0.4 Chapter two: the formative years, 1804-1920  (Page 4/8)

Short of space to store and display its increasingly valuable holdings, the Society once again petitioned the state for assistance. In response, the New York State legislature set aside building sites for the Society in Central Park in both 1862 and 1868. Unfortunately, funds for construction of a building on those sites could not be raised, and the Society was unable to secure the Central Park locations (the latter parcel became the site of the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Interestingly, although the Society still wanted to move, no record exists of any further attempts by the Society to secure city or state assistance.

Despite the space difficulties, the Society was highly regarded by both schol­ars and the popular press during this era. Even though access to the collections was restricted, there were few libraries competing with it to serve the intellectual needs of scholars and historians. Moreover, the perceived quality of a library, then even more than now, was highly dependent on the number of volumes in its care, and New Yorkers could point with pride to the size and growth of the Society's collections. Finally, the Society's reputation was enhanced by the public's respect for its officers and lecturers, such as the well-known historians George Bancroft and J. Romeyn Brodhead.

The final quarter of the nineteenth century was a defining period for the Society. Although its library was among the largest and fastest-growing in the na­tion and its art collection was the finest in New York City, its external environment was changing at a rate so fast and in ways so profound that maintaining that stand­ing would be a difficult challenge. The United States was entering the industrial age, a time of enormous political, economic, and social change. Because of the nature and the permanence of these changes, the Society's strategic choices would prove to have long-lasting impact. Unfortunately, the Society entered this dynamic period both undercapitalized and under new leadership (George Moore left in 1876 to run the Lenox Library). The decisions reached during this time, partic­ularly regarding the Society's relationship to its professional peers, the public, and local government, made it difficult for the Society to maintain its preeminent position in city life.

It was after Moore left in 1876 that the Society first fell out of pace with its peer institutions. During the 1880s and 1890s, there was a strong movement toward professionalization of historical study and improvements in library service. In 1876, the American Library Association was founded; the Society was one of only two libraries in the city that did not join immediately. In fact, it did not join the association until 1910, thirty-four years after its founding.

Other events further distanced the Society from the professional establish­ment. The founding of the American Historical Association in 1884 gave voice to a growing rift between professional historians and members of the older his­torical societies. James Franklin Jameson, a pioneer in the professionalization move­ment, decried historical societies as "few, feeble and mostly myopic."