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HoUinger Corp. 
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 Cr0g jloung pim's ^ssoriatiflit. 
 
 THE following papers contain an account of the early eflForts, made in the 
 village and city of Troy, to educate the people by the publication of 
 books, by the establishment of the old Troy Library, and by the provid- 
 ing and maintenance of lectures on scientific subjects. They also contain many 
 facts as to the organization of the Troy Young Men's Association, its progress 
 and present condition, and its capabilities for disseminating information. These 
 papers were prepared by Mr. Benj. H. Hai^l, at the request of the present 
 Executive Committee of the Troy Young Men's Association, and were first pre- 
 sented to the public in the columns of the Troy Daily Times of October 30th, 
 ' 31st, and November 1st, 3d and 3d, 1877, by the courtesy of the proprietors of 
 that journal. They are now republished in their present form by the Executive 
 Committee aforesaid, in the hope of impressing more permanently upon the 
 minds of the citizens of Troy the importance of maintaining the institution to 
 which they specially relate. 
 
 Troy, N. Y., Novemler 2Sth, 1877. 
 
 iF-IK-ST IP.A.IPEia. 
 
 Whatever ideas may prevail respecting the character and nature of true e-ov- 
 ernment, one principle generally allowed to be correct is that the society or 
 combination which assures the greatest amount of good to the greatest number 
 at a moderate cost, and which is based upon intelligent principles of member- 
 ship and privileges, is worthy of commendation and support. We have in our 
 city many organizations, the objects of which are as varied as their names. 
 Some are confessedly of a religious nature, drawing their general inspiration 
 from the ideas of Christianity, but impressing their peculiar interpretation of 
 that belief in a variety of sectarian forms. Others are organized for the pur- 
 pose of affording companionship in health, relief in sickness, and proper atten- 
 tion at death. Others still are purely recreative, instructive or social in their 
 character. For the privileges which each affords to its members, voluntary con- 
 tributions are expected, or dues, in many instances almost burdensome, are 
 required. 
 
 The privileges afforded by the Troy Young Men's Association are more varied 
 and are supplied at a less cost than those of any other organization equally uncir- 
 cumscribed, in this city, and yet our citizens of late years have failed to take 
 advantage of these privileges, and in consequence the Association has failed to 
 do the good which it is capable of accomplishing. Its predecessor was the old 
 Troy Library, an institution whose collection of books was ordinarily kept in 
 

 2 THE TROT YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION. 
 
 the office of some one of the lawyers of the village, and afterwards youthful 
 city of Troy. This early organization was just a step beyond a circulating 
 library. Yet an examination of such of its volumes as now form a part of the 
 library of the Young Men's Association shows that they were well thumbed 
 and at the same time carefully handled by the readers of that day. To this 
 early collection of books was doubtless due much of the culture and literary 
 taste which pervaded Troy even in its earliest days. The Troy Library was 
 founded in the year 1800, and numbered among its officers and patrons the 
 principal people of the village. In the year 1816, when the village became 
 a city, it had become an important factor in supplying literary pabulum to 
 the community, and from 1817 to 1820 it contained from 630 to 692 volumes on 
 its shelves. 
 
 The tone of intelligence which marked the lives and characters of the former 
 generations who dwelt on this spot is manifest in many ways. Besides the 
 effect produced by the books which our fathers read, there was a most bene- 
 ficial influence exerted by the early booksellers of Troy. That the culture of 
 manners was not then neglected is evident from the fact that here was print- 
 ed during the latter part of the last century the first treatise on dancing known 
 to have been published in the United States. Means were also employed to 
 provide religious, moral, educat'onal and literary entertainment. Previous to 
 the year 1820, the following books, among others, emanated from the print- 
 ing presses of Troy : Joseph Hawkins's Voyage to Africa was printed for the 
 author by Luther Pratt in 1797, and passed to a second edition. Obadiah Penni- 
 man & Co., in 1803 printed " Observations on the Medical and Domestic Man- 
 agement of the Consumptive ; on the powers of Digitalis Purpurea ; and on the 
 cure of Schrophula by Thomas Beddoes, M. D. ;" and in the same year " Thomas 
 Collier on Eiver street" printed Robert Barclay's Catechism, which found a 
 ready sale among the Quakers who lived here and in this vicinage. In 1804 Ben- 
 jamin Gorton, supposed to be Troy's earliest author, and a tallow chandler by 
 profession, enlightened the world by his work entitled " Primitive Christianity 
 Revived," and it was "printed by Mofiitt & Lyon for the author." In the same 
 year, 0. Penniman & Co. published the third American ediiion of " Goldsmith's 
 Roman History, abridged by himself for the use of schools." But a new era in 
 literature dawned on this beautiful valley and set the jealous Albanians in a 
 frenzy of rage, when in 1806 the First American Edition of " Hudibras, in 
 three parts ; written in the time of the late wars. By Samuel Butler, esq. 
 With Annotations and a Complete Index," was " printed and sold at the Rens- 
 seller Book-store by Wright, Goodenow & Stockwell." This was followed in 
 1807 by t\\& first American edition of the " Letters of the late Lord Lyttleton, 
 complete in one volume," from the press of the publishers of the Hudibras be- 
 fore named, and the fame of this daring venture reached not only to Gotham but 
 actually disturbed the equanimity of the politesse of Boston and Philadelphia, 
 and gave rise to many forebodings, not only that the " course of empire " was 
 taking an eternal flight westward, but that civilization and letters were follow- 
 ing in her train. The year 1808 was made still more famous by publications 
 relating to travel, religion and physic. Wright, Goodenow & Stockwell, still 
 to the fore, published "A View of the Nervous Temperament," by Thomas Trot- 
 ter, M. D., and " Travels in the Year 1806, by the Marquis de Salvo," adorning 
 the latter work with a frontispiece on copper, of the brave and gallant marquis, 
 in which he is represented with a broad expanse of cravat and collar, and a head 
 of hair which looks as though the marquise, if there was such a lady, had had 
 a hand in it, or as if he had borrowed the frizzle of some woman of fashion. The 
 other publication was from the press of Oliver Lyon, and was entitled, " A 
 View of Spiritual or Anti-Typical Babylon," by the light-diffusing Gorton. 
 
