The Morse Institute Library is a
public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants.
There are ...
in
Natick, Massachusetts
Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...
that has existed for over 200 years. The library is part of the
Minuteman Library Network
The Minuteman Library Network (MLN), founded in 1984, is a consortium of 41 public and academic libraries in the MetroWest and southern Middlesex County areas of eastern Massachusetts, US that share resources, patrons and services. The Network ha ...
, a consortium of 43 libraries that provide services to members in the
MetroWest region of
.
History
In 1808, the library began as a collection of about 100 books by
Samuel Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...
.
He was a portrait artist and had an interest in developing a circulating library. By 1852, the collection, entitled the Citizen's Library, amassed 425 books.
The Morse Institute Library was instituted in 1862 by Mary Ann Morse, Samuel Morse's granddaughter.
Over the next several years, Mary Ann began the processes of raising funds and obtaining district approval. The collection opened to the public on December 25, 1873.
Today, the library is governed by a five-member board of trustees who are elected by popular vote to five-year terms. The establishment has around 200,000 books, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, CDs, and audiobooks.
Initiatives
The library organizes events open to the public including book clubs, English immersion classes, and movie nights.
One major project is the Natick Veterans Oral History Project. In 1998, Eugene Dugdale, who was a
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
survivor, proposed a project to "collect and preserve the personal recollections of those men and women who have served their country in the armed forces past and present." The collection has firsthand accounts of veterans from
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
,
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
,
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
,
Persian Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
, and the conflicts in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. The administrators of the program work in collaboration with the Natick Public Schools System and the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
. As of 2023, the project has more than 350 interviews in its collection.
References
External links
Morse Institute Library Natick Veterans Oral History Project
{{authority control
Library buildings completed in 1808
Public libraries in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Natick, Massachusetts
1808 establishments in Massachusetts