In the Beginning: The Early Years of the Worcester Free Public Library

February is National Library Lover's Month and since we know how much you love your library, we figured we'd share the early history of what was originally known as the Worcester Free Public Library under the tenure of the first head librarian, Zephaniah Baker. Get cozy with a nice warm beverage (or iced coffee if that's your jam), and get ready to read!

Illustration of the Worcester Free Public Library, Worcester Illustrated, 1876

Establishing the Library

As we've discussed in previous blog posts, a donation of a 7,500 volume book collection by Dr. John Green III and the 4,500 volume library of the Worcester Lyceum and Library Association enabled the creation of the Worcester Free Public Library. The Worcester Daily Transcript reported on the proposed donation on December 6, 1859 by publishing the communications by Alexander H. Bullock, then mayor of Worcester; Dr. Green; and S. Foster Haven, Jr. of the Worcester Lyceum and Library Association. 

Worcester Daily Transcript, December 6, 1859

Undated Portrait of Dr. John Green by E. Billings

On December 23, 1859, the City of Worcester passed an ordinance that officially established the Worcester Free Public Library. The ordinance also declared Dr. Green an honorary lifetime member of the Library Board of Directors and laid out the terms of the twelve people who would serve as directors the library board. Now, you may be wondering, what made the library a "free public library?" Unlike the previous private or subscription-based libraries in Worcester, the city would use taxpayer money to fund the new library. The Massachusetts state legislature had passed a bill in 1851 to "authorize, encourage, and ensure the formation" and maintenance of public libraries by its cities and towns.

House Bill No. 124, 1851

Notice No. 168, passed Dec 23, 1859

Hon. William W. Rice announced in his 1860 inaugural mayoral address that the city council had selected the directors for the library board and the city had purchased a plot of land on Elm Street from Hon. Emory Washburn to be used as the site of the future library building. Other library directors in the first full year of the library's life would include prominent Worcester men such as Alexander H. Bullock (a 1-term mayor in 1859 and the board president for the first year of the library's existence), William W. Rice (yes, the 1-term mayor was also a library board member who would become library board president in 1861), Isaac Davis (3-time mayor in 1856, 1858, and 1861), and Stephen Salisbury (the third board president).

In the meantime, the newly created Worcester Free Public Library would temporarily operate out of the third floor of the Bank Block Building on Foster Street, with the rent for the first year being $205 according to the First Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library ("The First Annual Report "). The Worcester Lyceum and Library Association had previously used the space and it would be easier to keep the materials in one place and only move the collection when the new building was constructed.

Worcester Bank Block, Home to the Temporary Location of the Worcester Free Public Library

On February 17, 1860, the library board elected a former bookseller, Reverend Zephaniah Baker, as the head librarian (more about him in a future blog post). The library board decreed that Zephaniah Baker would be paid an annual salary of $500 that first year and Miss Callina Barnes would be paid $250 in her position as assistant for that same year. The annual salary would increase to $800 and $300 respectively for Mr. Baker and Miss Barnes at the beginning of 1861.

Zephaniah Baker (Photograph by 1890s photographer Herman Schervee of an earlier image of unknown origin), from the American Antiquarian Society

Opening the Library

The library initially opened for the delivery of books from its circulating department on March 27, 1860. Worcester residents of any gender over the age of 14 were eligible to use the library (the minimum age would be raised to 15 by 1861). The library was made up of two departments: the Green department (also known as the Green Library), a non-circulating reference collection comprising of the gift from Dr. Green; and the circulating department.

Worcester Daily Spy, March 27, 1860

The library was instantly popular, even with the catalogues costing 10 cents (almost $4 in today's currency). According to the Worcester Daily Spy the following day, 200 people opened accounts at the library and 36 of them purchased catalogues. Over 700 people opened accounts by the end of the first week. Zephaniah Baker even had to publish a notice in the Worcester Daily Spy asking the eager library patrons to select their list of books prior to their library visit to avoid inconveniencing others (see notice below).

Worcester Daily Spy, April 5, 1860

The library officially opened to the public on April 30, 1860. The First Annual Report indicated part of the delay resulted from needing to rebind and cover some of the books in the collection.

Worcester Daily Spy, April 30, 1860

On July 4, 1860, the city of Worcester celebrated the 84th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence with a grand and glorious celebration that began with the laying of the cornerstone of the future library building on Elm Street (and then continued with a festive procession, a balloon ascension on the Worcester Common, and horse races at the Agricultural Fairgrounds). The contents of the box placed in the cornerstone included copies of city documents, copies of the various city newspapers, the sixth annual report of the Worcester Lyceum and Library Association, and a silver plate engraved with the date of the establishment of the library as well as other information about its founding.

