An account of the origin and development of the Narberth Community Library
Author: Robert Fellows Wood
Published by: unpublished
Year: 1926
An account of the origin and development of the Narberth Community Library prior to the formation of the Narberth Community Library Association whose official records are contained in this book.
The Library, as an idea, originated in October, 1920 when Mrs. Elizabeth K. Wood was appointed chairman of the literature department of the Women's Community Club. Mrs. Wood in planning a program for that department wrote in a note book at that time several items among which were "Form a Reading Circle", "Provide one dramatic afternoon for the Club", and "Start a Library." These three items only are recorded here from Mrs. Wood's original note book because they each had a direct bearing upon the birth of the Library.
The Reading Circle was quite readily formed and revealed in the Women's Club and outside of it a group of women who were interested in books as literature. The dramatic program was presented to the Club in the form of an "Afternoon with Lord Dunsany." The consummation of that program and the development of the Reading Circle personnel enabled Mrs. Wood to make the first definite steps toward the creation of a Library. This she did by appearing before the Executive Board of the Club and asking them to contribute for the purpose of starting a library the amount of money which they would have had to pay for a lecturer or entertainer if the Lord Dunsany program had not been made available by the Reading Circle. The Executive Board agreed and appropriated $30.00 for that purpose.
The next step was to approach the head of the book department in the John Wanamaker store, in Philadelphia, and ascertain whether it would be possible to obtain the customary library discount on the purchase of books for a library which was not yet in existence and which had at that time an actual purchasing power of only $30.00. The Wanamaker book man immediately agreed to allow a discount of 20 per cent if Mrs. Wood could assure him that it was the purpose to establish a bona fide town library and not a private reading circle or a collection of books of less than community scope. This assurance was promptly given by Mrs. Wood because it was her intention from the first to endeavor to make available for Narberth the kind of library service with which she had been familiar in Massachusetts. It was in that conversation that the name "The Narberth Community Library" was first used as is indicated by the fact that the Library account which was established that day in the Wanamaker store has always been in that name. The discount which the Wanamaker store allowed is recorded here at this length because it was one of the important factors entering into the circumstances which made the formation of the Library possible.
The first $30.00 purchased eighteen books which were delivered to Mrs. Wood's home, a small bungalow on Avon Road, since demolished to make way for the rear of the Merion Title & Trust Company building. The plan to rent books "at ten cents for each week or fraction thereof" so as to provide a steady income had been formulated by Mrs. Wood before she had approached the executive board of the Women's Community Club, and it had been a part of her original proposal to the executive board that one appropriation from them would be sufficient. It was with that understanding that the Executive Board appropriated only $30.00.
The first eighteen books were accessioned and catalogued by Mrs. Wood just as though they were a part of an institution already in existence. This caused some amusement in the minds of her friends, one of whom noticed that the first of the catalogue cards recorded "Adventures and Enthusiasms" by E. V. Lucas. That friend remarked that the title of the first book was a good indication of the nature of the Library enterprise at that moment. Among others in that first collection were: "Miss Lulu Bett" by Zona Gale; "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis; "Moon Calf" by Floyd Dill; "A Poor Wise Man" Mary Roberts Rhinehart; "Blind" by Ernest Poole; "Potterism" by Rose Macaulay; "Personal Prejudice" by Sturgis; "26 Jayne Street" Mary Austin; "The Top of the World" by Ethel M. Dell; "Thread of Flame" by Basil King; "Rescue" by Joseph Conrad; "Purple Heights" by Marie Oemler; "Captives" by Hugh Walpole; "Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton; "Wounded Souls" by Sir Philip Gibbs; "House of Balthazar" by William Locke and "Hunger" by Knute Knutson.
When those eighteen books had been arranged on a single windowsill of Mrs. Wood's bungalow and Mrs. Horace E. Ruch, a member of the Reading Circle, had been appointed to be the first "distributing librarian", the Narberth Community Library was opened to the public on January 31, 1921. The original plan was that the Library should be open for the distribution of books on Monday mornings only, at which times Mrs. Ruch was regularly present to handle the distribution. That was the morning when the Reading Circle regularly met at Mrs. Wood's home. The enterprise, however, had been carefully explained in the reading columns of "Our Town", the weekly newspaper of Narberth, and from the very start the policy of regular weekly publicity in reference to the Library was adopted and carried out.
