A writer to the Feb. 21, 1895, issue of the Peterboro Transcript wished that in the paper’s “fair and conciliatory way” it had added to its previous week’s editorial columns “a brief statement of the respective claims of Peterboro and Dublin as regards public libraries,” as this “would have probably ended the dispute.”
“When the claims of these two towns are fairly understood, we fail to see how there can be any controversy over them.”
Based on the correspondence, it appears the dispute centered around Peterboro’s claim to be the first town in the state and the nation to establish a “public library on the basis of taxation,” in 1822, 11 years beforehand, Dublin had established its free library “supported by the voluntary contributions of her citizens.”