Chronicles of the Weston County Library Part V
By Bri Brasher
with Leonard Cash
NLJ Reporter
Part V of the Chronicles of the Weston County Library picks up in January of 1942 when a report on the library’s 1941 circulation was published in the News Letter Journal. “An average of nearly four volumes a week were purchased for use in the Weston County Library during 1941 – a total of 196 – according to librarian Katharine LeFaivre. Forty-four volumes were donated and only 15 books were lost or destroyed, she said. In 1941, 9,236 volumes were circulated, an increase of 199 over 1940, indicating that more reading was done last year. At the present time, the library contains 1,870 volumes of fiction; 1,483 non-fiction; 872 juvenile; 314 reference; 1,492 geological survey and Smithsonian reports; 250 paper bound folios or a total of 6,281,” the News Letter Journal reported.
At the start of the next year, in January of 1943, the News Letter Journal reported that Mrs. Katharine LeFaivre resigned her position as librarian to “accept employment at the Gray Refinery, Inc.” The article said LeFaivre served as librarian for the Weston County Library for seven years. Cash suspects she and Summers must have worked together for a time. The librarian position was filled by Mrs. Jennie Kirkwood. More on Lena Summers will be provided later in the series.
On Jan. 21, 1943, the News Letter Journal announced that 61 books were added to the library in 1942: “At the present time, the library contains 1,872 volumes of fiction; 1,499 volumes of non-fiction; 894 juvenile; 323 reference; 1,492 geological survey and Smithsonian reports; 250 paper-bound folios, or a total of 6,330.” More books were added to the children’s section the following spring, as reported in the March 30, 1944, issue of the News Letter Journal. Funds for the books amounting to $18 were donated from the treasury of the Library and Culture Club, which had been discontinued for several years.
The United Service Organization moved from the armory into the library basement in March of 1944, as reported in an article published in the April 6, 1944, issue of the News Letter Journal. The same article said that “the members of the Legion Auxiliary have arranged to have a hostess in charge at all times during the day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. It is hoped that they will soon be able to remain open until 2 a.m. at which time the last bus leaves, thus enabling visiting service men for whom the project is operated to have some place to stay while waiting over.”
“You hear about these musical groups going overseas to entertain the troops, that’s the U.S.O.,” said Cash. “They had a lot of dances and stuff like that for the boys, so they tried to stay open late.”
The library released another annual report for 1944. The report, published in the News Letter Journal on Feb. 1, 1945, announced that the library had circulated a total of 10,136 books and 1,138 magazines. Kirkwood told the News Letter Journal that the library housed 6,637 volumes at the end of the year.
In October of 1945, Kirkwood also told the News Letter Journal of recent donations to the library from Margaret M. Ward, Kenneth Gaskill, Mrs. R.W. Coates, Miss Sybil Jackson and Mrs. N.E. Wells. A novel by Ernie Pyle titled “Brave Men,” along with a number of western stories and reference books were included in the donation. The next month, the News Letter Journal also reported that Jackson donated “all the professional teachers books and they are now on the shelves and can be checked out by anyone wanting them. From this time on, there will be no charge made on checking these books out.” The same Nov. 15, 1945, article also said that Mae Dow made several donations to the library, and the Auxiliary of Veterans of Foreign Wars donated $50 “for the purchasing of books for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade county schools.”
“A lot of people still bring books in, and they still accept donations. I’ve donated a couple to them myself,” said Cash.
The donations, which kept coming into the library in December of 1945, included titles such as “Leaves of Grass,” “The Green Years,” “Origins of the American Revolution” and several others. Circulation increased to 11,678 books in 1945, as announced in the library’s 1945 yearly report. Kirkwood told the News Letter Journal that 6,936 books volumes filled the library, with 363 books added and 71 worn out and discarded. Additional donations were also reported and more still were announced in the Jan. 24, 1946, issue of the News Letter Journal.
An announcement published in the News Letter Journal on March 7, 1946 reads, “By order of the Board of the Weston County Library, all organizations using the library basement for evening meetings will be required to deposit 50¢ with the librarian for each meeting – such deposit to be used to help defray the costs of electricity, it was announced here yesterday.”
Several weeks later on March 21, 1946, the News Letter Journal reported that the library received a number of new books from Mrs. Mae Dow, Mrs. Grant Havercroft and Betty Thorpe.
Then – on April 3, 1946 – the News Letter Journal published “Public Restroom For Newcastle Shoppers Will Be At Library,” in which it was reported that the Homemakers Council conferred with the county commissioners and were referred to the library board, which agreed to permit the basement of the library to the Homemakers Club. Finances held up the project at the time, as the library board requested that a suitable caretaker be obtained. The News Letter Journal said, “the Homemakers seek to solve by requesting financial help from the various organizations in town.” Another meeting was planned.
Announcements in the News Letter Journal regarding the library continued regularly, the next of which came on April 18, 1946. In addition to new books added to the shelves, “Father Paul E. Foster recently subscribed for two weekly papers for the library which include The Register, A Denver paper and Our Sunday Visitor, the popular national Catholic Action Weekly.”
The next report hit the stands on June 27, 1946, when new titles were added to the Weston County Library. It was also said that “this is a good time of the year to take advantage of the garden library books which were presented to our library last spring by Mr. Evans.” The article went on to say that “Mr. Will Dixon presented the library with a number of good novels and a complete set of ‘A Wyoming History’ by Frances Birkhead Beard.” More books still were donated by Mrs. George Wilcox in November of 1946, as reported in the News Letter Journal, along with a magazine donation from O.C. Kernew. Mrs. Irma Fletcher was also said to have donated several late magazines, and many books were donated by Mr. and Mrs. James Kirkpatrick.
“The library has a chart, and you can pay the subscription for a certain magazine
or newspaper, and then everybody can read the magazines at the library,” Cash explained about current donation
processes.
Additional donations were reported on Nov. 18, 1946, in the News Letter Journal. Mrs. Mary Goodson and Miss Jackson donated various books, and Mrs. James McHenry gave the book “The Best Known Works of Iven Turgenev.” Mrs. Dow also donated several titles, as did Mrs. M.L. Lapman. Several other titles were presented by Mrs. George Wilcox and Jan Hawthorne.
About a month later, Mrs. Erma Fletcher and Mrs. Emily Gibbs filled the shelves with a number of new books. New books also appeared on the library shelf in December of 1946, as reported in the News Letter Journal.
A March 1947 article in the News Letter Journal noted that “a framed picture of the Dorothy Mondell wedding party has been given to the Library by P.S. Jackson. This picture was taken in 1927 and in comparison with Newcastle today shows the many changes that have taken place in the town.” Many other donations were also reported, including magazine donations of the Readers Digest and Saturday Evening Post donated by Mrs. David Heck.
“I think it runs pretty much like it has all along,” said Cash. “One big change they made is where you can inter(library) loan a book from another library if they don’t have it here. I’ve don’t that a lot. In fact, I think they have requests almost every day.”
More on the Weston County Library will be covered in next week’s News Letter Journal.