By August, builders had completed work on the basement of the new library building and started to work on the first floor. Alvan T. Burgess was the mason and the carpentry work was done by H. and A. Palmer, using plans by Boston architect Charles K. Kirby. The brick building was to be 60' x 70' and two stories high.

During its first year of operation, the library purchased approximately two thousand books and received a number of donations, including public documents and a set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The First Annual Report noted that it would not be in the library's best interest to extensively acquire any other books until they moved into the new building. 

Hon. Isaac Davis, the new mayor of Worcester in 1861, referenced the library in his inaugural address stating, "In the short period of little more than a year, the city is possessed a large and valuable library, open to all, high or low, rich or poor, native or foreign, under the rules and regulations of the Directors" (Worcester Daily Spy, January 8, 1861). However, he was not pleased with the plans for the new library building because it seemed that some of the rooms were scheduled to be allocated to other purposes such as space for the assessors, the medical society, the agricultural society, and the society of natural history. Davis felt that the new library as planned would not be able to accommodate much growth of the library's collection and it would be "difficult and expensive" if the library needed to expand. The Worcester Palladium felt that Davis should have made his opinions about the proposed construction known earlier, seeing as he was one of the trustees of the library board when the plans were first announced. A "member of the late city government" wrote a scathing piece in the Worcester Daily Spy that took offense at the new mayor's remarks and rebutted the attacks against the plan for the library's layout. Political drama!

On June 4, 1861, the library demanded the return of any books that were borrowed and halted any new borrowing of library books until the library could move to the new location on Elm Street.

Worcester Daily Spy, June 4, 1861

In July 1861, the city passed an ordinance further clarifying the role of the library board of directors in regards to spending appropriations and for the care and custody of the library building and its collection.

Worcester Daily Spy, July 24, 1861

The Elm Street Library Building

By the end of August 1861, the library had moved into the new Elm Street building and was preparing to open to the public. The Worcester Daily Spy reported that the library now had 15,000 books in its collection, including an additional 1,600 books added by Dr. Green (Dr. Green would continue to add books to the collection until his death). The circulating department of the library opened on September 4, 1861 with a new 186 page catalogue created by Miss C. P. Hawes. The circulating library opened to the public during the evenings on November 25, 1861 after the gas fixtures were installed (lighting helps!).

Undated Photo of the Original Elm Street Library Building

Catalogue of the Circulating Department, 1861

Worcester Daily Spy, September 3, 1861

Free Public Library of the City of Worcester: Rules, Regulations, and Documents, 1862

In order to keep track of the books, the library would close for a certain period of time almost every year for an "annual examination." Mr. Baker would request that all books be returned in advance of the examinations and then the library staff would inventory the collection and see if any books were missing.

Worcester Daily Spy, July 9, 1863

The Green Library

It would take longer to organize the Green Library and to open that department to the public. In November 1861, the library unveiled a statue of Dr. Green modelled by Mr. B. H. Kinney that would be housed in the new Green Library.* The Green Library would open daily in the first quarter of 1862, with the same hours as the circulating collection. The wife of Mr. Baker, Mrs. Z. Baker (born Frances Maria Shedd), served as the second assistant in the library and in March 1862, would start organizing a detailed catalogue for the Green Library collection, in addition to other responsibilities. 

Undated Photograph of Statue of Dr. Green

Free Public Library of the City of Worcester: Rules, Regulations, and Documents, 1862

The January 27, 1863 issue of the Worcester Daily Spy reported that the library had received materials donations to the library by private donors in the previous year and new year, including government documents and additional donations by Dr. Green. Furthermore, Mrs. Z. Baker was making considerable progress on developing a card catalogue for the Green Library collection.

Bookplate Indicating Gift of Dr. John Green to the Library, March 27, 1862

A problem emerged in March 1863: the glass roof of the Elm Street building needed to be replaced because it leaked on the books. By November of that year, the glass roof was replaced with a more waterproof wood roof covered with tin and a glass window in the middle to better illuminate the Green Library below. 

The Fourth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library in January 1864 noted that the non-circulating collection of the library, consisting of the Green Library and the Medical Society's library, totaled 13,951 volumes. The Green Library's catalogue would be completed aside from the public documents by the beginning of the following year. Mrs. Z. Baker would complete the card catalogue and a catalogue in two bound volumes by January 1866.

