Katherine and E. B. White
and the
Friend Public Library

With that in mind I would like to take you back in time to 1938. It is at this time that E.B., Katharine and Joel move to Brooklin and it is also this year that Katharine begins to be involved with our library. "When they moved to Maine, Katharine was the children's book reviewer for The New Yorker, she continued in the job, writing from North Brooklin. Review copies littered the house, and from time to time Katharine passed them on to the Friend Memorial Library". From what I have heard before Katharine came and began to donate children's books, our children's section was rather lacking.

E. B. writing to Frank Sullivan in December 20, 1938 speaks of becoming involved in small town functions and how different this life is from New York. He has attended a meeting where as he notes,"They voted to raise the salary of the librarian in the Brooklin Library. She now gets $13 a year. I believe it's to be almost doubled. They're even talking of putting lights in the library, so people can see to read after dark. (It gets dark here at ten past three in the afternoon)."

In February of 1942 E. B. writing to Katharine talks about visiting with friends and, "describing in great detail the rejuvenation of the Brooklin Library (by you) and everybody was much interested and enthusiastic about Miss Dollard." I believe that part of the rejuvenation that E.B. speaks of here has to do with the fact that in 1941 a Miss Eleanor Snow of Blue Hill and a Mrs. Jane Holmes of Gotts Island, trained library catalogers, are hired to come and catalog the library. It is my understanding that it was Katharine who saw that this was done and that prior to this the books had not been cataloged. E.B.'s reference to Miss Dollard is further explained in this foot note. "Miss Annie Dollard" White relates, "was in charge of the library when we came to live in Brooklin. She was a tiny spinster with firm convictions about which books were fit to read. The library had acquired The Grapes of Wrath, but Annie took it off the shelf and placed it on her chair and sat on it. That solved that."

Katharine's concern and commitment to the library is seen in February of 1942. She is in Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York for surgery, brought on by a fall on the ice while in Maine. E. B. writes to her and knowing how important the library is to her, reassures her that he will be attending the Town Meeting to "look after the interests of the Friend Memorial Public Library in your absence."

In 1951 we finally begin to have recorded notes of Annual and special meetings at the library, and it is here that we see Katharine's hand in many aspects of the running of the library. It is noted at the Annual Meeting, June 18, 1951 that Mrs. White has been voted a trustee for the next 3 years. She may have been a trustee prior to this but I have no record when she was first elected. I do know that she continues to be a trustee until June 28, l963 when due to ill health she resigns from the board.

In the early fifties the board and Mrs. White are very busy with decisions as they contemplate an addition to the library. We have a four page handwritten letter that Katharine sends to the president of the board to be read at their meeting. She has been ill and can't attend the meeting but the library is important to her and she wants her views expressed about the issues discussed at this meeting. She is very much in favor of drilling a well and, when the addition is added, of putting in a flush toilet. She is concerned that the library will not be able to hire future librarians or have volunteers that will put in very many hours if the convenience of running water and a upstairs toilet are not added to the building.

As in every organization she is concerned about how all the improvements and additions will be paid for and suggests a number of ideas. As she talks about fund raising ideas she is concerned with the problem of not enough younger people there to help out, "The trouble with library benefits, the Jamboree etc., is that the same people have had to give too much of their time and strength for ton st or organize them?" It seems that this problem of too few doing too much is nothing new. There is much discussion in this letter about the purchasing of a record player and records that the public can enjoy and in fact when the addition is finally built they put in customized shelves in order to house this new offering.

Throughout the building and renovations, Katharine's input is seen in many concrete ways. She writes to Leslie and Victor Friend telling them of the library's plans and asking for financial help. (These brothers are the original Friend brothers who were responsible for housing our first collection of books. In 1902 they let us use their Roller Skating Rink when it was no longer being used for skating. When the Board decided to build a new library they donated the land and helped to pay for the new building. The library is named in honor of them.) They write back to her offering to put up $3,000 for the addition.

She is a part of the building committee and chooses the lights for the lobby. In years to come she will also be responsible for buying the record player and a typewriter and in 1962 she chooses the tiles for the flooring in the library. These are the same tiles that are now in our library. She is also thanked by the board in October 1958 for her help, along with Katherine and Margaret Parson, towards the new flower bed. In 1953 she takes some books that the library owned to Isaac Mendoza Book Co. in New York for an appraisal. The library receives a check for $15.

She spends most of her years with the library either as chairman or on the book committee. In 1964 even after her resignation from being a trustee she is asked and serves once again on the book committee. Her impact in book selection is felt through out this time period and in the 1954 Annual Report Martha Tyler, who is now the librarian, thanks Katharine for her expert advise on purchasing books whenever she has been in doubt.

