X.-INDUSTRIAL ART AND DESIGN. To the President: Sir: Since the last report for the Department of Industrial Art and Design was made, the new casts for the room on the fifth floor, Main Building, have been put in place, and the students have shown their interest in and appreciation of their surroundings. In addition, I wish to acknowledeg a gift of models to this Department from Assistant Professor Towle, consisting of several large geometrical solids. No other kind is so valuable for the use of beginners. For the work in this room we need only some adjustable brackets, fastened to the backs of the desks, to hold models-perhaps one for every other desk and better light, though we have suffered less from lack of light in the past session than during the preceding year. The drawing boards used by the sub-freshman class have been in constant use for seven years, for all kinds of work, and are now in very unsatisfactory condition for the more strictly mechanical part of the work in designing, due partly to the fact that they were originally not such boards as draughtsmen require, and the work would be much less trying if we might have good boards for this purpose. The change in the schedule for the students of the freshman class in biology, namely, the giving of four (4) out of six (6) hours assigned to freehand drawing to the professor in charge of the Course in biology, and of having it returned in the sophomore year, has proven agreeable and profitable. For, while no more time is consumed, the quality and grade of work are advanced by reason of the longer familiarity with the subject, and greater maturity of the student. The collection of casts has grown from a very small nucleus to be a good working collection, and represents merit and variety. Owing to vigilant care on the part of the students, as well as the instructor, the equipment has suffered surprisingly little. Dust will settle on the casts, and the act of dusting in time drives it into the porous body, detracting from original freshness and purity, and, where there are so many students working in close quarters, a few broken models are inevitable; but in no case has it been impossible to reclaim them by mending, and in no case has it been the result of wilfulness. On the other hand, the students have come to take as much care of them, if not as much pride in them, as I have. On examining the catalogues of a large proportion of "land-grant colleges," I find that 80 per cent. of them have freehand drawing taught as auxiliary to engineering work, and about 33 per cent. have an established course of three or four years' studio work, together with courses of lectures on the history of art, and a comparative study of the same. This last phase of the work I have long hoped to see established, because I see so great need in this part of the State. The eastern and western sections are being gradually taken care of, but that serves only for the extremes of a large area. That which is being done in the east and west is largely by private bequest and individual liberality: in Pittsburgh, notably, by one man who has the means and the generosity, and sees the value of the advantages to the public in general. It should be the special province of the State to provide for this geographic centre and the country lying within a large radius. The Department has undertaken to start a course of lectures which it is hoped may be continued on a more generous plan, even though it be at present limited to a single lecture for a session. It would be a great benefit if such lectures could be free, not only to the student but to the public as long as we have seating capacity. The Commonwealth, in her wisest judgment, would not wish to confine her young people to that which receives the stamp of approval because it is practical only, and deprive them of all opportunity to study and be taught something of that which is beautiful. The study of the beautiful reacts for good on all things, the strictly useful as well as that which stands for the purely ornamental, while both play an important part in our nineteenth century civilization. The desire for this always appears in the period of the highest development of a people, and is recognized as necessary to the greatest intellectual pleasure. Not that style of decoration characterized by the painting of a "lovely stork on ma's pickle jar," nor the painting of pictures especially, but the study of the fitness of things-line to line-part to part-proportion and applicability to place for which a thing is designed or designated. Not only appropriateness of form, but the study of color, for color appeals to the young, and who does not recognize the influence of color? In some degree it has its influence on all individuals, and even on the lower animals, and I believe the blind have a God-given conception of color. What would the world be to the least appreciative if it were altogether gray or altogether brown? Educators as a whole, if not the people in general, have come to recognize the value of familiarizing the pupil with masterpieces of art, and are endeavoring to bring before the eyes of every pupil in the land (though for a long time perhaps it will only reach those in or near large cities) some good illustration or reproduction of a worthily noted bit of art-architecture, sculpture, painting. This will do much for the young people reached and the national life in general. Sir M. A. Shee, an ex-president of the Royal Academy, London, said: "It should be the policy of a great nation to be liberal and magnificent, to be free of her rewards, splendid in her establishments and gorgeous in her public works. These are not the expenses that sap and mine the foundations of public prosperity, that break in upon the capital, or lay waste the income of a