STATE LIBRARY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

The members of the Legislature are cordially invited to avail themselves of the privilege of the State Library. It contains about 100,000 volumes, and is strictly a reference library. The Librarian and assistants will be at the service of those in search of information, and should be freely consulted.

The fourteenth section of chapter 5 of the Public Statutes provides that the State Library shall be for the use of

1. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, the Council, the Senate, the House of Representatives.

2. Such other officers of Government and other persons as may from time to time be permitted to use it.

REGULATIONS.

1. The Library is open every day in the year, except Sundays and Legal Holidays, from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M., except Saturdays, when it is closed at 2 P.M.

2. Visitors are requested to use the books at the tables, alcoves, and to avoid conversation.

not in the

3. The Statutes, Law Reports, and some other reference books may be taken to any room in the State House for temporary use, but are not to be removed from the building.

4. Any book taken from the Library-room must be receipted for by the person taking it, who will be held responsible for its safe return.

Trustees. WINFIELD S. SLOCUM, Newton; EDWARD EVERETT HALE, Boston; STEPHEN O'MEARA, Boston.

Librarian.-C. B. TILLINGHAST.

Assistants. - Miss ELLEN M. SAWYER, Principal; Miss MARIA C. SMITH, Miss JENNIE W. FOSTER, Miss SUSY A. DICKINSON, J. F. MUNROE.

AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY.

A valuable Agricultural Library, connected with the office of the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, is also open at all hours of the day for the use of the members of the Legislature.

BOSTON ATHENEUM.

By the Act of the General Court incorporating the Proprietors of the Boston Athenæum, it is provided that the Governor, LieutenantGovernor, the members of the Council, of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives, for the time being, shall have free access to the Library of the said corporation, and may visit and consult the same at all times, under the same regulations as may be provided by the by-laws of said corporation for the proprietors thereof.

The Boston Athenæum is situated in Beacon Street, near the State House; and members who may wish to avail themselves of their privilege can receive a note of introduction to the Librarian by applying to the Sergeant-at-Arms.

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Section 6 of the Act of Feb. 19, 1794, incorporating the Massachusetts Historical Society, provides that "either branch of the Legislature shall and may have free access to the library and museum of said society."

THE STATE HOUSE.

The present State House was erected in 1795-7, upon land purchased of the heirs of John Hancock, by the town of Boston, for the sum of £4,000, and conveyed by said town to the Commonwealth, May 2, 1795. The Commissioners on the part of the town to convey the "Governor's Pasture," as it was styled, to the Commonwealth, were William Tudor, Charles Jarvis, John Coffin Jones, William Eustis, William Little, Thomas Dawes, Joseph Russell, Harrison Gray Otis and Perez Morton. The agents for erecting the State House were named in the deed as follows: Thomas Dawes, Edward Hutchinson Robbins and Charles Bulfinch.

The corner-stone was laid July 4, 1795, by Governor Samuel Adams, assisted by Paul Revere, Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons. The stone was drawn to the spot by fifteen white horses, representing the number of States of the Union at that time. The building is 173 feet front; the height, including dome, is 110 feet; and the foundation is about that height above the waters of the bay. The dome is 53 feet in diameter and 35 feet high. The original cost of the building was esti mated at $133,333.33.

Extensive improvements, including a "new part" extending backward upon Mount Vernon Street, were made, chiefly under the direction of a commission, in the years 1853, 1854, 1855 and 1856.

Under a resolve of 1866 a commission was appointed to inquire and report concerning the whole subject of remodelling or rebuilding the State House. They reported three propositions without deciding in favor of either. The first was a plan of remodelling at an expense of $375,430; the second, a plan of remodelling at an expense of $759,872; and the third, a plan for a new building at an expense of $2,042,574. The report of the commission was referred to the committee on the State House of the session of 1867, who recommended a plan of alterations at the estimated expense of $150,000; and by Resolve No. 84 of that year the work was ordered to be executed under the supervision of a commission consisting of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who were authorized by the same resolve to expend $150,000, and, by a subsequent resolve, $20,000 in addition. The President of the Senate died on the 29th of October, and thereafter the