The Whites are also responsible for many gifts to the library. They are repeatedly thanked for their generosity. In 1952 book prizes were awarded to fifteen students and it is the Whites who provided the prizes. They subscribe to periodicals for the library and make cash donations to special events such as the library fund raising event, "The Jamboree". E.B. is also responsible for many gifts to the library. One that I find particularly enjoyable and gives us a glimpse into the relationship of Katharine, E. B. and the library is from this information and the following letter "Right next to the Brooklin Library was a house called the "Earl Firth" house. It was unoccupied, it belonged to the library, and it was an eyesore and fire hazard. Katharine White, who feared for the Library, itched to get rid of the house. With the following letter, White gave her a check to cover the demolition costs."

To Katharine S. WhiteNorth Brooklin, Me.
18 July (1954?)

K: So many times I have felt that I wanted to present you with a fine ruby, or we'll say a perfect sapphire, or a couple of matched pearls that step along together, yet in the presence of rubies, sapphires, pearls or in almost any jeweled atmosphere whatsoever I have turned away empty, blinded by the glitter probably. This impotence in my relationship with precious stones has left me a rich man, and you are my precious stone, all the more so because you don't glitter. So I now have the strong desire to make you a gift in lieu of rubies, and it seemed to me the other night that the thing you most wanted was to tear down Earl Firth's house-so I am giving you that, my love my own. Hit it hard and true!

EBW

I think it is interesting to end with Katharine's letter of resignation. To me it sums up her love of this library and what she hoped would be its future. It also gives us a few minutes to get to know a little bit about who Katharine is.

Mr. Kaiser: From Katharine WhiteJune 28, 1963

Since I have not been well the last two days and cannot come to the Annual meeting, I would like to make the following statement to be read to the general meeting: "My term of office as trustee expires this year and to my sorrow I am obliged to say that if the members of the Library should choose to consider me for re-election, I cannot be a candidate. This is because my health is now very uncertain and my doctors have said that with my particular ailment it would be dangerous to spend the winter months in t the cold climate of Maine. This means that I am now an unwilling exile from home for at least five or six months of the year. Also I cannot tell from day to day how I shall be feeling and so must often miss meetings like tonight's, which I am supposed to and want to attend. It is my strong belief that what the Library most needs now is a strong and active Board of Trustees--people who can be at every meeting, barring unusual circumstances, and who can and will actively work for the good of the Library from week to week and month to month. For twenty-five years now I have been absorbed in the progress of the Library, and it is still one of my most earnest interests, so I shall not stop thinking about and working for the Library even though I hold no office. I now serve on the Book Committee and this is work I can continue to do even when at a distance. I eagerly hope that, as those of us who helped found the Library have to drop out one by one, a younger group will take up where we left off and carry on the valuable work of this library. We have a fine and now adequate building, we have a better than average basic set of books for a town of this size, and we have a reading public unexcelled in Maine for a library of our size. This is a town that reads. But a public library is not a static affair. Every year if it is not to retrogress, it must grow in service and in use. Every year it must add more books --the best of old and new books. Our collection of books still has some bad gaps. Every year we must spend more time and money if we are to progress. We have, too, a most precious asset in our Librarian, Mrs. Tyler. I have known dozens of librarians in my lifetime. To me she is one of the best of them all. Although self-trained, she is one of the most imaginative, and the most dedicated I have every known. Her knowledge of what is called "library science" is excellent, thanks to her own efforts. This library is as good as it is today because of the efforts of many, but most of all because of Mrs. Tyler. Nevertheless, she needs everybody's help and support. I hope that every member of the Library and all of the Trustees and officers will continue to help Mrs. Tyler in her work and to give her their time and their moral support."

REFERENCES Guth, Dorothy Lobrano Ed., Letters of E.B. White, pg. 192n,Harper & Row, New York, c. 1976
Guth, Dorothy Lobrano, Letters of E.B. White, pg. 190
Guth, Dorothy Lobrano, Letters of E.B. White, pg. 227
Guth, Dorothy Lobrano, Letters to E. B. White, pg. 227n
Guth, Dorothy Lobrano, Letters of E.B. White, pg.237
Letter from Katharine White to Library Board President
Guth, Dorothy Lobrano, Letter of E.B. White, pg. 397
Guth, Dorothy Lobrano, Letters of E.B. White, pg.561
1969 Friend Memorial Library Annual Report
Letter from Katharine White to Mr. Kaiser, June 29, l963