Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

generous and social nature and temperate
to the last degree. His large farmhouse
became headquarters for his numerous
friends who came to hunt and fish on
the large tracts of land which he owned.
While always a busy man, he was never
too busy to welcome an acquaintance in
health, to visit him in time of sickness, or
to assist in laying him to rest. As a
member of the General Assembly and the
first master of the Connecticut State
Grange he had a large circle of acquaint-
ances.
As a boy, George S. Godard attended
the district school in his native town and
assisted his father in the many occupa-
tions upon his extensive farms and in the
grist and saw-mills on the homestead in
Granby. He prepared for College at Wesleyan
Academy, at Wilbraham, Massa-
chusetts, where he graduated in 1886.
Mr. Godard continued his studies at Wes-
leyan University, Middletown, Connecti-
cut, where he received the degree of
Bachelor of Arts in 1892, and North-
western University, Evanston, Illinois,
and Yale University, where he received
the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in
1895. In 1916 his Alma Mater conferred
upon him the honorary degree of Master
of Arts. In college he was a member of
the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
Beginning by collecting and arranging
his early school books and the books in
his own home, he continued library work
as librarian of Philo Society at Wilbraham,
then librarian of his local Sunday
School Library, and in 1890 the first libra-
rian of the Frederick H. Cossitt Library
near his home at North Granby, where
a building was planned, erected and
equipped. Mr. Godard still retains an
active interest in this, his first public
library. In 1898, he was selected by State
Librarian Dr. Charles J. Hoadly to assist
him in the State Library, then located in
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
244
the State Capitol. Two years later, when
after a continuous service of forty-five
years as State Librarian, Dr. Hoadly died,
Mr. Godard was selected to succeed him
in that important position. Under his
direction the Connecticut State Library
has been reorganized and its activities
extended. It is now adequately housed in
a new building substantially built, beau-
tiful in its architecture, convenient in its
arrangement, harmonious in its decora-
tion, and homelike. The State Library
and Supreme Court Building, which is
built of granite, and is one of a group
of State buildings of which the Capitol
is the center, is considered a model for its
purpose. In it are embodied the hopes,
plans, efforts and ambitions of the best
years of Mr. Godard's life. It is a library
by the people, of the people and for the
people. The Connecticut State Library
includes
:
Supreme Court Law Library;
Legislative Reference Department
Department of Local History and Genealogy;
Archives Department;
Depository of Public Records;
Examiner of Public Records;
Depository of Connecticut State, Town, Mu-
nicipal and Society official publications;
Depository for the official publications of the
United States, the several States of the Union,
the Canadian Government and Provinces, and of
the Australian Colonies
;
Library Exchange Agent for Connecticut State
Publications;
Exchange Agent for Connecticut Geological
and Natural History Survey Publications;
Custodian of Portraits of Governors
Custodian of State Library and Supreme Court
Building.
Depository of historical and genealogical gifts
to the State. Among these gifts are the following:
a. Sherman W. Adams Collection of Official
Rolls and Lists relating to the French and Indian
War;
b. Dorence Atwater Collection of Manuscripts
relating to Andersonville;
c. William F. J. Boardman Collection of Books
and Manuscripts relating to Genealogy;
d. Brandegee Collection of Portraits of Chief
Justices of the United States;
;
;