America's Oldest Public Library Is In Danger of Closing

This library really is a national treasure. (I know, I used to be a board member.) It's believed to be the country's first continuously-operated public lending library (as opposed to a paid subscription library), operating since 1743. It just has the damned misfortune to be in a historic but poor, mostly minority community that has to scrape together every dime. Thanks to Bush-O-Nomics, this historic and well-used library is about to close its doors.

How historic? Well, the library's first book purchase (shown in the picture) was from Benjamin Franklin's London bookseller. (Franklin helped John Bartram, the nation's first botanist, to set up the library. Bartram worshiped at the Darby Quaker meeting, next door to the present library building.)

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Darby, PA 19023

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AS THE NUTTER administration prepares to ask a court for approval to shutter 11 Philadelphia libraries as part of a cost-cutting plan, a national treasure just outside the city limits is on the verge of collapse.

Delaware County's Darby Free Library, which was founded in 1743 and is believed to be the oldest continuously operating public library in America, will be forced to close its doors at year's end if somebody doesn't write a fat check, the Daily News has learned.

"We're on the chopping block," said Susan Borders, director of the library at 10th and Main streets, near the Southwest Philly border. "We thought we may have had four years left, but after going over our finances, we only have this year."

Founded by 29 Quaker townsmen, the library received its first shipment of 45 volumes from London in November 1743, with the assistance of botanist John Bartram.

"It's older than our country," said Raymond Trent, a longtime bibliographic assistant at the University of Pennsylvania Law School who has donated books, DVDs and other reference materials to Darby's library.

"I appreciate the phone call, but to receive news like this is devastating," Trent told a reporter yesterday.

He was preparing to donate another shipment of books, including Michelle Obama's biography.

"Since I grew up in Darby, it was my way of giving back to the community," Trent said.

"This comes as really bad news to my ears, because I have poured my heart and soul into trying to make Darby library one of the best libraries around."

Michael Race, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which funds local libraries, said that the Darby Free Library is the state's longest-operating public library. He said that his department is unaware of any library in the United States that predates it.

"It would be a tragedy if they have to close it," said Lindy Wardell, president of the Darby Borough Historical and Preservation Society.

Some books from its original collection - including John Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained and Sir Walter Raleigh's The History of the World - are still displayed in the two-story brick building, built by Charles Bonsall in 1872 at a cost of $8,895.54. Others are at the Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731 as a subscription library.

While the historical significance of Darby's library - located in a rough-and-tumble town that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad - cannot be overstated, there is also a practical reason to keep it open, supporters say.

It provides high-speed Internet access to the borough of 10,000 residents, some of whom can't afford a computer, and a safe haven for schoolchildren to do research and homework, said Jan Haigis, who sits on the Darby Library Company board.

"It keeps them off occasionally mean streets," Haigis said.

Comments

[scarface]

i guess this is a lesson of how havoc can succum a city without a few books.im not one to goto lansdowne.­ide rather dropout.do­ubt i will but i do notice other students partyin more at school.the town may just have their hands full on this one.

[PaulaBrown]

The Darby Library has captured wonderful memories with which shaped our lives, as "Darbarians". Many of us will never forget walking to the library, shedding our giggles at the door, quietly stepping into a magical kingdom. We entered the huge wooden double doors, hoping that the squeals of the ancient hinges weren't too loud...the­reby escaping the smiling, stern eyes of Mrs. Pugh or Mrs. Valuto the librarians. TWalking quietly up the old wooden spiral staircase to the "Adult" library, you could taste and smell the history. As children, we knew the Library was "old". However, as we looked at the ancient artifacts displayed and gazed out majestic windows that accompanied the spiral staircase, a child could sit on the steps and imagine George Washington, Betsy Ross or even Ben Franklin, coming through the doors, on tiptoe so as not to disturb the patrons. Or we could visualize looking through the windows, how William Still, the "father of the Underground Railroad" and Harriet Tubman collaborating across the street from the Library at 1000 Main Street, deciding how and where to hide the people whom they helped escape from Slavery. Memories and Visions that shaped our lives, were born at our Darby Free Library. In the words of Harriet Tubman....­"When you hear the dogs barking, Keep going....w­hen you are tired and hungry...K­eep going....I­f you want to taste freedom, Keep going....a­nd now.....if we want to save the Darby Library...­.we all MUST keep going!