Carlisle Free Public Library, 1872-1896

Mrs. Lydia S. (Eames) Patten, a tour-de-force and wife of the pastor of the Union Calvinistic Society put into motion the idea of a free public library, and staged its success. Patten, determined and persuasive, campaigned to gather books and funds to establish an official public library and convinced the attendees at Town Meeting to appropriate $140 in start-up funds.

The new library rotated yearly betweeen people's homes, where a room was dedicated to the collection. The owner of the house acted as librarian. The town paid yearly rent for the room from $30 to $60.

Patten and her husband moved to Carlisle in 1870. Although she and her husband lived in Carlisle for only a few short years, her legacy is the founding of Carlisle's Free Public Library.

In one of Patten's reports as a library trustee, she wrote, "The interest of the library depends not so much upon the number of books as upon the character of the books. We wish to see the best books of our most instructive as well as most entertaining authors on our shelves".

The first photo is the opening page of the library's record book of meeting minutes.

The second is a print of "Rules and Regulations" of the library. Notice that the library is only open from 7:00 to 9:00 on Saturday evenings. This makes sense as the library is operated out of people's homes.

The third photo is the circulation record book, to keep track of patrons' books.

The fourth photo is the library's donation book. Mrs. Joanna Gleason donated $10.00 to the library, far more than anyone else listed on the two pages.