“Island library has history” from the November 9, 1967 Door County Advocate
Island library has history
By GLADYS JEPSEN
Nowadays we have a special week to celebrate practically any thing you can mention. One of the most important weeks is National Book Week.
A good library is the most precious asset of any community. No one needs to be lonely if they enjoy reading and have access to a good library. It is very important to instill a love of reading in a child while he is very young. A good education is so very important today.
To get a good education a child must be able to read well and understand what he reads. A public library can furnish him with books suited to his age and reading ability.
Libraries are established in many ways. Some are built and furnished by the community, some are built through donations, and most schools have some sort of library. Forty or fifty years ago many communities had no public library, except the small school libraries. That was the case on Washington Island.
George Mann sr. had several shelves of books in his store that he loaned and people borrowed books from friends. George Mann’s store burned down and when he rebuilt, he had no books to loan.
There used to be a travelling library. Boxes of books were placed in some convenient public place and they were changed from time to time. Whether Washington Island enjoyed this service the writer could not discover.
About 1938 to 1939 the town of Washington received a letter from the Conan Eatons. A relative of theirs by the name of Bloodgood had died and his estate was to be sold. There was a library of a thousand books to be given away and they wanted to give them to Washington Island. But the town had no place to put them.
This dilemma came to the attention of Minnie Richter who was a member of the Detroit Harbor Ladies Aid. This group of women had built a house in which to hold their meetings. They had named it Evergreen Lodge.
Minnie thought of Evergreen Lodge as a place where it would be possible to store these books. At the next meeting of the Detroit Harbor Ladies Aid, they voted to accept the offer of these books. The only stipulation was that the freight on these books be paid, which this Ladies Aid agreed to do.
In due time the books arrived, 18 big boxes of them. But there were not any shelves or cabinets built to hold them. They had been shipped in strong wooden boxes made of good lumber. The boards from these boxes were used for shelves.
Some extra lumber also had to be purchased for shelves. Lester Nelson built the shelves and they are still in use. The Detroit Harbor Ladies Aid paid for the extra lumber and building the book shelves.
Mrs. Blanche Wickman had been a librarian before her marriage. Under her direction this Ladies Aid catalogued the books and got them ready to loan out. Mrs. Wickman was the first librarian. The library was open every Friday afternoon for three hours. Mrs. Wickman was paid one dollar each for her afternoon services.
About 1944 Mrs. Hans Baasch became librarian. The library was now open Monday, Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Mrs. Baasch also received one dollar for each afternoon of service. She was librarian for about five years. During this time she catalogued 3,000 volumes.
Mrs. Doris Hettiger was the next librarian. When she left the island Charlotte Meyers became librarian, a position she still holds.
By this time the town had granted this Ladies Aid $150 per year to help pay the expenses of lighting and heating Evergreen Lodge. This was later increased to $300 per year. Whatever sum that could be saved out of this amount was used to purchase new books. Books were also donated by many persons.
Every year this Ladies Aid buys $25 worth of slides. The librarian has a story hour for the children every Saturday afternoon and some of the slides are also shown.
For years the Ladies Aid elected the library board consisting of the president of the Ladies Aid and four other members, two of them usually teachers. Only recently they learned that the town is responsible for electing the library board.
During the lave 1940’s the Wisconsin Library association became greatly concerned about the state’s rural reading problem. Door and Kewaunee counties were chosen for the regional library demonstration which was financed by the state for a period of three years. This was during 1950, 1951 and 1952.
Then it was up to each county to decide by voting at the general election as to whether or not they wanted to continue this service. Door county voted to continue the service but Kewaunee county rejected it.
This service would now have to be financed by the taxpayers. All the public libraries in the county are now county libraries.
Washington Island is now planning to build a community building which will have a room for library purposes plus rooms for many other activities. The new library room will accommodate 6,000 volumes.
The Island library now contains 5,000 books. If the number of books ever exceeds 6,000, Evergreen Lodge may again be called upon to make room for the extra volumes.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
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