Description: Nell Thornton famously said, in her book, The Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor, “The Southwest Harbor Public Library had its beginning [as the Tremont Public Library] in 1884 when Mrs. Annie Sawyer Downs gathered a number of discarded books from the hotels, mostly paper covered volumes, and placed them on a shelf in one corner of Dr. R. J. Lemont's drug store…” The library was, as were many small libraries on the coast of Maine, started by “people from away,” in other words, summer people. This small library, however, was quickly adopted by native Southwest Harborians, and has grown, in the almost one and a half centuries since its founding, to be one of Maine’s very few five-star libraries, according to the Library Journal Index of Public Library Service. Thornton, Nellie C., Traditions and records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine (Merrill & Webber Company, 1938, The Southwest Harbor Public Library, 1988) [show more]
Description: Woman’s Literary Club program for 1927-1928. Mt. Desert, Maine. Written on the cover in pen is, “J.S. Fernald”. Previously Archived as 016.FIC.001.40.a
Description: Woman’s Literary Club program for 1951-1952. Mt. Desert, Maine. Picture of the Somesville library on the cover. “Marjory Hayward” written on the inside cover. Previously archived as object id 016.FIC.001.40.c
Description: Materials from various revisions to the 1950 Northeast Harbor Library building. Includes letters to contractors, letter from contractor, floor plans and elevations.
Description: A scan of photograph of sign at site of demolished old library indicating location of transition library at Neighborhood House. The sign was removed within minutes because it did not conform to town regulations.
Description: A photograph of the Northeast Harbor Library, which was sent to The Bar Harbor Times that ran in a special supplement, "Getting to Know Your Mount Desert Island Non-Profit Organization".
Description: B&W postal card shows front aspect of the Northeast Harbor Library and Reading Room (1892-1950). Card was a New Year greeting dated 1907, initialled B. S. K. (Belle S. Knowles). Donated in 1992.
Description: "The Jesup Library was founded in 1875 by summer visitors who left their books for winter use, and clubbed together to get the services of a part-time librarian." - “The Story of Bar Harbor – An Informal History Recording One Hundred and Fifty Years In the Life of a Community,” by Richard Walden Hale, Jr., Ives Washburn, Inc., 1949, p. 209.