The Soldiers' Free Library

the;soldiers' free library Robert W. Lovett when andrew Carnegie came to present a publiclibrary building to the city of Washington, D.C., he wrote to Mr. and Mrs. John A. Fowle, of Dorchester, Massachusetts: "I hail you as Pioneers of the Free Library System of Washington; in your footsteps I simply follow, an easy matter to do since the path through the forest has been opened."1 His tribute acknowledged Mr. and Mrs. Fowle's Civil War accomplishment in setting up and operating a library for soldiers recuperating in Washington . The Soldiers' Free Library, as it was called, numbered about 6,000 volumes at its close, and was almost wholly a private undertaking. Its colorful story is not simply that of the Fowles themselves; it relates also to the larger subject of relief work for soldiers during the Civil War. In fact, the library had its genesis in the volunteer relief work which John A. Fowle and his future wife, Elida B. Rumsey, carried on together during the early days of the war.2 Miss Rumsey, of Tarrytown, New York, moved to Washington with her family in the spring of 1861, when she was only nineteen. They lived at 423 Fifth Street, near Judiciary Square, where her father probably maintained a rooming house. The Rumsey girls, trained as singers, often gave informal concerts at patriotic meetings and in military hospitals then springing up throughout the city. John A. Fowle, sixteen years older than Miss Rumsey, left Boston (where he had been in the wool business) early in 1862 to go to Washington as a clerk in the Navy Department . He too was a vocalist, and soon he and Miss Rumsey were members of the quartet that sang for Sunday services in the House of Representatives. Since he was free from his daily duties at 3 p.m., Fowle Robert W. Lovett holds advanced degrees from both Harvard and Columbia Universities. He is presently head of the Manuscripts Division of Baker Library , Harvard Business School. 1 Quoted from the Fowle's golden wedding anniversary leaflet, Mar. 1, 1913. Records of the Soldiers' Free Library, Dorchester Historical Society. Unless otherwise noted, all manuscript references to this article will be from this collection. * For a sketch of John A. Fowle, see American Series of Popufor Biographies— Massachusetts (Boston, 1901); also obituary in The Boston Herald, Apr. ß, 1916. Mrs. Fowle was one of the subjects of Frank Moore's Women of the War ( Hartford, 1866). 54 began distributing religious literature from the Boston office of the American Tract Society to soldiers in the hospitals. Shortly he and Miss Rumsey began distributing together such "extras" as jellies, wines, shirts and stationery which Northern friends sent to the soldiers. They also continued to sing in the hospitals, and Fowle wrote the words for two favorite pieces performed by Miss Rumsey, The Rebel Flags" and The Dying Soldier Boy." Fowle came to realize that sick and convalescent soldiers in Washington might be interested in reading matter other than the religious tracts and papers that he was distributing. In September, 1862, he prepared a circular, describing his plan for a library, which he sent to various Northem friends and newspapers. No copy has survived, but The Congregationalist , in its issue of October 3, took notice of it. The editor misunderstood Miss Rumsey's name, Elida, as Elisha, and referred to the pair as "Messrs." Thepaper announced that"they desire to obtain a good assortment of volumes suitable for hospital reading," and directed that the donor put his name and address in each volume and cover the books with stout brown paper. Books could be forwarded by prepaid express to either the Rumsey home or the Boston office of the American Tract Society. A list was to be sent at the same time to Fowle at the Navy Department . The response from Northern friends was even greater than the founders expected. Mrs. Walter Baker, widow of the chocolate manufacturer, became an enthusiastic supporter. She further enlisted the support of several women in the Dorchester area. Even children participated: four little girls raised twenty dollars. By good management, Mrs. Baker was able to purchase nearly fifty books with this...