Walter W. Birge III, President
Richard D. Briggs, Jr., Treasurer
Frederick H. Lovejoy, Jr., Clerk
Jeffrey W. Adams
Stedman Buttrick, Jr.
Diana W. Clymer
O. Mario Favorito
Sherry F. Litwack
Belinda P. Smith
Ave Atque Vale
At the Corporation’s annual meeting, Melissa Saalfield retired as President and member of the board. She served the Corporation for 19 years, the last 8 years as President of the Board of Trustees. She spearheaded the capital campaign for $7.5 million which resulted in the beautifully expanded and refurbished main library. At that annual meeting Walter W. Birge III was elected president to succeed her. Happily, Ms. Saalfield’s gifts to the library continue as she has been appointed to the Town’s Library Committee.
Planning Ahead
Construction well over, the board began to consider new initiatives, both in program and facilities. Thanks to a wonderful lead gift by Barbara and Reed Anthony, the Corporation purchased a new Steinway grand piano which resides majestically in the rotunda. This instrument will serve the music committee of the Friends of the Library for their wonderful series of free concerts, and will allow the library to serve a broader segment of Concord’s musical community
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The board turned its attention to our increasingly busy Fowler Branch in West Concord. The hope is to have a plan for fully utilizing the building by 2008 including a design of the basement. Trustee Jeff Adams is spearheading that effort.
Special Collections
Curator Leslie Wilson authored In History’s Embrace, a lovely retelling of the shaping of Concord as it is today. Ms. Wilson generously donated the copyright to the Library Corporation.
Williams Scholars
As Administrators of the Williams Scholarships, the Trustees awarded funds to: Jared Rose at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Callie L. Pioli at Brandeis University, Merli Guerra at Mount Holyoke College, and Linh Ha at Rochester Institute of Technology. These scholarships were made possible by the bequest of Charles H.S. Williams to encourage promising students of the arts
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Fund Raising
Sherin and Charles Spofford co-chaired the very successful Annual Appeal. They hosted a gracious reception at the library in November and authored an extraordinary appeal letter which has resulted in many new gifts to the library.
Library “Life”
The library flourishes! The events card which is mailed to every family in Concord three times a year had to change to a smaller font as activities burgeoned. Most pleasing is the increased use of the library by the young. The middle school bus drop-off is well used. High schoolers asked for the library to be open on Sundays during exam time (staffed by our librarians and members of the Library Committee). There was a teen book buying expedition – the list is long and bodes well for the future of this grand Concord institution.
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