Page:The librarians of Harvard College 1667-1877.djvu/43

 LIBRARIANS OF HARVARD COLLEGE. 37 Of Dr. Cogswell's work in the Harvard Library, George Ticknor, then the Smith professor, thus wrote, in October, 1822, to S. A. Eliot: "The Library is now in fine order. It is arranged on the same plan with that at Gottingen, though for want of books the subdivisions are much fewer at pres- ent, and the catalogues are made out in the same way, so that all possible future additions will re- quire no alteration in any part of the system." Discouraged at the illiberal allowance then inside by the Corporation for the care and in- crease of the Library, Dr. Cogswell resigned his charge of it in 1823, and in company with George Bancroft established the Round Hill School at Northampton, Mass. This institution, although a notable and influential departure in educational methods, was not a financial success, and it was given up in 1834. After two years spent in teaching a school in Raleigh, N. C., and another year in Europe, he settled in New York. Here began his friendship with John Jacob Astor, with whom he lived as companion and adviser until the death of Mr. Astor in 1848. It had been Mr. Astor's intention to erect an expensive monument in New York City to the memory of Washington ; but it was by Dr. Cogswell's persuasion that he was induced to build and endow a library instead. Thus to Cogswell's suggestion and influence the Astor Library owes its foundation, while to his indefatigable energy and wide knowledge in the selection of books is due its great value. Ap- pointed by Astor's will one of the trustees, he was also elected the first superintendent of the Li- brary, and in 1848 made the first of many visits to Europe for the purchase of books ; and he always claimed that he was enabled to keep the average cost of the volumes purchased very low, because of the sacrifice of libraries, incident to that revolutionary epoch. In November, 1861, after thirteen years of the closest and most devoted services, which included the issuing of the cata- logue in four volumes, mainly the result of his own unaided efforts, he resigned on account of ill health. The office of trustee he continued to hold until his removal to Cambridge, in the fall of 1864. In 1863, Harvard gave him the degree of LL.D., an honor previously (1842) bestowed on him by Trinity College, Conn. He lived quietly in Cam- bridge, making occasional short journeys and visits to friends in New York and elsewhere, until his death, on the 20th of November, 1871, at the age of eighty-five. Dr. Cogswell was a man of broad scholarship and minute accuracy. There were few fields in which his knowledge was not exact and far reach- ing. Devoted to his profession, he yet found time for many close friendships ; during his frequent trips abroad he became intimate with many well- known men, among them, Goethe, Humboldt, Byron, Scott, and Jeffries. To the bibliographical skill and learning of its first superintendent the Astor Library is as enduring a monument as it is to the liberality of its founder. A marble bust of Dr. Cogswell, given to the Harvard Library by several of his pupils at the Round Hill School, is preserved in the room of the Librarian. AUTHORITIES: Life of Joseph Green Cogswell an sketched in his letters, [ed. by Anna Eliot Ticknor,] 1874. pp. xii. 377. (portrait.}. American annual cyclopedia, 1871, pp. 120-122. Appleton's Cyc.o/Amer. biography, i. 679. Astor library, Reports, 1862, 1865, 1872. Boston daily advertiser, 28 Nov. 1871. Necrology of Harvard College, 1869-72, 1872, pp. 8-10. Saunders, Biog. sketch of J. G. G. in Library journal, xiii. 7-10, (Jan. 1888). Wilson, Jos. G. Cogswell, in Appleton's journal, vii. 19-20, (6 Jan. 1872).

1823-1826.

Charles Folsom, born in Exeter, N. H., 24 December, 1794, was the son of James and Sarah (Gilman) Folsom. After studying at Phillips Academy, Exeter, he entered Harvard in the sophomore class and graduated in 1813. During the winter vacations while an undergraduate and for the year after his graduation, he taught school. Returning to Cambridge the next year, he began to prepare himself for the ministry, but poor health forced him to give it up. Meanwhile he was a proctor and regent in the college, and in 1816 received the degree of A.M. The same year he accepted an appointment as chaplain and in- structor of mathematics on the U. S. ship Wash- ington about to cruise in the Mediterranean. He remained abroad five years, part of the time serv- ing as United States consul at Tunis (1817-19). In 1821, he returned to this country and was chosen tutor in Latin, a position he kept until in September, 1823, he was made Librarian. By the direction of the Corporation he issued in 1824 a printed list of duplicates which were offered for sale at fixed prices. It was during his administra- tion that greater freedom in the use of the Library began to be granted, especially to visiting schol- ars ; and it was largely at his suggestion that the Library was thrown open " to all comers, with the implied assurance of welcome and aid." In 1826, he resigned the office and also the tutorship of Italian he had held for a year, in order to give his full time to a position he had partly filled for a year or two, namely, corrector of the University Press. Yet his interest in the Library did not cease, for we find him apparently still in charge (in March, 1828) of the sale of duplicates as begun during his term, and he gave Peirce able assistance in the preparation of the catalogue of 1830. The Greek motto prefixed to the catalogue of maps was suggested by him.