 In the year 1809 Parker & Bliss sent out the " Fifth Troy Edition " of " The 
 American Preceptor " by Caleb Bingham, and three years later uttered " The 
 Complaint ; or Night Thoughts," of the late Dr. Edward Young. It was in this 
 year also (1812) that the same firm published " An Account of the People called 
 Shakers," by "Thomas Brown of Cornwall, Orange county, State of New York," 
 and in 1814 they sent out Jedidiah Morse's " Geography Made Easy," having 
 reprinted it from the sixteenth Boston edition. During the year 1815 they 
 strove to infuse a love of the art of eloquence in the breasts of the young men 
 
THE TROY YOUNG MEN's ASSOCIATION. 3 
 
 of that period by publishing the "Sixth Troy Edition" of Caleb Bingham's 
 " Columbian Orator." 
 
 These are examples of the publications which the early booksellers of Troy 
 sent forth from their presses and shops for the instruction of the people. They 
 were purchased and read by the citizens, and gave tone to society. And by their 
 aid and by the aid of the circulating volumes of the old Troy Library, the early 
 habits and manners and life of this community were founded in intellitrence 
 and in a love of knowledge. Are we doing all we can to maintain these founda- 
 tions firm and secure ? 
 
 In their efforts to exert a direct beneficial influence upon the lives and char- 
 acter of the former generation of this community, the booksellers and the Troy 
 Library were not left alone. A powerful impetus was given to scientific re- 
 search by the establishment of the Troy Lyceum of Natural History, under the 
 guidance of Prof. Amos Eaton, Dr. Moses Hale and Dr. Ira M. Wells, " for the 
 purpose of encouraging the study and disseminating a knowledge of Natural 
 History and the other sciences." The corporators were James Dalaby, Richard P . 
 Hart, Isaac McConibe, Dr. Ely Burritt and George Tibbits, names, all of which, ex- 
 cept the first, are associated in the minds of those of our citizens who were boys 
 40 years ago, as belonging to men to whom Troy is indebted for much of its early 
 fame and present position. A better idea of the breadth of the character of this 
 Society may be obtained by stating that among its first officers John D. Dickin- 
 son was president, David Buel, Jr., was second vice-president. Dr. Amatus 
 Robbins, corresijonding secretary, and Dr. Moses Hale one of the curators. " A 
 year from its commencement it numbered among its members some of the most 
 celebrated men in the United States, andthepublicationsof its transactions were 
 circulated frooi one end of the country to the other. This was, indeed, the first 
 society of the kind in America." In the efforts of Prof. Amos Eaton, as mani- 
 fested in his philosophical and scientific lectures, and by his publications, the 
 community found a secure and abiding basis for scientific and literary work and 
 development. Original himself in his modes of thought and methods of men- 
 tal progress, he aided in educing from his pupils every latent taste for science 
 or natural history which they possessed, and was the first among Americans to 
 classify the teachings of nature as they manifest themselves in the stratifica- 
 tions of the rocks, in the internal resources of the earth, and in the growth and 
 character of plants. Aided by influences such as these, the time came when — 
 population having increased beyond the limits of a neighborhood settlement — 
 it became necessary to provide more general means for accommodating all who 
 desired it with such mental food as would enable them to develop the power of 
 the mind ratably with the growth and maturity of the body. 
 
 The first step in the direction indicated was taken at a meeting convened in 
 the Mayor's court room on l^riday evening, November 28, 1834, "to decide 
 upon the expediency of providing a course of public lectures during the com- 
 ing winter, and to discuss the propriety of organizing a young men's associa- 
 tion." At this, the initial meeting, the late John T. McCoun, honorably re- 
 membered by all who knew him, presided, and the secretary was that learned 
 and well known citizen who still in his old age rejoices in the prosperity of the 
 city, Alexander McCall. A committee was then appointed to draft a constitu- 
 tion and report the same on some future occasion. At a meeting held on the 
 12th of December following, this committee, consisting of Giles B. Kellogg, 
 Thomas Coleman, Martin I. Townsend, Ralph Hawley and Thaddeus B. Bige- 
 low, presented a form of constitution which was accepted, and five persons from 
 each of the four wards of tlie city were designated to obtain signatures to this 
 instrument. So successful were they in their efforts that in a week from the 
 time of their designation they had obtained the names of 426 signers to the 
 constitution. On the evening of Friday, December 19, 1834, this gratifying suc- 
 cess was formally reported by the committee at a meeting held at the court 
 house, and immediately thereafter John T. McCoun was elected the first presi- 
 dent of the Association. The remaining officers were chosen a few days later. 
 
THE TROY YOUNG MEN S ASSOCIATION. 
 
 on the evening of Wednesday, the 32d of December. These were David L. 
 Seymour, first vice president ; Henry Landon, second vice president ; Thomas 
 Coleman, third vice president ; John T. Lamport, recording secretary ; Giles B. 
 Kellogg, corresponding secretary ; and Charles E. Seymour, treasurer. The 
 managers were Wm. H. Van Schoonhoven, Isaac J. Merritt, Henry Kousseau, 
 Jared S. Weed, John S. Perry, Levinus Vanderheyden, Lorenzo Cadwell, Brig- 
 ham L. Eaton, Harvey Warner and Lorenzo D. Baker, The officers of the De- 
 bating Society were George Gould, president ; George W. Francis, first vice 
 president ; Henry T. Eddy, second vice president ; and Ralph Hawley, secretary. 
 The first rooms occupied by the society in February, 1835, were in the second 
 story of No. 197 River street, then owned by Abraham Fellows. As an evidence 
 of the vigor of this institution near the time of its inception, we print the fol- 
 lowing statement of its condition at the close of its first winter : 
 
 "The rooms of the society are large and convenient, one of which is devoted 
 exclusively to newspapers, both foreign and from every part of the Union. 
 There are now on file more than 100 different papers. Another room is occupied 
 by the library and the literary periodical publications, where may be found 
 most, the best at any rate, of the American literary journals and the reprints 
 of th3 foreign. The library numbers about 1000 volumes of standard and sub- 
 stantial works. The Debating Society meets once a week. During the winter 
 two lectures a week have been delivered, which were fully attended." 
 
