as the country itself. Said the Secretary of the Massachusetts Historical Society: "Massachusetts helped to redeem and make Kansas,-it will help its Historical Society." Said Henry Ward Beecher in accepting a membership in our Society: "I need not say how deep an interest I have taken in her noble progress and renowned prosperity. She well deserves the title 'New England of the West." Said William Lloyd Garrison: "The formation of such a society is cause for special congratulation, and an event of historical importance far beyond the limits of the State; -for there is nothing more thrilling in American history than the struggle to secure freedom and free institutions to Kansas-a struggle which, if it had terminated otherwise than it did, would have been fraught with appalling consequences not only to the State itself, but to the whole country. How different would have been the fate of Kansas, if slavery had been successfully established upon her soil! Under the plastic hand of freedom, how astonishing has been her growth in intelligence, industry, enterprise, population, and material prosperity; and at the present time what strides she is making in developing her ample resources, and how irresistible is the magnetism by which she is drawing to herself from all quarters a mighty immigration that can scarcely fail to place her, ere long, in the front rank of States. This is her fitting recompense for having gone through a baptism of blood and an ordeal of fire with such firmness and devotion to the sacred cause of freedom. May her 'peace be as a river,' and her 'prosperity as the waves of the sea.""

It is in the preservation of the materials of the history of the growth and development of Kansas during the past thirteen years that the work of the Society is most complete and comprehensive. Before our Society had begun its work, the printed materials of the history of the earlier days had in large part been dissipated and destroyed. The materials of the present day, as they are daily and weekly being issued from more than a thousand busy printing-presses, are all being saved in the library of our Society. In its growth and development Kansas has gone forward until it has reached, with all the appliances of the best civilization the world has ever known, the remotest boundaries of our State; and now are to be found newspaper presses in every county. These papers make a record, week by week, of all the events occurring in the growth of these new counties, and complete files of all are being preserved in the library of the State Historical Society, the gift of their generous and thoughtful publishers.

PROVINCE OF A HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

That the Kansas State Historical Society is well fulfilling the mission assigned it by the Legislature, and according to the highest standards established for an institution charged by a State with the duty of forming a library of historical and other materials for the use of the people, may be quoted here a single testimonial as to what ought to be done for the accom

plishment of such object. It is the testimony of Dr. Henry A. Homes, who for forty years, and till his death a few months since, was the eminent librarian of the general library of the State of New York. It is found in an article prepared by him contained in the United States Government publication entitled, "Public Libraries in the United States of America; their History, Condition, and Management," published by the Department of the Interior, in 1876. In a paragraph in which he makes a statement of the special province of a general State library, as distinct and separate from that of a library of law reports, statutes, journals of the Legislature, and State documents, he says:

“A State library will, of course, make it one of its special aims to collect works of American history in general just so far as the means at its disposal will admit. But of all the purposes for which it exists, none respond so directly to the wants of the largest number of the citizens of a State as to aim to collect all the materials accessible to illustrate the history of the State, its counties, its towns, and its citizens. The authorities of the library will therefore be attentive to secure all local histories and biographies, manuscript collections of the papers of its eminent citizens, the official proceedings of all counties and towns, reports of all societies, charitable, commercial, manufacturing, military and secret, and as many of the newspapers printed in the State as can be obtained, with its almanacs, and business and town directories. To these will naturally be added works in science and the arts which relate more particularly to the productions of the State. An honorable historic consciousness will be promoted by securing works of merit of all kinds written by citizens of the State."

NEWSPAPERS AS MATERIALS OF HISTORY.

The following is quoted from the same high authority:

"Much might be said regarding the value of the different classes of books just mentioned, a value which grows with successive years. We will, however, single out from among them for particular notice the class of newspapers. For many towns and counties they are the only printed record of the earliest facts of local history. Their value in libraries is already recognized in our Western States. The Indiana State Library receives twenty-eight newspapers as an annual gift; Minnesota was receiving forty in 1862; and Ohio received twenty-eight. The New Jersey Library invites donations of the same kind. There can be little doubt that the publishers of a large proportion of the newspapers of any State would preserve and give to the State the file of each year, on the single condition that it should be promptly bound and be made accessible to the public. It would be equitable and useful to provide by statute that each publisher sending a newspaper should receive a copy of the laws of the session."

This eminent librarian singles out from among the most important of all the subjects of collection the local newspaper. And yet what a meager showing he makes as to what the State libraries of the country were twelve years ago doing in this department of work: Indiana, twenty-eight newspapers; Minnesota, forty; Ohio, twenty-eight. And they are doing no better to-day. State libraries never have effectively done the most appropriate work for a library of local history and general reference for the

people. They have a paramount object besides, and to that, their chief work is naturally and necessarily confined.

It was left to the voluntary associations of private citizens forming the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Kansas Historical Society, to properly inaugurate and carry forward this kind of work. The board of directors of the Wisconsin Historical Society at their annual meeting in January last, reported as contained in their library, 5,240 volumes of newspaper files; and to this class of library materials they particularly refer as being "the fountain-head of modern history."

SPIRIT OF THE KANSAS PRESS.

The New York State Librarian suggested that publishers should be compensated for their newspapers. That might do for New York, Indiana, and Ohio. But Kansas newspaper publishers see the matter in a different light; it was they who organized the Society, and no sooner was it organized than they began freely to give their regular issues. Not only that, but the veteran editor who had published his paper from away back in the early history of Kansas Territory got together his scattered duplicates until he had made up for the Society a complete file, not a number missing. At least one file thus given we have, covering a period now of more than thirty years. So the publisher of the newspaper starting in a frontier county, hearing of the work our Society is doing, of which he is pretty sure to hear even before his first issue is out, with alacrity puts the State Historical Society on his mail book. Thus the work of the newspaper man's enterprise, zeal and ambition goes to posterity. And who shall say that he will not do better work; more for the good of the people a history of whose doings he records, than if he felt that the issues from his press were but for a day, speedily to pass from the face of the earth as has been the common experience where no historical society has existed to save the issues of the press and place them between fire-proof walls built by the State for the preservation of its sacred archives. The newspaper men and women of Kansas are putting it in the power of the Historical Society which they founded to do better work in making up a library of the best materials of local history than is being done by any other society or institution in the world.

