Library 144: S.L. Griffith Memorial Library (Danby)
A taxidermized woodchuck is a special choice.
Library 144! The S.L. Griffith Memorial Library in Danby was the 144th stop on my quest to knit in all of Vermont’s public libraries.
I knit: a classic ribbed hat in Romney twist from Bobolink Yarns.
This library wins for largest spread between visit (May 2) and post (June 7). I visited on my way home from a work trip just before finals week. My to do list contained 183732 items. Non-emergencies were abandoned. Some emergencies barely received attention. I’m sorry I forgot you, Danby library. You’re important.
I arrived just in time for craft hour and was greeted by the library dog Bella, who pulls. I learned this tidbit of Bella’s personality from a friend who stopped by to take Bella on a walk. Margaretanne (librarian on duty) joined me for craft hour, and was knitting a sock on metal double-pointed-needles (DPNs). I use metal needles for every knitting project, with the exception of DPNs. For me, metal is too slippery for small circumference knitting. I can close my eyes and see the non-active needle slipping out of the work, leaving the live stitches empty and vulnerable, unraveling. Oh, the horror.
Margaretanne comes from a crafty family and learned to knit from her grandmother. Her grandmother’s most complex craft was pillow lace, also called bobbin lace. I learned about this craft recently from instagram reels. It seems far more horrifying and tedious a craft than knitting with metal DPNs. I cannot think of a fiber craft I would like to do less. Hats off to pillow lacers everywhere and their brains that are unlike mine.
Margaretanne described this library as a “private” library, using this term in the way others use “incorporated.” It serves the public (it is on the list of public libraries in Vermont) and town residents use the library for free, but all funding comes from a trust instead of the municipality.
The trust was left by S. L. Griffith, who Margaretanne told me was Vermont’s first millionaire. He made his fortune producing charcoal, which he did by clear cutting mountains and slowly burning the wood in large kilns. Small villages with markets were built on the mountain to support the workers—- they’d get paid and then spend all their money at the village shop.
On my tour, I found typewriter (with nearby handwritten cataloging notes) that looked like it could have been used in the last week. Also spotted: a trinket shelf topped with a photo of a horse with extremely long hair; an impressive monstera; a spinning wheel.
This library uses the Cutter organizational system (not the Dewey Decimal system), which is rare. Also rare: a stuffed groundhog with pride of place on the front mantle. I mostly see birds.
While we knit, Margaretanne shared a scrap book with relics from the library’s history. The book contained no explanation for the long-haired horse, but it did have pictures of the charcoal kilns and articles celebrating the library’s opening in 1908. It was built as a library using curly maple wood (spared from the kilns), meant to preserve stories, knowledge, and stuffed woodchucks in perpetuity for the people of Danby. And the occasional drive by knitter.
There's a local library that uses the Cutter system, and I've never quite figured it out. This post sent me into a bit of reading about it. I think I'm still confused ... thankfully librarians are helpful.
That wheel looks like it might spin with a little repair, That's the treadle sitting on the "table"; it needs re-attachingl. Hard to say what else it might need. An interesting disfaff for holding wool or flax for spinning.
Such interesting things in this library. As always, I enjoyed your visit vicariously.
Alice