Peterborough Town Library celebrated its 190th birthday on Monday.
The library’s history began at Town Meeting on April 9, 1833. The citizens of Peterborough voted to use funds received from the New Hampshire state education fund to set up and create a library to be owned by the people and available to all. According to the anniversary announcement from the library, at the time, it was an obvious progression of the many libraries that existed in the town during the early 19th century, including a ministerial library, Sunday school libraries, factory libraries and a private library with paid dues.
Peterborough’s was the first tax-supported free public library in the United States. Most recently, the library underwent a renovation, and in 2021 reopened a new building, as well as the completely restored historic portion of the building.
“It has been a fabulous year in our new building. We were excited to see both library membership and circulation of our print collection increase by 13 percent in 2022. A few of the biggest improvements to our public library over the 190 years are the accessibility of the collection, the focus on youth literacy, and most recently, the addition of our five meeting rooms. The rooms are in constant use and we truly have become a haven for people who work from home,” stated Library Director Corinne Chronopoulos.
To celebrate this milestone birthday, the library is giving out limited edition library stickers and buttons during April. The library also just debuted a new library card design for new patrons. The first patron to sign up on the library birthday was MacDowell Fellow Alison Kobayashi. The library extends membership to all visiting fellows and artists at both MacDowell and Peterborough Players.
To learn more about how to support the Peterborough Town Library or about library programs, visit peterboroughtownlibrary.org, send email to library@peterboroughnh.gov or call 603-924-8040 for more information.