The Draper Estate Settled. It is gratifying to be able to announce that the estate of Dr. Draper is at last settled, final judgment having been entered in the Dane county court, November 6, 1896. By this judgment, the Society acquires title to the Draper homestead (lot 4, block 51, city of Madison), and the Draper library and manuscripts. The explicit report of the executor, Mr. William A. P. Morris, is hereto appended. [See Appendix, E.] The Society is deeply indebted to the executor, for his judicious administration of the tangled estate; to his earnest desire to realize the well-known intentions of Dr. Draper, towards this institution and the public whom it represents, we chiefly owe the satisfactory outcome of the five years of often vexatious litigation. Mr. Morris has, in this matter, given freely of his time and professional experience, having accepted therefor a merely nominal fee, his wish being that the Society should acquire as large a share of the property as possible. Another of our colleagues, Mr. Henry M. Lewis, who represented the Society at the hearing of the petition for the construction of the will, is also deserving of our thanks for the performance of valuable. service for a nominal fee. The Draper homestead still remains in the hands of the Society, at present the charge of the binding fund; but under authority of the legislature (chapter 179, laws of 1895), it is now upon the market, and when sold the proceeds may, under the statute, "be devoted to such purposes as the executive committee of the Society may elect." The Proposed Draper Fund. At a meeting of this committee, held June 25th, 1896, an amendment to the by-laws was offered as follows; it will doubtless be adopted in due course: Amend the by-laws by adding thereto the following section: SECTION 17. There is hereby established a separate fund to be known as the Draper Fund, the income of which, or so much of said income as may from time to time be deemed advisable by the executive committee, shall be used in indexing the Draper Collection of manuscripts, and purchasing or otherwise securing for the Society's library additional manuscripts and printed material touching upon the history of mid-Western settlement. The principal of said Draper Fund shall consist of the net proceeds of all real or personal property bequeathed to the Society by the late Lyman C. Draper, deceased; of all gifts to the Society, the givers of which may designate such fund as beneficiary; and of such sums of money as may from time to time be set apart by the executive committee for such purpose. Said principal shall be loaned by the treasurer of the Society in the same manner as, and in connection with, the Binding and Antiquarian Funds; and all unexpended balance of interest arising from such loans shall annually be added to the principal of said Draper Fund. The Draper Manuscript Collection, now consisting of about 400 large folio volumes, covers the early history of the Old Northwest and Old Southwest, from the middle of the eighteenth century until the close of the war of 1812-15. Its far-reaching character has frequently been described in the reports of this committee, an outline of the series being given in the Proceedings of the Society for 1894. These manuscripts are attracting to our library, from all parts of the Union, historical students who are engaged upon work in which the Draper Collection is an important factor. Although we have expended much labor in properly classifying and binding the manuscripts, and have prepared a rough index to the most conspicuous of the treasures, which has materially assisted visiting scholars, the collection is worthy of better treatment. There should be a card catalogue of the manuscripts, for use in situ; and for the benefit of scholars of American history generally, a published calendar or . analysis akin to that published for the archives of Canada, Virginia, New York, and elsewhere, to the end that persons at a distance can ascertain exactly in what the collection consists, and send for copies as needed, without the burden of coming to Madison. In this manner the public usefulness of the collection would be many times greater than now, and the fame of this library be still more widely extended. We owe it to Dr. Draper's memory that the splendid collection which he has willed to us, and which is to-day one of our proudest treasures, should be made accessible to every delver, far and near, into the roots of Western history. A calendar of the Draper Manuscripts is the sort of monument which he would. have most dearly cherished; it would be more useful to mankind, more fitting to his memory, more enduring in character, than any effigy of bronze or marble which we could erect in his name. As we treasure Dr. Draper's services to the Society, let us see to it that the Draper Fund be made large enough to rear a monument worthy of him and of us. LIBRARY ACCESSIONS. Following is a summary of library accessions during the year ending November 30, 1896: Books purchased (including exchanges). 