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Dorcas Library at 70
Gouldsboro’s Dorcas
Library has never been more useful to the community—and that claim
can go back a healthy 70 years when the library first formed.
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Dorcas Library |
Last month, the
library’s board of directors held an open house in honor of its
70-year presence in
Prospect
Harbor.
More than 60 friends and community members turned out to share
memories.
The Dorcas Library
officially organized in 1984, but the original library had been
formed by the Dorcas Society of Prospect Harbor in 1932.
That’s the year
that the Christian, service-oriented women’s group had the building
constructed.
The original
library was made up of two rooms, one for reading and the other for
quilting. That a large table, appropriate for quilting, remains in
the library’s primary room, is a reminder of the library’s modest
beginnings.
The Dorcas Library
takes its name from the Dorcas Society, which itself takes its name
from the Bible, from Acts 9: verse 36. Dorcas was “one who does good
by helping others.”
Along the way, the
children’s room was built by the generosity of Louise Paine, a local
resident. In 1978, Mary Chase donated money for the addition of a
larger, new room. Also, in 1980, Chase was the one who started an
annual appeal to “friends of the library,” a group still active
today.
By 1984, the
remaining three elderly members of the Dorcas Society agreed to
merge with the library folks—providing that some of the society’s
“good works” would continue. The new group officially incorporated
as a non-profit organization, the Dorcas Library Association.
Today, as always,
all the library operations are purely the work of volunteers. It is
a year-round operation, open 11 hours per week from September
through June, and 13 hours weekly during July and August.
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