top of page

Exploring Massachusetts Libraries: Medford to Great Barrington

Updated: 6 days ago

Friday, June 20, 2025


West again. This time, I’ll take the southernmost roads in Massachusetts, visiting (I hope) every public library between Sturbridge and Sheffield, which has the library closest to the New York and Connecticut borders. I didn’t leave until almost noon, as my Subaru “Goldfinger” was in the shop for routine maintenance. I was informed that Goldfinger needed new tires and new brakes and I informed the shop that I would take care of those things next week, when I had more time. Wish me luck. Who needs good tires and brakes when going on a road trip?


One soft goal kept me on track: I hoped to make the 5.30 showing of “The Phoencian Scheme,” a movie by Wes Anderson, in Great Barrington. Not to worry, though, as there was a late show at 8.30. Late for me, anyway.


Westborough Public Library
Westborough Public Library
Grafton Public Library
Grafton Public Library
Simon Fairfield Public Library in East Douglas
Simon Fairfield Public Library in East Douglas

The drive through Westborough, Grafton, and East Douglas was not material for my biopic, starring perhaps Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, even though they may be a bit, though only a bit, younger than me. (Those towns did have attractive libraries, so maybe they should be the movie’s stars.) I stopped in Webster, known as the home of Stasia Milas Czernicki, an American candlepin bowler, and Bette Boucher, a professional wrestler, to explore the Gladys E. Kelly Public Library. The glass, brushed steel, and dark wood exterior – bold, not cold – was modern library architecture at its finest. Mrs. Marilyn Fels and her husband Gerald had donated $1 million to the library, and so they got to name it: Gladys was Marilyn’s mother.

I walked in and walked around – it’s as beautiful inside as out – before coming upon a portrait “In Memory of Amanda Grenier,” who served as the library’s director from 2018, when it opened, to 2020. I asked about her at the circulation desk and was introduced to Evan, the Assistant Director. Evan, one of the rather rare male librarians I have met, was clearly fond of Amanda, and thought that she was a terrific boss. She had hired him some seven years ago, and they had worked together at the Chester C. Corbin library that had been replaced by the Kelly library. Amanda died of a brain aneurysm in 2020.  


Gladys E. Kelly Public Library
Gladys E. Kelly Public Library
Gladys E. Kelly Interior
Gladys E. Kelly Interior

Amanda Grenier
Amanda Grenier

Memorials like this are meaningful to those who knew the person and, just maybe, to those who don’t. After  my son Kitt died a shadow box with his pictures and a ceramic mug he crafted was placed on a shelf in Saxbys Coffee, where he had his first real job. I loved seeing it every time I entered the shop; it was a constant reminder of that beautiful boy. When I walked down Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, I came upon the statue of Patrick Andrew Collins, who was the city’s mayor from 1902 to 1905, when he died suddenly. Those who knew him have long since perished from the earth, and I doubt that many of those who pass this statue know of him, or even notice this memorial. 


Does Collins’ statue still serve a purpose? I’m uncertain. “It has been said that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken, that we are only truly gone when we've disappeared from the memories of those who loved us…” I do not remember when I first heard this sentiment, although it has been attributed to a Henry Morgan from a line in the movie “Forever.” It looks like its inspiration came from the novelist George Elliott (“Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them…”) whose true name – Mary Ann Evans, as Elliott was her pen name – is almost certainly buried. 


I’m thankful that Grenier was memorialized publicly, so that people like me can discover her and reflect on her contributions to the public good. My father, Roy (“Ace”) passed away in 2024. One wall of his study was covered with plaques, certificates, and commendations that had been given to him for his many accomplishments. They all went into the trash; they had no special meaning to his children. A scholarship in his name and in the name of Meg Rom (his wife) will continue to support students at the University of Arkansas into the indefinite future. To keep my son Kitt’s memory alive, my family and other donors have established the Nathan “Kitt” Rom scholarship, which provides funding for Arkansas students traveling internationally. Kitt was a wanderer, and those students who receive his scholarship will have reason to remember his name, wherever their travels take them. Statues? Unless one is truly famous (Lincoln, Jefferson) then you will soon be forgotten. Want to be remembered? Build a library. Endow a research program. Create a scholarship. Or even a picture of your face, in a place where you worked, so those who venture in can find you and remember.


I’m having second thoughts about my research project, which is mainly to tell the stories of the little-known women so influential in our nation’s public libraries. Their stories, certainly, merit telling. Men are much more likely to have Wikipedia pages or to create and edit those pages: individuals of both sexes are more likely to create pages for someone of their own sex. As of 2023, about 80 percent of all pages about persons were about men. So, yeah, I think it’s important to highlight the many contributions women have made to public life. [Note: I have not yet myself created any Wikipedia pages, although doing so is on my list.]


