6 



CITY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 



with minor exceptions her entire property, the income from $10,000 to 

 be used for the purchase of scientific books, and the income from the 

 remainder to go towards the maintenance of the Museum of Natural 

 History. The magnificent bequest of the late George Walter Vincent 

 Smith is known to you all. The income from his estate will ultimately 

 go to the support of the Art Museum and the George Walter Vincent 

 Smith collections, which are the result of his life's work. 



In the course of time the annual cost of both the Art Museum and 

 the Museum of Natural History will without doubt be cared for entirely 

 by private endowments, leaving for the city only the maintenance of 

 the library and branches. It is greatly to be hoped, also, that gifts 

 or bequests will provide for a much needed enlargement of the sorely 

 overcrowded Museum of Natural History building. 



In other ways the Association has benefited from generous friends. 

 Many books and other objects were presented, which have already been 

 gratefully acknowledged. Three fine portraits by Charges Loring 

 Elliott, given by Dr. Albert R. Rice shortly before his death, have been 

 hung in the rotunda on the second floor of the library. The late Azel 

 A. Packard provided in his will that a valuable painting by Shurtleff, 

 showing a view of the Connecticut River, shall ultimately come to the 

 Association. 



Last summer the Directors learned that the house and lot at 29 

 Edwards Street was for sale, and a little later that the house and lot at 

 37 Edwards Street was also in the market. These properties adjoin 

 our land on the rear, and are situated on either side of the lot at 33 

 Edwards Street, which the Association already owns. With a view 

 to future needs, it seemed altogether desirable that the Association 

 should control this land. As a consequence money was borrowed to 

 buy these properties at a cost of $22,000 and $14,000 respectively, and 

 they will be rented until needed for the Association's purposes. This 

 purchase extends our property through to Edwards Street on a frontage 

 of about two hundred feet. 



It is profoundly gratifying to know that Mr. Sm'th saw the new 

 wing of the Art Museum, which he had so long desired, and for the utili- 

 zation of which he had so carefully planned, substantially completed 

 before his death. The cost of this building, as stated last year, we were 

 obliged to finance by borrowing, and this, together with the purchase 

 of the real estate on Edwards Street mentioned above, leaves the 

 Association with a debt of about $100,000. 



It is good news that the residents at Forest Park under the leader- 

 ship of Mr. Henry R. Johnson, Col. B. A. Franklin, and others are 

 raising funds or a substantial addition to the branch library building. 

 The remarkable patronage and resultant overcrowding of the branch 

 make such an addition greatly needed. The Directors are interested 

 and wish the movement success. 



And now I come to the overshadowing thought that has been in 

 the minds of all of us throughout this meeting. Within the space of 

 a few short weeks, death has removed from the Board of Directors 

 three of its members — George Walter Vincent Smith, Henry H. Skin- 



