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men, and manuscripts relating
to Yale of the past. Glazed
shelves, specially ventilated in a
manner to preserve their
contents, line the walls. Carved wood
panels on the ends of
the bookcases illustrate the various
extra-curriculum activities
in the University. A portion of the
original Yale fence
faces the visitor as he enters.
In the corridor
outside the door of the Memorabilia
Room, a small stair leads to one of
the least conspicuous but
most interesting collections in the
library. Here in a secluded
corner a room has been designed to
reproduce as exactly
as possible the Yale Library of 1742.
Paneled in white
pine and lit from narrow wood casements,
this room
impresses one with the remarkable evolution
of the Yale
Library in two hundred years. Owing
to the existence of an
old manuscript catalogue of the books
of this early library,
prepared by President Clap, which described
the arrangement
of shelves and the positions of the
books on each shelf,
it was possible to take the original
volumes, about sixty per
cent of which were still in the stack,
and place them exactly
as they were in 1742. Surrounded on
all sides by the
magnificence which the present library
displays, this modest
collection so carefully read and treasured
by the early
generations of Yale scholars serves
as a reminder that what makes a library is not the dimensions of
the building but a love of
books.
ELLERY S.
HUSTED, '24
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