134 JAMES R. ROBERTSON. tion made a depository of government publications. Thus the library is particularly rich in government works, be- ginning with the Annals of Congress in 1789. Doctor Atkinson, also, was alive to the value of a library and se- cured many books when he was in the East. After his death his private library also was given to the institution by his daughter, Mrs. F. M. Warren. President Marsh on every trip to the East secured books, both by gift and purchase. One of the most notable gifts was the collec- tion of Sidney E. Morse. His father, Rev. Jedediah Morse, was interested in the subject of geography, and was him- self one of the leading American writers on the subject. Among his books were many that pertained to that field. Thus the library come into possession of such a rare and valuable book as a " Ptolemy Universal Geography," bear- ing the date 1542. There were also many books of travel now invaluable to one desiring to study American history from the sources. The collection was also rich in early texts and contains at least four hundred volumes of Amer- icana that date previous to 1820. Many of the books are in- teresting from the names on the fly leaf. There are books given by Henry W. Longfellow, Rufus Choate, and Ed- ward Everett Hale, with autograph signatures, and some- times addressed to President Marsh. Many of the books are interesting because they represent the taste of those who assisted President Marsh in the selection. His cousin, George P. Marsh, was an adviser, and as a consequence there went into the library many early English texts in- valuable to the student of English literature. The collec- tion of books was a remarkably good one for the center of a college life and alone gave tone to the college as stand- ing for culture in the truest sense. A fund also was created which yields a few hundred dollars yearly, and from this the library has been able to add from time to
