760 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 
[Dec.,, 
subscriptions and for the purchase and binding of kindred books. 
By means of this fund the Academy has been enabled from time to 
time to add to the library many costly monographs which, until 
quite recently, it would otherwise have been unable to procure. 
In 1850 the collection had increased to 12,057 volumes. 
Apart from these gifts and others from friends of the society, 
the growth of the library had depended on a system of exchange 
with other scientific societies, begun in 1817 when the Journal of 
the Academy was first issued. This important source of supply 
has since been maintained, with the result of securing the earliest 
information regarding original research from all parts of the world. 
Very inadequate sums for the purchase of books were secured 
from time to time by subscriptions or sales of material not germane 
to the Academy. The historical documents received from Mr. 
Maclure were sold to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 
1861 for $500. This was known as the Maclure Fund. A mo¬ 
tion to invest the amount and expend the interest only was voted 
down and the entire sum was placed at the disposal of the Library 
Committee for the purchase of books. 
The Conarroe Fund was a small amount arising from the sale of 
books presented by George M. Conarroe. Sums of money for 
special needs were frequently contributed by Mr. Joseph Jeanes and 
a Library Fund was started in 1860, to which twenty-seven sub¬ 
scribers contributed $25 each annually until 1868. Some dupli¬ 
cates were sold in 1870 for $100, and others were exchanged for a 
copy of Elliott’s Birds of North America. 
These were all helps, but a permanent endowment was sadly 
needed, for the income from the Wilson Bequest, after the sum 
toward the salary of the Librarian had been deducted, did not 
always yield a sufficient balance to pay the subscriptions. It can 
therefore be readily understood with what joy Mr. Isaiah V. 
Williamson’s gift in 1875 of $25,000 in ground rents was re¬ 
ceived. The income only was to be expended on the purchase of 
scientific books, and the I. V. Williamson Fund, inaugurating a 
period of prosperity up to that time unknown, continues to yield 
an important part of the resources at the disposal of the Library 
Committee. 
In 1882 eighteen hundred and ninety-seven volumes—1,272 on 
religion, history, politics, general literature, 422 duplicates and 201 
