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History of the James Blackstone Memorial Library 1893-

The James Blackstone Memorial Library was given to Branford by Timothy B. Blackstone in memory of his father, who was born in Branford in 1793.

Timothy Beach Blackstone, born in Branford in 1829, devoted a lifelong career to railroad service. Moving from New England to Illinois in 1851, he was associated with the Illinois Central, Joliet & Chicago, and, from 1864-1899 the Chicago & Alton Railroad as its president. He died in Chicago in 1900.

For three years the project was under construction and plans were made. In accordance with Mr. Blackstone's wishes, a special charter was obtained from the Connecticut Legislature, vesting control of the library in a self-perpetuating board of trustees consisting of six residents of Branford and the librarian of Yale University. The act of incorporation of the James Blackstone Memorial Library Association was approved by the governor on March 23, 1893, and construction began that year.

Architect Solon S. Beman of Chicago, in making plans for the building, chose the Ionic columns in the portico, the marble doorways, and the egg and dart molding in evidence everywhere, which are taken from the Erechtheum on the Acropolis in Athens. For additional information on the building itself, read "Description of Branford Library Building" written by the architect.

The white marble used for the exterior of the building came from eastern Tennessee and is unusually durable. The pink and gray marble used in the interior also came from Tennessee.

The mural decorations in the dome were made by Oliver Dennett Grover. For additional information on the paintings, read "Description of the Paintings in the Dome" written by the artist.

Mr. Grover also painted the medallion portraits of Bryant, Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Lowell, and Stowe that are placed in the marble spandrels between the arches. The height of the dome from the main floor is 50 feet.

The building was completed in 1896 and is said to have cost about $300,000. Mr Blackstone also provided an endowment fund of $300,000. Mrs. Blackstone, who died in Chicago in 1928, left a bequest of $50,000. The library was dedicated on June 17, 1896, and the next day it was opened for use with a stock of 5,000 books.


Description of the Paintings in the Dome by the Artist,
Oliver Dennett Grover, of Chicago.

In the decorations of the dome it is designed to illustrate pictorially and in a decorative way the evolution of book-making. The first step in this direction is presumed to be the gathering of Egyptian papyrus with a view to providing materials for scroll inscriptions, which may be regarded as the primitive book-making of the earliest time. This first picture of the series of eight is entitled "Gathering the Papyrus."

The palm, the tall heavy reeds and the simply attired figures in the foreground show almost in silhouette against a warm sky and the reflecting surface of the river at the back, while in the distance rising from the level plain are pyramids tipped with gold by the rays of the declining sun.

"Records of the Pharaohs," the second of the series and also Egyptian, shows another phase of that civilization in the massive architecture, the emblematic ornamentation, the calm dignity and consciousness of power of the dominant race.

The picture represents an officer of the court of Pharaoh with an attendant guard by his side dictating from a papyrus roll which lies open across his knees, to a worker who is transferring the records to the base of a monument. While in this panel sufficient license has been taken to preserve the artistic harmony and decorative composition, the detail of character, costume, ornament and architecture is carefully studied and accurately rendered from correct and acknowledged authorities.

Number three, "Stories of the Iliad," carries us from the land of the lotus to the shadow of the Acropolis. In the land of the ancient Greek those legends and stories finally gathered together and preserved to us by Homer in the form of the Iliad were for ages almost sung by wandering minstrels; committed to memory and transmitted from one to another, from father to son, from generation to generation.

The incident taken to illustrate this period of literary development is that of a minstrel reciting to an interested group of listeners "Stories from the Iliad," while one of them, a Greek youth with stylus and tablet, is transcribing to enduring form the words as they fall from his lips.

In "Medićval Illumination" is illustrated the illumination of books by white-robed monks. In the soft tones of the picture and the quiet earnestness of the three figures are suggested the infinite patience of those who, counting time as naught in living for eternity, left the world richer than they found it by the exquisite art which, in passing, paved the way for much that is

This doesn't include my two checque books, feminine hygiene stuff and a couple of letters.
You're right - you can tell a lot about a person...I'm beginning to worry about myself....