pointed out that the book collection was entirely inadequate to the needs and that where similar institutions had thousands of volumes, the Seminary had only a few hundred. To overcome this grave deficiency he announced that he and a few others had opened a subscription of $1,000 to be spent by the faculty for books and that $700 already had been pledged. In response to his appeal, the assembly subscribed the remaining $300 in a few minutes. Part of the money realized was sent to Professor Sears, who was then in Germany, for the purchase of theological tomes rarely on the market in the United States.
Encouraged by the results of the subscription campaign in 1833, the Trustees opened a second one three years later. Five thousand dollars was to be raised one hundred shares of $50.00 each, payable in five annual $10.00 installments would thus insure an income of $1,000 for five years for buying books. All members of the faculty, except Professor A. C. Kendrick, who was then on a trip in the South, were subscribers. Their high hopes were blasted by the Panic of 1837, but not before a $1,000 order had been placed with the German bookseller at Halle. After some items arrived the Executive Committee was forced to cancel the order for those not already shipped and Dr. Kendrick was obliged to appeal to William Colgate for a loan of $700 to cover the consignment which had already been received.
Nearly every Annual Report of the Education Society carried an appeal for the library, especially for volumes in English on theology, history, and literature. At the urgent request of the faculty, the Executive Committee in 1842 sent $500 to’ Professor Conant, then studying in Germany, to buy books, including the “principal writings of the Fathers.” Professor Raymond who apparently resented the purchasing of so many works in theology, especially those in foreign languages, complained that the library was “shamefully deficient” in standard titles in English literature. By 1846 the collection probably contained about 5,000 volumes, estimated as being worth around $3,500.
Professor A. C. Kendrick, who was chosen librarian by his colleagues in 1834, was intensely concerned about the responsibilities of his position. He observed that “Other institutions are making up the necessity of having an ample library &if we are not on the alert on this point they will draw the students.” Under faculty supervision he and
