THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510200634
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GEORGE TUCKER
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Norfolk's public library system, now desperately in need of increased financial transfusions, was incorporated as the Norfolk Public Library by an Act of the Virginia Assembly in February 1894. A year later, William Henry Sargeant, for whom the genealogical and historical collection at Kirn Memorial Library on City Hall Avenue was named, was appointed Norfolk's first city librarian.
Sargeant, who continued at the library's helm until 1917, was responsible for Norfolk's first specialized library building. In 1901, with the approval of the library board, he solicited the support of Andrew Carnegie for funds to erect a suitable structure. Carnegie gave $50,000 for the building, provided the city would find a site and guarantee $5,000 a year for the library's operation.
The daughters of Dr. William Selden, one of the heroes of Norfolk's terrible 1855 yellow fever epidemic, donated a site on West Freemason Street. Construction began immediately, and the new facility was opened in November 1904.
The Freemason Street library was used until 1962, when the present Kirn Memorial Library - built for about $2.6 million - was dedicated. Once the central library on Freemason Street was opened, the Norfolk Public Library began to expand. The Van Wyck Branch opened in 1916. Since then other branches have been established throughout the city's rapidly expanding areas.
Even though the present Norfolk Public Library system only dates from 1894, it had several peripheral antecedents. Its immediate ancestor was the Norfolk Library Association, a privately established subscription facility that was organized in August 1870. It was first housed in the Old Norfolk Academy building on Bank Street. Before 1870, however, there were several other subscription libraries here, some with fairly active histories.
The first hint that Norfolk had a subscription library comes from the ``American Journey - 1793-1798'' by Moreau de St. Mery who wrote: ``Norfolk also has a book dealer who makes quite an advantageous affair out of the rental of books. This bookseller is Mr. Hunter.'' Sometime before 1795, Hunter died and his business was taken over by Messrs. Rainbow and Hannah, stationers, who issued in 1796 a still-preserved catalog of the books in the library.
Presumably the Rainbow and Hannah subscription library was the first of its kind in late 18th century Norfolk. But there were several excellent private libraries here during the early 19th century, notably those of Gov. Littleton W. Tazewell and Gen. Robert B. Taylor.
Norfolk's second subscription library belonged to the Norfolk Athenaeum, a ``library company'' chartered in 1816. Each of its 79 original members was assessed $25 to cover the expenses, but some never paid, thus contributing to the undertaking's failure in 1842.
Two other peripheral ancestors of the Norfolk Public Library, both subscription facilities, also deserve mention. In March 1827, William Maxwell, a prominent Norfolk lawyer, outspoken champion of the borough's oppressed African Americans and later the editor of the Virginia Historical Register, opened the Norfolk Lyceum on Wolfe, later Market Street. The Lyceum housed a subscription library and provided a meeting place for literary associations. It continued to operate until 1839.
The other subscription library was operated by the Washington Institute and Library Association. In 1853, the American Beacon carried a notice of the group's organization. The venture was short-lived because of delinquent subscribers and the deaths of many of the paying members during the yellow fever epidemic of 1855.
Such is Norfolk's library history. When Kirn Memorial Library opened in 1962, a lavishly illustrated brochure heralding the event began with these challenging words: ``The Henry and Elizabeth Kirn Memorial Library is dedicated to all of Norfolk's citizens both present and future as an affirmation of faith in our destiny and pride in our heritage.''
Surely it is not too much to ask that these sentiments be validated by collective and continued support of one of Norfolk's most important cultural and commercial assets. by CNB