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The Barney Library
The Barney Memorial Library:
Its Origins Over Two Centuries,
by Jean Johnson
Part I
The Barney Library. Photo by Brooke Martin.
Like the churches and houses in Farmington village whose stories reach
back centuries, the Barney Library’s history claims many origins, encompassing
myriad efforts of dedicated citizens. Since books in the Colonial times were
expensive and not readily available outside of cities, only wealthy readers
could afford a collection of varied and up-to-date books.
Samuel Gridley, a blacksmith and shopkeeper who died in 1712, was one early
example. His ample estate included a large collection of books, which Julius Gay
(Farmington’s 19th- and early-20th-century historian) called “good Sunday
reading.” Beyond directly religious books, Gridley’s library included the
following titles: Kometoppaiia … an Historical Account of all the Comets which
have appeared from the Beginning of the World unto … 1683; Zion in Distress, or
the Groans of the Protestant Church; The Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton
Mather’s book on witchcraft in Salem; and Robert Calef’s More Wonders of the
Invisible World, which was ordered burned by the president of Harvard College.
Also, the collection contained several pieces of books. So valuable were books
that even pieces were saved.
The solution for the growing number of educated Colonial readers in Farmington
was to set up a group library, funded by shares of subscriptions. Small efforts,
which left no records, were halted by the Revolutionary War.
During and soon after the war, new experiences and contacts generated interest
in the world beyond the Colonial town—soldiers’ travels, newspaper reports, and
foreign fighters, particularly the two visits of Rochambeau’s French forces and
their social events. Farmingtonites wanted to read about other worlds. The rapid
building of turnpikes and stagecoach lines eased travel to and from cities. Town
merchants quickly expanded their overseas trade to the West Indies and South
America, and eventually to China.
Soon after the war, in August 1785, six young men organized a brief subscription
library. No records remain, but some books were passed onto the new 1795 library
of the First Society of Farmington. It comprised 37 members who contributed 380
volumes worth $664, in addition to the leather-bound books from the earlier
group. Most were religious and moral volumes, but Gulliver’s Travels, Henry
Fielding’s Tom Jones, several French novels and Don Quixote enlivened the
fiction section, while The Iliad and Goldsmith’s Poems broadened the poetry
shelf.
The Revolution had inspired patriotism and curiosity about history, biography
and travel, largely about Europe. Yet surprisingly, “Hindostan” histories and
“Mohomet” biographies were included, giving variety to the books about Oliver
Cromwell and Benjamin Franklin, as did the story of General Israel Putnam,
Connecticut’s own hero in the Revolutionary War. Capt. James Cook’s Voyages
Around the World and Carsten Niebuhr’s Travels in Arabia also added exotic
knowledge to the common European tour books.
Despite the few unusual titles, however, the religious and moral tomes
dominated. Julius Gay’s research revealed that Farmingtonites of that day really
enjoyed incorporating their beliefs and their readings into their daily lives.
Gay wrote that “all classes alike discussed the subtle distinctions of their
theology with an excitement and too often with a bitterness unknown even to the
modern politicians. They held stormy debates on these high themes by the
wayside, at the country store, and over their ... New England rum at the
tavern.”
Bookplate of the 1795 library, from Farmington, Connecticut:
The Village of Beautiful Homes, 1906.
Yet Gay saw signs of change to come: more sophisticated tastes, greater interest
in the larger world, and the books that could provide such knowledge. The 1795
First Society Library was popular. Drawings for books were held on the first
Sunday of the month at the librarian’s Main Street home, where the books were
stored. The librarian was Deacon Porter, who was also the village tailor.
As Gay reported: “When all were assembled and had accounted for the books
charged them, the new books or any old ones desired by two persons, were put up
at auction, and the right to the next month’s reading was struck off for a few
pennies, adding on the average $2.50 to the annual income of the company.” Fines
were levied before the auctions, for overdue or damaged books, even for a page
corner turned down.
On January 1, 1801, the library’s name was changed to the Monthly Library in
Farmington. It lasted until 1814, but a few weeks later it reopened as the
Phoenix Library in the kitchen of Deacon Porter’s new home.
Bookplate of 1801 version of 1795 library,
from The Village of Beautiful Homes.
During the same period, another library, called the Village Library, was formed.
A group of young men met on Saturdays under the church horse sheds (built for
those who traveled some distance to services). Each boy contributed 10 cents.
Their first purchase was The World Displayed, two of a twenty-volume set. Soon
they added Robinson Crusoe. Capt. Selah Porter was the librarian. Their
bookplate bore a motto underneath an etching of a proper young lady reading at
home. Below the etching were the lines: “Beauties in vain their pretty eyes
roll: Charms strike the senses, but merit wins the soul.” (Julius Gay in his
history added, “Thus early did the Village Library recognize the value of female
education.”)