As a result it was only a short time before the public, principally the feminine element, became aware that a collection of books had been made available and before many weeks people were coming to Mrs. Wood's home for books quite frequently, at all hours of the day and evening, and on every day of the week. The daily accumulation of dimes was small but very tangible as an indication that the plan of operation was sound and would work. As soon as the price of a new book, usually about $1.80 had been accumulated, it was promptly used to add a single volume to the collection and the acquisition of a new book was as promptly chronicled in the next available issue of "Our Town".
Very soon after the Library had been opened it received a contribution which at that particular time was exceedingly valuable. That was a collection of quite recent detective stories and other light fiction which was given by Mr. William Livingston, a Narberth resident who had been accustomed to buy those books while away on frequent business trips. All of these books were good sources of rental income and this first contribution which happened to come from a man is recorded here with a feeling of gratitude which still abides.
By the early spring of 1921, it was clearly apparent that, not only because of the growing collection of books and the increasing patronage, but also in order to give it a more correct public character, it was necessary to take the Library out of Mrs. Wood's home. She thereupon interviewed Mr. Augustus J. Loos, who was, in many respects, the leading member of the Board of Trustees which owned the Y.M.C.A. building at the corner of Forrest and Haverford Avenues. The attempt to maintain Y.M.C.A. activities in that building had been abandoned in the previous year, and the commodious lobby, in which some book shelves were already available and in which also there was an old collection of books that had been gathered there by the Y.M.C.A., had been selected by Mrs. Wood as being the best available place for the Library, if it could be procured at no expense. Mr. Loos listened to her proposal with the sympathetic attention which he always gave to any serious attempt at community service and through his influence the Library was soon granted permission to occupy the lobby of the Y.M.C.A. building, rent, light and heat free, and with the understanding that the Library should catalog and make available to public uses all of the Y.M.C.A. books which were suitable.
The Library was moved into the lobby of the Y.M.C.A. building and first opened its doors there to receive the public on Friday, June 17, 1921. The total attendance on that first day was 15, and the total circulation was 17. The Library was then "open" on Friday afternoons and evenings only and the weekly receipts were averaging $2.00. The response of the public to the new quarters was immediate and gratifying, so much so in fact that within four months the attendance had gone over 100, the circulation likewise and the average weekly income had reached $7.00.
The Juvenile department was added on October 14, 1921 and on that day 25 books were distributed to children. The distribution of books in the juvenile department was made absolutely free from the start, and for two years or more it was the policy to apportion to the purchase of juvenile books the entire rental income of one Library day a month which in effect amounted to 25 percent of the total income. A corollary of the development of the juvenile department was the creation of a reference department early in 1922.
A report which Mrs. Wood read at a meeting of the Women's Community Club on May 15, 1922, indicated that sixteen months after its birth the Library had a collection of 577 books and during the club year, then ending, its receipts had totaled $420.82; expenditures for books $357.64, and for supplies $7.45, leaving a balance on hand of $52.49. During that time, the Library had distributed 4021 books and had had a total attendance of 3987. Practically all of the income of that first year was derived from the rental of books, for with the exception of the original appropriation of $30.00, the records indicate only one contribution of cash and that was $15.00, a gift from the Reading Circle. On June 30, 1922, Mrs. E. A. Muschamp gave to the Library the sum of $50.00 which was in the form of a loan to enable the Library to spend its entire income, as received, for books without overdrawing its check account. A demand-note was given to Mrs. Muschamp in recognition of the loan, but up to the present writing (November 1926) Mrs. Muschamp has never presented the note for payment and has probably forgotten about it intentionally.
The definite objective to extend the scope and service of the Library to all people as rapidly as possible was the cause of the establishment of an interesting policy in the summer of 1922, when as "a summer privilege" all books in the rental collection, that had been published before a certain date, were distributed free of charge and on January 1, 1923 the policy was established of removing permanently from the rental collection and thereby making free all books which had been published more than two years previously. In adopting this policy, there was a certain risk of diminished income but there was also the greater advantage of increased service. There never was any occasion to question in actual practice the wisdom of that policy which was broadened in its scope in later years as the improving financial resources made it possible.
