The end of the
Civil War enabled Americans to try to rebuild their lives and their
communities. 
was set up in his home on
In 1879 Almina Foster became the
third librarian and the library was relocated to her house. She lived in the “little house”, next to the
current Stidson home at
The library, and other town offices,
were growing and in need of more space.
The “
The library
was growing and the residents were looking for another catalogue of the library
contents. In 1909 a 54-page pamphlet was
created and made available for “the small price of ten cents”. Every year after, until 1950, new books added
to the library were listed in the Annual Report. As the library cataloguing system improved,
the pamphlet and the annual list were no longer needed.
Although 1918
brought about the end of The Great War, also known as World War I, it was also
the year of the influenza pandemic, which killed more people than the war. The influenza directly affected
began another study to deal with the
need for additional space for the school, the town offices, and the
library. The Board of Selectmen and the
Library Trustees recommended a new two-story building for the town offices and
the library. On April 22, 1939 the
library opened on the first floor in the newly constructed Community Hall in
the center of town at
The winter of
1942 was especially hard. World War II
was going on and the entire country was feeling its devastating effects. The library was forced to reduce its hours to
only Tuesdays to reduce fuel consumption which was needed for the war effort.
The town was
growing and library use was expanding.
In 1964 discussions began on the need for additional space for both the
library and the town offices. These
discussions went on for 5 years until the Trustees requested that the
townspeople support the establishment of a new library. At the Annual Town Meeting in March of 1969,
a library building committee of five members was appointed by the Selectmen to
review costs, plans, and a site. The
five members were; Carl R. Griffin Jr., Chairman; Albina B. Murphy, Clerk;
Vivian W. Endicott; Stanley U. Pierson; and Arthur E. Smith.
On May 15,
1970 the voters of 
the site at
As the
population continued to grow and library use increased, the library was unable
to provide many services. Conditions
were very crowded. Tables and chairs
were removed to make room for bookshelves but this left table space very
limited. Eventually the additional shelf
space was full and book purchases were limited because there was no space to
shelve them. The library was busting at
the seams. The overcrowding problem at
the library was noted as early as 1984.
A Library Needs Study Committee documented the need for more library
space in 1985, and in 1987 the study was continuing. By 1989, circulation was 37,971 books being
checked out by 3,244 library patrons.
The library was a busy place. In
1990 the roof began to leak and was threatening to damage the books. The town appropriated money for the
repairs. By 1995, 4,156 borrowers
checked out 55,699 books.
In October
1996 a Library Building Study Committee began to meet and study possible
solutions. The Committee members were
Sharon Berndt and John Scannell, co-chairs, Janet Barakian, Jack Brennan, Judy
Daniel, Len Gengel, Harry Johnson, Beth Lambert, and Pauline Nylin. They spent years studying the library
problems and different alternatives.
In May 1999 the voters of 
funding for a new library with the
understanding that the project would be held off until May of 2000 to see if
the State of
The town
residents were very excited about the new library. Circulation increased 22 % and patrons
increased 18%. The meeting rooms in the
basement were quickly utilized by the many town boards and organizations in
need of meeting space. Eventually the
large meeting room became Precinct 2, the polling place for half the town.
The Rutland
Free Public Library, as it was known in 1866 when it started, is now commonly
called the Rutland Public Library. As of
2004, when this article was written, the library has been serving the
No library
could function without a librarian putting in countless hours maintaining the
library and serving the patrons.
Although we have listed only the head librarians, it is important to
remember the countless others who work as librarians, aides, and pages and
keeps the library functioning.
Volunteers donate numerous hours providing a number of services to
benefit the community. Since 1866,
community residents and businesses have recognized the importance of a town
library and have donated money, books, time, and possessions. Although the library provides a service to the
community, time has shown that it takes a community to make a library.
Librarians:
1866-1875 George A. Putnam
1876-1878 Sarah Taylor
1879-1898 Almina A. Foster
1899-1914 Mrs. E. J. Prouty
1915-1919 Charlotte Drury
1920-1939 Edna Wheeler
1940-1964 Linda Hanff
1965-1977
Albina B. Murphy
1978-1987
Dorothy R. Patch
1988
Theresa M. Doresy
1989
Renee Voorhees
1990-1994
Belinda F.
Thomasian
1995
Claire White
& Jean Bigelow
1996-2000
May Lee Tom
2001-
Kerry Remington
This history was written by
the Stephen Bedard from the Friends of the Rutland Library with the assistance
of many others. Every effort was made to
provide accurate information. Any known
inaccuracies should be brought to the attention of the Library Director and we
will make every effort to verify and correct the article. We also welcome any additional library
related history.
References
·
Amsden, Irene,
·
Barakian, Janet,
·
Calkins, Helen,
Library Trustee, provided notes from annual reports 1866-1996
·
Murphy, T., History of
·
Rutland
Historical Society, provided notes, articles, and photographs
·
Rutland Public
Library, provided notes and articles
·
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918. http://www.Stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/
·
Town of
·
Town of
·
Town of
·
Wood, A., 1918: Babe Ruth and the World Champion