Happy New Year!

Your friends at the Belfast Free Library wish you all a bright and joy-filled 2009.

The Thanksgiving Holiday

The library will be closed November 27-28 in observance of Thanksgiving. We wish all of our library friends a warm and happy holiday celebrated with family and friends.

Here is an early Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by Governor Edwin Chick Burleigh, in 1889. This image is from the Maine Memory Network website. If you would like to see an enlarged version of this image visit the MMN website at http://www.mainememory.net and search for Thanksgiving.

Governor Burleigh was the father of Vallie Burleigh Williamson, wife of Belfast native Joseph Williamson, Jr. Robert Williamson Jr, the grandson of Vallie and and Joseph Jr., donated family papers to the library in 2000 and some of the family letters were published in 2003 in The Williamson Family Papers Volume I: The College Years, 1844-1852. Copies of this publication are available to be checked out (or purchased) at the library.

Wawenoc News

The Wawenoc Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society, which is sponsored by the BFL, is working on recording early Waldo and Knox County families for inclusion in the Maine Families in 1790 project. Here you see Joyce Julian, and group president, Roger Sprague, using BFL resources to gather information for their entries. The purpose of this book project, being produced by the MGS, is to record all Maine families that were included in the first federal census of 1790. 9 volumes have been produced thus far (available in the Special Collections area) and #10 is in the works. Entries in the books must include complete vital information (with documented proof) of each listed person their parents and their children, thus providing 3 generations of accurate, proven family information. The result is a great source of reliable information for people doing research of early Maine families. In order to prove information included in an entry, group members must find primary vital record documents such as birth, marriage, or death certificates, or reliable records kept in town or county offices, many of which have been published and are available in the library. Other primary resources that provide information include deeds, probate records, military records, cemetery and funeral home records and personal records, such as diaries and family bibles. If you are interested in becoming involved in this project, feel free to join us at our next meeting on Wednesday, November 19, at 2:00 p.m. on the third floor. For more information, contact me at bparadis@belfastlibrary.org or 338-3884 ext. 25 or go to the MGS site at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~megs/families.htm.

Adult Summer Reading Program Comes to an End

The 2008 Adult Summer Reading Challenge finished up on August 22nd. The winners of the two gift certificates to The Fertile Mind Bookshop are Larry Abbott and Steven Garrand. Congratulations!

Thanks to all who participated. The theme for this summer was The Great American Novel and reading lists are still available at the circulation desk, if you'd like to check out the recommended books. Participants were asked if the book they read was, in their opinion, a great American novel and to rate each book from 1 (not even close) to 10 (Yes!). Here are some of the comments and ratings submitted:

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
rating 6 - " To Kill a Mockingbird it ain't, but very honest and vivid none the less."
rating 4 - "HARSH!"

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
rating 10 - no comment

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
rating 4 - "Good story, I love Morrison - but not the Great American Novel."

Washington Square by Henry James
rating 4 - "Excellent book, but definitely not the Great American Novel."

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
rating 8 - "Profound for all."
rating 10 - no comment

Caretakers by Tabitha King
rating 7 - " A great look at the conflict between summer visitors and the natives in Maine communities - very enjoyable read."

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

rating 6 - "Not his best, but insightful."

All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
rating 7 - "So close! Such imagery, but not quite."

Spoonhandle by Ruth Moore
rating 8 - "Moore paints a picture of Maine coastal life that is harsh and yet warm at the same time. Thanks for including some Maine authors on the list."

Native Son by Richard Wright
rating 9 - "Everyone needs to read this to understand race relations and themselves."

I hope everyone who participated enjoyed the books we selected. If you have any thoughts or suggestions about the Summer 2009 Challenge, please let me know.

Betsy

Congratulations Brenda!

Brenda Harrington, Adult Programming Coordinator for the BFL, recently completed a graduate program in Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina.

For the past four years, Brenda has been juggling classes, papers, and projects AND a busy family life AND a demanding job. Well done, Brenda.

A Community Loss

Our friend and co-worker, Ruth MacIntosh, passed away on July 25th. We feel a great sense of loss and sadness because of it and we know that all of you feel the same way. Ruth was a presence in the Belfast community and many of us will miss that presence. All of us who work here at the Belfast Free Library have been guided and shaped by Ruth. She taught us not only the variety of tasks needed to make the library function and serve the community, but also how to work together as a staff and get along as colleagues.
She was filled with good humor, integrity, and a tremendous amount of heart and she willingly shared all of those things with those of us who were lucky enough to know and work with her.

Three Cheers for the Belfast Garden Club

The beautiful gardens at the Belfast Free Library are maintained by the members of the Belfast Garden Club. They are also responsible for other gardens around town, including those at City Hall, the Post Office and the Belfast Museum. The presence of scaffolding that surrounded the library all winter and the necessity to place some of that structure in the middle of the gardens has added some challenges for the gardeners this year, but they, and the gardens, have rebounded beautifully.During three seasons of the year. entering the building each day, either through the front entrance or the back door, is a joyful experience. On Wednesday mornings, the group of workers are usually busy doing the things they do to make this all happen and I enjoy chatting with them for a minute before I go inside to get to my own work. I'm not a gardener, and haven't yet felt the pull to gardening that they obviously have, but I do appreciate the all-season beauty that club members make available to our visitors and the Belfast community , through their hard work and dedication. They not only maintain the gardens, they also raise funds to make them better and more beautiful each year.

Many club members are also making their own gardens available to visitors as part of Open Garden Days . Look for the schedule by the post office or pick one up at the library and check out some of these beautiful gardens. The dates run through September, so there are still plenty of fabulous gardens to see. While you are there, don't forget to put a little something in the donation box to ensure the clubs ability to continue this work in the future. For more information visit the Garden Club website.

The library has a large collection of gardening books for those inspired by the creations of local gardeners. Or, if you are interested in Belfast history, you might like to look at the Belfast Garden Club Records which are held in the Special Collections Department of the library. The collection includes minute books, scrapbooks and photographs dating from 1929 to 1982.

The photographs here were taken a couple of weeks ago, and already the garden has changed and filled out. There is always something new and colorful to look at, so be sure visit often to fully appreciate the magic that has been created here. And while you're in the neighborhood, you might as well come on inside and experience some library magic.