3,056 Pamphlets, made from newspaper clippings, etc., worthy of As will be seen from the foregoing tables, the total accessions of the year were 9,002 titles (5,247 books, and 3,755 pamphlets). Of these, there came by gift 5,817 (2,191 books, and 3,626 pamphlets), or about 66 per cent. The actual gifts to the library, * Including social science, statistics, political science, political economy, law, administration, and reports of associations and institutions. during the year, have been far greater than this, for there were received from that source 3,211 books and 5,221 pamphlets, a total of 8,432; of this large number, 1,020 books and 1,595 pamphlets a total of 2,615 titles, or about 24 per cent were duplicates of what were already on our shelves, and therefore do not appear in the tabular statement of accessions. Due credit for all these, however, is given in the list of "Givers of books and pamphlets," which it will be seen embraces men and women from far-distant parts of the civilized world. As in past years, we have made several important exchanges with other American libraries. In this work, we utilize our large stock of duplicates, so that no gift of books or pamphlets comes amiss to us. These exchanges, however, involve much clerical labor, and make us realize that our force of assistants is too small for a library with the scope and ambition of our own. List of some of the most important books added during the fiscal year 1895-96: Annuaire historique universe!, 1818-1861. Paris, 44 vols. Bayard, Ferd. Voyage dans l'interieur des États-Unis. Paris, 1797. Bressani, F. G. Brève relatione d'alcvne missioni de 'PP. della Compagnia di Giesù nella Nuoua Francia. Macerata, 1653. Bright, Richard. Travels from Vienna through Lower Hungary. Edinburgh, 1818. Brown, John Carter. Catalogue of books in library of John Carter Brown. Providence, R. I., 1870-82, 4 vols. Bruce, James. Travels to discover source of Nile. Edinburgh, 1790, 5 vols. Dutt, Shoshee Chunder. Works of. London, 1884-85, 10 vols. Ebers, Georg. Egypt; descriptive, historical and picturesque. London, 1878, 2 vols. Fairlie, Mrs. (ed.) Portraits of children of nobility. London, 1838–39, 2 vols. Fraser, J. B. Travels in Koordistan. London, 1840, 2 vols. Genealogies (separate works) of the families named: Adams, Allen, Bangs, Barley, Bartlett, Bassett, Blanding, Boardman, Burnham, Booth, Cabell, Chesman, Crane, Culbertson, Curtis, Cushing, Drake, Early, Edwards-Todd, Ellis, Ellis-Abrams, Estes, Field, Follett-Dewey, FassettSafford, Gage, Graves, Hamilton, Hamlin, Harwood, Hassam, Hawes, Hooper, Howland, Hunnewell, Hutchinson, Kelton, Kolb-Kulp-Culp, Lewis, MacLaughlin, Magoun, Marot, Munson, Odiorne, O'Donovan, Ormsby, Orton, Paul, Platt, Potts, Prime, Rexford, Rockwell, Rollo, Rosenberger, Sargent, Sharpe, Sinclair, Smith, Sprague, Stiles, Swer ingen, Stockett, Street, Swain, Thomas, Thompson, Tolman, Trumbull, Tucker, Voorhees, Walker, Washburn, Watson, Welles, White, Whiting, Whitney. American ancestry, 1895; Early Germans in New Jersey; English peerage, 3 vols.; Genealogist's guide; Military and naval chronicles of Danvers, Mass.; Pennsylvania genealogies. Great Britain. Journal of House of Lords, 1836-1894. London, 60 vols. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. London, 1881-1894, 46 vols. Hansard, T. C. Parliamentary debates from the year 1830 to 1895. London, 393 vols. Hart, H. G. Annual army list of Great Britain, 1856-1887. London, 23 vols. History and antiquities of Westminster Abbey. London, 1856. Industrial Chicago. 1891-94, 4 vols. Jeypore, (India). Portfolio of architectural details. Prepared under the supervision of Col. S. S. Jacob. Issued under the patronage of his highness, the Maharaja of Jeypore. London, 1890, 6 vols. Keppel, George. Journey across the Balcan. London, 1831, 2 vols. vols. Ogden, J. C. Tour through Upper and Lower Canada, 1799-1800. Litchfield. Pote, Capt. Wm. Journal of Captain William Pote, Jr., during his captivity in the French and Indian war, from May, 1715, to August, 1747. N. Y., 1896. With map of the northern English colonies, together with the French settlements, Canada and New England, by Charles Morris. Rashdall, H. Universities of Europe in the middle ages. Oxford, 1895, 3 vols. Report of deputy keepers of public records in Ireland, 1869-1894. Dublin, 26 vols. Rochemonteix, C. de. Les Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France au XVIIe siècle, d'après beaucoup de documents inédits. Paris, 1895, 3 vols. Sketches of the Hindoos. London, 1792, 2 vols. Warner, Richard. Tour through northern countries. Bath, 1802, 2 vols. Tour through Wales. Bath, 1813, 2 vols. Wellington, A. W. Dispatches of field marshal the Duke of Wellington, during his campaigns in India, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, the Low Countries, and France, from 1799 to 1818. London, 1837-8, 12 vols. and supplement. Wilson, W. R. Travels in the Holy Land. London, 1847, 2 vols. |