• Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

• Manmade Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers

• Never Whistle at Night: an Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk

• Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

• A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter

• Earthdivers by Stephen Graham Jones

• The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Read a really good book recently that you think other people should read as well? Let us know and we’ll share it in a future newsletter!

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Do you know how the Hamilton Public Library was founded? Well, on Saturday, November 8 at 11 a.m., you can find out! Join us, along with local historian and librarian Emily Hutton-Hughes, as she presents our origin story before the unveiling of an historical marker in front of the building!

The blue and yellow Pomeroy Historical marker will be a permanent fixture, displaying some basic information about our charter, but the story of our facility is quite interesting, as told in research compiled by Ms. Hutton-Hughes.

While I am biased in saying “the library I work for has an interesting backstory,” having reviewed the research personally, it’s hard to dispute that it’s a story worth telling. Hopefully a copy of her document will be made publicly available sometime in the future. Until then, for those of you that cannot make the event, here’s a brief summary of her findings that’s somewhere between a 150-character (including punctuation) sign and a 20-page research paper:

At the turn of the 20th century, a movement to establish free libraries across the country was gaining traction, and the Village of Hamilton was no exception. Two local organizations, the Faithful Circle of King’s Daughters and Fortnightly Club, led efforts to establish a free public library in our village. Both organizations are notable not only for their philanthropic efforts and missions to foster intellectual growth, but for their all-female membership.

In March 1903, a proposition was put forth to eligible voters to establish the library using $100 ($4,000 adjusted for inflation) of public funds. That proposition failed, and it should be noted that the term “eligible voters” extended to white men, excluding the groundswell of support for the initiative by the women of the Village. Despite this setback, a library was opened a month later, in a rented space and using books donated by the two organizations. In 1904, a second proposition was put forward to the public, and this time it passed!

Ten years later, in 1914, after outgrowing the original space, the Library Trustees purchased Frannie Fairchild’s house at 13 Broad Street, where the library remains today. You can still step through history in our oldest section where the Hamilton Historical Commission now holds a museum.

Thank you to Emily Hutton-Hughes and the Fortnightly Club for your tireless efforts to erect a historical marker in front of our building, and to all of you for reading with us for over a century!

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Friday 10 A.M. - 5 P.M.
Saturday 10 A.M. - 2 P.M.