Mike: The First Cat of Massachusetts

While exploring Newspapers.com, I was delighted to stumble upon an article that is about a couple of my favorite subjects, cats and libraries. What was even more captivating is that the cat worked in the State Library!  The December 8, 1920 issue of the Boston Post featured Mike, one of the cats that lived in the Massachusetts State House. Mike was a special cat that made an impression on everyone he encountered in this large and bustling building. 

“The story of his remarkable rise from an abandoned-for-dead alley-way kitten to the stately boss of the State House is a story that every cat at present seeking out meagre existence from garbage boxes should know and draw courage from.” 

Mike was rescued by the State House boiler inspector, Harry Morton. He was nursed back to health and found a home in the State House. The cat earned his keep by hunting and killing the rodents that also occupied this historic building.  

Mike was known to roam the halls and visit all of the departments. Even Governor Calvin Coolidge enjoyed Mike’s company, as the cat would often curl up and sleep on the rug next to the Governor’s feet as he was working at his desk. Whenever Governor Coolidge was away, Mike kept his seat warm and would hold down the official chair. State House staff figured that Mike knew when Governor Coolidge was away and thought it was his responsibility to take the helm.

One day Mike got into a brawl with a very overbearing black cat, and this battle caused quite a stir in the State House. 

“Bits of black fur strewed the marble corridors of the State House, but the cat they came from was seen no more.”  

Then came a threat on Mike's life. The Sergeant-at-Arms of the State House decided there should be no more cats and ordered Mike killed. Despair fell upon Mike's many foster parents in the engine room. Finally, it was decided that Engineer Thompson should take Mike home.

“Word reached the library. Down came the librarian in fury. The State House simply could not get along without Mike. Since his arrival not a single book has had to be rebound. No rat or mouse lived long enough to set tooth in the precious tomes that contained the State's records. Mike had seen to that. Previously hundreds of dollars had to be spent in repairing books.”

The librarian saved the cat’s life, so Mike stayed! On his sixth anniversary with the State House, the engineers presented him with a collar on which was engraved, "Mike--State House."

Hopefully, Mike lived a long life and continued to help the librarians out with his special skills. If you want to read more interesting articles about Massachusetts history, the library will soon be getting Newspapers.com and Ancestry.com to complement its collections. We will let you know soon when these databases are available and give you more details. If you have any questions, please email us at reference.department@mass.gov.

This article was clipped from the Boston Post, Boston MA- December 8, 1920, Wednesday, Page 7.

Coming soon to the State Library! 

 

Dava Davainis

Head of Reference and Information Services

Economic Report of the President

The economic report of the President has been produced since 1950.  It is an annual report written by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and is released together with the report of the Council.  The report is issued by the Executive Office of the President. 

The report includes information about:

• annual numeric goals
• programs to carry out program objectives
• employment objectives for some of the labor force
• current and future trends; annual numerical goals about employment, production; real estate and Federal budget outlays.

Included in the subjects listed above are reports on:  tax policy; alternative energy; health and health care; credit; housing markets and export growth.

The volume contains over 100 tables of information with multiple years of analysis/statistics covered.  Each table starts in a specific year and covers time from that year to the present.  An example is below 

  

Table B-17. Real personal consumption expenditures, 1995-2010. Economic Report of the President, Transmitted to Congress, February 2011; House Document 112-2.

The report is available online at:  www.fdsys.gov.  Click on the icon on the right side of the page that says “browse collections.”  The Economic Report of the President is there from 1995 to the present.

The State Library holds paper copies of this publication as well as access to the online documents.  We invite you to room 341 of the State House to access this Federal document.  We are open Mondays through Fridays from 9 am to 5 pm.

Massachusetts Snapshot Day

Today is Massachusetts Snapshot Day! So join the celebration and visit the Massachusetts State Library on April 12, 2012, smiles are welcome but not required.

Nationally, Snapshot Day is supported by the American Library Association. Locally, Massachusetts Library Snapshot Day is sponsored by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, the Massachusetts Library System, the Massachusetts Library Association, and the Massachusetts School Library Association. You can see the snapshot Flickr set from last year.

- The Marketing Committee

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

From the time of Herbert Hoover (1929) to Barack Obama (2012), the Federal Register Division of the National Archives and Records Service has published official, multiple volumes about the Presidency of each individual who served or is serving in the office of President. These volumes are presented in chronological order.

There was a series that covered the period from 1789 to 1897 and 1896 to 1899. These were assembled by James D. Richardson and published under the authority of the Congress. Then private compilations were issued. The Public Papers of the Presidents series was officially done as of 1957.

