The Public Relations Committee

During their first ten years, the Public Relations Committee had a regular schedule of three events per year - the open house in the spring, one spring event, and one fall event. They also sponsored movies for children at Thanksgiving time.

The open houses were a big deal - featuring popular themes, attracting hundreds of people, sometimes famous ones. Those for this decade had the following titles:

1947 — “Old and New Farmington”
1948 — “Local Artists”
1949 — Old glass, china, and photographs
1950 — Costume show
1951 — “Italian Festa”
1952 — “The Children’s Hour”
1953 — “Meet the Authors”
1954 — “Farmington Goes Abroad”
1955 — Photography show
1956 — “Farmington Hobbies”


ABOVE
A photo from the 1951 open house. It shows the Governor’s wife, Mrs. John Lodge, dancing.
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BELOW
Laura Deming pours for Peg Yung and Miss Muriel Dillon at the 1952 “Children’s Hour” open house

An Established Force

The Public Relations Committee was now an established force in Farmington; but big changes were coming. In May 1957, plans were being drawn for a new wing of the Village Library. The construction was done during 1959, greatly increasing the space for children.

In addition, in 1958 the West End Library Association merged with the Farmington Village Green and Library Association, thus uniting library services in the town. This brought 500 new prospective “Friends” families into the annual appeal campaign. Mrs. M.I. Cake became the new editor of “Book Ends”.

Open houses continued except for 1959; the themes for this decade were as follows:
1957 — “Farmington’s Favorite Possessions”
1958 — A “Coffee Party”, at West End Branch
1960 — Cooking bazaar
1961 — In honor of Ruth Hyatt
(the new Head Librarian)
1962 — “Fan Fare”
1963 — “Literary Garland”
1964 — “Three Centuries of Tunxis Plantation”
1965 — “Mark Twain Re-visits Farmington”
1966 — “Conservation Challenges Farmington”

In 1961, Lydia Hewes stepped down as Chairman of the
Committee; she was replaced by Harriet Barney King (later Lidgerwood), who served until 1964, yielded to James McA. Thomson in 1965, then returned in 1966.

To the right are: (1) the 1959 donation letter
(2) a 1958 bookmark
(3) a photo of Harriet Barney Lidgerwood
at an open house


Harriet Barney King Lidgerwood at an open house at West End Branch



M.I. Cake, Editor of BookEnds, 1958-???

A New Name

This was the decade when the open houses continued, the book sale started, Culture Caravans started, and the name of the committee was changed. The Public Relations Committee, in 1969, became what its supporters had always been called, the Friends of the Library. According to the records, the Chairmen during this decade were Hattie Barney Lidgerwood in 1967-1970, Sally Hammerberg in 1971-1972, Elizabeth Glass in 1973, and Kathy Hutcheson in 1974-1976.

The open houses for this decade were as follows:
1967 — “Happiness is a Children’s Book Party”
1968 — Crafts show
1969 — “Birds in Farmington”
1970 — “West End Celebration”
1971 — “What You Can Do About Pollution”
1972 — “Passport to China”
1973 — “Village Pow Wow”
1974 — “The Roaring Twenties”
1975 — “My Neighbor, the Artist”
1976 — Bicentennial program

The book sale started as a small affair on the terrace in back of the Village Library on October 12, 1973. We don’t know what the profit was, but it was a natural fund-raising event for a library group.


Here’s a photo from the first indoor book sale.


The 1967 Open House



Sally & Don Hammerberg and William Cadwell, at the 1968 open house



Organizers of the 1976 open house - Arline Whitaker, Anne Glanovsky, Dotsie Kagan, & Kathy Hutcheson

Fund-Raising and a New Library

By now, the main function of the Friends committee was to raise funds for the library, and public relations were almost forgotten. The construction of the new Farmington Library on Monteith Drive in 1981-1982 made the Village Library into a branch and closed the West End building. The Friends gave $25,000 towards the new building and were furnishing about $20,000 per year for “goodies”, extra programs and materials, at both libraries. The annual book sale had grown to be a two-day event and was earning about $3500 by 1986. The “Friends” had also published and sold a cookbook.