state; they may be said to arise in her most enlightened views of general advantages, to be amongst her best and most profitable speculations; they produce largs sums of respect and consideration from our neighbors and competitors, and of patriotic exultation among ourselves; they make men proud of their country and, from priding in it, prompt in its defence; they play upon all the chords of generous feeling, elevate us above the animal and the machine, and make us triumph in the powers and attributes of men." On a rather close estimate of the cost of the Department to the College, it was found that less than $10,000 have been expended for equipment and instruction in eight years. While we appreciate our possessions, we desire a wider usefulness, and, to that end, would ask that a room for the double purpose of art gallery, serving as a place for exhibition of students' work and lecture hall, be provided, and an appropriation of from five to seven hundred dollars be made for the purchase of good prints and other reproductions of the historic things that everyone should know familiarly. Respectfully submitted, State College, Pa., June 15, 1899. ANNA E. REDIFER. XI.-LIBRARY. To the President: Sir: The year about to close has been characterized by an increase in the working facilities of the Library and an extension of the work in one or two new lines. During the summer two new book stacks were put in, one in the main book room and one in the public document room, the necessity for which may be judged from the fact that they have already been filled, and more shelf room is again required. The files of unbound magazines, in which the Library is uncomfortably rich, and which are in constant service, have been placed on the shelves in the book room and made accessible to students, an arrangement by which they suffer in proportion as the students profit. One of the pressing needs of the Library at present is the binding of these periodicals, which are a most necessary part of its equipment. A case for current magazines, reference books and maps, was placed in the reading room in September. Its use leaves the tables free and adds greatly to the convenience of readers. Through a system of exchange instituted by the Free Lance, the reading room now receives in addition to the newspapers before filed, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Times and the Pittsburgh Leader. The thanks of the Library are due to the Free Lance for this contribution. A valuable collection of books on current topics, including a number on Spain, the Cuban War, Naval History, United States History, including the works of Theodore Roosevelt and Capt. Mahan, was added to the Library at the opening of the Fall Session. They have been very thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed. A special effort has been made during the year to complete the sets of Government books. Early in the year a check list was sent out by the United States Superintendent of Documents to the depository libraries of duplicate books held in the Department at Washington, with a request to check such ones as were desired. The list was carefully compared with the sets in the Library, checked and returned. This tedious work was done entirely by Miss MacDonald. As a result, twenty-eight mail bags of Government books, containing 1,154 volumes, were received during the Fall Term. These books are now being catalogued as rapidly as possible, the special indexing of important sets receiving careful attention. The gift is a valuable one, and goes far toward making the sets of sheepbound documents complete. Special attention has been given during the year to the needs of the Engineering Library. As it is located in the Engineering Building, the necessity is obvious of having a catalogue of its books within convenient reach of the students consulting it. A dictionary catalogue has, therefore, been prepared and sent to the Engineering School. In furtherance of the idea of increasing the efficiency of the Library, a librarian has been employed by the School, who, in connection with other duties, takes charge of the books and superintends the reading room during several hours of each day. The number of books now in the Library, including those in the Departments, is 14,005; the number added during the year, 1,195. Of these the Department of Mining Engineering has added 94, Electrical Engineering 91, Chemistry, 84, Mechanical Engineering, 66, Physics, 19, Civil Engineering 14, Modern Languages 13, Botany 4, Biology 3, Psychology 1. The average of attendance in the reading room per day during the year has been 85. The number of daily newspapers received is 5; of local weeklies 19. Of other periodicals 56 are subscribed for, for the main Library, and 46 for the Departments. It is a matter for regret that the Library is not adequate to the demands made upon it by the students, and that they are obliged to turn elsewhere for their literary recreation. The force of a library is measured by the number of its readers and not by the number of volumes which it contains, and as long as the periodicals of the reading room receive almost exclusive attention, to the neglect of the books on the shelves, it is safe to conclude that the latter are lacking in attractiveness and are therefore ineffective. The special pressing needs of the library are the binding of the magazines, the further equipment of the stack room and the addition of much more of the general literature of the day. Its largest hope is for a suitable building, which shall give room and facility for its proper development. I wish to give special recognition to the valuable and devoted help rendered during the year by my assistant, Miss Anna MacDonald. Respectfully submitted, State College, Pa., June 30, 1899. HELEN M. BRADLEY, |