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The James Prendergast Library is an association library〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/libs/publibs/city.htm )〕 located in Jamestown, New York. On the day it opened its doors to the public, December 1, 1891, The Evening Journal noted, "The opening of the Prendergast Library marks an important epoch in our local history. Few communities can boast so magnificent a public gift." ==History== On December 21, 1879, James Prendergast, 31, a local lawyer and grandson of the founder of Jamestown, unexpectedly died in Buffalo, NY, while being treated for an illness. While arranging his affairs, his parents discovered a memorandum that he wished the income from his business interests from the Prendergast block to be used to establish a free library in Jamestown. On January 29, 1880, a little over a month after his death, his parents, Alexander and Mary Prendergast, established the James Prendergast Library Association of Jamestown, New York, by special act of the New York State Legislature. The act was signed into law by Gov. Alonzo B. Cornell. The library first opened on December 1, 1891, at a cost of $60,000 for the building and $45,000 for a furnished art gallery. The initial collection was comprised of 8,666 works under the care of Samuel G. Love. Constructed by architect A.J. Warner of Rochester, the building had a Richardsonian Romanesque design with rounded arches, Medina sandstone exterior, and turret on the southeast corner. Mary Prendergast specifically dictated that the steps entering the building on the south side be cut from a single stone and that the library be surrounded by a rock wall on three sides. James Prendergast’s desire to have a free library was an idea ahead of its time. As was noted by the Association’s second librarian, Mary Emogene Hazeltine, “There were no free libraries in the 1870’s, as the movement for free circulating books did not even begin until 1876, was barely underway in 1893, and did not gain much head-way until 1900. For this reason, the memorandum found in James Prendergast’s desk, perhaps written as early as 1876 when he built the Prendergast block, proves him to have been a man ahead of his time.” 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「James Prendergast Library」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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