REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS.

THE Board of Directors of the Providence Athenæum present to the fifty-second annual meeting of proprietors a "detailed report of the state of the Library, and of the general concerns of the institution,” as required by the Constitution.

The Board held their first meeting for organization and other business on Monday evening, October 4, 1887. They re-elected Augustus Woodbury, President, and Royal C. Taft, Vice-President. They also re-elected Daniel Beckwith, Librarian, Mary M. Angell, Assistant-Librarian, and Louise Richardson, Second Assistant-Librarian, to their respective offices; and the Standing Committees, on the Library, on the Building and Grounds, and on Accounts, were appointed. The Board have held regular meetings each month, and the average attendance at these meetings has been nine.

At the meeting in January, three hundred and eighty volumes of Congressional documents, asked for by the Department of the Interior, and considered to be of no value in the Library, were ordered, in the discretion of the Committee on the Library, to be deposited with the Department of the Interior, or with the Providence Public Library. And the ques

tion of making a gift of these books to the said Department of the Interior, or to said Public Library, was referred to the next annual meeting of the Corporation. It was the judgment of the Board that as the Library received many valuable books from the government, no better use could be made of the books than to return them to the government authorities at Washington, who especially desired them to complete

sets.

A question has arisen as to the true meaning and intent of Article Twelfth of the By-Laws. The Librarians have in recent years made an annual examination of the Library without any action on the part of the Directors calling in the books or closing it. The examination was previously made by the Directors in person. It has been doubted whether such examination by the Librarians, more particularly without calling in the books annually, was all that the bylaw contemplates, and the best interests of the Library demand; the matter is therefore referred to the Corporation for its judgment and direction. In the opinion of the Directors some modification of Article Twelve of the Regulations is desirable.

On the twenty-fifth day of May, Mr. Albert J. Jones, a former Secretary of the Athenæum, deceased at Florence, Italy. The newspapers of the time mentioned the fact, afterwards verified by a communication from the American Consul at Florence, and the will of Mr. Jones, that the President of the Athenæum was named as one of the executors of the will. The will itself has not yet been made public.

The number of volumes added to the Library during the last year was twelve hundred and fifteen. There were added:

The average cost of the books purchased is $1.41 per volume. Four pamphlets were bought, and two hundred and thirty-five were received as gifts. The number of volumes given to the Library was less than usual. Many came from the public offices at Wash

ington, and were sent at the request of Senator Aldrich. A list of the donors is attached to this report. Nine parts of "Le case ed i monumenti di Pompeï," five parts of "La basilica di San Marco in Venezia," the Illustrazione Italiana, a weekly illustrated paper published at Milan, and twenty-five volumes relating to Italy or Italian art, were purchased at a cost of $197.32 from the income of the Carrington Hoppin Bequest.

When the Library was examined in July, 1,450 volumes were absent from their places on the shelves. Probably one thousand were in circulation. The rest were in process of cataloguing, binding or covering. All these volumes have since been seen except ten, which are reported as missing, and ten which have been lost by shareholders (four of which have been already paid for). Two books reported missing last year have since been found. The number of volumes belonging to the Athenæum on September 1, 1887, was 46,452.

The circulation during the past year was 42,059, classified as follows:

The circulation has increased three per cent. over last year, an increase wholly in fiction and juveniles. The circulation in the other classes is a thousand volumes less than last year. The largest number of volumes taken out in any one month was in March, 4,399, and the largest daily circulation was 349, on February 19. Thirty-one shares have been transferred during the year, seven new shares have been issued, forty-nine shares have remained unused.

The following periodicals have been added to the list published last year. Two are given, nine are bought: American Exchange and Mart; American Journal of Psychology; Book Chat; Das Echo; Le Français; Harvard Law Review; Murray's Magazine; Outing; Quarterly Journal of Economics; Scribner's Magazine; Swiss Cross. One hundred periodicals are now taken.

The following is a general statement of the finances of the Athenæum for the past year, the items of which will appear in the Treasurer's report.