A new chapter for an old library

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The thing about books is sometimes they have more stories to tell than the ones included between their front and back covers.

Such was the case on Saturday, Aug. 9, as people gathered for the grand re-opening of the Durkee Memorial Library in Carleton and the unveiling of an expansion that will house artifacts from Carleton’s past.

As people shared their recollections of the library, which just a few days earlier had marked its 70th anniversary, a new chapter was being written in the history of Carleton.

It’s a story about how the past remains at the heart of a community’s future.



If a person can be at peace and bubbling over with excitement at the same time, Crystal d’Entremont was it.

“The books still smell the same,” she said in awe as she absorbed the scene in front of her while standing next to the stone fireplace, where walls of books stood from the floor to the ceiling.

Growing up as a young girl in Carleton, there was one book that always caught the fancy of d’Entremont – a small Walt Disney book with Donald Duck on the cover.

“I would take it out and as soon as I would return it I would borrow it again,” she says. “I just remember how tickled (Carleton resident) Edna Miller would be when I came as a little kid knocking on the door, ‘Can I have the key?’ and she’d say, ‘Okay dear, what do you want?’ and I’d say, ‘The same book.’”

The library was dedicated in 1938, after being built and furnished by Rev. Dr. J. Stanley Durkee and Captain Alfred R. Durkee, as a memorial to honour their parents – James and Elizabeth Durkee – and other early settlers of Carleton and also to enhance the lives of generations to follow.

In 1947 the library was placed in the hands of the women’s institute on behalf of the people of Carleton. Through the years the group cared for it, in addition to using it as a place for its own meetings and events.

But over the years the women’s institute got smaller and as it shrank in size the job of looking after the library became too big for so few people. In recent years there hadn’t been as much attention paid to the library, whose doors no longer remained opened.

And you know what happens when things are neglected.

“It was going downhill,” says Gail Jack, president of a volunteer group that wanted to see the shimmer returned to this community jewel. “We thought it was worth saving.”

And not only worth saving, but also worth improving. The artifacts now displayed in the expansion at the rear of the library tell the story of how this community was once a hub of Yarmouth County. Its many industries have since disappeared from view, but they haven’t faded from memory. There was a clothespin factory. A box factory. A gold mine. It was here that many people had their first jobs. It was here that many people met their first loves.

So the volunteers who set out to save the library also set out to build an expansion to house and display the artifacts. After failed attempts in the past, they were able to pull it off with the help of grants from the province, through the Department of Economic Renewal, and the Municipality of Yarmouth.



But even with grant money it takes people to build a building, to stain floors, to paint walls, to stock books on shelves and to do all of the other jobs that needed to be done in time for the grand re-opening. It was no small undertaking for the volunteers, who share stories of people painting by flashlight, of others staining the floors with gloves that didn’t offer a whole lot of protection.

“My hand was as dark as the floor,” laughs Mary-Ann Miller, treasurer of the volunteer group.

Now that the lustre has returned to the library, the volunteer group responsible for resurrecting it has big plans.

“We have done a lot of genealogy of the families in the village. If people want to come in and do searches, we hope to open at least three afternoons a week, until the fall anyway, and maybe one evening,” Miller says, adding they also hope to do tours for students of the nearby elementary school. She can also picture guiding groups holding meetings here.

Although the library dates back 70 years there are modern touches. There are plans to install Internet to aid people in their research. Energy-efficient LED light bulbs have been placed in ceiling fixtures.

But the first oil lamp brought into Carleton in 1861 by Samuel Richardson sits on the stone fireplace mantel – a sign that even the few modern touches are vastly outnumbered by the charm of the past.

Because long ago, before people had televisions or computers to occupy their time, people growing up in Carleton trekked to this library, which from the outside with its log-cabin façade still to this day gives a person the feel of a cabin at a summer camp.

And what an adventure awaited people inside. For those who grew up in Carleton, the library was a gift that kept on giving.

“We were fortunate to have a library. As kids growing up we used to come here and borrow books, and sometimes we’d sit right down here and read them,” says Rose Doucet. “The tables now, they seem so small, but when I was a kid they seemed so big.”

Doucet’s favourite books were nursing stories written by Cherry Ames. During the grand re-opening she pulled one of those books from a shelf. Her name was still on the card in the back showing one of the times she had borrowed the book in the late 1950s.

“This is what we used to do for entertainment. TVs only came out in later years and a lot of people in the village never had them. Most of us couldn’t afford to go out and buy books so we came here a lot.”

Doucet now lives in Pleasant Lake, but Carleton and the library, she says, will always be home.



It’s a similar story for Rev. Don Moses, who calls South Ohio home but will always be a Carletoner at heart. He still affectionately jokes about one particular librarian who, in his words, he was “scared to death of.”

“You couldn’t even whisper,” he says, laughing, as others standing nearby smile and nod in agreement.

Although Moses didn’t frequent the library as much as others did, he remembers one of the last books he borrowed.

“Just before I went to Bible College, I came in and got a book. It was The Life and Times of D.L. Moody. I wanted to read up on that where I was going into the ministry,” he says, signaling to the adjacent room. “I think I see it in there.”

But after a few minutes of searching Moses can’t find the book. He says with a chuckle, “Maybe I kept it. Maybe I didn’t return it. Maybe I have to pay a fee.”

The reporter standing next to him joins in the laughter. “Don’t tell anyone,” Moses says, “But I may be in debt to this library.”

At two cents a day the late fee, in today’s standards, was pretty cheap.

Unless, of course, it’s taken you 45 years to return a book.

Throughout the afternoon more and more people come through the door for the grand re-opening. Each one is delighted to be back inside these walls.

“It really brings back memories,” says Hazel Moses, turning her glance to all of the books lining the shelves.

“I still love to read,” she smiles. “I could just come in here and start all over again.”