University Libraries in the South.- Per haps it was due to the influence of Virginia that the idea of the State university was first accepted in the Southern States. At any rate it was in these States that for decades they were the most important institutions of higher education. Each one of them possessed some sort of a library, many of which collections were de stroyed during the Civil War and are only now taking place with the other collections of the country. Among these may be noted the Uni versity of North Carolina (1795; 79,205 vols.) ; South Carolina (1805; 46,000 vols.) ; Georgia (1800; 41,000 vols.) ; Tennessee (1796: 37,379 vols.).
University Libraries in the West.- During the middle of the 19th century, the Middle and Far West had developed to such an extent that the demand of the people for schools and li braries began to find response and then began a most remarkable development in these fields. The earliest of these educational institutions, the University of Missouri (1841; 161,470 vols.), owed more to Southern influences than North ern, as did the University of Texas (1836; 134,342 vols.), hence it is in the University of Michigan (1837; 383,976 vols.) that we find the earliest type of the great universities that have sprung up throughout the West. Among these that have large libraries the following may be noted: California (1865; 355,463 vols.) ; Illinois (380,000 vols.) ; Iowa (1850; 130,040 vols.) ; Minnesota (1867; 251,000 vols.) ; Nebraska (1871; 138,650 vols.) ; Ohio (1873; 176,526 vols.) ; Wisconsin (1849; 255,000 vols.).
Privately Endowed Universities.- Equally important has been the development of libraries of institutions owing their origin wholly or in part to private munificence. One of the earliest of these, Cornell (1868), has a library of 489,656 volumes; Lehigh (1877), 130,000; Leland Stan ford (1891), 287,634. The growth of the li braries of these schools has been relatively moderate compared with that of the University of Chicago founded in 1892 by John D. Rocke feller, its collections growing from nothing to half a million volumes in 25 years. Other col leges and universities having collections of more than 100,000 volumes are: Dartmouth (1769), 140,000; Georgetown (1789), 106341; Bowdoin (1794), 115,789; Amherst (1821), 118,000; Oberlin (1833), 175,625; Johns Hopkins (1876), 202,247; Princeton (1746), 397,126 volumes. The character of a college library is determined, of course, by the nature and aims of its institution. In schools mainly technological, like Lehigh, Cornell or Massa chusetts Institute of Technology, the collections are strongly scientific or technical. The same
is true of many of the libraries of the State universities, the latter often specializing in agri culture and kindred topics.
State Libraries.-Another and relatively early development of libraries in the United States was that of the State libraries. Orig inally these were merely reference collections, mainly law books and public documents, housed in the State capitol. In time, however. many of these collections quite outgrew their limita tions, becoming general libraries, the most of them remaining essentially reference collections. A few like the New York and California State libraries in addition serve as capstones to splendidly organized State. library systems. In general, the funds for the maintenance and de velopment of these institutions are supplied by appropriations from the State treasuries, which, it must be confessed, have not always been sufficiently generous to warrant large extensions of their activities. A few of the larger State libraries, such as that of Massachusetts, of Connecticut and of Arkansas, still adhere to the law and document principle, whereas in the.case of Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia the State library has developed into a general or historical collec tion which had resulted in the establishment of. special law or reference libraries for official use. In 1811 the State' ibrary of Massachusetts initiated the custom of exchanging State docu ments which it has kept up to the present. It is difficult to say which State had the earliest collection. Pennsylvania is said to have had an official library in 1777 and New Hampshire claims to have possessed one prior to the Revo lution. In some cases the libraries had de veloped before any official recognition was made of them. Thus Virginia appointed a State librarian in 1825, before an appropriation had been made for hooks, and Tennessee had accumulated some 8,000 volumes prior to the first official enactment regarding the collection in 1854. The following are the most important State libraries: Arkansas (1836), 100,000 vol umes; California (1850) , 207,283; Connecticut (1835), 200,000 (law) ; Iowa (1846), 142,841, Kentucky (1820), 116,626; Maine (1820), 110, 000; Massachusetts (1826), 192,015 (law); New Hampshire (1820), 153,861; New York (1818), 449,542; Ohio (1817), 213,723; Pennsylvania (1816), 176,624; Tennessee (1854), 150,000; Vir ginia (1823), 114,520. In addition, Louisiana, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and Nebraska have State law libraries, and Colorado, Illinois and Ohio have Supreme Court libraries.