The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Newberry Library

NEWBERRY LIBRARY, Chicago, Ill., is a free library of reference established in 1887 and maintained by a moiety of the estate of Walter Loomis Newberry (1804-68), a pioneer merchant of Chicago. Since 1894 it has occupied a fine structure of Spanish-Romanesque architecture built of Connecticut granite, situated on Walton place, between Dearborn avenue and North Clark street. The collection consists of over 375,000 books, pamphlets, manuscripts, etc., representative of the principal fields of knowledge and branches of learning which fall within its province; bibliography and the history of printing, religion and theology, philosophy, psychology and ethics, history, political science, geography, biography, language, literature and (in part) the fine arts. The original plans of the trustees contemplated the gathering of a general collection of reference and source books on all subjects. Later, however, a co-operative arrangement was entered into with the Chicago public and other libraries under which the field of knowledge was roughly divided among them, and a policy of non-duplication of books was adopted. In each of its divisions the library possesses many treasures, making it one of the most valuable book collections in the United States. Under the head of education, notably, teachers will find an excellent working collection of authoritative works on the past history of their profession and on its present condition, tendencies, methods, theory and practice. The majority of the books are, naturally, mainly intended for the use of professional scholars, but all classes of readers from the most learned investigator to the boy or girl seeking information for school use are welcomed.