145 



nam, to be held on Wednesday, April 11, 1810, at 3 P. M 



The meeting was accordingly held, — E. A. Holyoke being 

 chosen moderator, and John Pickering, clerk. It \Yas voted, 

 that a value of the share be $100, and that the annual assess- 

 ment shall never exceed ten dollars, to consist permanently of a 

 reading room and a library, which shall circulate among the 

 proprietors in such manner and under such conditions as the 

 by-laws may determine ; — it was also voted, to purchase the 

 "Philosophical Library" and the " Social Library," at fifty 

 dollars per share ; and a committee was appointed and author- 

 ized to bargain for the same accordingly. 



Arrangements were satisfactorily made for purchasing the 

 above Libraries. On the 7th May, 1810, the Trustees leased 

 two rooms in Central Building, on Market (now Central) 

 street, for a term of five years,---and the rooms were opened on 

 Wednesday, 11th of July, 1810. In April, 1815, the library 

 was removed to rooms in Essex Place — in 1825, again removed 

 to the rooms over the Salem Bank — and in 1841, to Lawrence 

 Place, — and now they are being deposited in Plummer Hall, 

 which I trust will be the final resting place for this valuable 

 collection of Books, — built by funds left for the purpose of 

 erecting an elegant and safe building of brick or stone, by the 

 late Miss Caroline Plummer. 



The present number of volumes is about 11,000 — they have 

 principally been obtained by moneys arising from the sale of 

 shares and the annual assessments — although many valuable 

 works have been received as donations from the friends of the 

 Institution. 



Some idea of the value of the Philosophical Library may be 

 formed, by running over the following list of books, which it 

 contained. This catalogue is worthy of preservation in our pa- 

 ges, as indicating the tastes and studies of its founders. 



Boyles, R. Works, 5 vols, folio. 

 Harris' Lexicon technicum, 2 vols, folio. 

 Philosophical Transactions (abridgement) 10 vols. 4to. 



" " at large, vols 47 to 70, 28 vols. 4to. 



Memoires de I'Academie Royale des Sciences, depuis 1661 — 1699. 

 14 vols. 4to. 



ESSEX INST. PROCEED. VOL. ii. 19. 



