History repeats as library supporters return a 94-year-old favor
January 19, 2024 | By Lisa Scagliotti UPDATE: This post was updated with the name of the Waterbury librarian from 1929, photos of several Windsor chairs from the Waterbury History Center, and a 1927 Waterbury Library photo post-flood. With thanks to the members of the Waterbury Historical Society.
They say history has a way of repeating itself.
July 2023: Floodwaters fill Main Street in Montpelier near Kellogg-Hubbard Library. A sign for the library's Basement Booksale is tipped on the right. Photo courtesy Kellogg-Hubbard Library
The floods of 2023 were one tragic example as scenes of destruction evoked memories of past disasters like Tropical Storm Irene and even the great flood of 1927. Across Central Vermont, people instinctively rallied to help others dealing with the aftermath of a disaster yet again.
And as it turns out, one recent gesture of flood-recovery help bears a striking similarity to events that unfolded nearly a century ago.
The story involves two libraries situated about 15 miles apart, but both within close proximity to the Winooski River. It came to light in correspondence between library volunteers in Waterbury and the staff at Montpelier’s Kellogg-Hubbard Library.
Last week, Maureen White, president of the Friends of the Waterbury Public Library, sent a letter and a check to Kellogg-Hubbard Library Director Dan Groberg in Montpelier. The capital city’s library in July was inundated with flood waters which caused reported damage of more than $1 million to the Main Street facility, its furnishings and collections, in particular the contents of the building’s basement – books set aside for the library’s annual book sale fundraiser.
White was sending along a final installment of $232 to Kellogg-Hubbard, for a grand total of $1,087.87 raised by the Waterbury group’s ongoing book sales from August through December to support the flood-damaged library’s recovery.
Waterbury library Director Rachel Muse explained how the volunteer friends group, meeting shortly after the July floods, wanted to take some meaningful action to help the neighboring library with its losses. They saw and heard about the extensive damage documented in news reports and on Kellogg-Hubbard Library’s social media accounts online.
In this photo posted online by Kellogg-Hubbard Library on July 18, volunteers pile up flood-damaged books for disposal.
The Waterbury group has a “perpetual book sale” fundraiser that includes selections at the library that patrons may purchase along with pop-up booths at events and the summer farmers market. White noted that the group decided to dedicate all of its proceeds from August through December to Kellogg-Hubbard given that its plans for a book sale had washed away.
It wasn’t long after that decision was made, White said, that a Waterbury library commissioner doing research made a discovery.
“Coincidentally, a library commissioner came across a news article in a 1929 issue of The Waterbury Record describing how the Kellogg-Hubbard Library donated $100 to the Waterbury Library after the 1927 flood,” White wrote to Groberg. According to the newspaper account, the Waterbury librarian used the funds to purchase six Windsor chairs and two reading lamps to replace items lost in the flood.
A 1929 Waterbury Record newspaper account of Waterbury Library receiving $100 from the Montpelier library and how it was spent. Click to enlarge.
But the research didn’t stop there. Librarians of course are experts in information-gathering. This week, Library Commissioner Margaret Moreland tracked down the 1929 letter sent with the $100 from Kellogg-Hubbard to Waterbury’s then-flood-damaged library. Handwritten on Kellogg-Hubbard stationery and dated April 1, 1929, the letter is addressed to Waterbury librarian Mrs. Bullock. It’s signed by Montpelier librarian Evelyn S. Lease. The letter is catalogued in the Waterbury Historical Society’s collection.
It tells of how the Montpelier library received funds from the Massachusetts Library Club for “flood relief to Vermont libraries.” And how, after deducting charges related to shipping books from Massachusetts, the Montpelier library was sending $100 each to flood-hit libraries in Waterbury, Johnson and West Hartford.
“I hope you will use it for something you want very much – but which you aren't sure will be easy to obtain … it doesn’t have to be spent for books – anything in the interest of the library,” Lease wrote.
The Waterbury Historical Society’s collection contains this letter written in 1929 by Montpelier librarian Evelyn S. Lease and sent with a $100 donation to help with Waterbury Library’s recovery from the 1927 flood. Click to enlarge.
Muse said she appreciates the librarian’s perspective on sending money rather than books. Libraries always seem to attract donations of books, but funds to purchase other materials and furnishings are usually harder to come by, she noted. After a flood, the Waterbury Library clearly needed furnishings as the Waterbury Record news item documents.
During the 1900s and early 2000s, Waterbury’s library was housed in the Janes House at 28 North Main Street until the building was renovated and expanded in 2015 to add municipal offices and a modern library, creating the municipal complex. (The project replaced Waterbury’s town and village offices destroyed by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.) The historic home is now the Waterbury History Center with an exclusive collection of artifacts and memorabilia belonging to Civil War Army surgeon and former property owner Dr. Henry Janes.
For now, White acknowledged that the recent $1,087 contribution from Waterbury to Kellogg-Hubbard is “just a tiny fraction” of the Montpelier library’s current recovery costs. “A library is the heart of a community, a place of learning, connection and respite. We hope that we have been able to help in some small way with Kellogg-Hubbard’s recovery, in the spirit of friendship between our two Libraries,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, the gesture coming 94 years after the Montpelier library forwarded the $100 donation is being celebrated. “This incredibly thoughtful gesture of generosity demonstrates the long-standing friendship between our two libraries,” Kellogg-Hubbard Library director Groberg wrote in a news release this week. “We stand together in our work of promoting lifelong learning for all Vermonters.”
Groberg sent the release out to Vermont news media framing the exchange as an example of paying it forward being rewarded nearly a century later. Given that the 2023 donation push from the Waterbury group took off before the discovery of the 1929 contribution, it may be closer to history simply repeating itself.
“It was kind of a coincidence,” Muse quipped. “But it was a cool coincidence.”
Postscript
This undated photograph given to the Waterbury Historical Society from the Montpelier Historical Society shows the scene outside the Waterbury Public Library a short time after the November 1927 flood, a pile of damaged books piled high on the lawn. The identity of the woman is not known.
Just this morning, members of the Waterbury Historical Society contacted Waterbury Roundabout to share a few more details related to this tale:
The full name of the Waterbury Public Library librarian, 1926-1930, was Georgia M. Bullock.
Last September, the Montpelier Historical Society shared a photo they found from soon after the November 1927 flood of a large pile of damaged books stacked outside the Waterbury Public Library. Waterbury Historical Society folks have not confirmed the identity of the woman in the photograph, although one possibility is Georgia Bullock.
And as for those Windsor chairs: Waterbury Historical Society has three Windsor chairs, according to collections manager Mike Maloney. “They’re attributed to Dr. Janes' collection, but in all the years of varied record-keeping here and donations from the library, it is possible they were the chairs bought with Kellogg-Hubbard Library's gift money,” he theorized.