 The first annual meeting under the constitution was held on Monday evening, 
 February 16, 1835, at which time the membership of the Association was 450. 
 
 The Association was incorporated as such by an act of the Legislature passed 
 April 20, 1835. Their general object was stated to be ''mutual improvement," 
 and their corporate powers granted " for the purpose of establishing and main- 
 taining a library, reading-rooms, literary and scientific lectures, and other means 
 of promoting moral and intellectual improvement." For such purposes power 
 was given them to " take by purchase, devise or otherwise, and to hold, transfer 
 and convey, real and personal property," and " to take, hold and convey, all such 
 books, cabinets, library, furniture and apparatus as may be necessary for attaining 
 the objects and carrying into effect the purposes of said corporation." The control 
 of the Association was vested in an executive committee to be annually elected. 
 By the same act a debating society was also recognized as existing, and so long 
 as the corporation should choose to continue it as a department of the Associa- 
 tion, the officers of the Debating Society were declared to be ex-offido members 
 of the said executive committee. 
 
 Thus championed by the State and officered by men who had an eye single 
 and observant for the maintenance and advancement of the Association, its 
 position was secured, and it entered at once upon a course of beneficent pros- 
 perity. Its list of presidents comprehends the names of some of the most active 
 and intelligent citizens who, during the last forty years, have aided in the 
 growth, mental, moral and material, of the city. We append the list entire, in 
 the hope that our citizens, as they read it, will ponder well the question 
 whether they can willingly let die an organization so useful as is this, and to 
 whose advancement so many men devoted so many days of the best portion of 
 their youthful and bright lives. 
 
 1835 .... John T. McCoun, 
 
 1836 Thaddeus B. Bigelow, 
 
 1837 Henry W. Strong, 
 
 1838 George Gould, 
 
 1839... Isaac J. Merritt, 
 
 1840 James M. Stevenson, 
 
 1841 .Charles H. Read, 
 1842. . . .J. L. VanSchoonhoven, 
 1843. ...Joseph White, 
 
 1844 Thomas Coleman, 
 
 1845. . . . John G. Britton. 
 
 1847 William Hagen, 
 
 1848 ...Gilbert Robertson, Jr., 
 1848.... Uri Gilbert, 
 
 THE PRESIDENTS. 
 
 1849 . . . Amos K. Hadley, 
 1850. ...David B. Cox, 
 1851... 6. B. Wallace, 
 1852.. .William Gurley, 
 
 1853 George B. Warren, Jr., 
 
 1854.... Wm. H.Young, 
 1855. . . Lyman R. Avery, 
 1856 .... W. O. Cunningham, 
 1857.... De Witt Tuthill. 
 
 1858 Charles L. Alden, 
 
 1859... Benjamin H. Hall, 
 1860. . . . John M. Landon, 
 1861. . . .Nelson Davenport, 
 
 1863 Andrew B. Fales, 
 
 1863. ...John L. Flagg, 
 
 1864. . . 
 1865. . . , 
 1865. . . , 
 1866. . . , 
 1867. . . , 
 1868. . . . 
 1869. . . . 
 18-!0-71 
 1872. . . , 
 1873. . . . 
 1874. - . , 
 1875. . . , 
 1876. . . , 
 1877. . . , 
 
 C. O. Greene, 
 Clarence Willard, 
 Charles A. Holmes, 
 Frederick P. Allen, 
 William B. Gilbert, 
 Benj, F. Follett, 
 J. S. Garnsey, 
 William D. Clegg, 
 Edgar L. Fcrsman, 
 Edward G. Gilbert, 
 Irving Hayner, 
 I. G. Thompson, 
 Latham C. Strong, 
 William Shaw. 
 
THE TROY YOUNG MBN'S ASSOCIATION. 
 
 TS:iS,ID IF-A-I^EIi. 
 
 The Mgli character of those connected with the Association at its organization 
 brought it most prominently before the public and gave it a position of influ- 
 ence and respectability which insured its success. The receipts of 1835, the first 
 year of its existence, were $2,846, the number of life members being 33, and of 
 regular members 443. The total number of books was 1,323. From this small 
 beginning the library has grown to its present dimensions and importance. 
 The additions made have varied from 50 to 3,750 volumes annually. Of the 
 general character of this collection, it can be truthfully said that no society of a 
 similar nature in the State outside of the city of New York has upon its shelves 
 and in its possession so many works of abiding and intrinsic value as that of the 
 Troy Young Men's Association. In a survey as limited as is this, it is impos- 
 sible to particularize to any great extent, and yet we cannot convey any definite 
 idea of the worth of this library unless specific works are mentioned. 
 
