Author: Larry T. Nix

This week is the 150th anniversary of the start of a trip taken by Henry David Thoreau and Horace Mann, Jr. to Minnesota and back to Massachusetts. The trip started on May 11 and ended on July 11, 1861. On the return leg of the trip Thoreau and his companion traveled through Wisconsin.  Corinne H. Smith, a writer and librarian in Massachusetts, has written a book about the journey which will be published this summer. Smith also maintains a website with a great deal of information about the trip including the exact route taken on the trip. On June 26 to June 27, Thoreau and Mann came down the Mississippi River and arrived in Prairie du Chien, WI on the morning of June 27. They departed Prairie du Chien by train at 10:00 a.m. that morning traveling through more than 18 Wisconsin communities before arriving in Milwaukee at 6:00 p.m. that evening.  On Friday, June 28 they departed Milwaukee by steamship stopping at the port of Sheboygan before proceeding on to Mackinac Island, Michigan and the rest of their trip home.  This momentous journey by a famous author provides an opportunity for Wisconsin libraries to plan some special activities to commemorate the occasion.  The Stoughton Public Library will be hosting a program on the journey given by Corinne Smith on June 20.  Smith will also be making presentations at other libraries along the route. Like the theme for Wisconsin’s summer library program, “One World, Many Stories”, this is just one of many Wisconsin stories.

On March 11, 1891, 120 years ago today, twenty-nine people gathered in Madison for the first conference of the Wisconsin Library Association. Benton H. Wilcox in his history of The Wisconsin Library Association 1891-1966  described the first conference: “The program appeared rather hastily prepared. F. A. Hutchins spoke first on the conditions and prospects of town libraries, and later on the manner of establishing free city libraries under the state law.  Dr. Birge talked informally on the proper conduct of free city libraries, while Mr. Thwaites gave a short address on the work of city libraries and local history.  The only business transacted was to elect to their respective offices for another year the temporary officers chosen by the founding meeting on February 11.  If there was any discussion concerning “the future course of the association,” as proposed in the call for the meeting, it is not mentioned in the minutes.  No future program was outlined, discussed or even proposed.  Nevertheless the minutes assure us that it had been an enjoyable get-together of library interested people.  There was not another until July, 1884.” Although there was not another conference until July, 1884, there was a “get-together” of Wisconsin library folk in Chicago on July 13, 1893 in conjunction with ALA’s World’s Congress of Librarians which was held at the World’s Columbian Exposition. The logo shown here is from the Wilcox history written in 1966 on the 75th anniversary of WLA. That book is now 45 years old and in great need of updating. Perhaps this can be done by WLA’s 125th anniversary.

Today is the 160th anniversary of the birth of Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame member Frank Avery Hutchins (1851-1914). Hutchins was a leader in the free public library movement in Wisconsin and the United States. Hutchins’ entry in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978) written by Helen Huguenor Lyman has this to say about him: “Frank Hutchins, a brilliant man of rare vision and modesty, a pioneer librarian and active leader in the library world of Wisconsin, was born on March 8, 1851, in Norfolk, Ohio.  During his lifetime he was teacher, bookseller, newspaper man, library trustee, and librarian.  Again and again his friends described him as a humanitarian, public servant, scholar, and practical idealist.  he helped to gain legislative, financial, and professional support for both the educational work of school and public libraries and the extension of library services throughout the state of Wisconsin.  An initiator who would take no credit for the events he helped to set in motion, he recognized the abilities of others and encouraged them to carry out new ideas.” Hutchins was a founder of the Wisconsin Library Association in 1891and the first paid secretary of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission. Hutchins close partner in the development of public library service in Wisconsin was fellow Hall of Fame member Lutie Stearns.

The 2011 theme for National Library Week (April 10-16) is “Create your own story @ your library”.  The theme, as it should be, is directed at the general public.  However, this year’s National Library Week is also an opportunity for libraries (and the people connected or interested in them) to tell a story or stories about the history of the library. Last year I gave a presentation to the Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries titled  “Turning Your Library’s History into a Public Relations Asset”.  In that presentation I noted that a basic tenet of good library public relations is to seize every possible opportunity to penetrate the consciousness of the general public and community leaders with a positive message about the library. I pointed out that the message that the library has been in the business of changing lives and improving the quality of life for the residents of the community for a long time and that it continues to build on that heritage is a powerful positive message. I then provided some methods for conveying that message. The American Library Association has just published Organizational Storytelling for Librarians: Using Stories for Effective Leadership by Kate Marek. Although I have not read the book, ALA’s promotional material leads me to believe that the book would be very supportive of using stories about a library’s history to promote the library. Why not resolve to penetrate the consciousness of your community’s residents with at least one good story about the library’s heritage during this year’s National Library Week. Note: this post is being simultaneously published on the Library History Buff blog.