Inside Front Page of the Index to the Catalog of the Books in the "Green Library" Department
September 1, 1865

Handwritten Entries in the Green Department Catalogue, 1865

Other Occupants of the Library Building

During the 1860s, the Elm Street library building would rent some of their unused rooms to other organizations. By the end of 1861, the Worcester District Medical Society and the Natural History Society had moved into the new library building. According to the municipal proceedings of November 1861, the public would also be able to use the Medical Society's medical library, although it would not be a circulating library. The library would also be able to ask the societies to vacate with six months notice if the library ever needed to use the rooms for library purposes. According to the Second Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library in January 1862, the Natural History Society exhibited specimens in cabinets in the basement of the library and the farmers of Worcester (known as the Farmer's Club) had started to regularly meet at the library. The Natural History Society's cabinet room in the library opened to the public on February 26, 1862. The Office of the City's Assessors would also occupy a basement room in the library for several years. 

By the beginning of 1864, mayor-elect Waldo Lincoln reported in his inaugural address that a room in the basement of the library would be temporarily used as a grammar school for girls, and in 1865, the next mayor would report that the school could accommodate 56 students. An evening school for girls and women began at the library in 1866. City officials such as the Superintendent of Schools and the Collector of Internal Revenue would also briefly occupy space in the library building starting in 1866, during construction at City Hall and the new soon-to-be built government building on Pearl Street began.

The Library's First Reading Room

We take for granted that a library would have space available for library patrons to sit and enjoy reading the daily newspaper or favorite magazines but this was a new concept for Worcester in the 1860s. On May 31, 1864, the library board voted to establish a reading room at the library. By April 1865, the library had raised $10,600 in subscriptions for the endowment of the reading room and they sought suggestions for newspapers and magazines to be available in that space. Stephen Salisbury would be one of the largest subscribers to the reading room fund with a contribution of $4,000. The reading room opened to both men and women in May 1865 and contained local, national, and international publications such as the Worcester Spy, London Illustrated, Harpers' Monthly, and Art Journal. The library would also add several agricultural publications to the collection by November 1865.

Worcester Daily Transcript, August 12, 1865

Death of Dr. John Green

The library's esteemed founder, Dr. Green, died on October 17, 1865 at the age of almost 82 years. The library board held a special meeting upon the death of Dr. Green, wherein library board president Stephen Salisbury paid tribute to the man and the board voted to close the library and its reading room until October 23 "out of respect for the memory of Dr. Green" (Worcester Daily Spy, October 19, 1865). The Worcester City Council adopted a unanimous resolution in remembrance of Dr. Green and announced they would attend his funeral. Furthermore, the Worcester County Natural History Society and the Worcester District Medical Society mourned the loss of their friend and benefactor. Dr. Green would be buried in Worcester's Rural Cemetery. As another tribute, the city council later voted to commission a portrait of Dr. Green, which was then hung in the library in late 1866.

Death of Dr. Green, Worcester Daily Spy, October 18, 1865

A couple of days later, Dr. Green's will was filed for Probate. The bequest of a permanent "Green Library Fund" ensured that his legacy regarding the Green Library and the public library as a whole would continue for years to come. The library still benefits from Dr. Green's generous legacy.

More Changes and the End of an Era

Miss Barnes resigned from her position as first Assistant Librarian on April 1, 1866 after being in that role since the library's early days. She would be replaced by Miss Emma S. Eddy (later referred to as Mrs. Phillips after her 1871 marriage), who would work in the capacity until the beginning of 1872.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, various people and institutions in the city attempted to determine the best way to memorialize the men of Massachusetts who died for the union. One idea promoted by the Worcester Spy and Mr. Baker was the building of a memorial building that would house the public library. However, this idea never came to fruition.

Early 1867 brought a new and somewhat controversial proposal by the library board: to open a reading room to the public on Sundays, "at hours not appropriated for divine service," in an effort to give young people a warm place to go, where they would not be tempted by "idleness and vice" (Massachusetts Weekly Spy, February 1, 1867). Alas, Sunday hours for any part of the Worcester Free Public Library would not begin under Baker's tenure and in fact, it would take until late 1872 for the library board to approve this change with the opening of the reading room (P.S. we were ahead of the Boston Public Library on Sunday hours because religious officials in Boston vehemently opposed it there!).

By fall 1867, the Natural History Society had outgrown their space in the library's basement and moved to the Worcester Bank Block where they united with their parent organization, the Worcester Lyceum, and were able to better display their specimen cabinets. This move made room for a new newspaper reading room in the library's basement that would be open 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Patrons could access the lower reading room space from the street via an entrance on the east side of the building or by an inside staircase from the Green Library. The Worcester Evening Gazette hoped that the reading room would help young out-of-work men pass the time, instead of visit the billiard halls and saloons, where they could potentially engage in criminal activity.

