The Erie County Society for the Prevention and Cruelty to Animals

“Life is a thing of common use, by Heaven as well as to insects, as to monarch given.” – Quote found in the Erie County SPCA 1893 annual report, originally by Edmund Waller from the Maid’s Tragedy.

May is National Pet Month. To celebrate, delve into the early history of the Erie County SPCA.  The images below are from the organization’s annual reports 1883-1938.  The reports are available in the Grosvenor Room’s Buffalo Collection at the following call number: Buffalo HV4702 .E6. There are some gaps in the collection.

The Erie County SPCA was incorporated in 1888, though the roots of the society date back to 1867 when a Buffalo chapter of the SPCA was formed.  Work to prevent the cruelty to animals was particularly difficult in its fledgling years, especially for women.   Before the society was incorporated, there was a women’s branch of the ASPCA in Buffalo and in that time, it was seen as inappropriate for women to protest.  It was common belief during the Victorian Era that women belonged in the home, and some who acted on behalf of animal rights were harassed and threatened with violence.  Of course, men too were commonly threatened at this time when many were ignorant to the idea of animal rights.

Unsurprisingly, the first court case brought forth by the society was regarding the mistreatment of canal mules.  Mules were used to pull boats along the Erie Canal and often worked for six-hour shifts.  The mules in question were malnourished and driven while injured.  Happily, the verdict was in favor of the SPCA.  In the late 1800s and early 1900s, SPCA agents were appointed to watch over canal animals as well as those in stockyards.  Buffalo at that time was the second largest railroad center in the country; its livestock trade business was extensive because of the ease of animal transport.  Brave volunteers made arrests, ordered animals to be fed, took off painful collars and restraints, and removed animals from abusive or negligent caretakers.

The organization worked for pro-animal legislation and lobbied against animal dissection.  Volunteers educated local police on new animal laws, on proper animal handling, and police officers were made honorary members of the society.  Members talked to school children about respecting animals, essay contests on animal rights topics were sponsored, junior humane societies were formed, and local schools were given books on “kindness to animals.” Of course, the society had many other achievements, such as installing water fountains to encourage the watering of animals, building an animal shelter, and free veterinary clinics.

To read about the modern day programs and achievements of the Erie County SPCA, see the society’s website: https://www.yourspca.org/.

      

       

     

Items of Note in Rare Book News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always a bit affirming when news/media gives attention to significant rare book authors. This morning it gave us the following:

Today marks the day that in 1796 Edward Jenner successfully administered his small pox vaccine to 8-year-old James Phipps using captured discharge from an active cow pox lesion(see Stefan Riedel’s “Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination” article in the 2005 Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/ and Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac for May 14, 2015 at http://writersalmanac.org). This act of variolation stemmed the tide of the highly-contagious, sometimes-deadly and often-disfiguring disease that ravaged so many up to and through the 18^th century. This library is a proud owner of a first edition Edward Jenner An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ in the Milestones of Science Collection (see http://milestones.buffalolib.org/booksBrowser/BookDetail.asp?item_id=112).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also in the news this morning on NPR’s Morning Edition was a great story and book review entitled “A Fortune In Folios: One Man’s Hunt For Shakespeare’s First Editions “ (http://www.npr.org/2015/05/14/406470976/a-fortune-in-folios-one-man-s-hunt-for-shakespeare-s-first-editions). The new book The Millionaire and the Bard by Andrea Mays chronicles Henry Folger’s obsessive collecting of Shakespeare First Folios. The piece speaks to the lengths that Folger would go to obtain copies owned by others. The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library’s First Folio (#6 on the photo scroll at http://www.buffalolib.org/content/grosvenor/rare-book-room) was once owned by Folger and was the result of an exchange for the copy that Col. Charles Clifton, President of the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company, secured sometime before 1919. Folger coveted the copy Clifton had purchased because “Principall Actor” Samuel Gilburne’s name was written next to his printed name in the list of players but it was not verifiable that it was his signature. The Maggs catalogue price that Clifton presumably paid for the Gilburne copy was $3,000.After negotiating, Folger finally agreed to pay Clifton $8,800 and provide a more-perfect First Folio that this library now owns.

 

 

The final rare book and manuscript newsworthy item for today comes from Fine Books & Collections at http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2015/05/scholars-discover-lost-twain-writings.phtml. Of course this library is always on the lookout for any news that concerns Mark Twain because it is no secret (at least we hope it is not a secret! See http://www.buffalolib.org/content/grosvenor/mark-twain-room if it is please) that it owns Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn manuscript. “Scholars Discover Lost Twain Writings” details recently discovered Twain’s pre-Innocents abroad newspaper writings.

…all the news that’s fit to [re]print!