CONCORD TOWN LIBRARY RECORDS, 1851-1873

Vault A60 Unit C1

.42 linear ft. (one container)

ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT:  Organized in three series:  I. General records, [1851]-1866; II. Shelflist, 1865; III. Financial records, 1852-1873, plus undated.  Material within Series I and III arranged chronologically.

HISTORY:  At a meeting held by the Concord Social Library Oct. 11, 1851, it was voted “To give the Library to the town on condition they shall establish a public library on the plan contemplated by the Act passed May 24, 1851, entitled ‘An Act to authorize cities and towns to establish and maintain public libraries’.”  At a town meeting on Nov. 10, 1851, the citizens of Concord voted to accept the Concord Town Library. 

The Concord Town Library was never had in a building of its own.  It was housed (alternately) in the Court House on Monument Square and in the Town House.

The original members of the Concord Town Library Committee were John S. Keyes, Addison G. Fay, A.A. Kelsey, F.R. Gourgas, and Simon Brown.  Later members included George Heywood, Ralph Waldo Emerson and E.R. Hoar.  The Concord Town Library was succeeded by—and its collection incorporated into that of—the Concord Free Public Library (established by William Munroe; dedicated in 1873).

SCOPE AND CONTENT:  General records ([1851]-1866) include: vote concerning payment for Court House space for the Town Library; ALS, Jan. 2, 1865, E. Wilde to Gentlemen [Library Committee], concerning his resignation as librarian; two documents dated Mar. 1853 and Mar. 3, 1866, concerning library statistics; and librarians’ record book, 1868-1870 (kept by S.D. Mason and E.W. Bull [Jr.]).  Shelflist of the Concord Town Library consists of a single bound manuscript volume, dated Jan. 1865.  Financial records (1852-1873) include: account book, 1852-1873; bills and receipts for supplies, books, purchases, salaries, etc. (including items from Albert Stacy, Henry L. Whitcomb, Benjamin Tolman, James C. Melvin & Co., of Concord, Mass.; from Charles A. Cutter, Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum; from Boston firms including Little & Brown, Tolman & White, and William D. Ticknor & Co.; from firms in Portland, Me. And New York City; also, receipts signed by George Heywood and E.R. Hoar as Library Committee members; A.A. Kelsey, Dr. Joseph Reynolds, E. Wilde, and E.W. Bull).

SOURCE OF ACQUISITION:  Records probably transferred when the Concord Town Library was absorbed into the Concord Free Public Library, 1873.

ASSOCIATED MATERIALS:  Charitable Library Society Records, 1795-1821; Concord Social Library Records, 1820-1851; Concord Free Public Library Records, 1869-<ongoing>.

NOTES/COMMENTS:  Four items: transferred from Letter Files (Letter File 3, Item W29;  Letter File 6, Items H11, R5, W9).

PROCESSED BY:  RCH; finding aid prepared Nov. 30, 1996.  Prepared for the Internet by Sheryl Peters, 2007.

CONTAINER LIST

Folder 1:
SERIES I.  General Records, [1851]-1866 (in entirety; consisting of vote, reports, and letters).

Folder 2:
SERIES II.  Shelflist, 1865 (in entirety; consisting of a single bound manuscript volume, dated Jan. 1865).

SERIES III.  Financial Records, 1852-1873, plus undated:

Folder 3:
Account book, 1852-1873.

Folder 4:
Bills and receipts, 1852-1855.

Folder 5:
Bills and receipts, 1856-1859.

Folder 6:
Bills and receipts, 1860-1863.

Folder 7:
Bills and receipts, 1864-1867.

Folder 8:
Bills and receipts, 1868-1870.

Folder 9:
Bills and receipts, 1871-1873; plus undated.

c2007 Concord Free Public Library, Concord, Mass.
Not to be reproduced in any form without permission of the Curator of Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library.

 

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Mounted 09 June 2007.    rcwh.