STUDIES ON MUSEUMS AND KINDRED INSTITUTIONS. 851 



4. NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY— ASTOR, LENOX, AND TILDEN 



FOUNDATIONS. 



This library orit^inated in 1895 by combining the Astor Library, 

 which was founded in 1849 and opened In 1854, and the Lenox 

 Librar}', which was founded in 1870 and opened in 1878, with the 

 IMlden bequest (1887) of $2,100,000 and 20,000 volumes for a pul)lic 

 library. From plans drawn by Carre re and Hastings there is now 

 being erected in the best part of the city (Fifth avenue) a magnificent, 

 monumental building, which is to be completed in about four years, 

 :it a cost of $2,000,000 to be paid by the city through authority of 

 the government of the State of New York in AUtany. Five hundred 

 thousand dollars were made av^ailable for the purpose in 1899 as a first 

 instalment. As the two libraries named will soon disappear as such, 

 only a few remarks concerning them will suttice. 



The Astor Library, in Lafayette place, near the busiest portion of 

 the principal street (Broadway), is supported by the bequests and 

 donations of the Astor family, amounting to ^1,750,00(1. It is located 

 in a two-story (in the middle portion three-stor}') building of red brick 

 in Romanes(|ue style, 200 feet long and 100 feet wide, which was l)uilt 

 in three sections ))etween 1853 and 1881. The Tilden Library is also 

 installed here. Th(> li])rary consists of al)out 350,000 volumes, most 

 of them of rather a general character, and 100,000 pamphlets, l>esides 

 incunabula, manuscripts, and autographs. One peculiarity is note- 

 worthy, that the Itooks, arranged on the shelves according to subjects, 

 are. accessible to the public with certain limitations; but at present this 



especially on account of the arched eeilin":, like that of a railroad staticiii, which is 

 iKit relieved by the ileeorations. The unsystematic arraiijrenient and the incomplete- 

 ness of the collections is fully explained by their newness. C'onsiderin<r the magniti- 

 ci'iice of the collections it would be ungracious to dwell upon their faults, particularly 

 as these ol)jectional)le conditions are iijiproving from day to day. 1 mention the lack 

 of good arrangement because it may ]iartly be explained from tlie fact that many gifts 

 have to be accepted and placed on exhibition in order not to lose [)atronage — an evil 

 which is met with in many American museums. Such elements as do not tit in a col- 

 lection can only be culled out after the lapse of many years. 



The importance of the comprehensive and celebrated Cyprian collection can not 

 be fully appreciated on account of its unscientific arrangement. The Hnds are sep- 

 arated (they pnjbably were never kept together) and there exists no chronological 

 sequence at all. The Oriental, Grecian, and Cyprian types in the vases, terra cottas, 

 glasses, and stone sculptures are everywhere mixed together. Unfortunately no 

 information whatever is given the visitor by labels. I le does not get much more from 

 the handbotJvs, since these are limited to brief descriptions. They are, indeed, 

 w elcome but not sufficient for an understanding of such objects, (^ne must, there- 

 fore, regret not being able to derive the full benefit from this tine collection, even 

 after several visits, which it should be capable of affording. The unsystematic 

 arrangement of the collection is also particularly striking in the room on the second 

 story devoted to pre<'ious ornaments. On the other hand, care has been bestowed 

 upon harmony of arrangement in the entire museum, so that the general impiessi«in 

 l)rodnce(I is one of pleasure and grandeur. 



