y6 Boston Society of Natural History 



The housing problem has, from time to time, become acute, but 

 always there has eventually come some means for relief. In 1839, 

 the small but growing collection of books was housed in the Libra- 

 rian's private rooms onTremont Row, where its seven hundred vol- 

 umes might at all times be accessible to members. With the opening 

 of the present building, the space allotted in 1865 seemed wholly ad- 

 equate for a generation, bat in another thirty years it had outgrown 

 three large rooms, including the present basement room, reached 

 by a flight of lighthouse stairs. Within the last twenty years, the 

 great value of the Library and the hope of gaining more room by 

 the installation of less bulky furniture led to the construction of 

 a specially fire-proofed stack room with modern steel stacks. The 

 generous gifts of a few members have of late greatly helped to pay 

 for necessary binding of paper-covered journals and transactions of 

 societies, as well as in recent years to supply attractive tables and 

 chairs for the use of readers in place of the few ancient pieces in- 

 herited from mid- Victorian times. Now again, the growth of the 

 Library has reached about the extent of its quarters, the use of it 

 has increased many fold over what it was a few years since, and a 

 wider usefulness is hampered by the need of greater facilities for 

 housing and binding the books and procuring many that cannot be 

 secured except by purchase. Part of this increased use comes from 

 the general public, for whereas in days gone by, the books were for 

 the use of members only, a privilege exercised by few, now the pub- 

 lic is allowed to consult the Library and its staff and resources al- 

 ready are inadequate to meet the need. 



Professors assign lessons and their students come to us eagerly, 

 armed with references. We are told that nowhere else in the vicin- 

 ity are such books available. With touching confidence the stranger 

 expects us to have all the good books on birds, ferns, or spiders. 



