College and Research Libraries By J E A N N E T T E M . H I T C H C O C K The Hopkins Transportation Library Jeannette M. Hitchcock is keeper of rare books, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford University, California. TRADITION, environment, and associa-tion have combined to make S t a n f o r d U n i v e r s i t y a singularly appropriate loca- tion for a transportation library. T h e university is but thirty miles south of San Francisco, a center for w o r l d transporta- tion and communication. In the years that f o l l o w e d the Spanish discovery of the G o l d e n G a t e , the n a r r o w , rock-lined passage into San Francisco Bay, in 1 7 7 5 , San Francisco saw clipper ships sail in f r o m around the H o r n , and immigrant trains of covered w a g o n s roll in, lured by the promise of golden f o r t u n e ; then rail- roads came into being and great trans- continental lines w e r e conceived and built. A m o n g the many y o u n g men to w h o m the W e s t beckoned were L e l a n d Stanford and M a r k H o p k i n s — n a m e s famous in railroad construction annals and equally famous and romantic figures in the history of San Francisco and Stanford U n i v e r s i t y . Both maintained residences on San Francisco's N o b H i l l and in the vicinity of w h a t is now P a l o A l t o . Associated w i t h C o l l i s P o t t e r H u n t i n g t o n and Charles C r o c k e r , these names are pre- eminent in the railroad history of the W e s t . N o t content w i t h transportation su- premacy on land, the " B i g F o u r " turned Pacific-wards and in 1874 organized the Occidental and O r i e n t a l Steamship C o m - pany. Stanford and Hopkins were among the original directors, the former serving as president before his death in 1893, w h i l e M a r k Hopkins, the financial genius of the group, w a s the company's first treasurer. It is small w o n d e r , then, that T i m o t h y Hopkins, brought as a small boy into such an environment, should develop a keen interest in railroads. Born T i m o t h y N o l a n at A u g u s t a , M a i n e , in 1859, he came a f e w years later to Sacramento w h e r e M r . and M r s . M a r k Hopkins w e r e then living. So interested did they become in the lad that he w a s taken into the family and given the name of T i m o t h y Hopkins, although actual adoption w a s delayed until a f t e r the death of M a r k Hopkins in 1878. A t the time of M a r k Hopkins' death, T i m o t h y w a s assistant treasurer to the Southern Pacific C o m p a n y . M u c h of the routine w o r k of the office had been turned over to him, so that at t w e n t y - f o u r years of age he w a s w e l l prepared for the promo- tion that made him treasurer. F o u r years later, L e l a n d Stanford appointed him to the original board of trustees of S t a n f o r d University w i t h life tenure. U n t i l his death on J a n u a r y 1, 1936, T i m o t h y Hop- kins maintained a keen and benevolent interest in the affairs of the university. Origin of the Collection Interest in the railroads of the Pacific coast and in the relations of transporta- tion industries to the public led T i m o t h y Hopkins, w h i l e acting as treasurer of the Southern Pacific C o m p a n y , to form g r a d u a l l y a private library of railroadiana 60 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES which included the most important works on railroad economics and administration. In 1883 his collection w a s augmented by the acquisition of the valuable library relating to the railroads of G r e a t Britain assembled by Frederick Broughton during the thirty-four years he w a s connected w i t h railways in both E n g l a n d and Canada. R e a l i z i n g the usefulness of having such a collection in a university, M r . Hopkins decided to give his library to Stanford University and to make ample provision for its permanent maintenance and g r o w t h . A c c o r d i n g l y , in the spring of 1892, the g i f t of nearly t w o thousand books and pamphlets w a s made. T h i s formed the nucleus of the Hopkins R a i l w a y L i b r a r y , as it w a s then called. M r . Hopkins likewise recognized the g r o w i n g importance of railroads. I t w a s his intention to acquire all subjects per- taining to railway interests—the literature of theory and economics, the literature of construction and operation. T h e collec- tion w a s to be useful alike to the railroad official and to the student of those eco- nomic problems associated w i t h transporta- tion. A t the time of presentation, the collec- tion w a s probably unique. I t w a s w i d e l y publicized through M r . Frederick J . T e g g a r t ' s Catalogue of the Hopkins Rail- way Library1 published in 1895. B y this time the collection had g r o w n to nearly ten thousand volumes and pamphlets, but from then on its g r o w t h w a s not so meteoric. M r . Hopkins gradually w i t h - d r e w his financial support but there has always been a small annual appropriation, entirely inadequate, from library funds. In 1935, a year before his death, M r . 