Page:A century of Birmingham life- or, A chronicle of local events, from 1741 to 1841 (IA centuryofbirming01lang).pdf/39

in Birmingham, on March 21, 1826. When this had done its work— and a noble work it was—and passed away, the Polytechnic Institution succeeded it. This was in 1843. For a few years the new institution struggled through a rather weakly existence; for it never possessed the vigorous strength which, for many years, characterised the Mechanics' Institute. This, too, passed away; and, in November, 1855, the late Prince Albert laid the foundation stone of the present Midland Institute, which, in its industrial department, now numbers upwards of a thousand students. Within its walls any working man, or working woman either, who has the desire, united with the necessary industry and persistence, can obtain a first-class education, either literary or scientific. Birmingham has also adopted the Free Libraries and Museums Act, and, in 1861, the first of these excellent institutions was opened in Constitution Hill. Since that time three other branch libraries have been added, one in Deritend, one at Gosta Green, and a third at Adderley Park. A Central Reference and Lending Library, has been built in Ratcliff Place at a cost of nearly, if not over, £13,000. The Lending Library, together with its admirable Reading Room, were opened by Mr. Henry Wiggin, then mayor, on September 6, 1864, when an inaugural address was delivered by Lord Stanley. The Reference Library, which is by far the finest room of any of the free libraries in the kingdom. and contains about 18,000 volumes of the best works in all literatures, was opened by Mr. E. Yates, Mayor, October 26, 1866, when Mr. George Dawson, M.A., delivered an inaugural address. To the Central Library is also added an Art Gallery, which, we trust, contains the germs of a noble and useful collection of the Fine Arts. The use which the people make of these libraries may be gathered by the following summary taken from the Annual Report of the Free Libraries Committee for 1866. In that year the Reference Library had been open only 54 days, and the total issues to readers reached 11,468, being a daily average of 2,123 volumes. The