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

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ister and its artistic stand, which were presented by the class of 1893. In the same ruthless manner it destroyed the elegant hogany clock presented by the class of 1894. On the walls were the portraits of all of the presidents of the University except Dr. Dean and Dr. Schaeffer; also a fine photograph of Samuel J. Kirkwood, and large photographs of several of the early ors of the Institution. There were plaster busts of Homer, Shakespeare, Scott, Goethe, and Franklin; there was the silk flag given. by the girls of the Uni- versity to the boys who went out as hundred-clay men during the war; the plaster cast of the Rosetta Stone; the inter-class cup; the individual donations of books amounting to several hundred umes. Perhaps no library in the west had a finer collection of tions of Goethe and works in early English than this, but they were all burned and there was left only a pile of roofless rubbish ing in pity to an open yet pitiless sky. Before the burning ceased, the librarian and a few firemen, at their peril, entered the building, the firemen to remove the body of their dead comrade, and the librarian to begin the rescue of such books as might remain. Many willing workers proffered ance. Baskets and shovels were secured, the smoldering piles searched for unconsumed treasures, and whatever was worth ing at all was carried to the Central Building to be dried, and, if possible, saved. The hall, the President ' s office, the rooms of Profesors Currier, Wilson and Loos were invaded by wet and charred books. On chairs, tables, window-sills, and floors were piled the sorry remnants. Under suitable direction, over thirty willing workers, ladies and gentlemen, began the task of drying books. The June phere, instead of lending aid, grew more- and more humid, so that the last resort was to put on heat. This materially hastened the process of drying, although much to the discomfiture of those working, as well as to the annoyance of the Chancellor in his rooms above stairs. The law lecture room and the law library were utilized and possible was done to save what money may never 11

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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

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' University! again replace. The Chancellor sought a cool retreat in the science building, Prof. Veblen and his assistants worked steadily away in the Latin quarter, drying and polishing the wet and injured ments from the physical laboratory, while the Librarian opened an office in Prof. Wilson ' s room. The beginning of a new library, with everything on consumed and the shelf-list and card catalogue gone, was no easy task. The professors, whose departments suffered most from the fire. rendered valuable aid in making out lists of books for their departments. Later, the Librarian ' s office was moved to the dental building. When the term opened another move was made to the basement of the Unitarian Church. As soon as the old library building was repaired, the office and the new books made another trip across the campus. In the mean time two rooms in the basement of the Central Building had been fitted up to hold the blackened remnants of the Talbot library. Purchases and donations of new books have amounted to over five thousand volumes. These have been catalogued and placed upon the shelves. Available funds are nearly exhausted and all look hopefully to the coming legislature for much needed priations. 23