Association members were seeking a new home for their
collection
Finally, in 1874, the group took a 10-year lease on
the second floor of the Masonic Hall building at 125-127
Market Street and remained there
XK'V ADVOrranUCSTS.
Untl ■ Library HaU, Marketer
It was the heyday of public
speaking. The Association sponsored
numerous reading clubs, debates and — ' '' '
musical entertainments. Orators from ' .
across the globe were heard by eager Wilmington Morning Star
March 28, 1876
Wilmingtonians.
A Tale of Two Cities
While the Wilmington Library Association’s members
were white citizens, Wilmington’s African-American
community had its own literary societies, lyceums and
libraries.
As early as 1870, there were organized groups of black
Wilmingtonians whose leaders were principally ministers
and free blacks educated in the North.
One such group was the Colored Literary Society,
which provided night school for men.
Some of the larger African-American churches had
libraries. St. Stephen’s AME Church provided a community
library in its annex building.
Forums for public speaking were
promoted by groups such as the
Benjamin Banneker Literary and Library
Association in the 1880s and the Daniel
A. Payne Lyceum in the 1890s.
Frederick Douglass, world famous
abolitionist, author and civil rights leader,
spoke in City Hall on August 1, 1872.
It was not until 1926 that the city
Harpers Weekly began supporting a free public library for
December 6, 1873 African-Americans.
The First Librarian
Despite the popularity of its programs and collection, the
Wilmington Library Association,
headed by extraordinary bibliophile
Dr. Thomas Fanning Wood, could
not raise enough money for rent, new
books and a librarian’s salary. Finally,
in the 1880s, the group decided to
give its extensive collection to the
newly formed Young Men’s Christian
Association Library.
A public outcry ensued, and one Thomas Fanning Wood
generous man saved the library for 1841-1892
another decade.
Captain William H. Bixby was the first Wilmington
District Engineer for the US Army Corps of Engineers
from 1884-1891. Bixby volunteered to manage the library,
and he donated over $1,000 to update
the collection.
Wilmington’s first professional
librarian was hired: Miss A. L. Sargent
of Lowell, Massachusetts. Miss
Sargent employed the latest library
standards of cataloging and collection
development. Captain William H. Bixby
Captain Bixby had electric lights ^SArmy Corpse/ Engineers
installed and extended library hours. By the time he left
Wilmington in 1891, there were 4100 volumes in the
collection. Membership had increased dramatically and
circulation doubled.
With Bixby’s departure in 1891 and the death of Dr.
Wood in 1892, the Wilmington
\ ,[f Tl}( relinquished their holdings to the
fj .'t 1 YMCA in 1893. The Association
continued to meet there until it
Wilmington YMCA 1895 dissolved at the end of 1899. Many
of the Association’s records are in the historical collection
of the New Hanover Public Library.
A Determined Group of Women
After the demise of the Wilmington Library Association,
the North Carolina Sorosis, the oldest federated
women’s club in North Carolina, took up the cause for a
Free Public Library.
In 1901, Miss Margaret Littlejohn Kingsbury introduced
the idea of petitioning the city government to provide space
for a public library.
In the meantime, the Board of Aldermen turned
down the offer of a free Carnegie Library, considering the
required annual appropriation of $2500 to be too much of
a burden to taxpayers.
Sorosis Club members persisted in their efforts. They
opened a temporary library in the Masonic Temple on
Front Street and later in the new Odd Fellows building
on South 3rd. In 1904, they relentlessly pressured the city
aldermen for a permanent location. “It is a shame and
a disgrace,” they argued, “that the largest and wealthiest
town in the state has not an institution of this kind.”
In 1906 their dream came true.
Sources available in the Local History Room of Main Library
