Library History

Ten years after the town’s founding, the Maynard Public Library first opened its doors on April 4th, 1881. The library was funded by an appropriation of $1,000, raised by Joseph and Mary Reed, and was located in a vacant school room in the Acton Street School, about where Jarmo’s Auto Repair is now located. Subsequent annual budgets averaged around $500, mostly for books and the library was only open on Saturday evenings. Under the supervision of an elected three-person Board of Trustees, the Reeds purchased the first books, made a catalog of them, and together watched over the library for the first two years. John Vose was appointed librarian in 1883 and in the following year, the library was opened for two evenings a week. At this time, the privilege of taking library brooks was limited to people twelve years of age or older. 

​

The number of books added steadily increased so that a few years later it was found necessary to move to a large place. In 1885, the decision was made to move the library to the Riverside Co-Operative Building on the corner of Nason and Summer Streets, where it would remain for 33 years.  Sarah Nyman was appointed Head Librarian in 1885 and held that position with the town for 41 years.

​

In July of 1918, the library was moved to the second floor of the Naylor Building on Nason Street. According to Sarah Nyman, who was librarian for 41 years, the location was not an ideal one. In addition to being on the second floor, up a long flight of stairs, it had a number of other drawbacks. As Mrs. Nyman wrote in the late 1920’s:

​

    “Trustees, I want to bring up this subject. I think we should do something to make this room more attractive to the young. It needs to be whitened overhead for one thing and more light in the Children’s Room. A lady suggested to me why we didn’t build a building on the lower part of the Park big enough to make offices up on the upper floor, get the rent for them as well as to pay others… we pay for rent now $7.20 which would pay so much at Co-Operative Bank and we would need heat for only 5 months and that is more than we get here. The Sudbury building cost $4,000. I think with the dog tax appropriation and small help that we ought to get busy doing something.”

​

At the Annual Town Meeting of March 7, 1960, Maynard residents voted to establish a committee for the construction of a new combined Town Building and Library on town-owned land on Main Street. There was evidently some debate over whether to include the library in the building project, but luckily some strong advocates spoke up on the library’s behalf, and they carried the day as $329,000 was approved to construct the combined facility.

​

Moving the books from the Naylor Building to the new building proved to be a challenge. According to Librarian Edith Carbone, “The Finance Committee did not allow much money, so professional movers handled just the furniture and stacks. The books? Lots of liquor cartons, staff filling them at one end and high school students carrying them to my station wagon, then on to the new building where more volunteers placed them on the shelves. Over 10,000 books were moved this way and I think they have been moving ever since.”

​

In 1973 a new librarian, Pearl W. Sprigg, was hired, and she began work on the expansion of the library from a single room on the top floor of the Town Building. The facility was converted to two stories by the allocation of an additional medium-sized room, which was located directly below the existing library. Space was rearranged so that fiction, both children’s and adult, was located downstairs, along with a children’s story area and a small meeting area. Reference materials and non-fiction were placed upstairs along with a public access computer, study area, and periodicals section. 

​

In 1983 there was a severe threat of funding cuts as the library budget was decreased by $4,000, showing the first warning signs of the impact of Proposition 2 ½. The 1984 Town Report mentions signs of stress including staff illness leading to overworked staff, low morale in response to funding cuts, limited resources, and crowded space. 

​

By 1985, the Maynard Public Library became a member of the Eastern Massachusetts Regional Library System and was preparing to join the Wellesley Sub-Regional Library System Catalog database. This movement toward becoming part of a computerized regional system would later culminate in the library joining the Minuteman Library Network in 1995. 

​

After nearly forty years, the demands for library services and collections called for a much larger facility than could be provided at the Main Street building. Other locations were considered such as the Coolidge School, but ultimately the decision was made to use the former Roosevelt School building located at 77 Nason Street. The site was originally home to the Nason Street High School and was constructed in 1892 before being destroyed by fire in 1916. The Roosevelt Elementary School was opened in 1918, built on the 1892 stone foundation. The Roosevelt School existed from 1918 through its closure in 1988. The building then stood empty, deteriorating, until a combination of state grant, town tax funding, and private donations - the last accomplished by efforts of the Friends of the Maynard Public Library - combined to total the $5.7 million needed for this project. Middlesex Savings Bank was a major contributor with a gift of $100,000. 

​

The plan from the architectural firm Lerner, Ladds, and Bartels was to retain the entrances and brick walls of the school building, but construct an entirely new structure within the exterior shell. The result was a three story, 24,000 square foot building with an open core and stairwell, naturally lit from above via skylight. 
 
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners awarded the Board of Trustees of the Maynard Public Library a state library construction grant of $2.1 million and in May 2003, Maynard voters approved a debt-exclusion measure to allow borrowing of up to the remaining $3.6 million. The Friends conducted an ambitious capital campaign to help defray the cost to taxpayers. Over $500,000 in pledges and contributions were collected. Maynard's new library opened on July 17, 2006 with a parade from the old location to Nason Street with a ribbon cutting. On September 16, 2006 a formal dedication was held and included speeches from local dignitaries and music from a local band. 

​

In January 2020, Steve Weiner retired as Director of the Maynard Public Library after 26 years of leadership. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jean Maguire was hired as the new Director. She came to Maynard after having worked at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston for 21 years, the last eight as director. During the pandemic, library staff worked hard to provide services to the public including a very busy daily curbside pickup and a weekly outdoor browsing “market” in the library parking lot with many tables and carts full of items for checkout.

​

Two projects that were granted funding from the Community Preservation Act and facilitated by volunteers have preserved and restored objects of town significance are now on permanent display on the library's second floor. The Town of Maynard Balanace Scale with accompanying weights, measures, and cabinet was brought to the library in 2013. Every city, town, and county in Massachusetts was provided a set of certified weights and measures, along with a scale and cabinet, to conduct annual in

​

The project to remove, refurbish, and relocate the Assabet Manufacturing Company curfew bell was completed in 2022. The bell was cast in 1856 by Henry N. Hooper and Company and rang at the mill each evening to remind employees to be home and in bed by 9pm. The bell was moved to the Finnish Evangelical Mission Church in 1935. The church was sold in 2021 to a private resident and the church trustees donated the bell to the town in honor of the sesquicentennial celebration being held that year. After refurbishing the bell was moved to the library's 2nd floor for all residents to see. 

Today the Maynard Public Library is much more than books of course and plays a huge role in the community. The library offers a wide variety of over 300 programs to the public including author talks, technology presentations, informational sessions, cooking groups, children and teen programming, and much more.  It also serves as an exhibition venue and one of the town’s primary meeting spaces, with hundreds of room reservations each year.