We’re back! After a several year hiatus, Art and Soul is back – on Saturday, July 16th. Come shop at the used book sale, delight over baked goods, bid on that piece of artwork that will go in that perfect space on your wall, and purchase a raffle ticket for one of our beautiful baskets. We even have Beanie babies for sale! We are working hard getting the library ready for a busy day.
(from the collections of Meredith Dyer Sweet)
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, and during the time of year when we can use some extra beauty and grace in our lives, we present to you an exhibit of fans from the collections of Meredith Sweet, as well as some family valentines and items that were used by the genteel citizens of Rhode Island, such as calling cards.
Fans were used as early as 4000 years ago in ancient Egypt, and Chinese ladies used fans 3000 years ago. In the 17th century China was exporting fans to Europe, where the fans served many purposes, including offering “fan flirtation rules,” as a way of coping with the restricting social etiquette. For example, resting the fan on the right cheek meant “yes,” and resting it on the left cheek meant “no.” The fans in this collection are made of silk, cloth, and paper, and some have ivory handles and tassels. One fan is made in Japan, and another is an 1893 calendar fan. Floral designs can be seen, as well as an elegant black and gold fan.
The valentines range from 19th century to early 20th century, including valentine postcards and moveable valentines. Family valentines are represented (Meredith and her brother Jerry sent cards, and there is a card “sent to Arthur by Aunt Emily when he was a little boy”), as well as valentines sent between friends (Meredith exchanged valentines with Long Island’s Gail Wood). One charming valentine contains this verse: “Hustle! Mr. Bachelor get yourself a wife, there’s nothing in this world thus half so sweet, you’re wasting half your life.”
Finally, in the exhibit can be seen a pair of delicate black hand mitts, which allowed a woman to do handwork, as well as show off flashy rings. A calling card which belonged to “Mrs. William O. Dyer” is clasped in a metal hand clip – another way to showcase how polite society handled visitors in the 19th century.
For more information on the history and language of fans, see:
http://www.angelpig.net/victorian/fanlanguage.html
And valentines at the Maine Historical Society:
https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/229/page/488/display?use_mmn=1
Calling card etiquette can be found here:
https://hobancards.com/calling-cards-and-visiting-cards-brief-history
Significance of gloves:
http://www.fashionintime.org/history-gloves-significance/
Long Island Community Library
The exhibit is open during library hours
in the small meeting room glass case
Just in time for Advent, we present to you a new exhibit showcasing a ceramic nativity set made by David Singo in 1980.
And just in time for St. Nicholas’ Day (December 6) we include a ceramic Santa, also made by Dave in 1980.
Long Island Community Library
Small meeting room glass case
The exhibit is open during library hours
What is a perfect summer read? How about “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”? Jean Murley is returning to our island to lead this book group in August. Jean, the daughter of Penny and Curt Murley, is a an associate professor of English at Queensborough Community College in New York.
Come join us this month on Tuesday evenings (Aug. 7, 14, and 21, from 7-8 p.m.) at the Long Island Community Library small meeting room, for what promises to be a fun and scintillating conversation about one of America’s best loved books (and also on the banned book list)
The Long Island Community Library is in the midst of preparing for this year’s library fundraiser: Art and Soul. Yesterday a group of us sorted books into categories in one of the classrooms – categories include gardening, travel, cookbooks and food, biographies, history, children’s books, puzzles, and self-help books. Baskets are being created for raffling off. Annie is working away on gathering delicious food items to sell. Jeanne is hanging some beautiful artwork for the silent auction. So, mark your calendars! and come support your favorite island library.
Last month we lost a beloved former island librarian, Connie Brayley. For many years Connie was our Library Director, and one could often find her behind the desk on Saturday mornings. She and her husband Warren (“Dout”) were on the board for many years, assisting in any way that they could, from technical support to Art and Soul, the island’s big summer fundraiser. They were both involved in creating our island’s current library, serving on the planning committee. When Connie retired the library board named the new library’s circulation desk for her. Connie was a real lover of books, and was part of the island’s classic book group for years, including a subsidiary book group we started of classic women writers. She will be dearly missed by all of us on Long Island, and especially her fellow library and book lovers.
