XIX 



have secured an extensive and most valuable library of volumes, bound 

 and unbound, which if destroyed could not perhaps be replaced. This 

 collection also is unavailable, because, as in the case of our museum, 

 we have nowhere to place it for access by those wishing^ to use it. 



This has been the situation with which the present managers of the 

 Association have had to deal and to which they have g-iven most seri- 

 ous consideration. 



It had long" been the wish of this body to rescue its collection and 

 library from the dust and obscurity of mere storag'e and place them 

 where they could be seen, studied, and enjoyed by the public. It was 

 felt that in the formative period of our community this purpose could 

 not be accomplished merely by private enterprise or by private ex- 

 pense; that contemplating- exclusively public benefit it should be recog- 

 nized as a public undertaking: and aided, as similar undertakings in 

 other boroughs, by the public purse. 



This conclusion necessitated new corporate powers, to be conferred 

 by the Legislature, which neither the Greater City, nor our Association 

 hitherto possessed. It became necessary to "publicise" our body and 

 to grant to the City power to lease space in the Municipal building and 

 to provide land and money for the erection of suitable buildings for 

 keeping and maintaining the museum and library. 



These preliminary powers have been conferred under a special charter, 

 granted unanimously by the Legislature, by an Act which promptly 

 met the approval of the Governor and became a law May 17th. 1905. 



The old corporation, by this legislative alchemy, became transfused 

 into the new, and we stand here tonight by this happy consunuuation. 

 fully empowered to be the medium of conveying to the public of tlie 

 !)Orough of Richmond for its perpetual benefit this rich result of de- 

 voted scientific research, of a value difficult to estimate from a com- 

 mercial standpoint, and, what is more to the purpose, of a value incal- 

 culable from a moral, intellectual, educative, and social stand{)oint. 



Let it not be supposed that we do not confidently expect the City ad- 

 ministration to do its duty in the premises. So far as we have thus 

 gone, we have found a friendly disposition on the part of City officials, 

 which augurs well for our plans. We have applied for space in the 

 Municipal building, but it has not yet been determined by the Sinking 

 Fund Commissioners whether space there necessary for our use can 

 l)e spared from other public purposes having prior claim to acconuno- 

 dation. 



But what we need, most and best of all, is a building specially de- 

 signed and erected as a museum building, capable, however, of enlarge- 