Bookplate of the Village Library formed ca. 1817,
from The Village of Beautiful Homes.
In March 1826, the Village Library merged with the Phoenix, (the original 1795
First Society Library and later the Monthly Library). Selah Porter replaced
Deacon Elijah Porter, the longtime librarian of the 1795/Phoenix libraries.
In 1835, 12-year Farmington Academy principal Simeon Hart took over, but only
for a month since he had organized a boys’ school in his home. His resignation
meant that again all the library’s books had to be moved.
Portrait of Julius Gay, by Norma Wright Sloper.
Courtesy of the Farmington Library.
In February 1839 the Village Library/Phoenix became the Farmington Library
Company and moved to the old Academy building with William Porter as librarian.
In his 1890 address at the opening of the later Village Library, Julius Gay
vividly described a meeting of the then Farmington Library Company at the old
Academy after the move there in 1839:
“The meetings were held on the first Sunday evening of the month immediately
after the monthly concert. To this missionary meeting came the patrons of the
library from the Eastern Farms, from White Oak, and from most of the districts
of the town, each with his four books tied up not unusually in a red bandanna
handkerchief. Here we waited, more or less patiently, the men on the right hand
and the women on the left, while Deacon Hart gave us a summary of missionary
intelligence for the month, and the Rev. William S. Porter elucidated his views
of family government and the divine promises to faithful parents.
“Then, when Dr. Porter had expounded some suitable portion of the Scriptures and
invoked the blessing of God upon us and on all dwellers in heathen lands, when
the choir in the northeast corner of the hall had concluded our devotions with
the Missionary Hymn, a large part of the meeting repaired to the library room
below. Here were the books, a thousand or more, some in cases, some on benches,
some on a big table, some in rows, some in piles,—but all scattered without
regard to character or size or numbering in a confusion that would have
astounded the orderly soul of Deacon Elijah Porter. The books purchased during
the last month were announced, and the first reading of each was determined by a
spirited auction at which every book was described as a ‘very interesting work.’
“Then after tumbling over the book piles with varying success, and with the
excitement unknown in more orderly collections, of possibly unearthing some
unexpected treasure, each had his four books charged, and departed to enjoy the
spoils of his search.”
The nomadic town library once again was fated to move. In 1851, the
Congregational Church’s Ecclesiastical Society discovered that the Farmington
Academy’s open space, created since the school classes had left, was far too
popular with programs deemed unsuitable to the church owners: circus-like
performances, political orators (abolitionists) who caused riots, mesmerists,
“uncouth magic lantern shows,” and war dances by “imitation Indians.” The
Ecclesiastical Society bought out its two other partners, assuming sole
ownership of the building and also forcing out the library. The books were moved
to the office of Simeon Hart, who was appointed librarian again. He died soon
after, and the again homeless library was moved to the stone store across Main
Street.
Luckily, two years later in 1855, the town shared its space in the new record
building—the town clerk’s office. This arrangement lasted for 35 years. A
stipulation was added: that any responsible citizen could borrow books from the
library “upon paying a reasonable compensation,” thus eliminating yearly
subscriptions or buying of shares.
The Records Office that housed the Farmington Library Co.
from 1855 to 1890; The Village of Beautiful Homes.
The town clerk, Chauncey D. Cowles, was the first librarian, succeeded by Dr.
James Cumming, the principal of the Middle District School. In his tenure, the
Farmington Library Company became prosperous and well organized. The most
valuable, suitable library books were bought then. Starting in January 1860,
Julius Gay, the historian quoted here, served as librarian for eight years.
By 1890, the library once again accepted Farmington’s hospitality for a section
in its newly built Town Hall of that century. Gay closed his address with this
wish: “And now, after its wanderings from one temporary resting place to
another, it has found an honorable and fitting place of abode. May it with many
additions and ... generous care continue for another century to bless this
village.” In one way his wish came true, though he could not foresee the
extraordinary people and future gifts that transformed the Farmington Library
Company into the Sarah Brandegee Barney Library of today (the subject of Part
II of this article).
Danford Newton Barney was 31 years old and a prominent business leader when the
1890 Town Hall was built. His mother Sarah Brandegee Barney was still alive, and
her sister, Julia Brandegee, had run a successful rival library since 1882. Both
will appear in Part II.
Continue to
The Barney Memorial Library, Part II
The Farmington Historical Society, P.O. Box 1645, Farmington, CT 06034
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