 Of the larger works contained in the library the following are some of the 
 most conspicuous : " The American Archives," in 9 volumes ; " American Alma- 
 nac,'" complete in 30 volumes ; " Reports of the American Institute " ; " Silli- 
 man's American Journal of Science and Art," in 90 or more volumes ; the Amer- 
 ican Whig Meview, in 16 volumes; the Analectie Magazine, in 16 volumes; 
 " Dodsley's Annual Register," in over 100 volumes ; the Monthly Review, in 185 
 volumes ; Blackwood's Magazine, in over 100 volumes ; " Audubon's VivajDarous 
 Quadrupeds of North America," in five magnificent elephant folio volumes of 
 plates ; the Banker'' s Magazine, in 25 or more volumes ; " Donovan's Natural 
 History of British Birds, Fishes, Insects, Quadrupeds and Shells," in 39 volumes, 
 bound in 21 ; " Gould's Birds of Asia and fiom the Himalaya Mountains," and 
 his Monographs of the Partridges of America, of the Toucans, of the Hum- 
 ming Birds, and of the Trogons, a publication in many parts, and illustrated 
 with most accurately colored folio plates; "Jardine's Naturalist's Library," in 
 40 volumes; Bohn's antiquarian, classical, ecclesiastical, illustrated, philologi- 
 cal and philosophical, scientific and standard libraries, besides his British clas- 
 sics, collegiate series, extra volumes and library of French memoirs, numbering 
 in all 360 volumes ; Mrs. Loudon's beautiful books on " Ladies' Flower Gardens "; 
 the British Classics in eight volumes; the British Poets in 105 volumes; the 
 British Theatre in six volumes , the Camden Society publications in 51 volumes ; 
 six of the earliest books of Common Prayer, in small folio ; the Cultivator in 
 many volumes ; the Eclectic Magazine in 47 volumes ; the Edinburgh Cabinet 
 Librarj^ in 38 volumes; the Edinburgh Review in 130 volumes ; " Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica," in 21 volumes ; " Journal of the Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania" 
 in 85 volumes ; the Oentlemaii' s Magazine in 240 volumes ; " Lardner's Museum 
 of Science and Art," in nine volumes ; the " Minor Drama" in 31 volumes ; the 
 "Modern Standard Drama" in 37 volumes; the "Modern British Essayists," in 
 19 volumes ; " New British Theatre " in four volumes ; the Percy Society pub- 
 lications in 39 volumes ; the " Repository of Arts and Manufactures " in 80 vol- 
 umes, and of patent inventions in 33 volumes ; also, the Shakespeare Society's 
 publications in 46 volumes. 
 
 Other larger works, are the " Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge " in 
 17 volumes; "Smithsonian Collections" in 9 volumes ; " Sparks's Library of 
 American Biography " in 25 volumes ; " Miss Strickland's Lives " in 30 volumes ; 
 " Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia " in 131 volumes ; the Eclectic Magazine in 
 70 volumes ; " Harleian Miscellany " in 13 volumes ; North American Review 
 in 110 volumes ; North British Review in 45 volumes ; " Penny Cyclopaedia" in 
 14 volumes; " Appleton's Cyclopaedia " in 16 volumes ; " Bibliotheca Sacra" in 
 30 volumes ; Democratic Review in 31 volumes ; Harper's Magazine in 54 vol- 
 umes ; Harper's Weekly in 31 volumes ; Westminster Review in 100 volumes ; 
 " Holinshed's Chronicles of England " in 6 volumes ; " Costume in England ; " 
 " Early English Text Society's Publications " in 35 volumes ; " Didron's Chris- 
 tian Iconography ; " Mrs. Jameson's delightful works on Sacred and Legend- 
 ary Art, on the " Legends of the Monastic Orders " and of the " Madonna ; " 
 " Costume of the Clans ; " " The Orators of Ireland " in 5 volumes ; " Rawlin- 
 son's Ancient Monarchies " in 5 volumes ; the " Breeches Bible ; " historical col- 
 lecti(>ns of the New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island 
 
6 THE TROY YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Historical Societies and of the American Colonial Cliurcli ; Annual of Scientific 
 Discovery ; and a large number of bound periodicals, also encyclopgedias, works 
 of reference, consultation and illustration. 
 
 Here also are to be found the writings of Arnold, Addison, Alison, John Ad- 
 ams, Aristotle, Bacon, the venerable Bede, Bancroft, Beecher, Bossuet, Brough- 
 am, the Brownings, Bryant, Burke, Burns, Beaumont and Fletcher, Byron, 
 Campbell, Carlyle, Channing, Choate, Chateaubriand, Chaucer, Cicero, Coler- 
 idge, Cousin, Cowper, Crabbe, Curtis, Dryden, De Quincey, Demosthenes, Emer- 
 son, Fenelon, Froude, Franklin, Gibbon, Goethe, Goldsmith, Guizot, Hallam, 
 Hamerton, Hamilton, Hawthorne, Hazlitt. Herbert, Holmes, Homer, Hood, How- 
 itt, Humboldt, Irving, Jonson, Johnson, Knight, Lamartine, Lamb, A. Lincoln, 
 Locke, Longfellow, Madison, Marshall, Everett, Michelet, Hugh Miller, Milton, 
 Massinger, Monstrelet, Moore, More, Lady Morgan, Niebuhr, T. Parker, Plato, 
 Plutarch, Poe, Pope, Reid, Schiller, Shakespeare, Southey, Spencer, Swedenborg, 
 Tasso, Jeremy Taylor, Bayard Taylor, Taine, Trench, Tuckerman, Parkman, 
 Washington, Webster, Whewell, Whittier, Willis, Wadsworth, Voltaire and 
 Zschokke. 
 
 Among the novelists and story writers represented are Grace Aguilar, W. T. 
 Adams, J. Abbott, Miss Alcott, H. Alger, Jr., W. H. Ainsworth, the Bronte Sis- 
 ters, Miss Bremer, Miss Braddon, Brockden Brown, E. Bray, Bulwer, Cooper, 
 Mrs. Charles, Wilkie Collins, De Foe, Dickens, Disraeli, Dumas, A. J. Evans, 
 George Eliot, Mrs. Gray, Miss Edgworth, Mrs. Gaskell, Mrs. Gore, Griffin, Mrs. 
 Holmes, Mrs. Haven, V. Hugo, Mrs. Hawes, Mrs. Hentz, Hughes, Jas. Kennedy, 
 Kingsley, Kingston, Lever, Lover, De Mille, Maryatt, Mrs. Marsh, Melville, 
 Ouida, Mrs. Muloch, C. Reade, Mayne Reid, Mrs. Peebles, Paulding, Roe, Scott, 
 Mrs. Sedgwick, Mrs. H. B. Stowe, A. S. Stephens, Mrs. Sherwood, Simms, Miss 
 Sinclair, Smollett, Mrs. Southworth, Sue, Thackeray, D. P. Thompson, Trollope, 
 Yates, Young, Warren, Mrs. H. Wood and Mrs. Whitney, 
 
 The works on architecture are very numerous, including Drawings from An- 
 cient Temples, Brandon's Open Timber Roofs of the Middle Ages, Berry's 
 Remains of Ecclesiastical Woodwork, Sir W. Dugdale's great work, "Monasti- 
 con Anglicanum," Fergusson's Rock Cut Temples of India, Instrumenta Ecclesi- 
 astica, Nash's Mansions of England in the Olden Time, many of Pugin's most 
 celebrated works, Raskin's publications, Rutter's Fontbill, Turner's Domesiic 
 Architecture in England of the Middle Ages, Weale's Designs, and Will's 
 Ancient English Ecclesiastical Architecture. 
 
