Have you walked into the Portland Room and wondered about the crumbling leather-bound books behind glass that line the reading room?
These books belonged to William Willis, lawyer, editor, businessman, diarist, Portland mayor, historian…
Willis was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1794. The family moved to Portland in 1803. Willis attended Harvard College, graduating in 1813, and then went on to study law under Prentiss Mellen and Boston Judge Peter O. Thacher. After a few years in Boston and a few years of travel, he returned to Portland to practice law as a partner of Mellen and, later, as a partner of William Pitt Fessenden.
Willis was an inveterate journal-keeper, writing in his diary almost daily from 1840 until 1870, the year of his death. They were not tracked down until 1957 when local historian William B. Jordan, Jr. discovered that they were in the possession of a great-grand-daughter of Willis who graciously allowed the library to take possession of them. (Library patrons can read the journals on microfilm.) In this entry from August 4,1864, Willis writes that he attended “a most loyal union discourse emphatically anti-slavery. Rain in the morning…”
Fragment of Willis’ diary from 1864.
The Portland Public Library also holds Willis’ own personal library. Willis was one of the founders of the Portland Public Library and served as its first president (1867-1870).
Bookplate
Somehow, despite his law practice, his responsibilities in public office and on the boards of various institutions, his nine children, and the keeping of a daily journal, Willis also managed to write history. His The History of Portland from 1632 to 1864 (published 1865) is still widely consulted by historians today.
Spend just a few minutes in any one of the Library’s branches, and you quickly see how many activities we host every day. Story times for our emerging readers, our Brown Bag Lunch series with local authors, exhibits and lectures on a range of topics – just to name a few. All our programing has its roots in our robust collection holdings, but these offerings also depend on having enough flexible space.
PPL has been working for some time to develop a long-term collections management strategy. While the Library has been the fortunate recipient of donated storage space over the past five years, we knew this was not a long-term solution. Our firm commitment to our print collections – which we will continue to expand alongside our eResources – meant we needed to find a sustainable solution to collections management. We found that one of our close, long-time collaborators, Maine Historical Society (MHS), was grappling with the same issues – how to maintain and grow collections, how to house materials appropriately while having them available for circulation or exhibits, how to ensure programs have enough space to flourish.
The more we spoke with our friends at MHS, the more both Boards felt that a joint solution would be ideal. On November 15, following a lengthy and exhaustive due-diligence process, the Library and MHS jointly purchased a property at 1000 Riverside Drive in Portland that will ultimately serve as a shared collections management center (SCMC). The 35,000 square foot building is in the process of being developed on a timetable that will allow both organizations to move in sometime early spring.
PPL and MHS are sharing all purchase and renovation-related costs equally, and our financing was arranged accordingly. No taxpayer funds are being used to acquire or refurbish the building, and our fundraising plan does not anticipate any public monies. There are a number of individuals and private foundations who are very excited about this collaboration and its impact on the ways the PPL and MHS can serve the city of Portland from their Congress Street locations. Some of those folks have already stepped forward to support this project while others are considering how they’d like to be involved.
I am excited both about this collaboration between two of the city’s cultural anchors and the implications this has for our respective programs as well as the evolving dynamic of Congress Street. For us here at the Library, the SCMC will be critical to our ability to move sections of our holdings off-site so we can offer engaging, educational programs for all ages in our branch locations. We will be able to continue to build our collection – including the strongest fiction collection in Northern New England – knowing that we have quality storage available for items, easily accessed for circulation to our sites and around the state. The SCMC will also serve as the headquarters for the Library’s Bookmobile, which continues to provide materials and programing to those Mainers – seniors, the recent immigrant community, those on the economic margins – who face physical, cultural, or practical barriers to reaching a Library branch location.
While this may seem like a new effort for the Library, it is really just the latest expression of our core values: our long-standing commitment to enrich our community, to steward our collections, and to offer programing that enriches, enlightens, and engages.
Watch for Part 2 of this post next week, with an update on our Burbank and Riverton branch locations.
Among the treasures of the Library’s Portland Room is the Children’s Collection. These antique children’s books were part of the circulating collection of the Portland Public Library when the library was in the Baxter Building, but now, because of their age and fragility, are kept behind glass in the Portland Room.
Baxter building, ca. 1890
Portland Public Library Annual Reports provide glimpses into the reading habits and preferences of an earlier era. In 1897, the library opened the Young People’s Reading Room. In 1899, the Librarian wrote that “while the unruly element has not been altogether lacking, the children have as a rule been well behaved…” Among the books the young patrons may have looked at are these:
The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers
Nos Enfants
In 1935, the Library’s Young People’s Room asked children to vote for their favorite books. The five that ranked highest were: Little Women, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, Secret Garden, and Black Beauty.
In 1940, children and their caregivers increasingly requested stories which had been made into films, such as Pinocchio and Swiss Family Robinson. Adult reading habits were changing, too. Librarians found that adult patrons, concerned about the war, were reading less fiction, while books on such topics as aviation, diesel engines, and radio were in high demand.
When the library moved to its new quarters at 5 Monument Square in 1979, the older children’s books – by then, many of them genuine antiques — were taken out of circulation and put in the Portland Room for safe keeping. This is where you will find them today. With their beautiful bindings and lively cover art, they are a pleasure to browse. We invite you to stop by the Portland Room and take a look.
The Portland Room is open Monday through Thursday from 10-7 and Friday from 10-6.
