General Information | Staff & Board of Trustees | History | Policies
Quechee Library History
The history of Quechee Library begins in 1884 when 60 villagers joined together to form a library association open to all. Although the library has moved time and again, it remains true to its mission and community as they each evolved and grew over decades. The first librarian, M. Antoinette Kendall, placed 285 books on a shelf in her millinery shop and began the life of a community library that has been supported for over 140 years by donations of time, dollars, space, and expertise of many kinds. United by a love of books and a belief in public access to information, literature, knowledge and culture, the Quechee Library Association grew into a vibrant public library serving all town residents and visitors.
The first physical move was to one end of Tinkham’s General Store on Main Street. This was followed in 1891 by another move, this time to quarters in a bandstand on High Street. In 1909, after a campaign to raise $5,000, a 495-square-foot brick library was built on Main Street, and the library incorporated as a non-profit association. The succession of librarians after Ms. Kendall was Clara Allen and then Alice Chadwick Farrington. Individual membership dues, initially one dollar, were eliminated to offer free services. What is now a perpetual seeking of various funding sources began. Direct aid from the town in the amount of $300 was first voted in 1962, 10 years after Pauline Cole began her 40 year tenure as librarian. She would initially need to light the wood in the fireplace that filled much of one wall before opening for Saturday afternoons.
Within 25 years of the Quechee Lakes planned community entering what was a declining farming and mill village, the charming library quarters proved too small. Fitting more than 4,000 books on the shelves and more than a few patrons in the wood-paneled room with diamond pane windows was beyond difficult. In the early 1990s major changes and expansions occurred. During this active period Jonathan Schechtman served for 10 years as president of the board of trustees. Kate Schaal became library director in 1993 and until 2025 led in extending services,including programming, through grantwriting and collaborations.
A fundraising campaign, chaired by Robert Neilson; the founding of the Friends of the Quechee Library; and the winning of a competitive federal Library Services and Construction Grant of $100,000 led to the opening of a new public library farther west at 1957 Quechee Main Street in 1995. Oz Architects designed the conversion of a former bank building, adding a new bowed front and other essential and pleasing changes. The library moved twice during construction to temporary quarters with volunteers shuffling collections. Other volunteers, led by Paul Sadowski, built stonewalls that border the extensive garden later designed by Theo Alexander with gifts from the Talbot Gardens. Painting was done by yet others, led by Craig Thurston.
In 1997 Quechee Library and Gates Memorial Library in White River Junction worked cooperatively to oversee library services for the Wilder Club & Library. After Gates Library closed, this contractual arrangement has been continued by the two boards through present day.
In 1998 Linda Labriola, as the library’s first technical services librarian, began the project of automating cataloging and circulation functions. Aided by many hours of volunteer labor entering the paper card catalog information into the new database, in 1999 the library was one of the first small Vermont libraries to become automated. David Izzo was elected as the new board president in 1998 and continued to serve until 2022, and has been key to the digital face of the library and to its character.
Eight years after the major building project, Vermont Public Library Foundation incentive grants, funded by the Freeman Foundation, created a new opportunity in 2002. After more fundraising and grant writing, an addition designed by architect Charles Egbert was completed with a children’s room, a lift, and a top floor perfect for book discussions or quiet study. By then, fundraising activities, including book sales, events, appeals, and grant writing became standard to supplement the town allocation for operating expenses and to support all capital expenses. Circulation grew each year as did the popularity of hundreds of programs for children and adults.
Authors who read at the library (and for fundraisers at Dana’s Restaurant) included Archer Mayor, Howard Frank Mosher, Maxine Kumin, Jeff Lent, William Tapply, Alex Prud’homme, and James Sturm.
This growth and a continued quest to better integrate the collection and services at the Wilder Club & Library required a more sophisticated software system, the purchase of which was supported by the SunUp Foundation and an anonymous donor. In 2009, the library collection went online at www.quecheelibrary.org, a website that provides ever-increasing additional resources. Today they include Overdrive books, Kanopy, a New York Times online subscription and much more.
Now housed in a 6,000 sq. ft. building, surrounded by gardens tended by the Quechee Garden Club and a patio with chess table, the collection numbers over 35,000 items, including not only books but the Library of Things containing telescopes, a sewing machine, ukulele and more. Scores of programs are offered each year, ranging from discussion groups to concerts to workshops. For example, programs created here by the director and scholar Suzanne Brown as Vermont Humanities Council series became available statewide. They included Fear No Labor; Gilded Age: Then and Now, Revenge, American Mob Violence; Ukraine:In Fiction and Headlines. Astronomy programs were among the best attended of any topic during trustee Brian Chaboyer’s tenure.