In 1984 a new event started—”A Dickens of a Christmas”, a house tour of a historic house decorated for the holidays. This event was co-sponsored by the Friends and Stanley-Whitman House volunteers, and it proved to be a rousing success. For the first few years, Kathy Hutcheson and Karen Wasley, leaders of the two groups, were also the Co-Chairmen of Dickens.

The construction of the new library and all of this hard work on other events caused the demise of the annual open houses, the last of which had these themes:
1977 — The 30th birthday of the Friends
1978 — “Looking Ahead”
1979 — “Needlework & Needlewomen”


Ruth Hyatt & Edie Hoppin, 1977 open house


Col. Richardson & Hattie Lidgerwood, 1980 open house

Entering the 80s
Kathy Hutcheson was Chairman of the Friends from 1974 to 1988 and did an extraordinary job of making the group more active and increasing the amount of money raised for the benefit of the library. In 1986 she was named the Outstanding Friend state-wide by the Conn. Library Association, in recognition of her hard and effective work, a well-deserved award.



In 1983 there was a “Secret Garden Tour”, held only once, but a preview of times to come 16 years later. The “Friends” also produced two cookbooks, sponsored many Culture Caravans, etc. Many of these activities were to raise funds for the new library.

The ribbon-cutting at the opening of the new library in 1983, done by Buzz Whitaker, Hiram Maxim, Bob/Scott Donald, Steve Flis, and Gerry Haviland.

A Mature Group Works Hard

By now, the Friends committee was a well-oiled machine, which annually held two huge fund-raisers, conducted a membership campaign, and sold items at both libraries. Leaders of the committee during this decade were:

Kathy Hutcheson, 1987-1988
Kaye Gnazzo & Joan Ware, 1988-1990
Kaye Gnazzo & Barbara Rowland, 1990-1995
Victoria Gerent, 1995-1996

As a result of the efforts of the committee, in 1991 they won a state-wide award given by Friends of Conn. Libraries (FOCL) as the Outstanding Friends group.


Kaye Gnazzo, Co-Chairman, 1988-1995

The book sale continued to grow, with net profits at about $8000 by 1996. In 1989 the timing of the sale was changed from fall to spring in order not to conflict with Dickens.

Dickens also grew and grew and by 1996 was a 3-day event, with preview party, Teddy Bear Tea for children, and the house tour. In its heyday, Dickens was making a profit of $16,000-20,000, split evenly between the library and the Stanley-Whitman House.



1991—Barbara Rowland, MaryBeth Langton, Barbara Gibson, & Jack Short of FOCL

1997-2007 : Expansion and Garden Tours

The most recent decade has been marked by several major developments, most notably the expansion of the main library and the demise of Dickens. The “Friends” continued their strong support for construction programs by giving $72,000 for the 2001-2003 expansion. With the void created by not having Dickens, in 1999 the committee started another event that has proved to be very successful and popular—the annual garden tour. The garden tour, held on a Saturday in June, usually features six to eight gardens in town, plus a boutique and luncheon. This fund-raiser has made $6,000-10,000 for the library annually.



Here are some of the leaders of the very first garden tour in 1999.


The annual book sale has reached new highs in funds raised; it earned over $16,000 in 2006. In order to ease the strain on the physical facilities for the regular sale, some books are now sold continually at the “Book Nook”; and two smaller Saturday sales are held in the fall, for children’s books and coffee-table books.



The book sale Saturday crew in 1999

1997-2007 : Leaders and the Future

The Chairmen of the committee during this period have been:
1997-1999: Kathy Leary
1999-2000: no Chairman
2000-2005: Fran Raymond
2005-2007: Jessie Saxton & Holly Walden

Kathy Leary (left) & Fran Raymond (right)

Other events held during the past eleven years include an American Girl party, more Culture Caravans, a benefit golf tournament in honor of John Grouten, a photo contest, holiday open houses, a tag sale, and the sale of several kinds of merchandise—book pins, book bags, bookmarks, ornaments, Entertainment Books, note cards, etc.

To the right is a collage of photos of various Friends events during the past decade.

In total, the “Friends” now contribute about $30,00-35,000 each year to the library for programs, equipment, and materials. Most of this support is made possible by the generosity of the townspeople of Farmington and Unionville.

The Friends thank you for your help over the years, and we look forward to another glorious sixty years!

Gifts to the Library 2006-2007