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Date: 2/23/2021
GRANVILLE – On Feb. 11, the Granville Library Club marked 125 years since its inception. New Granville Librarian Lise LeTellier said they are in the process of still trying to confirm that their Library Club is the oldest or at least one of the oldest continuously active library clubs, called Friends of the Library in most towns.
“Our history includes something that I think is remarkable,” LeTellier wrote to Reminder Publishing. “So I thought I would just reach out and give a shout out to the women of Granville of the past 125 years.” This Library Club was not just formed to support the library, but to raise the money to build it during a time when women could not vote and had few resources of their own.
The history of the club, supplied by the library’s Historical Room Overseer Dick Rowley, began when the town, in compliance with the Library Act of 1890, appropriated a small amount of money and received one hundred dollars’ worth of books from the state. The books were placed in the chapels of Granville and Granville Center in charge of the ministers and accessible to the public one afternoon a week. “Accommodations were lamentably insufficient and neither books nor people could be properly cared for,” according to the History of Granville, Mass. by Albion Benjamin Wilson, 1872 to 1950.
Mrs. Ralph B. (Ria) Cooley, who was connected to the Noble & Cooley Drum Manufacturing Company, invited twelve women to her home on Feb. 11, 1896, to discuss what actions could be taken. The thirteen women pledged to raise $10 a year on their own, and also work collectively to raise the $13,000 needed “to erect a library building containing a library and reading room and also a room provided with suitable attractions and amusements for both young men and young women;” thus forming The Library Club.
In 1896, “a pound of cheese cost 16 cents, a quart of the best milk 5 cents, an excellent and substantial dinner in one of Westfield’s best restaurants, 25 cents, which included a large plate of soup, a generous serving of roast beef or pork with potatoes and two other vegetables, plenty of bread and butter, a large piece of pie and coffee or tea,” according to the book.
The local history also details how each of the women from all walks of life raised their pledges. Club President Mrs. Ralph B. Cooley sold strawberries she grew in her garden. She also traded “a thoroughly good but cast-off overcoat of her husband’s” for the yield of a neighbor’s crabapple tree which she sold to a dealer in New York for $13.
Mrs. Ann Noble and Mrs. Nell Gibbons joined forces every Saturday afternoon and sold ice cream, otherwise unavailable in town; and also sold lemonade for Saturday ballgames. Mrs. Ciddie Huddleston made popcorn balls for Saturday sale.
Mrs. Alice Carpenter, who lived on a farm, gathered arbutus and sent it to a neighboring city, earning $6. She also packed and sold fruit from their cherry trees, and knitted “many a pair of mittens.”
Mrs. Silas Root plowed an unused field and sowed turnips, with a good yield that made her more than the required amount She also made and sold doughnuts.
Other members painted and sold calendars, and made specially prepared jellies, carpenter’s aprons – which were in demand, and clam chowder. Mrs. Emma Holcomb made her money by doing her own washing and ironing, and by going without things.
As a whole, the club hosted a fair in Nov. 1896, the first in 25 years, which brought in nearly $500. Chief interest in the fair was a beautifully dressed French doll donated by the Club President. A great many tickets were sold for a guess at the doll’s name, which was Celia, the same name as Ria Cooley’s mother. The doll was immediately given back to the club to be auctioned again, and then again for a third time. All told, “Celia” netted the club $112.
At the end of the third year, the Club had banked nearly $3,000. Then Mr. Milton B. Whitney of Westfield, a native of Granville, offered to give $5,000 for a library if the town matched it. The Club then raised $1,800 in subscriptions from townspeople, in amounts ranging from fifty cents to $200. Former residents gave generous gifts as well, and the offer of $5,000 was more than paired by the club.
In 1900 the building was started and completed the following year, opening for use on Feb. 22, 1902. Upon its completion, the Library was presented by the Club to the Town which, in return, gave the club certain privileges.
Current Library Club President Susan Jones-Raymond, who was elected in the fall, said the founding club members worked hard and were persistent about it. “It’s something the town should be so proud of; it’s such a big part of the history of the town,” she said.
Jones-Raymond said part of the original goal was for it to become both a library and a community center, a mission she wants to continue as president She said LeTellier is getting computers for the library, and the club wants to partner with her and come up with creative ideas for community events.
“This building is gold. What are the things we can do with the library building itself to preserve it and stay current,” she said, adding that they are learning about what other libraries are doing while keeping their historical perspective.
Granville Town Clerk Donna Fillion, a Library Club member since 2001, served as a past president and is currently a library trustee. “As a club member the club partakes in the Harvest Fair every year over Columbus Day Weekend. We have a book sale in the basement, rent spots on the library lawn for other vendors and in the past sold hot dogs and sweet treats; along with coffee, tea, hot cocoa and lemonade. Our monies go towards library improvements, magazine subscriptions and books, and we assist in sponsoring the Children’s Summer Reading Program which I coordinated for seven summers,” she said.
Past President Linda Dickinson said after college she joined the Library Club along with her mother Patty Dickinson, who has been a member since the 1960’s, and who also served as treasurer and library trustee for 22 years. Linda Dickinson said they are currently the only mother-daughter members.
Dickinson now runs the summer reading program, and this year made kits in July and August for the kids to take home. She said the annual Granville Harvest Fair, which had to be cancelled last year due to COVID, is their biggest fundraiser.
“It’s really a beautiful building, we try our best to keep it up. There are beautiful stained glass windows – we had those encased when I was a trustee,” her mother, Patty Dickinson said.
“Did people tell you at one time we had the kindergarten downstairs back in the 60s? Parents chipped in and paid a teacher to come,” she said, adding at the time the town did not have a kindergarten. When the state told them they needed to put in a tile floor, her husband and two others laid one down. She said the new trustees are now replacing it. “It’s been used by many people. It’s the central building in town,” she said.
Another longtime member and past president, Rosy Campbell, was in charge of the 100th anniversary celebration of The Library Club in 1996. She said it took place in the church, and they sold 100 tickets for fixups and repairs of the library.
Campbell said the Library Club was also a social event. “It was the only way we got together in town, and we loved it.” She said traditions were adhered to, such as hauling out the antique China for Christmas dinner, and planting memorial plants in the sunken garden for members who passed.
“The Library Club was particular, old-fashioned – the backbone of the support of the library and the social events. It was so fun,” Campbell said, adding, “Women are powerful when you put them together.”
Jones-Raymond said one of her goals now as Library Club president is to get the younger families in town involved. She said people who are new to town don’t know about the library’s history.
“There is a good complement with people who have been around and know the history, and people with fresh ideas,” Jones-Raymond said. She said she hopes to have an open house once renovations are completed.