On the other hand…


The changing participation of women and men in social life can hardly be overstated. Men still dominate the highest levels in politics, business, and, yes, library management, at the largest libraries at least. (To my surprise, the most recent data I could find from the American Library Association came from 2008. It showed that a majority of all public library directors were women, while males had disproportionately more directors than their overall representation in library work would indicate). In 2025, the leaders of the nation’s largest public libraries (in terms of collection size) include six men and four women, with men leading five of the largest six:


New York Public Library: Male (Anthony Marx)

Cincinnati Public Library: Female (Paula Brehm-Heeger)

Mid Continent Public Library (Missouri): Male (Aaron Mason)

Boston Public Library: Male (David Leonard)

Los Angeles Public Library: Male (John Szabo)

Chicago Public Library: Male (Chris Brown)

LA County Library: Female (Skye Patrick)

Queens Public Library: Male (Dennis Walcott)

San Diego Public Library: Female (Misty Jones)

Dallas Public Library: Female (Manya Shorr)


Yet I grow increasingly concerned about how men, especially young men, are faring, based on my personal observations, which reflect my own perceptual biases. (The data are more complicated: substantially more women than men ages 25-34 graduate from college, for example, while men’s earnings are still on average higher than women’s.) When I see pictures in local papers of the students winning academic honors, or scholarships, females overwhelm males. I recently attended a local high school leadership ceremony, recognizing students who had been paired with local government leaders, the Mayor as well as all the agency heads. We sat at tables for the luncheon, with the local leaders sitting at the tables up front and the students in the back. The front tables were overwhelmingly male; those in the back, almost entirely female. I thought to myself “Where are all the young men?” My love for libraries, and my admiration for librarians, is obvious. Women have carried the load for the past 150 years, and I wish more men would enter that honorable profession.


Pearle L. Crawford Memorial Library
Pearle L. Crawford Memorial Library

On down the road. The Pearle L. Crawford library in Dudley is named after Hugh Crawford’s mother, after Hugh and his wife gave $2 million to the town toward the construction of a new library in the 2000s. The Carnegie-esque Jacob Edwards library in Southbridge was built in 1914, toward the end of the Carnegie construction spree. The tiny public library in Holland, in a simple white-frame structure built in 1912, contains two public computer terminals and a “library of things” where you can check out snowshoes and musical instruments, among other “things.” I walked in at 1.58 p.m., and the male librarian simply said “We close at 2” and so I took a quick picture and left. Two minutes later, he had locked the door for the day and driven away.


Jacob Edwards Library
Jacob Edwards Library
Holland Public Library
Holland Public Library
Holland Public Library Interior
Holland Public Library Interior

The Wales Public Library could use a face lift. Its paint was peeling, and one of the red, white, and blue buntings on the lower windows had slumped to the ground. As with people, I know that what matters is not what’s outside. It’s what inside that counts. Even if the library is as grand as the one in Monson, a castle that towers over High Street, or the business-like library in East Longmeadow.


Wales Public Library
Wales Public Library
Monson Free Public Library
Monson Free Public Library
East Longmeadow Public Library
East Longmeadow Public Library

The Richard Salters Storr Library in Longmeadow has had a library of some sort since before the Minute Men forced the British to scurry back to Boston. A Young Men’s library was established in 1839, although the project languished and the books were put in storage for half a century. A library reopened in 1895, supported by $100 from the state, and with Lucy J. Smith as the librarian. In 1907, Sarah Williams Storrs, the granddaughter of Richard Salters Storr – the town’s second minister – gave her house, land, and $5000 in her bequest to the town, with the condition corporation created by the bequest be named after her grandfather, in order to “perpetuate the memory of a name dear to my family for three generations.” In 1910, the Richard Salter Storrs Library Association was established, and the library was moved into her former home. By the late 1920s, the library was bursting at the seams and a new one, a white Georgian brick building, still used today, was constructed.


Richard Salters Storr Library
Richard Salters Storr Library

A quick visit to the New Marlborough Town Library, and a quick decision to skip the library in Sheffield, allowed me to arrive at the Triplex Theater in Great Barrington just in time for The Phoencian Scheme, and it was worth the trip. The Triplex is a non-profit created by locals who couldn’t bear the thought of the commercial theater closing down. The community saved it, as communities can do when they come together in common purpose.

 
 
 

Comments


202-213-8767

  • twitter
  • facebook

©2020 by Mark Carl Rom. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page