Wesley C. Sawyer

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possible to be wished for after it is too late.

6) After the above steps have been taken, the architect and the builder have to determine the outward form, to the satisfaction of Senator Stanford and the Trustees, and put it into brick and stone and iron, making it so fire-proof that nothing but the end of the world can be expected to destory our books, manuscripts and works of art. [An important side-question will naturally crowd into notice at an early stage, viz., whether the space for a million books, or more, should be provided at once, securing the best possible symmetry and adaptation, housing, if necessary, something else temporarily in a part of the Lib. building, such, for instance, as a museum, or a temporary building,

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two years" he suggests September or October, 1887, to my mind, as that is the latest conventional beginning of the educational year within the period named. In order to worthily open any department at so early a day, there is much to be done. As the organizing of the Library is the part of this work which might perhaps suffer most from undue haste, I will confine my thought chiefly to that.

But little over a year will remain after Senator Stanford finds his first liberty to think of a library, before at least a nucleus of a library is likely to be wanted ready for use. To this end, what is to be done in that year?

1.) The standard books of Europe and America, in the leading library department, must be gathered together now

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2) As books are generally published in paper covers in Europe, and as good binding costs only half as much here as in America, the books purchased here should, if practicable, be carefully bound before being shipped to Palo Alto

3) They should be carefully listed when purchased, and perhaps in the full form of the usual entries in the permanent "Accessions Catalogue".

4) The best practicable system of classification, cataloguing and shelving should be adopted, after careful inspection of the best libraries in America and Europe.

5) As part of the last above problem, the internal economy and structure of the building must be determined - the book stacks the reading rooms the delivery room the cata

12 Story St.

Cambridge, Mass., June 6th 1887

Judge Lorenzo Sawyer

San Francisco.

My dear sir:

Your kind favor of the 26th ult. was duly forwarded to me from Harvard, together with a copy of Resources of California for September, '86, and your own photograph - for all of which, accept hearty thanks. I am glad to see that time is using you so well that you seem to have even grown young between '77 and '79.

A member of our family (my second

cousin) Charles H. Sawyer of Dover, N.H., has just been elected governor of his state by its legislature, as per inclosed slip.

We had a safe but rather tediosu trip home - 15 days, with plenty of head winds - all of us improved the opportunity to be sea-sick a day or more.

I am not quite busy reading my proof at the "University Press" here, and shall be thus occupied for two or three weeks more. Afterwards, it is my intention to prepare another book for the press before taking another professorship. I had