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Pequot Library has grown into a true American treasure. It has been serving the towns of Fairfield, Westport, Norwalk, Bridgeport, and the entire region for 115 years. It brings literature, music, art, and learning into the lives of countless families. It is a place where children are welcome and safe, and introduced to the magic of reading. In short, Pequot Library exemplifies what a great library should be.
Mr. and Mrs. Monroe were assisted in founding Pequot Library by their friend, Congregational minister and bibliophile, Rev. William Holman. While at Harvard, Holman had been influenced by the noted American historian Justin Winsor, a founder of the American Library Association. Under Holman’s guidance, the Monroes filled the Library with popular fiction and non-fiction, for children as well as adults, and with periodicals and reference works.
The main interest of both the Monroes and Rev. Holman, however, was Americana, especially material relating to the early history of the original thirteen colonies. Throughout its subsequent history, this focus on early American material at Pequot Library has been a constant. While rare books on other subjects have been acquired, usually as gifts, Pequot Library has always prided itself on the unusually important collection of material relating to the early history of Connecticut and the rest of what would become the United States of America.
The Library building - designed by noted American architect Robert H. Robertson - was erected in 1893 on the grounds of the Marquand mansion in Southport with funds donated by the Monroes. In April 1894, the doors of the Library opened to the public, and, since that time, the Library has served a broad public and today receives more than 100,000 visitors annually. The auditorium is alive with activity, and cultural events, making the Library a true cultural center of literature, music, art, and learning.
Since the time of the original gift of the Library from the Monroes, the rest of the community has taken up the challenge and made the responsibility of caring for the Library their own. Another Southport resident, Mrs. Mary C. Wakeman was one of the Library’s early benefactors and she helped the Monroes realize their dream. In 1897, she funded a building addition designed by the original architect that doubled the Library’s square footage and enabled it to house an additional 50,000 volumes. Later, she donated a Tiffany stained-glass triptych window for the Library’s stack wing in memory of her departed daughter, Mary Hull Taintor.
Through the years, Pequot Library has benefited immeasurably from the generosity of many others in the community. Some give books, either to the Special Collection or to the general collection, such as Dr. Abraham S. Sturges, Mrs. Edwin S. Waterman, or Cyrus Sherwood Bradley. Local families such as the Bulkeys have given their papers to the Library, and provide the financial support to help care for them.
Others have given of their time. Over 200 volunteers help Pequot Library stage its annual Book Sale which generates a significant portion of the Library’s operating budget each year. Others help in the Children’s Library, in organizing the over 200 cultural programs which are presented in the Library’s spectacular auditorium each year, or in helping care for the collection.
Members of the Pequot Library Association contribute with extraordinary generosity to the Library’s Annual Fund drive that helps provide operating funds for the Library and enable it to continue to excel in providing high level library services to the community.
By the 1950s, the Library’s use by the community had increased dramatically. At the same time, the Special Collections had also steadily increased in value. Public handling and use of the Special Collections had continued to increase, and the Library’s Board of Trustees (the “Trustees”) struggled with security, preservation, insurance and building maintenance issues.
To deal with these issues, in 1952, the Trustees approved a loan agreement with Yale University pursuant to which 812 books and 1,062 manuscripts belonging to the Library were placed on long-term loan in the Beineke Library. Under the terms of the agreement, all of the material was to be preserved, made available to researchers, and fully insured.
The 800 books and 1000 manuscripts that went to Yale represent only a small percentage of Pequot’s Special Collections; 35,000 in the Special Collection items remain at the Library under the care of the Rare Book Librarian--a sign of the Board’s ongoing commitment to these special works.
In the 1970s, as book collections grew and visitors increased, board president John B. Zellers led a capital campaign to raise funds for the important addition of a wing offering increased space for children and students. Pequot’s continues to offer many programs especially tailored to help students of all ages make the best possible use of the resources the Library. The number of younger patrons regularly using Pequot Library has increased so dramatically that redesigning and expanding the children and young adult areas is a top priority for the future.
The community has increasing embraced Pequot Library as a major cultural center. Over the years, it has become a center of civic pride and the wonderful experiences that generations of Fairfield residents have shared at the Library are part of what brings us together as a community.
The collection has continued to grow as well. There are now approximately 110,000 volumes in the Library’s general collection, in addition to the large special collection. Each year thousands of people from throughout the entire region come to the Library to use these collections or to attend one of the over 200 high level educational or musical programs presented at the Library each year. Some of these are presented by the Library alone, many others are presented in collaboration with other organizations in the community such as Music for Youth.
Pequot has integrated new technologies in its management of its collections. Computerized card catalogs were introduced in 1995, and public access to the internet in 1998. In May 2001, Pequot joined the other Fairfield Libraries in the new user-friendly integrated computer library system called SIRSI. Pequot Library now fully shares resources with Fairfield Public and Fairfield Woods. Books can be picked up and returned at any of the three locations, and holds and renewals can be placed online from home.
