LIBRARIES.
The original State Library of Oregon, as the reader knows, was destroyed by fire in 1855. The later collection numbered in 1885 some 11,000 volumes, and was simply a law library, as there were few miscellaneous books. It contained no state historical documents or writings of local authors to speak of. The annual appropriation of 8750 was expended by the chief justice in purchasing books for the supreme court.
The Library Association of Portland had the largest miscellaneous collection in the state. It was founded in February 1864 by subscriptions from a few prominent men, amounting in all to a little over 2,500. At the end of the first year it had 500 volumes, and increased annually till in 1885 there were some 12,000 volumes. Although not large, this library was selected with more than ordinary care, the choice of books having been made principally by Judge Deady, to whose fostering care its continued growth may be principally ascribed, although the institution is scarcely less indebted to W. S. Ladd, for the free use of the elegant rooms over his bank for many years. The first board of directors was W. S. Ladd, B. Goldsmith, L. H. Wakefield, H. W. Corbett, E. D. Shattuck, C. H. Lewis, William Strong, W. S. Caldwell, P. C. Schuyler, Jr, and Charles Calef. The directors were divided into five classes by lot, the first class going out at the expiration of two years, the second in four years, and so on to the end, two new directors being elected biennially. The first officers of the association were W. S. Ladd, president; William Strong, vice-president; Bernard Goldsmith, treasurer; Henry Failing, corresponding secretary: W. S. Caldwell, recording secretary; H. W. Scott, W. B. Cardwell, and C. C. Strong, librarians. In 1872 the association employed Henry A. Oxer as librarian and recording secretary, whose qualifications for the duties materially assisted to popularize the institution. Judge Deady has been presiding officer for many years.
The Pacific University, State University, Willamette University, Monmouth University, McMinnville and other colleges and schools, and the catholic church of Portland, maintained libraries for the use of those under tuition, and there were many private collections in the state.
IMMIGRATION SOCIETY.
The first society for the promotion of immigration was formed in 1856, in New York, under the title of New York Committee of Pacific Emigration. S. P. Dewey and W, T. Coleman of San Francisco, and Amory Holbrook and and A. McKinlay of Oregon City, were present at the preliminary meeting at the Tontine House. An appeal was made to the people of Oregon to interest themselves in sustaining a board of immigration, and keeping an agent in New York in common with the California Emigration Society. Or. Statesman, Feb. 3, 1857. The matter, however, seems to have been neglected, nothing further being heard about immigration schemes until after the close of the civil war, and after the settlement of Idaho and Montana had intercepted the westward flow of population, reducing it to a minimum in the Willamette Valley and everywhere west of the Cascades. About 1868 the State Agricultural Society appointed A. J. Dufur, its former president, to compile and publish facts concerning the physical, geographical, and mineral resources of the state, and a description of its agricultural development, which he accordingly did in a pamphlet of over a hundred pages, which was distributed broad cast and placed in the way of travellers. Dufur's Or. Statistics, Salem, 1869.
In August 1869 a Board of Statistics, Immigration, and Labor Exchange was formed at Portland, with the object of promoting the increased settlement of the country, and furnishing immigrants with employment. The board consisted of ten men, who managed the business and employed such agents as they thought best, but the revenues were derived from private subscriptions. Ten thousand copies of pamphlets prepared by the society were distributed the
