Crandall Library — 1893 capital project

Just after the start of the second year of operation of Crandall Free Library, a capital improvement project was commenced.

“The library will be closed for several days in order to make some needed changes to the rooms. In cold weather, when all the windows are shut, there is a great lack of proper ventilation, and then air in the rooms speedily becomes impure,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Nov. 21, 1893. “It is principally to remedy the defect that repairs are being made. The central heat shaft, which comes up alongside the partition between the two rooms, will be will changed as to furnish a nonstop supply of pure air, which will be regulated by means of ventilators.”

Lighting in the reading room would be improved, and a wall would be removed to add six feet of space to the reading room.

Henry Crandall contributed $150 — the equivalent of $5,332 in 2023 dollars — toward the cost of renovation.

The work took about two weeks to complete.

“The library reading room is again open for the use of the public. The recent repairs have greatly increased its usefulness. The additional space is greatly appreciated, and the amount of light greatly improved,” The Morning Star reported on Dec. 6. “With the increasing interest now being felt in the library, it is only a question of time before new quarters will have to be secured.”

The improvements were welcomed.

“The new air shaft has made a big difference in the atmosphere of the rooms. … It is only a question of time before the library will have to have larger quarters. The need of more space is especially felt in the reading rooms. The recent improvements increased the facilities of this department of the library, but the need of more floor space is apparent,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 20, 1894.

In other 19th century Crandall Free Library news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

• The Fort Edward Advertiser, in an editorial republished Nov. 24, 1893 in The Morning Star, urged residents to patronize Crandall Free Library.

“Fort Edward people do not appreciate or take advantage of the Crandall public library of Glens Falls as they should,” the Fort Edward newspaper chided. “The library is bountifully stocked with the best of books, which may be retained a month, and no fee is charged for this use.”

• Nathaniel Holmes Bishop of Lake George donated the books “Poems for the Fireside” and “Memorial Biographies” by the New England Historic Genealogical Society and a number of periodicals to Crandall Free Library, The Morning Star reported on Dec. 25, 1893.
• The library received some welcome praise.

“Hon. Melville Dewey, state librarian of Albany, recently in a lecture at Pratt Institute, said that Crandall Library of Glens Falls shows what one enlightened, public-spirited man can do,” The Morning Star reported on Jan. 12, 1894.

• Library circulation in December 1893 was 4,913 items, The Morning Star reported on Feb. 6, 1894.
• “The library is indebted to J.A. Holden and A.B. Wells for contribution of valuable books and magazines.”
• “The person who found a book belonging to Crandall Free Library in the western part of the village on Sunday should send it to the library,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 14, 1894.
• “Miss Deborah Wilson, at present a resident of California, has presented the library with three volumes of a handsome work entitled ‘Picturesque California,’” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 20, 1894.

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