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History of the Burlington Public Library
Compiled by Janet G. Hutchins
February 2005 |
Burlington's First Library
Burlington's first library was a "social library" that was founded in 1816.
There were twenty-two
proprietors who sold shares at $2 each. Additional funding for the library was
raised through an annual
assessment of 25 cents per person. The library began with 90 volumes, with a
total of 250 volumes in the
collection by the time the library closed in 1842.
Early Days of the Burlington Public Library
In 1857 the town began funding a public library that was housed in the store of
Silas Cutler. Mr. Cutler
was provided the sum of $30 per year for books, rent, and heat. By 1868 the
library had 774 volumes,
which were listed in a printed catalog of alphabetized titles. The store – and
library – were taken over by a
Mr. William Carter in 1874. The annual budget by that time had increased to $75
per year.
Shortly thereafter, the library moved to one room of a
building known as the Bennett or Gleason Block, most likely located at the
southwest corner of Center and Cambridge Streets. That building soon was
split into two smaller houses, one of which was moved to 13 Sears Street and
the other to 2 Mill Street.
Building at 2 Mill Street |
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 Former Town
Hall building
Between 1879 and 1896 the library was housed in a room in the former Town
Hall, located on what is now Simonds Park. In 1892, David Simonds
bequeathed $1,000 to the town, the income from which was to be used for the
purchase of books for the town library. That bequest led to the formation of
a Board of Trustees to administer the funds. The first trustees – Augustus
Prouty, Matthew Stevenson, Jr. and Marshall Wood - were elected at Town
Meeting in April of 1894. The trustees immediately recommended that a larger
space be found for the library, noting in their first annual report that
books were sitting in piles on the floor and being stored at trustees' homes
due to insufficient shelf space.
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Former Center School Building
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Former Center School building The consolidation of the town's schools into a
single new building (the Union School) provided an opportunity to move to a
larger building. When a former summer resident, Edward Barker, donated a sum
of money to the town for library purposes in 1896, there were sufficient
funds to convert the old Center School (now the Burlington Town Museum) at
the corner of Cambridge and Bedford Streets into a library. The Library and
Reading Room, as it then was known, opened on June 29, 1897 and remained
there for over seventy years. |
Records show that library circulation in 1889-90 was 2,068, with
about 1,000 volumes in the collection.
Early Twentieth Century
 From the late nineteenth century through the early 1950s the
town's population grew at a relatively slow rate. The library also saw only
minor changes. There was great stability in staffing – Mrs. Nettie Foster
served as librarian from 1923 to 1940, succeeded by Lotta Cavanagh Rice
Dunham between 1940 and 1957. Mrs. Dunham was a local historian as well as
Town Librarian.
Mrs. Nettie Foster at the Burlington Fair
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1968 Building at 22 Sears Street
It became apparent by the early 1960s that the 2,000 square foot facility at the
Center School was
inadequate for a population that had grown from 3,250 residents in 1950 to
nearly 13,000 in 1960. A library
building committee was established in 1962. The committee's report recommended a
new building of at
least 15,000 square feet, and the firm of John Carr Associates was hired to
design the facility. At Town
Meeting in 1964 a sum of $369,000 was approved for the purchase of a 1.5 acre
site on Sears Street and the
construction of a new library. Unfortunately, bids came in higher than expected,
and the size of the building
was reduced to 12,000 square feet.
 Construction of the building began in June of
1967, and the new library opened for business on September 18, 1968. For the
first time, the town employed a professional librarian with a Master of
Library Science degree when it hired Lisa Dagdigian to supervise operations
of the new facility. Former librarian Alphonsine Harvey, who had served in
that role since 1957, became Assistant Librarian until her retirement in
1972. Also in 1972, Geraldine Guentner became Library Director, continuing
in that position until 1991. |
The late 1980's saw the introduction of computers at the
library. The INFOTRAC database on CD-ROM
was made available to patrons in 1990. And, after several years of transition
planning, online terminals tied
to the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium replaced card catalogs in 1991.
1995 Renovation and Expansion
After nearly 30 years of heavy use, the 1968 building was showing its age by the
early 1990s. In addition, it
did not comply with current building and accessibility standards or size
recommendations. Town Meeting
approved funds for architectural work in 1992 and The Preservation Partnership
of New Bedford was hired
to prepare plans.
On June 23, 1993 – on the second try – Town Meeting voted to approve $2,993,203
for additions and
renovations to the 22 Sears Street building. No funds were allotted for new
furnishings, in an attempt to
keep the budget below $3 million. A $200,000 state grant obtained by Library
Director Marcia Rich (who
directed the library between 1991 and 2000) also was used to help defray costs
associated with the new
building.
The library moved to temporary space at 23 Center Street during construction.
Despite some controversy
during construction concerning the amount of demolition at the old building, the
removal of trees, and the
respective roles of the Library Trustees and Selectmen in supervising the
project, the new 29,000 square
foot facility was completed early in 1995. At the dedication on July 6, 1995 the
keynote speaker was then-
Lt. Governor Paul Cellucci.
Burlington Public Library Today
 Under current Library Director Lori Hodgson,
the Burlington Public Library continues to strive to meet the information
needs of over 22,000 residents. In 2004 it had total circulation of over
300,000 items, with 79,407 print holdings and 13,750 non-print items. There
were 274 programs for children and 139 programs for adults. |
Sources:
Annual Reports of the Town of Burlington
The History of Burlington 1640-1950/Lotta Cavanagh Rice Dunham and Robert W.
Zahora (ed.)
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, Annual Report Information Survey,
2004
Photos:
Burlington Municipal Archives, Image Collection
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Burlington Public Library