|
|
|
|||||
|
Bookplate Index by Library or Collector |
Connecticut State Library In a note dated 23 January 1888, the state librarian of Connecticut, Charles J. Hoadley, wrote the following lines to Eliphalet Wickes Blatchford, a Chicago bookplate collector who later became a trustee of the Newberry Library, evidently in reply to a query from that gentleman. Sir: We have not used a Book-Plate for the last thirty years. I send you one such as was used about forty years ago. It is not correct: the field of the shield being ruled as for azure whereas it should be argent, and the legend Sigill. Reip. Connecticutensis being manifestly improper there. Yours respectfully, Charles J. Hoadley Enclosed with that note was the bookplate on the cover of this issue of JLH, now preserved, along with many others in Blatchford's collection, at the Newberry Library. Aside from the mistaken heraldic color coding, Hoadley's objections apparently involved the fact that what is called a seal should more properly be termed the arms of the state. These are trifling considerations, however. What is interesting about this plate is its simplicity in an age when graphic simplicity was beginning to be a little old-fashioned, especially in bookplates. It was evidently not designed as a whole, but when made up of various readily available typographic elements in a printer's office, and run off letterpress. The seal, or rather arms, must have been in use on other state documents, the type is of the regular hand-set variety, and the "No." logotype is a kind that could readily be bought from type founders for use on all sorts of documents. Another interesting aspect of this plate is that it dates, if we are to believe Hoadley's "about forty years ago," from a period before there was an officially established Connecticut State Library. We should perhaps believe him, because his term of office began in 1855, four years after the Library had been established by statute, and continues until his death in 1900. His successor, George S. Godard, it is interesting to note, followed him with another lengthy term lasting from 1900 to 1936. State libraries had their origin in the efforts of the various states to preserve the documents of government and to provide legislators with a source of information for use in their official capacities. Although the Connecticut State Library was far from being the first such institution to be constituted officially, it certainly followed the general pattern. The Connecticut legislature created the Library in May 1854, and the first state librarian was appointed that year. However, references to a "state library" are found in the 1840s, when the legislature at various times authorized the secretary of state as unofficial custodian to buy bookcases for state books and to maintain, in the statehouse, a collection of law books and other public documents. It is possible that the bookplate on our cover dates from that period. During Hoadley's tenure, the primary function of the Library was to serve as a law library to the legislature, and the librarian's function was seen as being for the most part strictly clerical. Indeed, Hoadley's initial salary was computed at the same rate as other clerical employees of the state. Toward the end of the century the Library's function as a depository of state documents grew, along with its general reference collection. Godard, with his broader and more dynamic view of librarianship and the function of a state library, reflected in Connecticut changes that were taking place throughout the country. He was a strong administrator who also possessed good public-relations skills and was able to give the Library the organization it had, to a certain extent, previously lacked. During the terms of office of Hoadley and Godard the Library changed locations twice: to the new state capital in 1878, and to a building shared with the Supreme Court in 1910, where it gained a major addition in 1968. Today the Library maintains extensive collections in the areas of public records and documents, law books and related material, and Connecticut history and genealogy. These areas include more than 435,000 bound volumes, 2 million manuscript items, and a million pamphlets, microfilms, maps, pictures, and other items. In addition, the Library has assumed a central role in the development of libraries within the state, providing advisory and technical assistance where needed. It is also the focal point for federal library programs within the state. The bookplate reproduces the state motto in Latin, "Qui transtulit sustinet," which means "He who transplants sustains." The three grapevines in the arms symbolize the original Connecticut River settlements which were transplanted from Massachusetts and the agriculture which sustained them. The original plate measures about three by four inches. Phillip A. Metzger Graduate
School of Library Science The University of Texas at Austin
Bookplate courtesy of The Newberry Library, Chicago.
[Originally published in Journal of Library History, vol. 13, no. 3 (Summer 1978): 323-325.] |
|||||