1 T h i s Catalog was issued as Publications, [ n o . ] 1 by L e l a n d S t a n f o r d J u n i o r U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y . Hopkins suggested a change of name to enable the library to enlarge its scope to include the history, economics, and en- gineering aspects of all forms of transpor- tation and c o m m u n i c a t i o n — n o t railroads only, but also highways, airways, water- ways, pipe lines, communication, postal, and express service. In accordance w i t h his wish the name was changed to the Hopkins T r a n s p o r t a t i o n L i b r a r y . A g a i n M r . Hopkins provided generously for the maintenance and g r o w t h of the l i b r a r y — this time in his w i l l — a l t h o u g h the funds are not yet available. Outstanding Items in the Collection In the original collection the outstand- ing features w e r e probably the British Parliamentary papers and the books and pamphlets relating to the Pacific railroads. B u t the library was general in scope, con- taining biographies, novels, and p o e t r y ; bibliographies, dictionaries, periodicals, and society publications; special works relating to A f r i c a , Asia, Europe, Oceanica, and the American continents; and treatises on railway economics, tariffs, transport, legislation, construction, rolling-stock, traffic, subsidiary railroads, and state ownership w i t h its allied questions. It was relatively rich in the early literature of the subject, in the early history of English and A m e r i c a n railroads and in early reports of r a i l w a y companies and state railroad commissioners. T h e acquisition of the Broughton col- lection brought a splendid file of British sessional papers which, w i t h those in our document division, form a very com- plete set. T h e advent of railroads precipitated many new questions. T h i s is evident in the voluminous reports found in the English section of the l i b r a r y — r e p o r t s on ac- DECEMBER., 1940 61 cidents, signal arrangements, brakes, locomotives, . r a i l w a y acts pertaining to E n g l a n d , Scotland, and Ireland, convey- ance of mails, r a i l w a y bills and agree- ments, atmospheric and n a r r o w gauge railway rules, legislation a m a l g a m a t i o n ; there are also twenty-three volumes of railway tracts. T h e development of the R a i l w a y D e p a r t m e n t of the Board of T r a d e can be traced through the select committees in Parliament w h i c h dealt w i t h the first problems requiring legis- lative consideration, to the commissions of a more permanent nature. In manuscript form the collection con- tains the minutes of the R a i l w a y C l e a r i n g House, L o n d o n , A p r i l 26, 1 8 4 2 — D e - cember 16, 1 8 5 1 . T h e s e include the minutes of the general managers, goods managers, superintendents, and r a i l w a y officers. T h e greater portion are signed by K . M o r i s o n as secretary. A n o t h e r interesting item is Jonathan H u l l s ' A Description and Draught of a New-Invented Machine for Carrying Vessels or Ships out of, or into any Harbour, L o n d o n , 1 7 3 7 . H u l l s w a s the first person w h o attempted in a practical w a y to employ steam in propelling a vessel in w a t e r . Railway Guides Soon after the introduction of rail- roads into E n g l a n d , G e o r g e B r a d s h a w began to publish a series of railway guides. T h e first of these, published in L o n d o n in 1839, is Bradshaw's Railway Time Tables and Assistant to Railway Travel- ling, with Illustrative Maps and Plans. T h e f o l l o w i n g year, 1840, the title w a s changed to Bradshaw's Railway Com- panion. December, 1 8 4 1 , found M r . B r a d s h a w issuing time tables for each month under the title of Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide. O t h e r Brad- shaw items include a considerable file