Pequot Library established its web site in 1998 enabling the Library to be open for business on-line 24 hours a day. The redesigned web site, www.pequotlibrary.com, launched in October of 2002, has brought the Library to a whole new level of accessible interaction. It provides schedule and event information, book searches, staff information and fun interactive adventures.
For the future, Pequot Library will continue its strong and enduring commitment to the basic elements of its mission. Its strategic plans include the renovation of the existing building and the construction of a modest addition. This will enable the Library to expand its services to children and to create of a state-of-the-art Special Collection facility.
Here, a collection focused through careful collection management on the primary area of interest of the Library’s founders – Americana and local history – will be carefully protected and more fully accessible by a broad array of patrons who will be more aware of their existence by an effective and wide ranging promotional plan. Successful fund-raising efforts will not only build and equip this newly renovated and expanded Library, but a subsequent endowment campaign will ensure that Pequot Library has the institutional capacity to fulfill its mission for generations to come. As the cap-stone of that plan for the Special Collections, the increased institutional capacity of the Library will permit the material currently on Loan to Yale to be reclaimed and returned home to Pequot Library where it belongs.
Pequot Library’s Special Collection
Pequot Library’s Special Collection is a national treasure. It is one of the finest small collections in the country of rare books, manuscripts, and other material relating to the social, political, religious, natural, and cultural history of the original thirteen colonies from pre-colonial settlement through 1898. In addition, the Special Collection includes holdings in Genealogy, Local History, the History of Printing, and 19 th Century Periodicals.
Pequot Library’s Special Collection core mission is to collect, preserve, and make accessible:
1. Material that is published in or written about the states that made up the Thirteen Colonies from pre-colonial settlements through 1898. (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia)
2. Subject matter that is related to supporting materials in the circulating collection.
3. Material and subject matter that has moderate to high patron demand or significantly contributes to the integrity of the over-all collection of Pequot Library.
4. Material that enhances other Pequot Library Rare Books Collections, e.g., History of Printing or Children’s Historical Collection.
There are over 36,000 items in the collection covering the area from Georgia to New Hampshire, with a wonderful assortment of literary works by some of early America’s finest authors. There are diaries, material relating to Native Americans, sermons, and Revolutionary War materials of all kinds including journals and first-hand accounts. There are letter and tracts, extremely rare limited editions, shape-note hymnals, important works on the history of printing and the book, and many, many more. Most of this material is exceedingly rare and important.
Pequot Library’s Special Collections
The Library’s Special Collections are comprised of six discrete elements that were a part of the founders’ vision for the Library, and they have been growing ever since. These holdings, unique to Pequot Library, help make it a truly remarkable place. Upon completion of the renovations and the construction of a new Special Collections Center, Pequot will boast a facility capable of housing and preserving the entire collection under one roof, as the founders intended.
1. The Monroe-Wakeman-Holman Collection of Americana.
In the 1890s, when library founders Elbert and Virginia Marquand Monroe and Mary Wakeman, with the help of the Reverend William Holman, began purchasing Americana for Pequot Library, they envisioned a collection of rare books and manuscripts that would distinguish Pequot as a repository for important materials relating to Colonial and Early America. The Monroe-Wakeman-Holman Collection of Americana was divided in 1952, when 1,874 items were loaned to Yale University. What was left behind is, in many ways, just as important and valuable. Upon completion of the Special Collections Center, and if approved by the Library Board at that time, it will be possible for this collection to be returned to Pequot Library, as safe and accessible as they are under the present loan agreement, but "home" in Southport where the donor originally intended them to be.
2. Local History and Genealogy Collection (23,526 volumes)
Town histories, church histories, genealogical material—these are the stuff of local history, indispensable resources for scholars and amateurs alike.
3. Rare Books and Manuscripts (6,326 volumes)
The Pequot Library Special Collections have grown steadily since the Library’s founding, by means of gifts large and small, by occasional purchases by enlightened donors and by the Library itself. These collections include the George Brett, Clare Leighton, and Eric Gill Collections among others, as well as bound newspapers, business account books, books on travel, religion and literature, and works by local authors.
4. The Pequot Library archives. (1,000 items)
In January 2005, the Library undertook the consolidation and processing of the records that document the founding and subsequent history of the institution. It has become an important Special Collection in its own right.
5. Photograph Collections (800 items)
Pequot Library holds a small, but important collection of photographs of local people, places, and events. Much of the collection is available on the Library’s web site, yet the original images are an important part of the Library’s Special Collections.
6. Children’s Historical Collection (2,200 volumes)
The Children’s Historical Collection includes fairy tales, illustrated books (both fiction and non-fiction) and periodicals. Incorporating some of the Library’s earliest purchases, this collection contains first editions by Louisa May Alcott.
These remarkable collections are unique to Pequot Library - gems in a priceless setting – and have grown steadily since the founders’ first gifts. The Monroes and Mrs. Wakeman deliberately chose Southport over a number of other possible venues, in recognition of the sophisticated communities of Southport and the surrounding towns and cities which would use them to full advantage, support them, build upon them, and preserve them for future generations.
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