 The collection of general biographical works is quite complete, besides which 
 there are over sis hundred separate biographical narratives. In ecclesiastical 
 history there is a large and varied assortment of works, and theology is well 
 represented. The works pertaining to ecclesiology are also numerous. Con- 
 fessedly religious works also have a place, and among them are treatises on the 
 whole or parts of the Bible, essays on Christianity, and on the different phases 
 of Christian life. 
 
 The library also contains numerous works relating to the continents of the 
 world and their several divisions, and the history of each, more especially works 
 pertaining to North and South America and to the provinces of the latter, and 
 especially to the subdivisions of the former, including particular accounts of 
 each one of the United States, and of many of the counties, cities and towns 
 therein ; also works concerning Canada and other portions of British America. 
 
 There are also to be found documents pertaining to the Congress of the United 
 States, the State papers of this country, the proceedings of the national Con- 
 gress and of the Legislature of the State of New York ; a large collection of 
 works on the War of the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the War of the 
 Rebellion of 1861, besides treatises, essays and discussions on agriculture, Brit- 
 ish husbandry, farming, gardening, rural and domestic economy, cottage build- 
 ing, amusements, festivals, games, anatomy, ancient and modern history, com- 
 merce, angling, church architecture and ecclesiastical furniture, animal and 
 vegetable philosophy, antiquities, carpentry, masonry, naval architecture, tim- 
 ber, ventilation, astronomy, chemistry, botany, domestic architecture, education, 
 electricity, mythology, engineering, English history and language, philology, 
 entomology, genealogy, geography, science, grammar, geometry, heraldry, in- 
 tellectual science, law, literature, medicine, mathematics, physical geography. 
 
THE TKOT YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION. 7 
 
 geology, manufactures, discoveries, patents, inventions, bibliography, mechanics, 
 meteorology, mineralogy, music, natural history, painting, phrenology, physical 
 science, physiology, poetry, the drama, political science, political economy, land- 
 scape gardening, horticulture, rhetoric, slavery, hunting, fishing, theology, to- 
 pography, travel, spectrum analysis, synonyms, and other subjects which are 
 are classified as scientific, artistic or mechanical. 
 
 Of course, the foregoing is but an imperfect presentation of the wealth of 
 learning and of the fruits of centuries of study which are stored on the shelves 
 of the rooms of the Troy Young Men's Association. Ordinary books are easily 
 accessible to almost any one, but here alone in this city are to be found the well- 
 springs and fountain-sources of certain departments of leai'ning from which he 
 who wishes to partake can partake, at a yearly cost which is less than the 
 amount which many a young man squanders in a week on his follies or extrav- 
 agances. 
 
 One portion of the Library of the Troy Young Men's Association should, in 
 this connection, receive special mention. We refer to the Yourt Alcove The 
 history of this department is not, perhaps, fully known. When in the pos- 
 session of his health and mental faculties, William R. Yourt, while preparing 
 his will and arranging for the final disposition of his property, determined to 
 leave a large sum of money to be expended on a monument in his memory to 
 be raised in Oakwood Cemetery. He subsequently changed his views, however, 
 on this subject, doubtless feeling that it was unwise to expend a sum of money 
 so large, in the barren form of a memorial marble, to be placed far away from 
 human companionships, and to take from the intelligent uses of the earth what 
 might be otherwise employed for the benefit of living men. Turning his at- 
 tention to the Association, he determined to do something for the generations 
 that should come after him, and to devote a part of the sum originally intended 
 for a monument to the formation of a collection of books in the rooms of the 
 Young Men's Association, and also to making provision for the annual increase 
 of such collection. His first idea was to provide for the purchase of books per- 
 taining to the history of Ireland and Scotland alone, but having become con- 
 vinced that this restriction would be more narrow than useful, he abandoned it, 
 and after his death, which occurred on May 24, 1862, his will was found to con- 
 tain the following wise and beneficent provision : 
 
 " I hereby give and bequeath to the Troy Young Men's Association the sum 
 of (5000) five thousand dollars for the following uses and purposes, viz : Three 
 thousand dollars of said sum shall be expended in the purchase of books, chiefly 
 historical, under the direction of my said executors, and the books so purchased 
 shall be kept in a separate alcove in the library room of said Association, to be 
 designated by my surname, and a suitable inscription shall be placed in each 
 book ; — and the remaining two thousand dollars of said sum shall be invested 
 by said Association, so long as the same may be, lawfully, and its income applied 
 in maintaining and adding to such alcove and its contents ; and in case such 
 investment shall be or become unlawful, then the said sum of two thousand 
 dollars sliall also at once be expended in the purchase of books for such alcove." 
 
 The executors named in the will, C. L. Alden and John Yourt, associated with 
 themselves B. H. Hall, "whose experience," says one writer, "in the selection of 
 books was a sufficient guarantee of their value, and in a few months nearly 
 two thousand volumes were placed upon the shelves of the Yourt alcove." Over 
 this alcove is inscribed the name " Yourt," and on the inside of the front cover 
 of each book bought with the money from this bequest is inserted the extract 
 from his will above given, printed on a label. Future generations will cherish 
 the memory of this thoughtful citizen, who devoted a part of his property to 
 the spread of intelligence and for the benefit of his race, and the monument of 
 the books among the living, while it exerts its silent influence on the minds 
 of men, will serve as a better, purer and brighter memorial of the donor than 
 the beautiful granite shaft that rises above his final resting place in yonder 
 necropolis. 
 