The library has worked with the Upper Valley Food Co-op and Bugbee Senior Center to facilitate drop-offs in White River Junction and to host a monthly book discussion at the senior center. The once tiny library association has become the largest public library in town. These services are provided by a part-time professional staff of three and a legion of volunteers who work at the circulation desk, the booksales, and nearly every project and task including serving on the board of trustees and the Friends’ steering committee. Tommy Bauch became president of the board in 2022 when Dave Izzo took over as treasurer from the long-serving Bill Eastwood. Key to the Quechee/Wilder Libraries development were Marieke Sperry, assistant librarian at our libraries from 2008-2023, and Nick Clemens, who became the technical services librarian in 2010. He led all the Town of Hartford libraries (QW, Hartford Village, and West Hartford) into the VOKAL consortium for circulation and cataloging software, thereby making it easy for patrons of any of the town’s libraries to access and use all the libraries. Nick continued in this post for seven years, leaving to work for Bywater Solutions as a developer and support person. Continuing to live in Hartford he joined the board of trustees of the Wilder Club & Library and became chair of the board, succeeding Peter Schaal who was hands-on in that position for 50 years, assisted throughout by his wife, Gail. They continue on the board after overseeing many stewardship projects at the clubhouse.
The library is open at no charge to all residents and visitors to the town, continuing to serve as a community center with many resources, staff assistance, and programs for all ages–even as it has evolved to provide essential electronic access and resources. Staff annually develops a local multi-generational series for Vermont Reads, the statewide VHC reading program, visits daycare centers and offers various outreach services. During the Covid pandemic, we worked daily to provide services by various means; we were among the first libraries in the state to reopen fully. Joining the Sustainable Libraries Initiative, we continued the work underlined in 2010 when solar panels were installed with SunUp grant funds. We take lasting pride in the collections we have built for our immediate and the larger communities.
As new challenges unfold, we will continue to preserve and extend library services. Michaela Lavelle assumed the position of director in February 2025 and will have the historical support of this community. Far too many individuals to list have been essential to the preservation, evolution and character of our libraries, and we are confident new people are stepping forth. Below is a brief timeline of some highlights of past accomplishments:
History Timelines
1885: Founding of Quechee Library Association
1895: Founding of Wilder Club & Library to serve its community in all ways: library, hall with stage, pool room, bowling alley and kitchen. 1907: Building of first Quechee Library, 465 sq ft
1995: $100,000 federal grant as part of $450,000 building campaign for new library at 1957 Main Street.
1997: Wilder Club & Library contracts with Quechee and Gates Library for administration of library services. After Gates closure, Quechee Library and WCL continued their partnership. 1999:Quechee/Wilder Libraries automated, among first VT libraries to do so.
2002: Addition of lift and children’s room and upstairs room at Quechee, downstairs bathroom, through private fundraising and Freeman Foundation Grant.
2004: Vermont Cultural Facilities grant to Wilder Club & Library to add storm windows and install hot water to all sinks.
2004: Vermont Arts Council grant: Changing Nature of Land and Photography. Working with Northlight Digital and Collamer we selected several of his prints from the 1950s in Hartford to be scanned, enhanced and printed by Northlight. Many exhibits have grown from that beginning, including the mural that is the backdrop to the Selectboard’s meetings.Collamer’s relatives have stayed involved with our libraries, including our staffer (20 years later in the 2020s, George White). 2007: Wilder Club & Library wins Vermont Historic Preservation grant to repair and restore windows and restore the plaster facade over the porch.
2007: Wilder Club & Library wins Vermont Cultural Facilities grant to support the construction and installation of an accessible platform lift. $90,000 project was completed with the assistance of other foundation grants, business and individual support to make the historic building accessible without impacting its brick exterior.
2011: Wilder Club & Library wins Vermont Cultural Facilities Grant for installation of new front steps with new granite treads.
2012 : Migration to VOKAL and koha for an integrated townwide system.
2014: Addition of OneCard….along with renewed emphasis by VT Dept. of Libraries for interlibrary loans, the courier system, and the sharing statewide of resources. OneCard is an agreement among 13 Upper Valley libraries that patrons from each other’s towns may borrow directly from member libraries. 2017: Vermont Cultural Facilities Grant to Wilder Club & Library for the installation of an energy-efficient air conditioning system in its auditorium. 2015-2019: New flooring and window and clapboard replacement at Quechee required two campaigns to continue building stewardship. 2020-2021: During the state of emergency requiring libraries to be closed, we maintained some services with pick up bins at both libraries, virtual programming, and a boost in electronic content. As soon as permitted, we were among the first to follow CDC safety protocols and reopen to the public in June 2020. 2022: Quechee Library joined the Sustainable Libraries Initiative and will continue to strive toward the goal of being environmentally sound, economically feasible and socially equitable.
Not to be limited to single years are the ongoing multiple book discussions of various genres we lead each month, the annual Vermont Reads grants we win for series developed around a statewide title, author readings, concerts, historical and political presentations, the collections that are widely praised and make us a net lender throughout the state in the robust interlibrary loan system, a staff and Friends group intent on welcoming all people into our shared space to engage in solitary pursuits and community activities as they choose. Many of our furnishings were built by our patrons, donated from their own possessions, or selected as gifts to keep our buildings dear to our hearts.
