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Smithers Public Library
- Date Range
- 1954-2018
- Collection
- Smithers Public Library fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual record
- graphic material
- Scope and Content
- Fonds includes the meeting minutes of the Library Board from 1954 to 1979, various textual records from the early 2000s, and ephemera from Library events or events in which the Library was a participant.
- Collection
- Smithers Public Library fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual record
- graphic material
- Fonds No.
- GF6
- Accession No.
- 2017.35
- 2019.11
- 2020.36
- 2021.12
- Physical Description
- 3 cm of textual records; 2 posters.
- Date Range
- 1954-2018
- History / Biographical
- Prior to the construction of a library building in Smithers, locals were able to borrow reading material from several small reading rooms. One such room was run by the Presbyterian Church out of the second floor of Mason Adams Drug Store. Another was located in Kennedy’s Billiards Room on Main Street, and yet another operated out of the Interior News building. In these early years, Mrs. Kathleen Casler was chairman of the Smithers Public Library Board and was an advocate for finding a permanent home for the small collection of books in the library’s possession. By 1954, Casler had persuaded Smithers Town Council to convert an unused room in the municipal hall on Fourth Avenue into a library. The space was small, unheated, and lacked appropriate shelving, but it generated much excitement in the community. Ruth Mould worked in the library as an unpaid volunteer under librarian Marge Beley. By 1961, Mould was the head librarian and the library was serving 2,700 people. In 1967, the Smithers Centennial Library was built on Alfred Avenue with a grant received from the federal government in recognition of Canada’s 100th birthday. Mould continued to guide the development of the library until her retirement in 1974, including the construction of an addition in 1971. Today, the library remains at its location on Alfred Avenue and continues to serve the Smithers community. Wendy Wright became Library Director in 2014.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds includes the meeting minutes of the Library Board from 1954 to 1979, various textual records from the early 2000s, and ephemera from Library events or events in which the Library was a participant.
- Arrangement
- Fonds has been arranged into two series: Library Board and Event Ephemera.
- Geographic Access
- Smithers, B.C.
- Type of Record
- Archival Description
Less detail