of Bradshaw's Railway Manual, Share- holder's Guide, and Official Directory from 1848 to 1901. In the earlier days of railroading there w e r e published certain guidebooks which, in their w a y , are quite comparable to the M u i r h e a d s of today. Sometimes they w e r e merely folders, but others w e r e size- able books running to nearly six hundred pages. T h e r e w e r e the official illustrated guides of the various railroads w i t h charming illustrations; and there w e r e others w i t h more alluring titles such as Sir H e n r y C o l e ' s Railway Chronicle Travelling Charts; or, Iron Road Books, for Perusal on the Journey; in which Are Noted the Towns, Scenery and Natural History, Antiquities and Historical As- sociations, Passed by the Line of Railway. F r o m France, G e r m a n y , S w i t z e r l a n d , and Italy w e likewise find w o r k s dealing w i t h the construction of railroads, reports from individual roads and governmental bodies, economic treatises, l a w , and periodicals. T h e r e is an interesting file of fifty-five volumes dealing w i t h the St. G o t h a r d r a i l w a y . American Material In the A m e r i c a n field, w i t h the ex- ception of a f e w undated pamphlets, the earliest imprint is The American Me- chanics' Magazine, vol. I, 1825. W h i l e not devoted particularly to transportation, it does contain interesting material con- cerning early railroads. T h e second is W i l l i a m Strickland's Reports on Canals, Railways, Roads, and Other Subjects, Made to "The Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvements," Philadelphia, 1826. (Continued on page 75) 62 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Mohrhardt, chairman, was editor of A List of Books for Junior College Libraries published by the American Library Associa- tion in 1937. A supplementary compilation is desired to extend this list, especially in the direction of vocational and semiprofessional education. T h e Commission on Junior College T e r m - inal Education is a subsidiary of the Ameri- can Association of Junior Colleges. The Hayes Memorial Library (Continued from page 59) sideration a project to put on film bibliographies that have proved uneco- nomical to publish in the usual way. M a n y of these are in the hands of in- dividual compilers, institutions, societies, and such agencies as the Historical Records Survey. Only those in the field of Ameri- can history will be considered, and the work could only be done on the under- standing that the films would be made available to libraries and scholars, gen- erally on the basis either of loan or sale. Suggestions and comments on the project are earnestly invited. T h e Hopkins Transportation Library (Continued from page 62) In 1870 the Board of Immigration of I o w a issued Iowa, die Heimath fiir Ein- wanderer. T h i s was also published in English and Dutch. In the Stanford copy of the German edition is laid a leaf ad- dressed (in G e r m a n ) to all Germans who wish to come to America, and signed by Ebenezer Cook, vice-president and land- commissioner of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad. O n the recto of this leaf is a map showing the route from Chicago to Council Bluffs. Probably the most outstanding item of the Pacific railroads material is the report of the chief engineer, William J . Lewis, of the Pacific and Atlantic railroad com- pany dated December 13, 1851. T h i s report is accompanied by a folded map of the route between San Francisco and San Jose as located by M r . Lewis, September- November, 1851. T h e r e are also extensive manuscript correspondence files of M a r k Hopkins dating from 1863-1885 dealing with the Central Pacific, W e s t e r n Pacific, and Southern Pacific railroads in matters of construction and administration. These include a large file of letters from Collis P. Huntington. T h e comment may be made that em- phasis has been placed on the earlier litera- ture. It is true that the demand is more likely to come for contemporary material, but the historical background must not be neglected. T h a t there is interest in historical ma- terial is shown in M r . T h o m a s R. T h o m - son's Check List of American Publications on Railroads before 1841, galley sets of which several university and private libraries received for checking. It is to be hoped that the publication of this will prompt the compilation of similar check lists on canals, bridges, roads, etc. DECEMBER., 1940 75