As early as 1931 efforts were made to create a library on Long Island. A letter in the Long Island Historical Society archives is evidence of this. On February 10, 1931, Postmaster Everett E. Clarke wrote a letter to Mrs. Fred Demarest regarding a donation of books for a library on Long Island. Everett wrote: “We have a nice library started here and are collecting books for it by asking our friends to look around and see if they can’t find one more book they can share for our library.”
There was a small lending library in the home of Derrick and Charlotte Gibbens (where our current library director, Paula Johnson, lives) in Harbor de Grace in the 1970s. Portland Public Library would later send books to the school that could be borrowed. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that a real effort was made to create a library for the islanders. At first Alan Bernstein offered the Long Island Civic Association a 100-square foot lot at the northwest corner of Ocean and Beach for a possible library site. But by March 1988 when LICA president Francis Murphy announced in the LICA newsletter, “We have been successful, with cooperation from the City of Portland, in receiving an allocation of $2,700 of current Community Development funds for developing an island library and community center in our school building,” a committee had already been hard at work.
The committee members were:
James Dodwell and Nancy Jordan, co-chairs
Bobbie Blaisdell
Joan Hutchinson
Karen Zywiec
Kathi Lovell
Maggie Carle
Jacquie [Lunt] King
That summer an open house was held, to celebrate the new space, including fundraising for more books. Christine Caliandro established the Ernest Caliandro Memorial Fund, in memory of her husband, whose monies were used to purchase a Maine and regional collection. Bobbie Blaisdell was primarily responsible for the content of this Maine collection: she combed second hand book stores to find all the old Maine classics that we now have. Jacqui Lunt asked Portland merchants to donate office supplies, including Loring, Short and Harmon, and another business donated four colorful little chairs for the children’s corner, and a carpet. Linda Greene painted all the walls and the floor. And many folks processed the early book donations. The new space was lovely and inviting.
By December of 1988 Nancy Jordan was inviting everyone to enjoy the new library in the Long Island Civic Association newsletter. “Looking for a friendly, cozy spot to spend a winter Wednesday evening? Try the new library!” She goes on to say that “we now have approximately 2500 books ready to read… Fifteen busy volunteers are keeping the library open 4 times a week, plus providing a weekly story hour for 2 age groups and Saturday matinees. … 63 of us have library cards and we are circulating 35 books a week, not counting magazines and paperbacks. Two island organizations are using the library for monthly meetings.”
By 1989 computers became available for public use and a book discussion group was started. However, by 2001 the space so happily begun in 1988 was inadequate and plans started to build a new library/school addition. And the rest is history!
A small exhibit about the history of the library can be seen in the Long Island Community Library’s small glass class. It includes photographs, photocopies of items from the Long Island Historical Society, and excerpts from the Long Island Civic Association’s newsletters, which celebrates 30 years in the current building, where our beautiful library now stands.
Open during library hours
Tonight we’re starting another summer book group at our island library, thanks to the generosity of Jean Murley, the daughter of Curt and Penny Murley, island residents. Jean is an Associate Professor of English at Queensborough Community College of the City University of New York. Last year she led a wonderful study of “Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption” by Jennifer Thompson Cannino, Ronald Cotton, and Erin Torneo.
Jean is back again to lead another book group – this time a novel: Mohsin Hamid’s “How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia.”
We’re meeting the next three Tuesday evenings. I’m looking forward to it!
We are pleased to announce that our winter exhibit is installed – we are showcasing Christmas ornaments and decorations made by Long Islanders, past and present. The exhibit is in the library’s small glass case, and can be viewed during library hours. Come on down and see sheep, butterflies, a snowflake, snowmen, pinecones, Christmas trees, and other wonderful ornaments and decorations, made by our talented islanders.
We are pleased to announce that the Long Island Community Library’s 2016 fundraiser, Art & Soul, was a great success, thanks to all our generous library users and fans, who bought books, raffle tickets for baskets, artwork, and food. Special thanks to all the volunteers who made it happen, from schlepping books upstairs, to making baskets, to contributing art, to baking desserts. All was so appreciated! We made over $10,000, which will go so far in supporting the library. Thank you!