8 THE TKOY YOUNG MEN* 8 ASSOCIATION. 
 
 But the advantages which are to be derived from the Association are not con- 
 fined wholly to those which spring from an examination of what may be termed 
 books in the restricted sense of the term. The reading room affords opportuni- 
 ties for obtaining the latest intelligence in the world of literature, science and 
 art, and the most recent lucubrations of the ripest thinkers of the age, on almost 
 all the subjects with which the human intellect of the world is at present en- 
 gaged. Here also one can peruse many of the serial stories of the day, as they 
 appear in the weekly or monthly issues of one magazine or another. Of publi- 
 cations of this nature, which are to be found on the table or files of the Associ- 
 ation, twenty-eight are American and thirteen English, making forty-one of the 
 periodical class. 
 
 Besides these, the reading room is supplied with thirty-three newspapers, rep- 
 resenting the following cities : New York, 11 ; Springfield, Mass., 1 ; Chicago, 
 1 ; Buffalo, 1 ; Rochester, 1 ; Syracuse, 1 ; Albany, 8 ; Cincinnati, 2 ; Boston, 2 ; 
 Hartford, Conn., 1 ; San Francisco, 1 ; Utica, 1 ; London, England, 1 ; Troy, 6. 
 
 The Debating Society has been an adjunct of the Association since the forma- 
 tion of the latter. From the address of John T. Birge, who is now its presi- 
 dent, delivered as introductory to the opening debate of this year, on January 
 13th, 1877, we learn that " the original question committee consisted of H. Z. 
 Hayner, David L. Seymour, William H. Van Schoonhoven, Q. W. Francis and 
 Martin I. Townsend. The first meeting for debate was held in the court house 
 on the evening of January 12, 1835, when the question, ' Ought a representative 
 to be guided by the will of his constituents in opposition to his own j udgment,' 
 was discussed and decided in favor of the negative." During its early years and 
 occasionally when questions directly affecting the moral or political status of 
 the community were under consideration, some of the ablest men of which Troy 
 could boast were found in the arena of debate, maintaining with all the enthu- 
 siasm which attaches to strong belief and obstinate natures, the opinions which 
 each held on the subject under discussion. 
 
 In these contests, forensic eloquence of a high order was often heard. Here in 
 full and resonant tones were poured forth the strictly logical arguments which 
 were so characteristic of the late Dr. Beman, while at the same time they were 
 delivered with an ex cathedra air which assumed as a foregone conclusion the 
 utter impossibility of successful contradiction. In a manner more suave and 
 bland, yet with great clearness and precision, the Hon. David L. Seymour would 
 present his views of the matter under consideration, while the graceful oratory 
 of the Rev. Charles H. Read, then a merchant in this city, never failed to crowd 
 the benches with an admiring audience when it was known that his Chrysos- 
 temic diction was to be heard in debate on some question of special interest. 
 
 At one time the Debating Society did not excite that enthusiasm which its 
 objects should have called forth; but since the year 1860 it has aided many a 
 young man to " find his legs" without feeling them to be useless as supporters, 
 and thereafter to give tongue to thouglits well worthy of being heard and re- 
 membered. The privileges of this society are also accorded with membership, 
 and as a training school for the wider arena of the pulpit, the platform or the 
 bar, the opportunities thus afforded are of great and abiding value. 
 
 For a small additional cost the advantages of the lecture course are open 
 to members whenever a lecture course is announced. During the last forty 
 years the infiuence of courses of lectures has shared with the press and the pul 
 pit the responsibility of forming and stimulating public thought and action. 
 For the last few years this potential motor has, owing to various causes, more 
 particularly the hard times, been kept in abeyance. But with a revival of bus- 
 iness there is no reason why the educative force that dwells in the platform of 
 the lecture room should not again be placed in motion, with the happiest re- 
 sults. Even now we are of opinion that a lecture course might be organized 
 for the coming winter which would not only command some of the best ability 
 of this country, but which would also aid in briglitening the present material 
 condition of the Association, 
 
 We have not spoken of the basis for an art gallery owned by this institution, 
 because there does not seem any chance, at present, that an advance can be made 
 in this direction. Still the Association is the owner of several works of art, 
 among which are paintings from the brush of such men as Gifford, Durand, Dix, 
 
THE TROY YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION. .9 
 
 Kensett, Eastman Johnson, McEntee, William Hart and Boutelle, a marble of 
 Launt Thompson, and a fine bronze statuette of Abraham Lincoln, the gift of 
 George M. Tibbits. This work of art was obtained by Mr. Tibbits while in 
 Munich in 1867. It is a reduced copy of the statue cast for the city of Chicago, 
 and is about two feet eleven inches high. 
 
 In aggregating the advantages which the Troy Young Men's Association 
 presents to its patrons the following facts are here combined. 
 
 The number of books, exclusive of newspapers, is 22.181 
 
 The volumes of bound newspapers are 961 
 
 The unbound volumes of newspapers are as follows : 
 
 The New York Herald from December, 1848 to December. 1377, 30 years' volumes 60 
 
 The New York Tribune from January, 1848 to January. 1878, 30 years' volumes 60 
 
 The New York Commercial Advertiser from 1866 to 1878, 12 year's' volumes 24 
 
 Making a total of volumes 23,286 
 
 Of the books proper, above enumerated, 19,950 are described in printed cata- 
 logues, and 2,231 are registered on manuscript lists. The catalogue proper of 
 the library was issued in 1859, and forms an octavo volume of 232 pages. The 
 first supplementary catalogue was issued in 1866, in 112 pages, and the second 
 supplementary catalogue was printed in 1871, and embraces 68 pages. ; 
 
