This
Month in
Morrisson-Reeves
Library History
September |
| 1864
|
On September 5, five weeks after the opening
of the Morrisson Library, Mrs. Sarah Wrigley assumed the duties of Librarian,
the post she would hold for the next 39 years. She replaced Jesse Brown,
who had been appointed school superintendent. |
| 1866 |
The editor of The Hummingbird
was happy to report that the Morrisson Trustees had decided to open the
library on Saturday evenings for "the exclusive benefit of our mechanics,
and others whose business prevents their visiting the Library during the
day, and no others have any right to claim the attention of the Librarian
at that time. Most ladies, and all children can find time
to go to the Library in the afternoon, and we are glad that the managers
have determined to enforce the rules." |
| 1906 |
The library was in the process of some
renovations as reported by the Palladium on September 6. Because
Morrisson-Reeves had recently been designated a government depository, a
whole new floor of shelving was being added to make room for the new and
voluminous Government Documents. Additionally, the room on the lower level
that had been the Boys' and Girls' Room (and would be again in 1948) was
being fitted out to be a lecture hall, primarily for the History Club, but
it could be used by other groups as well. |
| 1914 |
On September 8, for the first time, patrons
were allowed direct access to the stack area. The library had been closed
for renovations, which included replacing the receiving desk with a railing
and gate. This allowed the public into the stacks where patrons could browse
the shelves for themselves instead of depending on library employees to
retrieve desired books. |
| 1943 |
| The September 10 Palladium-Item ran
a front page article about the Victory Book campaign. "One of
the basement rooms, with shelves stocked with choice books turned
in by patriotic Richmond citizens, resembles an up-to-date bookstore."
The idea was for patrons to choose a book for a particular serviceman,
then have the library send it to him. All they had to do was fill
out the form (shown at right) and provide 10 cents to cover postage.
"The books are here. We want them to go to Richmond boys." |
|
|
| 1945 |
After being closed for a month for redecorating,
the library opened on September 4 with the new librarian, Mrs. Bard, in
charge. |
| 1946
|
Mrs. Bernhardt, Morrisson-Reeves’
second librarian, died at the age of 87 on September 18. She had retired
from the librarian position the previous year but was still serving as secretary
of the board. |
| 1966 |
|
| This property on the corner
of North A and 5th was one of those that was razed to make way for
the new library. |
Library Board President, Richard B. Kleinknecht, announced
that the board had acquired or exercised options to buy all the property
from North 5th and A Streets south to the filling station just north of
the old City Hall. In defending the board's decision to build a new building
instead of modifying the old one, he cited the changing role of libraries
since the turn of the century. "The library of today is used not only
by the scholarly minded for study and research but by the businessman, the
housewife, the industrial worker, and by the growing number of retired persons
seeking constructive hobbies. Instead of being just a repository for the
classics, the library of today is a workshop or laboratory for information
used by people from all walks of life. This calls for a new design in library
buildings." |
| 1982 |
| The library announced that the task of transferring
to audio cassette all the recordings of Singin'
Sam was complete, and those cassettes were available for circulation.
Singin' Sam, whose real name was Harry Frankel, was a local entertainer
who was a nationally known radio star. His widow, Smiles Frankel,
donated his sheet music to the library in 1951, and after her death
in May 1981, her son donated the recordings to the library. The
recordings are still available. |
 |
|
| 1985 |
 |
On September 12, President of the
Board Richard B. Kleinknecht announced that Carol B. Smyth had been
chosen to succeed Harriet Bard as Library Director, effective October
28. Mrs. Bard had announced that she would retire on October 1 after
40 years of service as Librarian. |
|
| 1993 |
Mrs. Harriet E. Bard, Morrisson-Reeves Librarian from
1945 to 1985, died at her son's home in Sylvania, Ohio, where she had lived
since 1986. |