That the publishers of Kansas newspapers appreciate the work being done by the Historical Society which they established, a single quotation may be given from among hundreds. Says the editor of a leading daily:

"This Society, as its name implies, is the custodian and conservator of the history of Kansas. A copy of almost every newspaper published in this State, from its organization, and prior to that period, through its earliest Territorial days, may be found on file in its rooms. From that established in 1854 down to the journals of to-day, a copy of each is there carefully preserved, thus making a continuous and unbroken history of the State to-day. A copy of every book written, by Kansans, may be found on its shelves; so of thousands of foreign newspapers and pamphlets; and all the addresses and speeches embodying matters relating to Kan

sas affairs are there compiled and stowed away. A copy of each annual Agricultural Report, which, by the way, are the fullest, completest, and most accurate reports of the kind prepared by any State in the Union, is there preserved. Copies of the proceedings of every Legislature and every State convention, a record of the minutes of every important public gathering ever held in Kansas, are kept there. The walls and cases of this office are adorned with portraits of Governors of Kansas, of many other historial characters, and of the various Territorial and State Legislatures. Glass cases arranged about the rooms contain Kansas relics of all sorts, conveniently placed. In short, everything of an historical character is being gathered up and consigned to its proper place in the archives of this Society.

"The value of our State Historical Society, aside from its general purposes, as the custodian of Kansas history, as an aid in litigation, can hardly be overestimated. A prominent attorney of this city a few years ago, in an important patent case, found himself compelled to establish a certain date and fact vital to his client. He searched high and low, far and near, without avail. At last it occurred to him that he might at least get a clue from the State Historical Society. He went to Topeka and was handed by the Secretary of the Society the public directory containing the very date and fact he needed.

"The men who organized this Society builded better than they knew. Their efforts to maintain it through all these years have already been amply rewarded in the practical as well as sentimental benefit it has conferred upon the citizens of Kansas, and the appropriations made by the Legislature for its support have been among the best investments the State has ever made. Its utility will be more appreciated from year to year, and long after its projectors and present patrons have passed from the stage of action, its work and accumulations will abide among the most cherished possessions of the Kansans who are to be."

THE WORK EXCEEDS THE MEANS.

The law makes it the duty of the Society to catalog this library. This calls for consideration the subject of the long-continued embarrassment of the Society for want of adequate appropriations by the Legislature to carry on its work, a subject which has been repeatedly presented before in these reports. The present very poorly paid clerical force is insufficient to properly perform the current work of the Society, which has hitherto been necessarily confined to that of gathering in the accumulations, making a record of them, having them bound, classifying and arranging them on the shelves, acknowledging gifts, and conducting the very extensive correspondence involved in reaching out for material, widely scattered as are the people who have for manifest causes had connection with the events of Kansas history from the earliest days. It has thus far been impossible to comply with the requirement to catalog the library. The meager appropriations have compelled the payment to the clerks employed of less than one-half the amount paid to employés in other departments of the State. Double the amount should be paid to present employés, and an additional force should be employed. The scanty provision made by the State to enable the Society to perform its work has no precedent in the legislation of any State. While Kansas gives $4,250 to its Historical Society, Wisconsin. has for many years given annually more than $9,000.

LACK OF ROOM.

The present embarrassment of the Society for lack of room for its collections, and the urgent demand at this time that provision shall be made in the State Capitol when completed for the future needs of this library, must again be mentioned.

The law, as has been quoted, has made it the duty of the Secretary of State to furnish convenient and suitable rooms for the library and collections, such as the Board of Directors of the Society shall determine. Of course it has been thus far out of the power of the Secretary of State or any other authority to comply with this requirement in the uncompleted state of the Capitol building. But in view of the progress being made toward the completion of the Capitol, at the annual meeting two years ago, the Board presented the subject in its report to the Society, and, during the session of the Legislature following, a conference was held between the legislative committee of the Society and the joint committee of the Legislature on the State Library, to whom the Governor's recommendation, that proper legislation should be had for the maintenance of the work of the Society, had been referred. The committee of the Legislature responded to the wishes of our committee, and the following concurrent resolution was introduced by the committee in the House of Representatives, and was adopted:

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 22, 1887.-"Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring therein, That the State House Commissioners be, and they are hereby instructed, that in the preparation of the plan of the main building of the State House, and in the assignment of rooms, ample provision be made for the valuable collections of historical material of the State Historical Society, and for its future growth."

When the resolution came before the Senate it failed to pass. A committee has been appointed by the Board of Directors to confer with the Executive Council and the Legislature in relation to rooms for the library and collections of the Society in the Capitol when completed.

SOCIETY'S SEAL.

During last year, at the suggestion of President Wilder, an engraved seal for the Society's use, with a design deemed appropriate, was procured to be made in Washington, through the kind offices of Senator Plumb. The design combines the seal of the State of Kansas, with the coats of arms of France and Spain at the periods of the sovereignty of those powers over Louisiana Territory, of which the territory within the bounds of Kansas formed a part.

ADDRESSES BEFORE THE SOCIETY.

At the annual meeting, January 17, 1888, addresses were delivered by the following persons:

Hon. D. W. Wilder delivered the annual address, briefly sketching the