A'
Historica[ Skutch
Hut'hir,;
P.'b[i" Lib" ary
I
THEHUTCHINSoNPUBtIcLIBRARY no At the beginning of this century t!: city o{ Hutchinson hod 500 of collection ct public librcrry. In 1g0l the lRro*.rri* Club hcrd wished to present to the city os o gucleus volumes which the "i"U The gift wos occept"d- uv h{crvor Hcrrsha, librciv. free for o ;;Lli. Hutchinson who Gppofuted the foliowing well-known iesidents of L. Forshcr' A Mesdo*pt rrustees: Librcrri-il"ido os to serve Dr' "i ccrrpenter, Fred Fontron, A. I W.* Hodq.s,_ ] I \V. \Mincrns, cooter, Fred Bcrrton, w. F. y. woodnut, i. Ivlorgcxrr,-tM. Miner, \M crnd Dcrmie cmd }lisses Bessie purrrrv (now-Mtr i"hl F Foltron) library' public the into vrcrlk ic rnutter eCIsy on such Bigger. It is which tcrsk eosv no wcrs it but two; ncwcrdoys, to bo'ow cr book oi 1901 to mcrke cI in shouldered Hutchinson i; l''ornen these twelve other socicll pr-rbiic librcry f"l the- .iiv. Mcxny were the tecs cnd rcrise funds to executed crnd plcrnned be to hcxd functions which iibrcrrv liitle the *hich to cdrry on the work of ;iih - The over the rcom in which the new librcrry functioned wos Shermcln on crlley the of New s of f ice locoted crt thcrt time ecrst
between Mclin ond Wolnut. Afterwcrrd the librory wq1s moved to lorger quorters over the Fire Depcrrtment on Wesi Sherm;;. In 1902 the librcrry wCIs fopl outgrrowing these suqrters, ond steps lffere token to procure q librcrl' building. Mr. i. A. Bunker, 9 public spirited citizen of Flutchinson, offered oi o qift to the three lots of the corner of Mcrin crnd Fifth Streets fJr ct librcrry "rr*u, site. Th*- gift Yqs occepl"d.by the city, <rnd CIn CIppeol was sent to Mr. Andrew C.ornegie for finonciol ossistoncg to- put up o building in vrhich to house the youlg librcry. In due r.orop Mr. Carnegie respond.d. by pledging $ 15,000, with vrhich the older porf__the
front of the
present
_
librory-\^/os built. The new hb;;y
wos
{ormcily opened on }cnuory _1 9, I 904, j u st three yeers crf ter the orgonization of the Board of Trustees. It beccrme necessCIry to vote CI tox levy for the support of the institution, for in CIccepting the money from lvlr. Cornegie, the city o{ Hutchnson promised to mc'ntcrin the bgilding for o -libiCIrt orrj io support it properly for librory service. Foilure to do this #ould rncrke the property revert io the Ccrnegie Corporotion. The guestion hss been clsked CIs to how the Ccrrnegie people know "uvhether or not the city of Hutchinson is keeping its promise. The Ccrrnegie
9gtporqtion rn'orks in very close connection with the Americcn I-,ibrary Association, 'arhich Association, by th; ;oy; very instrumentol in promot_ilg to Mr. Cornegi. the ideo of;; ["ifai"g librqries oll over these United Stotes. i""f. v.or the A. t.. A. sends report blonks which the libroricrn fills out, giving the particulors the mointenCInce o{ the buildingf, olso in" omount of service of library gives to the cornmunity. it is then returned to the A. the L. A. -or.a Hecdqnorters in Chicaso wheie i= il;;i fii., the Corr,"gie it representative, mCIy, olcl does, obtcrin informqtion "" of ony time, qs to whct t\"^ Qcrrlegie Librories CIre doing By 1916 the librcry hcrd oqain o,ttqrown its housing. Eorly in tho veclr Mr. L. E. Fontron, crt thct time Loyo, of Hutchinson, went to New York to consult AnCrew C"!1"c*' i; ,Ln;ra t" -;--qift of rncnev with which to construct CIn oddjtion to the-ljbrory It/r' Ccrrneqie r^rQS sufficiently interested to pledge Gnotherbuilding. $15,000 which built the present recrdi"g room, the some being completed in 1916.--'vu.^^vvvlll The library has grown from the 500 volumes in g0l l to 4a'75a volumes at present. Not o11 of this number ore circulcrting books; omonq the number clre bound-- periodicals, mcny dcrting
constituie o very imporiont bcrck to lg04__cr few much ecrrlier. These ond with on excellent our'librcxry, of fcrci}ities pcrrt of the re{erence huge collection of s orrd books, erence ref other of collection is superior to the deportment iul"r.nce ;;; unbor_ind pl.i"ai""r-, Librcrry, in the Pui:lic other public librcrries,- ouiside of \Mi"hito ior the crdr-ilt inquiries, core we do only Not poii of Kor"r=o.. westerr. during the -but cne hos only to ;; i"t" the- iibrcrry on on o{ternoonof re{erence crmouni enormous cin whct -schocls school terms io r^."iiru crnd colleges of Hutchinson. Cur- bq?q vrork is done {or the os mCIny yecrrbooks os lA/e should buy funds co not crllow rru to qod, p-erhops, shcrving the, fiction economy rigid of dint hcrve; by up-to-dcrte- Thre reference icrirll'-'rbi} j.st o bit, we monoge to keep lcst yeor. inquirig=. 9.0c0 ih.rr, moie {6r clc,ocrrtment ""t-Til;Fu-biic librcrries ""ru.l biclnch in schocls three Librcrry rnointciins ccrnnot children ihe where city the c{ Ji=iricts in the ""ti;i"gchildren' the to' goe_s librcry possibly go to tl.p mcrin hbrcxry-:-so ihe to these f or o hcl{ clcxy ecxch v'reek -i; libroricn qoes The chilclren's brcrnches ,per the crt books ceni o{ the rsio oLorrt 75 brcrnches to t!.u rncrin were odult books; these were c_rcrducrlly returned ihcrt time Al books. suitcrut* with iuvenile i*plo"*J orra librcrry
