ACT OF INCORPORATION OF THE HARLEM LIBRARY.* PASSED 29 MARCH, 1871. AN ACT to incorporate the Harlem Library. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : Section 1. The Harlem Library Association and the trustees of the Harlem School may unite in one corporation under the name and style of the Harlem Library. 2. On filing with the Secretary of State a certified copy of a * In 1820, the Legislature of the State of New York passed an Act (Laws of 1820, Chapter 115) entitled "An Act relative to the Common Lands of the freeholders and inhabitants of Harlem." By this Act trustees were appointed to sell the said common lands, and were authorized out of the net proceeds thereof to pay the sum of $3,000 to the trustees of the Harlem Library, for the benefit of the said library; the sum of $4,000 to the trustees of such school as might be established in the village of Harlem; and certain other sums to schools and churches. Prior to this time a number of residents of the village of Harlem had formed a voluntary association for the establishment and support of a library in that village; but this association had never been incorporated. In order that it might become "legally entitled to receive the appropriation made by the Legislature from the proceeds of the Harlem Commons" (See minutes of the Harlem Library Association), it was incorporated in 1825, by the name of the Harlem Library Association, under the provisions of an Act of the Legislature entitled "An Act to incorporate such persons as may officiate [So in Act; evidently should be "associate "] for the purpose of procuring and erecting public libraries in this State" (Laws of 1796, Chapter 43). The money which was thus received from the sale of the common lands was resolution adopted by a majority of the trustees of each of the said corporations, they shall thereupon become incorporated under the name of the Harlem Library. 3. All the shareholders in the Harlem Library Association and the members of the Trustees of the Harlem School, who have heretofore subscribed and paid the sum required by statute, shall each be entitled to one share in the place of such as they now own in either of the said corporations. 4. All the property, real and personal, of the said corporations, shall vest in and belong to the corporation hereby created, and such corporation shall be liable for all the debts of either of the said corporations. 5. The said corporation hereby created shall have and possess all the powers granted by the act entitled, "An act to incorporate such persons as may associate for the purpose of procuring and erecting public libraries in this State, passed April first, seventeen hundred and ninety-six, and the several acts amendatory thereof and supplemental thereto." applied in part to the purchase of books and in part to the erection of a building. In 1826, the Harlem Library Association purchased from the ministers, elders and deacons of the Reformed Low Dutch Church at Harlem a plot of ground situated on the west side of Third Avenue, between 121st and 122nd Streets, being about 25 feet in width by about 50 feet in depth, and upon this plot of land a library building, 22 by 28 feet, with a brick front, was erected and opened as a library in March, 1827. Subsequently, by two deeds, dated November 6, 1828, and December 12, 1855, respectively, the Harlem Library Association purchased from the Reformed Low Dutch Church additional land, situated at the rear of the above-mentioned plot, increasing their entire holding to a full city lot of a little more than 25 by 100 feet. The library was maintained in the building first erected until 1873, when the building was removed and a new library building, covering 25 by 80 feet, was erected upon the land acquired by the above-mentioned three deeds, and was opened to the public on June 8, 1874. The premises were then known as No. 2238 Third Avenue, and were sold by the Harlem Library in 1892. A corporation known as "The Trustees of Harlaem School" was created by act of the Legislature passed April 2, 1827 (Laws of 1827, chapter 149). It was organized in order to receive the four thousand dollars which, by the Act of 1820, above referred to, was authorized to be paid to the trustees of such school as might be established in the village of Harlem. The corporation acquired land, 6. The shares of the said library shall be transferrable, and the trustees may make the same subject to an annual payment for the support of the library. 7. The trustees shall, by their by-laws, designate the time of the annual election of trustees, and shall give notice of such election annually, as prescribed in the said act, and shall fix the number of trustees, not exceeding nine, nor less than five, who shall be residents of Harlem. 8. The trustees of the Harlem School and of the Harlem Library Association shall be the first trustees of the Harlem Library incorporated by this act and shall hold their offices until the first election of trustees, as provided in the last section. 9. The corporation hereby created may purchase and hold land for the erection of a suitable building for a library and lecture-room, in addition to the property now owned by the corporation herein mentioned, provided that the annual income thereof shall not exceed the sum of forty thousand dollars. 10. This act shall take effect immediately. erected a building and maintained a school until the establishment of a common school system for the Twelfth Ward rendered the maintenance of the Harlem School unnecessary. The building was leased to the trustees of the common schools until May, 1872, when it was sold. In August, 1872, the corporation known as The Trustees of Harlaem School" and the " Harlem Library Association" united in a new corporation known as the " Harlem Library," in pursuance of the provisions of the above act of the Legislature. Certified copies of the resolutions required by section 2 of the act were duly filed with the Secretary of State by The Trustees of the Harlem School on June 12, 1872, and by the Harlem Library Association on August 12, 1872. The Trustees of the Harlem School at this time were: Edgar Ketchum, William H. Colwell, William G. Wood, Isaac Lockwood, Jonathan Hanson, Joseph O. Brown and Charles H. Randell. There were 24 members. The property consisted of $26,200 in mortgages and cash. The Trustees of the Harlem Library Association at this time were D. P. Ingraham, George L. Ingraham, Robert Belloni, Henry Patterson and Nathaniel Jarvis. The Trustees of the Harlem Library, on 20 July, 1897, "Resolved, that on and after September 1, 1897, the Harlem Library be a Free Library." The Library was thereupon registered with the Regents of the University of the State of New York, on 5 November, 1897, under the provisions of the University Law (Laws of 1892, Chapter 378). |