 One point made by the Association is to preserve our local history and the his- 
 tory of the State. With this end in view, the Association causes to be bound, 
 yearly, the Troy Daily Times, the Troy Morning Whig, the Troy Daily Press, 
 the Northern Budget, the Observer and the Trojan ; also the Albany Evening 
 Journal, the Albany Argus and the New York Times. As is stated above, the 
 New York Herald, the New York Tribune and the New York Commercial Ad- 
 vertiser are preserved, but the funds of the Association have not been adequate 
 to the expense of binding them, nor is its space sufficiently ample to accomodate 
 the bound volumes they would make, in any proper compartment. The great 
 advantage of the preservation of these newspapers cannot be over-estimated. 
 To any citizen who is proud of the fair fame of our city and anxious to preserve 
 it, the fact that the Association posesses such an immense amount of newspaper 
 literature which is now mainly bestowed in corners and garret rooms, should 
 be a sufficient argument to induce him to do what he can to preserve these ac- 
 cumulations of historical matter, and to place them in accessible positions. 
 
 Besides the library and the reading room with its newspapers and periodicals, 
 the Association, as has been already stated, affi>rds the advantages of a Debating 
 Society, and at a small additional cost, a lecture course, when lectures are pro- 
 vided. The present needs of the Association remain now to be considered. 
 These are not of a magnitude sufficient to discourage effort. They are such as 
 should be met by the intelligence of the individual members of a community, 
 in the midst of which this Association has for years occupied an elevated 
 position, and from which influences the most beneficial have gone forth to en- 
 lighten and adorn. 
 
 In common with other organizations that are not endowed, and which 
 depend mainly upon the patronage of the public for their successful and bene- 
 ficial continuance, the Young Men's Association has suffi^red during the last few 
 years of business depression and financial disaster. To meet the changed con- 
 ditions of society and to establish a diflferent and a more economic administration 
 of affairs, its expenses have been reduced to the lowest point of possible exist- 
 ence, and yet the income has not been and is not now sufficient to meet the 
 payments which must be made if the doors of the Association are to be kept 
 open and the tables and files are to be covered with periodicals and newspapers. 
 For the purpose of exhibiting the expenditures of the Association, and instituting 
 a comparison between the present rate of disbursements and the rate of the recent 
 past, we append the following table : 
 
10 THE TEOY YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATIOlSr. 
 
 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 
 
 Librarian $2000 00 $11.38 54 $900 00 $f)no 00 
 
 Bent 1000 00 10 00 1000 00 1000 00 
 
 Gas 382 05 217 52 214 50 S4.3 60 
 
 Insurance 270 00 3h2 00 275 00 138 00 
 
 Advertising and printing 261 47 97 23 1 1 20 12 75 
 
 Binding 1.50 00 272 62 102 27 390 00 
 
 Newspapers 343 51 .5-29 36 45198 392 33 
 
 Sundries 180 62 221 62 206 79 1.37 61 
 
 Election 10 00 8.34 
 
 Coal , ... 75 00 75 00 
 
 Postofflce 38 02 12 04 .... 13 55 
 
 Interest 18 08 24.30 57 39 105 13 
 
 Debatina; Societj' 23 40 26 00 
 
 $4602 15 $4004 37 $3219 04 $2946 87 
 
 In this statement no mention is made of the purchase of books, as most of the 
 books bought during the period covered have been purchased by the proceeds of 
 funds designated for that purpose, and the aggregate of purchases of books for 
 said four years to this time amounts only to $707.22. Some of the bills contracted 
 in 1874 and 1875 were not paid until 1876, but in the above statement these bills 
 have been placed under the year in v?hich they were respectively contracted. 
 
 During the present year, by paying lor magazines in advance, the Association 
 has saved $20.60 over the prices paid in 1875, and $12.20 over the prices paid in 
 1876. In 1875 the price of ten New York city daily papers for that year was 
 $144.20, but for the last two years they have been received througli the mail at 
 a cost of $93.30 annually, yielding a saving ot $50.90. Other newspapers have 
 been obtained at a reduced rate, and on them the saving for this year has been 
 $14.80, making the total saving on newspapers for this year $65.70. It ought 
 also to be stated that the subscriptions for the newspapers have been paid to 
 May 1, 1878, and of ihe magazines to January 1, 1878. The Troy newspapers 
 are all placed on the files of the Association by the courtesy of their respective 
 proprietors. The statement of mon-c^y paid for insurance as made in the above list 
 does not represent the total disbursement on that account for this year, but on 
 this item there will be a saving of $50. The insurance expires Dec. 31, 1877. 
 
 Irrespective of the income received from the few funds which the Association 
 has, the income from the sale of membership tickets for the four years above 
 designated was as follows: 1874, $3,308 ; 1875, $2,376.50 ; 1876, $1 ,429.50 ; 1877, 
 $1,607.25. A lecture course was attempted in 1874 and 1875 which resulted in 
 a loss. Dr. Lord's lecture course in 187G yielded $193.50. There have been no 
 lectures this year. The Debating Society has been conducted with vigor and 
 interest, and has been a means of benefit to those who have availed themselves 
 of its opportunities, but as is well known, no income is expected or received 
 from this department of the Association. The indebtedness of the Association 
 at the close of the year 1875 was $2,428.32. This sum was carried forward into 
 the next year, and at the close of the year 1876 the total indebtedness was 
 $2,016.56. With this burden of debt the present year began. During 1877 the 
 Association has, as has already been stated, paid for their newspapers for six 
 months in advance, and have also been obliged to carry their debt on interest, 
 which interest amounts to over $100. The figures for 1877, as given in the 
 table above, are in a measure estimated, but from the best data that can now be 
 obtained, the end of the present fiscal year will find the Association indebted as 
 follows : 
 
 For borrowed money $1,800 
 
 For balance due the Yourt alcove fund 'l58 
 
 For balance due the Kelden Art fund 
 
 Less balance to be received from the Selden life membership fund 
 Making a total indebtedness of 
 
