69 



Salem Athenaeum, founded many years since by the wis- 

 dom of those far seeing people who resided here in the 

 early part of this century, possesses some fifteen thousand 

 volumes in the various departments of the arts, litera- 

 ture and science, and a building erected from funds be- 

 queathed by Miss Caroline Plummer. This lady, presum- 

 ing that the Athenaeum Library might at some future time 

 be thrown open to the public, provided in her will that 

 if the said library should ever become a public one, her 

 bequest should not be forfeited. 



The Essex Institute has accumulated a library of some 

 twenty-five to thirty thousand volumes and about one 

 hundred thousand pamphlets systematically arranged for 

 reference and consultation ; also a goodly collection of 

 portraits of the old worthies of Salem ; manuscripts, 

 specimens of currency, historical relics, etc., which are 

 deposited in Plummer Hall. The scientific collections, 

 which are very extensive, having been deposited with the 

 Trustees of the Peabody Academy of Science in East 

 India Marine Hall. 



Cannot some arrangement be made so that these two 

 libraries, with that belonging to the Salem Charitable 

 Mechanic Association, and perhaps others, be united, and 

 thus form a basis for a noble public Library? Are there 

 not some Maecenases to furnish the amalgam that will 

 cement the union, and thus bring about this glorious re- 

 sult? 



Furthermore, on the land in the rear of Plummer Hall, 

 a safe and fire-proof building could be erected, which 

 might be a Memorial Hall, consecrated to the memory 

 of those who have devoted their lives to the preservation of 

 the Union during the crisis through which this nation has 

 recently passed. Let this building be a place of deposit 

 for the portraits and other memorials of those who first 



