Mike Parker: Our public library: A living legacy
In the next week or so, you will likely receive a letter asking you to join or renew your membership in the Friends of the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library. Although libraries receive support in the form of state-tax revenue, the Friends provide much support for the programming our library features.
I feel a special connection to our public library. When I moved to Kinston in August 1971, my first two acquisitions were a Gibson guitar and a public library card. I still have both. During my long association with the library, I served on the library board for 18 years and have been a member of the Friends of the Library for 30 years.
A library user who walks into Kinston’s public library today enters a multidimensional world of information that offers books, various musical recordings, and a host of spoken-word books in various formats. Today’s library users can check out compact discs, filmstrips, and computer programs. They can also consult nearly 300 maps, find the North Carolina General Statutes, and find hundreds of Internal Revenue Service forms.
Today’s library users owe a massive debt to the foresight of those who served as the nucleus for what has become one of the finest public libraries in North Carolina. Our public library has been here for so long that most of us have little idea of the history of the founding and the struggles this institution endured.
Nearly 130 years ago, Mrs. Susan M. Harding started what has grown into our public library. Mrs. Harding assembled a small group of men and women into a literary club. Most of the public libraries in this state began in the same way.
The group called its organization the “Up-To-Date” Club. Members met weekly to discuss literature. They also paid dues, which club secretary Dr. Thomas Faulkner used to buy books from the “Six Best Sellers” list that appeared in The Literary Digest magazine. Club members could borrow these books.
To meet the demands of eager members for more books, the club also hosted benefits and sponsored entertainment to raise funds. Soon, the club had amassed a collection that posed storage problems. Dr. Faulkner allowed the club to store books in his upstairs dental offices on North Queen Street over Pearson’s Department Store.
When the space Dr. Faulkner allotted the club filled to overflowing, the club rented rooms in a building across the street. Dr. Faulkner, who served as the club’s volunteer librarian, also moved his dental practice to the new location. In a few years, the club moved its collection to the “Hunter” building on the southwest corner of Queen and Caswell streets.
When the club and its collection turned 12, it officially became Kinston’s public library. On Tuesday evening, Oct. 6, 1908, Judge G.V. Cowper presented a state charter for the “Kinston Public Library, Incorporated” to members of the Kinston Literary Association. The association elected Junie Whitfield as its first president and employed Dora Miller as its first paid librarian. At the time, the library had 44 paid subscribers.
The new library’s early years were tough. Money was a constant problem - money to buy books, money to pay its librarian, money to pay the rent. Although 63 subscribers paid a total of $94.50 a year in fees, that income was not enough to pay the librarian’s modest salary of $10 a month. The library survived chiefly through donations.
The good news was that during the library’s lean first year, it faced few demands on its meager resources. Total receipts amounted to $184.08. Other than the librarian’s salary, the library spent 53 cents for paper and pencils, 10 cents for ink, 25 cents for glue, 94 cents for “freight and drayage of books,” 25 cents for “attention to the stove,” eight cents for “floor oil,” — and $2.50 used to buy five books.
By Nov. 27, 1909, the library was again facing financial problems. The association met “to consider what was advisable to do in regard to keeping the Library open as it existed, because it was in debt.” Judge Cowper advised the association to present the library’s financial plight to the Kinston’s Board of Aldermen. The aldermen agreed to appropriate $12.50 per month to support the library. In 1911, 77 people were library subscribers.
By September 1916, the library’s collection had outgrown its space again and moved to a building owned by R.C. Blow. W.T. Hines later purchased the building, and when the library faced financial problems again, Hines allowed the library to use rooms in the building rent-free. In November 1916, the aldermen doubled their monthly support for the library to $25.
Today, our public library is the headquarters of the Neuse Regional Library system that encompasses Greene, Jones, and Lenoir counties. When you receive your letter, please continue the public service tradition that Susan Harding and that small group began in 1896.
Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
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