Steady growth in books, attendance, income, and of capable volunteer assistants characterized the years 1923 and 1924, during which time there was no change in the basic principles and policies by which the Library was operated. During those years the growth made necessary an increase in the number of days that the Library was opened for service each week. So far as the organization itself was concerned, it continued as a part of the literature department of the Women's Community Club. Mrs. Wood was annually reappointed chairman of that department by successive presidents of the club but, as Librarian in fact, she selected and directed the members of the Library staff, choosing them with reference to their interest in the work and their individual abilities, regardless of whether they were members of the Women's Club. In the spring of 1923, the Library was recognized as a separate department by the Women's Club and Mrs. Wood continued as chairman of that department until the organization of the Library Association.
The year 1925 brought many important changes. By that time the Library had seriously outgrown the space available in the lobby of the Y.M.C.A. building and the building itself had in the meantime been sold to the Merion Title and Trust Company. The president of that company, Mr. Richard J. Hamilton of Ardmore, had assured the Library that it could continue to occupy the lobby without expense and when he was asked whether the use of the gymnasium in the same building could be obtained upon the same terms, he cordially assented. Therefore, on May 11, 1925, the Library made its second move and entered the commodious gymnasium where, when the shelves had been established and the books placed on them, it, for the first time took on the appearance of a real public library, in spite of the fact that all of the shelves, desks, furniture, filing equipment and everything were the second-hand contributions which had been gladly accepted and put to work. There was no question in the mind of anyone who entered the old gymnasium at that time but that Narberth had a real library.
While that change of physical location was in process of accomplishment, an equally important change of an organization character took place. Mrs. H. A. Jacobs was then president of the Women's Community Club and she gave an understanding attention to Mrs. Wood's suggestion that the time had arrived when the Library should be made a community organization in every sense of the word, and that the nominal connection with the Women's Club should be severed to make it possible to create a new organization of both men and women to be responsible for the Library and to be eligible to receive appropriations of public money. As a result, the Executive Board of the Women's Club recommended, and the club membership approved the decision to discontinue the Club's relationship to the Library. Thereupon, the Narberth Community Library Association was organized in May 1925. (April, see following 9 pages)
Just before the formal organization of the Narberth Community Library Association had been completed, two very tangible and gratifying indications that the Library had won a position of public recognition and support came in the form of an appropriation of $500.00 by the directors of the Narberth School district, and an offer of a permanent home in the new community building which the trustees of the Y.M.C.A. fund were about to build on the public playground and which, after its completion, was to be maintained and supported by the Borough treasury. The Library moved into its permanent home in the central section of the new Community building on May 1, 1926. In anticipation of that event, the trustees of the Library Association had conducted the first appeal for public contributions which had ever been addressed by the Library to the people of Narberth. The response was prompt and substantial and resulted in a fund which totaled about $1300.00 with which a complete new equipment of shelves, desks, tables and chairs was installed in the new quarters before the books were moved in from the old gymnasium.
Therefore, from January 31, 1921 to May 1, 1926, only a little more than five years, Narberth as a community, starting from nothing and unaided by the munificence of any person of wealth, had developed, equipped and housed a library of 4800 volumes and an organization fully capable of giving to the entire community, school children, high school pupils, and adults, library service as complete as is found anywhere within the limitations of a comparatively small population.
Mrs. Wood, whose name has entered this chronicle with unavoidable frequency, has insisted that it should be recorded that all through the opening years of the Library's development, its success was principally due to the availability here in Narberth of an unusual group of women who possessed only a high ideal of community service but who also had a much rarer characteristic involving a willingness to give to a purely voluntary work a regularity of time and of attention, without which all effort would have been in vain. The names of that group are very properly made a part of the permanent records of the Narberth Community Library Association and are so inscribed as honorary life members of the Association.
—Written by Robert Fellows Wood (11-21-'26)
We, the undersigned, have read this chronicle of the beginnings of the Narberth Community Library, and we subscribe to its truth and accuracy—
Elizabeth K. Wood,
Librarian
Jan. 3, 1927
Anna MacKead
President of N.C.L.A.
Jan. 3, 1927
Mary T. Drew
Sec'y, N.C.L.A.
Jan. 6, 1927