The volumes contain photographs, addresses to the Nation and appointments as well as information about bill signings and vetoes. There are included: executive orders; proclamations; interviews with the news media; meetings with foreign leaders and letters and messages. Each volume contains a subject index, name index, document category list, a digest of White House announcements, nominations submitted to the Senate and a checklist of White House press releases.

This set is an excellent, official resource for information about our Presidents.


Photograph: Attending the funeral service for Former President Gerald R. Ford at the Washington National Cathedral, January 2007. Public Papers of the Presidents: George W. Bush 2007, Volume 1, Photographic Portfolio.

Note that there are former Presidents in attendance: George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and the widow of Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan.

The State Library holds this set of documents which can be accessed at our reference desk in room 341 of the State House. The call numbers are: GS 4.113 and AE 2.114.

The Government Printing Office (GPO) has a searchable database for these documents at: http://www.fdsys.gov/. The University of Michigan has digitized the set which one can access through the State Library’s catalog (www.mass.gov/lib). Choose the keywords: Public Papers of the Presidents.

Get Ready: National Library Week, April 8-14, 2012

Next week kicks off the annual week-long American Library Association-sponsored celebration that recognizes the many important roles that libraries play in our communities. This year’s theme is “You belong @ your library”, which encourages community members to take advantage of what programs and services their libraries have to offer. The State Library has a couple events planned for next week: Thursday, April 12th we are hosting a Brown Bag on the topic of redistricting titled “Breaking New Ground: Technological Advances for Redistricting”. The library is also participating in the Massachusetts Library Snapshot Day, sponsored by MLA, MBLC, MSLA, and MLS.

On Tuesday, April 10th, National Library Workers Day recognizes current professionals in the field of library and information science. It also reminds us of historical figures that have contributed greatly to our understanding of library science and laid the foundation of our current practices. In honor of the upcoming celebration, I decided to examine one of our larger archival collections that houses records of the State Library. Of especial interest in Ms. Coll. 66 is correspondence addressed from Melvil Dewey and Charles Ammi Cutter to Caleb Tillinghast, the first State Librarian of Massachusetts; Tillinghast has been on our minds recently with the near completion of our preliminary Massachusetts Legislative Biographical File database. (http://www.mastatelibrary.blogspot.com/2012/03/in-works-electronic-legislative.html).

Dewey and Cutter were innovators in library science and, if anything, we immediately associate their names with the Dewey Decimal System and the Cutter Expansive Classification; each classification system, developed in the mid-to-late 19th century, has made an enduring impression and continues to help modern libraries better categorize and arrange their materials with efficiency and specificity. In addition, Melvil Dewey was, among other things, the founder and editor of Library Journal; a founding member of the American Library Association (ALA); Librarian of Columbia College, where he founded the School of Library Economy; and Director of the New York State Library. Charles Cutter was also a founding member of ALA, over which he served as president from 1888 to 1889; worked for the Winchester (Mass.) Town Library and the Boston Athenaeum, both at which he applied his newly developed classification scheme; and was General Editor for Library Journal (1881-1883).

Below are just two examples of the correspondence in our collection: one message depicts the usual day-to-day library activities, and another is a letter that seeks Caleb Tillinghast’s opinion on a more personal matter.


National Library Week events
Month of April – School Library Month
Monday, April 9 – 2012 State of America’s Report released
Tuesday, April 10 – National Library Workers Day
Wednesday, April 11 – National Bookmobile Day
Thursday, April 12 – Support Teen Literature Day

For more information please visit ALA’s Library Week website at: http://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks/natlibraryweek

Kaitlin Connolly
Library Technician, Reference Department

Sculpted to Inspire: George Frisbie Hoar

Do you know who George Frisbie Hoar is?

Do you know why his birthday is significant?

George Frisbie Hoar was born in Concord in 1826,

the same year the State Library was founded.

Please visit the Library in Room 341 between October 4 and November 12, 2010 to see the sculpture of George Frisbie Hoar.

The “Sculpted to Inspire” series is sponsored by the Friends of the State Library.

Library Launches Flickr Site

The State Library of Massachusetts is happy to announce the launch of its Flickr web site. The library will use the site to post images documenting the library’s history, not just its collections. Past library exhibits will be recreated online to allow people from around the world to view important library collections.

In celebration of National Library Week the first set is “The State Library through the Years,” a selection of images from the library’s historical archive. The State Library of Massachusetts opened in 1826 and has been in its present location in the State House since the 1890s. The main reading room, periodicals balcony, and stacks are located in the Brigham Extension, completed between 1889 and 1895. The images in this set show the library over the last 100 years.

Be sure to check back each month as a new set is posted. Our photo set in May will showcase our first in the series of exhibits, The 55th Regiment.

- The Marketing Committee