Before Vermont became the 14th state, it was the Republic of Vermont, New Connecticut, New Hampshire Grants and a disputed part of New York. At one point Ethan Allen even appealed to the Province of Quebec for admission.
Before becoming officially anything, Vermont was the sight of battles, raids, fires and sneak attacks between the French and the British who built numerous forts over the years throughout the landscape and fought over rights to the valuable land. It wasn’t until the conclusion of the French and Indian War in 1763 that the territory that became Vermont was officially part of England instead of New France.
After a very colorful and, I confess, confusing history, Vermont was finally granted admission to the Union in 1791 and March 4th is now known as Vermont Day. Thanks to “Where the Books Are” by Patricia W. Belden, I learned that a small subscription library in Brookfield was started in that very same year. The Brookfield Free Public Library now bills itself as the oldest continually operating library in Vermont.
The 48 men who began the library were in search of “knowledge and piety” (aren’t we all?) and contributed 16 shillings each for the opportunity to bid on books during quarterly auctions. Ironically, or maybe accidentally on purpose, the library operated out of the Brookfield Center Tavern for its first 75 years of existence. Actually the tavern was the location of the “library chest”. The chest was a plain wooden box, 4-5 feet long and 2 feet high that held the library’s first treasured volumes. Belden writes that the chest was kept tightly padlocked in between meetings (I guess in case any drunkards went wild and wanted to read a novel or something).
According to the Brookfield Historical Society, Reverend A.W. Wild made a speech on the 100th anniversary of the library, in 1891, and explained how the original system worked. The men would gather in the tavern a few times a year and pull open the cover to the chest, and “members choose books alphabetically. But if more than one member desired the same book, the book then went to the highest bidder. This intention seems soon to have resolved itself to the present plan of placing the more popular books on sale at first and making choices afterwards, but all books not bid upon were free until 1849, since which time a charge of 1 cent has been made.”
Wild went on to explain that each member was entirely responsible for their book and if they loaned it to a non-member they were fined one shilling a day.
At first it cracked me up to imagine this kind of scene in modern America, but the more I thought about it, the more familiar it felt. A group of men, gathering in a bar for an event...sounds exactly like football, baseball, hockey, basketball night in Western NY (or probably anywhere in America)... a great excuse to get out of the cottage or cabin, away from the womenfolk, kids and chores and do some quality bonding with the guys. “Pray thee, good woman, I must attend to the business at the library society meeting” (we’ve all heard that one before....).
The library actually has a picture of the men surrounding the original library chest which, I am sure, looks a lot more respectable than boisterous Bills fans with their bellies painted red and blue but probably wasn’t that different - just some guys out looking for a good time while the ladies held down the fort and put the kids to bed. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
After a very colorful and, I confess, confusing history, Vermont was finally granted admission to the Union in 1791 and March 4th is now known as Vermont Day. Thanks to “Where the Books Are” by Patricia W. Belden, I learned that a small subscription library in Brookfield was started in that very same year. The Brookfield Free Public Library now bills itself as the oldest continually operating library in Vermont.
The 48 men who began the library were in search of “knowledge and piety” (aren’t we all?) and contributed 16 shillings each for the opportunity to bid on books during quarterly auctions. Ironically, or maybe accidentally on purpose, the library operated out of the Brookfield Center Tavern for its first 75 years of existence. Actually the tavern was the location of the “library chest”. The chest was a plain wooden box, 4-5 feet long and 2 feet high that held the library’s first treasured volumes. Belden writes that the chest was kept tightly padlocked in between meetings (I guess in case any drunkards went wild and wanted to read a novel or something).
According to the Brookfield Historical Society, Reverend A.W. Wild made a speech on the 100th anniversary of the library, in 1891, and explained how the original system worked. The men would gather in the tavern a few times a year and pull open the cover to the chest, and “members choose books alphabetically. But if more than one member desired the same book, the book then went to the highest bidder. This intention seems soon to have resolved itself to the present plan of placing the more popular books on sale at first and making choices afterwards, but all books not bid upon were free until 1849, since which time a charge of 1 cent has been made.”
Wild went on to explain that each member was entirely responsible for their book and if they loaned it to a non-member they were fined one shilling a day.
At first it cracked me up to imagine this kind of scene in modern America, but the more I thought about it, the more familiar it felt. A group of men, gathering in a bar for an event...sounds exactly like football, baseball, hockey, basketball night in Western NY (or probably anywhere in America)... a great excuse to get out of the cottage or cabin, away from the womenfolk, kids and chores and do some quality bonding with the guys. “Pray thee, good woman, I must attend to the business at the library society meeting” (we’ve all heard that one before....).
The library actually has a picture of the men surrounding the original library chest which, I am sure, looks a lot more respectable than boisterous Bills fans with their bellies painted red and blue but probably wasn’t that different - just some guys out looking for a good time while the ladies held down the fort and put the kids to bed. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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