books; coil from Grondview for 26 primers ond priqclry +'he present but filled, be io demcnd tiri* to, time it took scme coiiection of such books numbers 350 +L^ Grondview c.-^.-r{ children in the In 1930 the ,uoiiig "nirity-"j rhq could recld grcrders fourth the ond Lincoln brcrnches v/os quite low; grode fourth the No# books. pri*"rv the of only the very eosiesi reoding grode; thclt {or youngsters or* reodrnq= thu b""t= suitcrble cxbiliilr jn both schcols is now clveroge. A school- The Eoriy in 1g3g a brcrnch *;= ;=i;biished crt Ave. of her first crbility reoding the thcrt first gicrde tecrchu. i**clrkeC h.,s been librcrrv u tt grade, pupils hcrd il;;;y;.a. s0 pur ce.nt since the li.yrcry supplies thcxi . fcct 1t e t"instcxltecl. She crttribi.ro,-ed thrs home to reod' l:coks .iuhich the children mcty tcrke {-^* +ho Thre circr]lcrtion of hooks' {irsi Iibrcry of lg0l tc iis present wcrk. ecrch dov; in 1938 the vorumes 14 recorcec in 1904, ;;;;n.+ CI dcrily cverGge H'tchinson of homes tde i;i; public librcrrv pul hendle more stcrf{ the mcrkes This ,oI .7s4 books crnd #;"drcols. must be go out which books th; os dcrily, thcrn 1400 vciumes .*itnt""d clnd checked in'
there v\ios fi,' u
fi''
t,
cr
This is o very simple outline o{ the v,rork of the public librcrry; the detcrils involved in the vcrrious deportments, to lieep the woik up to stqndard, is for from simple, clnd requires people who dre educated {or the purpose to do the work effectively-. IAW GOVERNING IIBNAilES 1933 Supplement to Revised Stotutes of Konscrs I2-1201-Estoblishment; Tox Levy. Thcrt upon the written petition of twenty-{ive per cent of the resident toxpoyers of ony city, presented to tbu governinq body thereof , such governing bodl' sholl cquse to be submitted to the locol voters of iuch city-, of the first gity election thereafter, or, if the petition so requests, crt g speciol election to be ccrlled for thot purpose, the qubstion of the estoblishment and mcintenCInce of o free public librcrry ond reclding room, the governing body shcrll onnuclly therecrftei levy c tcx in such sums os moy be by resolution of the directors of th; free llbrcr,t' designcrted, not to exceed one mill on the dollor on oll icrxable property in such city subject to the tox, to be leviecl ond collected in o like lrlclnner with the other tcrxes of soid city and to be known cls the librory fund: Provided, Thot in cities havinq cr
populotion of more thcrn forty thousond (40,000) clnci less thcn one hundred twenty thousqnd ( 120,000), the cnnuql tcx levy herein provided sholl not exceed one-hcrlf mill on the clollcrr of oll taxable property in such city; thot in cities hoving q population of more thcrn one hundred tv"'enty thousand (120,000) populction, the cnnucl tox levy herein provided sholl not exceed one-fourth of one mill on the dollor of oll tcrxable property in such city. IN A DEMOCRACY THE PUBIIC TIBRANY HAS A IUST CTAIM TO TAX SUPPOnT, BECAUSEEducotion is the {oundotion of <r democracy. 2 Educcrtion is lcrrgely dependent on books. r} J. Bcoks GS o r'':iedium for educcrtion should be r'rvailcrbie tc c:ll clqsses of people -j. The pr rblic librcrry is the ogency provided by law for book service free to the people. q It is the ONLY CIgrency so provided. The public librory, therefore, shouid be maintcrined i:y the tax o{ the people. 1
A
11
SOME INTERESTING
FACTS AND FIGURES
Year
Received From CitY Tax
Circr-rlation
PoP.
Appropriation
1921 $ 14,028.24 rg22 14,i39 58 13,096.20 i 923 1924 13 ,022.39 1925 13,333 78 1926 13,815.63 lg27 12,525 92 1928 14,208 36 1929 13 38.30 1930 13,999.97 1931 14,71 5 64 1932 5,0 58.24 1933 12,67 3.70 1934 9,72A 57 i935 11,872.89 1936 12,1 53.46 1937 12,652.48 1938 12,807,48 ,
,7
1
76,054 27,016 23,298 91,32 1 106,559 23,2,98 23,298 1r7 ,448 r2B,0B3 ?3,298 139,458 26,265 1 1
,82',/ 37 ,64?,
49
26,
B10
28,0 54
176,160 27,803 193 ,01?-, 27 ,897
2rr,525 28 ,097 27 082 237 ,g7B 236,648 29,27 4 2r1,832 29,673 2r2,2E9 32,794 213,285 32,17 33,404 208 ,677 23r,587 32,500 B