 In the papers relating to the Association which have appeared in tli-^ Troy 
 Daily Times during this week, and of which this is the last, an attempt has been 
 made to trace the develoiiment and growth of a taste for literature, science and 
 art in this community. It has been shown that in former generations there 
 were educated men in the nascent village, who inaugurated the old Troy Library 
 
THE TEOY YOUNG MEN's ASSOCIATION. 11 
 
 for the purpose of affording to tlieir fellow villagers the advantages to be de- 
 rived from the perusal of good books, and it has also been shown that from the 
 presses of the early booksellers of the same village emanated works of a high 
 order in letters, science, travel and education. Stress, too, has been laid on the 
 educative force which was developed by the Troy Lyceum, and by the teachings 
 and lectures of Prof. Amos Eaton. Following these influences as a resultant 
 effect, we have seen the Troy Young Men s Association coming into life as a 
 new source of power in the realms of education, and we have traced its growth 
 until we find it embarrassed with its riches, and, while possessed of inexhaust- 
 ible mines of wealth, yet having but few to value its splendor and not many 
 inclined to enjoy the hidden treasures which would willingly shine forth to de- 
 light the eye of the diligent seeker. Permanent and continuous life may be 
 assured to the Association by a large yearly membership. The price of such 
 membership for a year is only Three Dollaks. Article two of the constitu- 
 tion, adopted in December last, is in these words : 
 
 Article 'i.— Membership : Any person ma}' become a regular member of the Association 
 for the period of an Association year on paying to the treasurer the sum of $3, and shall there- 
 by become entitled to all the privileges of the Association, except as limited by this consti- 
 tution, and excepting attendance on any lecture or lectures that may be delivered before the 
 Association. But such person shall not be entitled to vote at any annual election of officers 
 unless he shall have made s-uch payment to the treasurer, or in his absence, to the librarian, 
 before the hour of 12 o'clock ai. of the day preceding such election. 
 
 Provision is also made for special membership at a less sum for those who 
 may join for any portion of au Association year less than the whole, and also 
 for life membership which may be secured on payment of $50. The Tear of 
 the Association extends from 9 o'clock of the moruing of the first day of Decem- 
 ber, till 9 o'clock of the morning of the first day of December next succeeding. 
 
 The annual meeting of the members of the Association is held on the Mon- 
 day next preceding the second Tuesday of December in each year. This year 
 the annual meeting will occur an the lOth day of December. The annual elec- 
 tion will take place on the -llth of December, which is the second Tuesday of 
 tliat month. For the purpose of enabling the Association to be self-sustaining 
 during the next Association year, let every person who is now a member renew 
 his ticket on or before the first of December next, and hring with Mm one new 
 member. By this course, the Association will be sustained for another year. It 
 is possible to pay the ordinary annual running expenses with the sum of $3,200. 
 Th^T^come from the sale of members' tickets last year was $1,607.26. Double 
 thisTast sum by the course proposed, and the result is the sum of $3,214.52. 
 
 But even should this be done for the future, there still remains for the present, 
 a legacy of the past amounting to $2,098, which must be cancelled on or before 
 the 1st dfj^.of December next. We do not know by what means the young 
 men to \y^(Se intelligent care the affairs of the Apsociation are at present con- 
 fided wii v^^^deavor to meet this obligation, but whatever course they may re- 
 solve to lyrsue in their meritorious work, we bespeak for them from our liberal, 
 high-minded and patriotic citizens hearty and effective co-operation. We appeal 
 to our liberal citizens, because it is from them we have been taught to expect 
 the doing of those good deeds which in their reflex effect bestow a blessing on 
 him who performs them, while at tiie same time they confer a direct benefit on 
 him for whose benefit they are done. We appeal as well to our high-minded 
 citizens, for it is in their cultivated minds that we are to seek a due apprecia- 
 tion of the stores of learning, historical research, art, literature and science 
 which are to be found within the valued precincts of the Association. And last 
 and brightest of all, we make our appeal to our patriotic citizens. The love of 
 country, next to the love of God and of one's own kindred, is the highest duty 
 which every man owes as a member of the brotherhood of man. True patriot- 
 ism manifests its highest characteristic in care for the growth and develop- 
 ment in mental, moral and social well being of that portion of the land in 
 which a man happens to live. What citizen of Troy is there who is not interest- 
 ed in the welfare of his m nicipality and in those organizations within its 
 bounds which have been establ shed tor the growth and teaching of the people? 
 If, then, direct application should be made to our citizens for aid to remove the 
 present burden ot indebtedness from the Association, let not those who appeal 
 be sent empty away, but let their application be met with a hearty response 
 and a liberal benefaction from every one. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 029 947 592 
 
 1 
 
 To the Friends of the Troy Young Memus Association : 
 
 Since the papers contained in tiie foregoing pages were first published, the 
 Executive Committee of the Troy Young Men's Association have requested and 
 authorized the following members of said committee to solicit subscriptions for 
 the purpose of cancelling the indebtedness of the Association, namely : William 
 Shaw, William E. Gilbert, William H. HoUister, Jr., and Philip F. Vander- 
 heyden. 
 
 These gentlemen have entered upon their labors, have called upon several of 
 the citizens of Troy, have been favorably received in all instances, and have 
 already obtained substantial acknowledgments of the high esteem in which the 
 Association is held by the community. They are now prosecuting, still further, 
 their labors, and hope to accomplish the object which has been entrusted to 
 them for their attention. The kindly regard already accorded them must be 
 looked upon as an eairnest of the generous reception that awaits them in the 
 continuance and fulfillment of their labors. . 
 
 It may not be amiss to add, that the members of the Executive CoB^'\..,tee, 
 appreciating the present heeds of the library, have within the last few days 
 raised a fund among their own number, and with it have already purchased and 
 placed on the shelves of the Association about 135 volumes of tht ,^test publi- 
 cations, mainly in the realms of fiction. Many of these books a'®^>.^ready in 
 the hands of members. This action may be taken as an evidence of Npie interest 
 which the Executive Committee take in the Association — an interest which they 
 wish to develop and foster in the minds of all. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 029 947 592 fl ^