 2,622,400; Yale, 1,838,099; Co lumbia, 1,092,343; University of California, 665,68o; University of Chicago, 768,559; Cornell university, 787,127; University of Illinois, 708,850; University of Michigan, 649,912; University of Minnesota, 501,507; University of Pennsylvania, 635,070; Prince ton university,
Library of Congress.—The Library of Congress has become in fact if not in name the national library of the United States. It was established in 180o by Act of Congress as a legislative library and was housed in the Capitol until 1897 when it was moved to its own building which is the largest, most ornate and most costly library building in the world. It occupies 3-* ac. of ground, con
tains over ro,o0o,000 cu.ft. of space, and has a floor area of over 131 acres. The original cost was
the site, close to $7,000,000.
1927, the Library of Congress contained 3,556,767 books and pamphlets, making it the third largest library in the world. The principal sources of growth have been deposits under the copyright law, exchanges of official publications with foreign Governments, and the Smithsonian exchanges which add extensive files of the transactions of foreign learned societies. The main collections are strongest in bibliography, history, political and so cial sciences, public law and legislation, the fine arts, American local history, biography and genealogy.
Besides its research and other services for members of Congress and the Government Departments, it offers excellent facilities for serious scholars. It is also performing the functions of a national library by extending bibliographic and other services to all the libraries of the country. It stands at the head of a recognized inter-library loan system, by lending to college, university, State, municipal and other libraries books which they do not possess and cannot obtain elsewhere.
The modern public library, maintained by the municipality or some other unit of local government from the proceeds of taxation, was scarcely known before 1850 and has developed for the most part since the formation of the American Library Association in 1876. The earliest tax-supported library is supposed to have been the town library of Salisbury, Conn., established in 1803. The oldest existing library of this kind is said to be the one at Peterborough, N.H., which dates from 1833. Legislative sanction for the use of taxation to maintain public libraries was given in New York in 1835, the school district being the library area. By the Michigan Constitution of 1835 the legis lature was given power to establish a library in every school dis trict. In 1848 the Massachusetts general court authorized the city of Boston to raise $5,000 a year to maintain a public library, and in 1851 this Act was applied to all towns in the State. Similar laws were soon passed in other States. In 1928 legislation author izing the establishment and maintenance of municipal public li braries was found in every State except Delaware, where the school district was the only unit recognized for this purpose.