Zephaniah Baker took an 8-week trip abroad in the summer of 1869, where he visited other libraries in Great Britain and France and acquired several new books for the library's collection. Mrs. Z. Baker resigned as Assistant Librarian and opened a school for young people in September of that year.

In October 1870, the library made some improvements to the entrance of the library and added steam heating. Some of the funds for these repairs came from the fees collected by the city for dog licenses.

Location of Worcester Free Public Library in 1870, Atlas of the City of Worcester, 1870

In the beginning of 1871, the library announced that Zephaniah Baker would not seek another year of being the head library of the library. The Eleventh Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Free Public Library for the year ending January 1, 1871 stated that Baker, "first accepted the office with the intention of holding it for no longer time than would be sufficient to organize the Library and get it in working order." By this time, Baker had three assistants working under him: Miss Eddy, Miss Sarah F. Earle, and Miss Jessie E. Tyler. 

Shortly thereafter, the library appointed Samuel Swett Green, library board member and Dr. Green's nephew, as the new head librarian. Samuel Swett Green would become notable in the library world, including for changes he made to the Worcester Free Public Library, among other things, but that's another story for another day (you can read some more about him here: https://mywpl.org/Samuel-swett-green).

There you have it: a history of the Worcester Free Public Library from its early days through the end of the tenure of Zephaniah Baker. We hope you've learned a couple of new things today and that you'll think of this post when you visit any of our library branches!

*At some point in the library's history, the statue of Dr. Green fell into ruin (see below) and therefore did not make the move to the new library building at Salem Square in 1964.

"Library's Walls Will Crumble, But Not Its Heart," Worcester Telegram, May 11, 1964

Acknowledgement

A special thank you to the American Antiquarian Society for the use of their image of Zephaniah Baker from their collection.

Sources:

"Action of the Directors of the Public Library on the Death of Dr. Green." (1865, October 18). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"The Catalog of the Free Public Library." (1861, September 9). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"The City Council on the Death of Dr. Green." (1865, October 23). Worcester Daily Transcript, p. 2.

"City and County." (1865, August 12). Worcester Daily Transcript, p. 2.

"City and County." (1862, February 26). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"City and County." (1861, August 29). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"City of Worcester." (1861, July 24). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"Free Public Library." (1861, June 4). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"Free Public Library. (1860, April 5). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

Free Public Library. (1861).  The First Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

Free Public Library. (1862).  The Second Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

Free Public Library. (1863).  The Third Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

Free Public Library. (1864).  The Fourth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

Free Public Library. (1865).  The Fifth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

Free Public Library. (1866).  The Sixth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

Free Public Library. (1867).  The Seventh Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

Free Public Library. (1868).  The Eighth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

Free Public Library. (1869).  The Ninth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

Free Public Library. (1870).  The Tenth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

Free Public Library. (1871).  The Eleventh Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library. 

"Free Public Library - Annual Report." (1865, February 2). Massachusetts Weekly Spy, 96 (5), p. 2.

"Free Public Reading Room." (1865, November 22). Worcester Daily Transcript, p. 2.

"Free Reading for All." (1868, January 31). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 2.

"General Matters." (1866, October 3). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 2.

"Inauguration of the City Government for 1865." (1865, January 2). Worcester Daily Transcript, p. 1.

"The Mayor's Inaugural Address of Hon. Isaac Davis." (1861, January 8). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 1.

"Municipal Affairs." (1863, September 8). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"Municipal Proceedings." (1861, November 22). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"New Buildings in Worcester." (1860, August 4). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"New Year's Gifts to the Free Public Library." (1863, January 27). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"Proceedings on the Death of Dr. John Green." (1865, October 25). The Worcester Palladium, p. 3.

"Public Library." (1870, October 19). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 1.

"The Public Library." (1869, September 1). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 2.

"The Public Library." (1863, November 4). Worcester Daily Transcript, p. 2.

"The Public Library." (1861, September 7). National Aegis, p. 2.

"The Public Library." (1860, April 3). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"The Public Library." (1860, March 28). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"Public Library Reading Room." (1864, June 21). Worcester Daily Transcript, p. 2.

"The Public Schools." (1866, December 8). National Aegis, p. 1.

"Public Reading Room." (1865, April 13). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"Select School." (1869, September 3). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 1.

Tubert, J. (1964, May 11). "Library's Walls Will Crumble, But Not Its Heart." Worcester Telegram, p. 9.

"What Worcester Needs." (1866, February 10). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.