University of Iowa - Hawkeye Yearbook (Iowa City, IA)

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became of the same caste as the rare old books which had retired from active duty and for many years had reposed in serene majesty upon their lofty shelves. The rare copy of St. bound in pig-skin, was fallen to the level of Webster, and Allibone and Appleton. A hundred choice bibles, printed in Hebrew, in Sanskirt, in Hindoo, and sian, lay prostrate beside bound copies of Harper ' s, Scribner ' s, and the Forum. The cinders of Thomas Hope ' s beautiful tions of The Ancient Costume were mingled with those of Puck and Die Fliegende Blatter. The stately volumes of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton, participated in the same mad carnival with Mark Twain and Ignatius Donnelly. Ruskin was hurled down, enveloped in the same flame which consumed the Critic and the Dial. Thirty rare, beautiful volumes from the British Plaeontological Society, compiled for this library by Mr. Rich, were made one with the embers of Gray ' s nies and Steele ' s common school series. bon ' s birds, the elephantine ume of Victoria Regia, the derful Me- designs of the Pyramids consumed by the same flame which devoured Government meats. All which money and genius could collect on Archaeology lay smoldering in a common heap with modern history and literature. The autographs of many distinguished scholars and heroes were 20 the charts of the U. S. Coast Survey and the

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a four clays ' tournament, which closed late the night before. Alto- gether it was a combination of unfavorable circumstances, and the flames met little resistance. When entrance was gained to the building, the attic was a seething furnace, to which the only access was through a small seethi man-hole in the ceiling. It became at once apparent that the brary was doomed, and effort was made to save something before the roof came down. By the th ' o tghtfulness and courage of Miss Mary E. Barrett, the reference rian, who was among the first to enter the building, the accession ters were saved from the rian ' s Mr. L. M. of the firemen, while making a heroic effort to save a tion of the card catalogue, located near the center of the building, was caught by falling timbers and perished in the flames.The men were compellel to run for their lives, for at one crash the whole roof gave way, and slate, timbers and plaster all came down into the library. Book cases, with their precious freight, were precipitated to the floor and ignited. It was a wild scene of the fiery elements never to be forgotten. The water supply was insufficient and the marl elements did their worst. Thousands of precious volumes, valuable beyond comparison, became thousands of burning fagots. Useful, every-day working books, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, Leek, one 19

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tin iversitr common dust beside the daily registers and account books. Bound copies of the theses of many alumni relinguished their ity to an all-consuming flame. And, Oh! the pity of it all, that the labor, the time, the anxiety, the solicitude, the self-sacrifice, which have gone to make up a great library—a library which should not only be the pride of the state but which should be the meat and drink, the stimulus and inspiration of thousands and thousands of students—that all should become cinders and charred remnants to be shoveled into carts and dumped by the wayside. Those who for nearly forty years have witnessed the library grow from a few hundred volumes to a collection, rare and useful; who have seen this set of books, then another, then another added; have watched the leaves of many a volume grow thin, and times ragged with excessive use; have seen the eves of students kindle with a new light and an awakening sense of the value of so many useful books; have seen students reluctant to leave the room when the clay was clone, and awaiting the opening of the doors in the morning; to such the calamity of fire is simply appaling. The loss to the library was, in round numbers, sand bound volumes and nearly fifteen thousand pamphlets. The only portion saved, of all which was in the building, was from the D. H. Talbot collection, which numbered four thousand two dred and eighty volumes. Of this perhaps two thousand five dred volumes will be saved. They await the skill of the binder. Among the the losses were many gifts to the library; the Talbot lection, just mentioned, was the gift of D. H. Talbot of Sioux City, Iowa; the Walter Tallant memorial library of two hundred umes, consisted of choice books upon Art and Architecture; the German library of four hundred beautiful books, which Prof. Wilson had industriously collected; the Alumni Americana lection of about seventy-five exceedingly rare volumes; some of the latter being in the librarian ' s office were saturated yid] water, but not burned, and were subsequently dried in a certain kitchen in the north part of town. There were also in the room some class memorials. The flames paid no respect to the large Visitor ' s 21