Mary Titcomb revolutionized the library. So we gave the library her trunk.
The Washington County Historical Society recently donated a chest belonging to Mary Lemist Titcomb to the Washington County Free Library’s Western Maryland Room.
Mary Titcomb was an important figure not only to the local library, but to the concept of the modern library. Society officials believe the Western Maryland Room, where it is now on display, is the best home for it.
The camphorwood chest was donated to the library in early April.
Titcomb was not only a corresponding secretary for the historical society in its early years, but she was also the first female head librarian of the Washington County Free Library, second vice president of the American Library Association, and bolstered the concept of the bookmobile in Washington County. It is difficult to imagine a modern library without the lasting influences of Mary Titcomb.
Born in 1852 in Farmington, N.H., Titcomb worked for 12 years as a cataloguer at the Rutland Public Library in Vermont, eventually becoming the chief librarian.
She left her position in Vermont in 1902 to join the staff of the Washington County Free Library, which had opened only one year before as the second county library in the nation (the first was the Brumback Public Library in Van Wert, Ohio).
Titcomb and the board of the Washington County Free Library both endeavored to make books accessible to the whole community, including rural citizens who lived far from the physical library.
To achieve this goal, Titcomb set up book stations throughout the community. These stations, located in general stores and post offices, were meant to serve those who had difficulty in getting to the library itself.
Don't miss: All the world loves a clown — especially Boonsboro, final home of Tommy 'Bozo' Snyder
More local history: Cash or fire: Locals had a stark choice in 1864. Was this trunk used to collect the money?
And even more: A growing town, a Rebel invasion: Saving the documents that tell county's story
The number of stations rose to more than 66 throughout the community, and while the library was expanding, Titcomb noticed a problem. The stations were still overwhelmingly being used by townspeople, and not the rural community she had hoped to reach.
That's when Titcomb suggested an early form of the bookmobile.
“Would not a Library Wagon, the outward and visible signs of the service for which the Library stood, do much more in cementing friendship?" Titcomb wrote. "No better method has ever been devised for reaching the dweller in the country. The book goes to the man, not waiting for the man to come to the book.”
The library’s Board of Trustees believed in Titcomb’s vision, and obtained a sum of $2,500 to pay for the wagon.
The first book wagon was horse-drawn, and could transport 2,560 volumes. It was driven by Joshua Thomas, the library’s janitor, as he was native to the area and knew the residents well. Titcomb specified that Thomas was not to rush from house to house, but to give each family time to choose books.
In the first six months, the book wagon made 31 trips, averaged 30 miles of travel daily, and distributed 1,008 books. The program was so successful that when the wagon was hit by a freight train and destroyed in 1910, the library provided enough money for a new motorized book wagon, which allowed the library to expand its service and cover routes more often.
The Washington County Historical Society is thrilled to reunite the Washington County Free Library with a piece of its impressive history, and to bring awareness to the historical icon that is Mary Titcomb.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Mary Titcomb's trunk is at home in the library she helped develop
