[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 207 (Tuesday, December 19, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S8148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          300TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE LIBRARY

 Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, New Hampshire takes pride in 
its many firsts among the States, including our first in the Nation 
Presidential primary. This year, Granite Staters have been celebrating 
the 300th anniversary of the New Hampshire State Library, the first 
State library in America. It all began in Portsmouth on January 25, 
1717, when the 27th General Assembly directed ``ye Law books be 
distributed among ye severall towns of this Province in proportion 
according to their last Prov. tax, except two books which shall be for 
ye use of ye Govr & Councile and house of representatives.'' Three 
centuries later, the original books are surrounded by a modern 
collection of more than 600,000 items, housed across from the State 
house in Concord. The State Library is one of our most handsome public 
buildings, built in 1896 of New Hampshire granite, American steel, and 
Italian marble.
  We Granite Staters love our libraries, and we have led the Nation in 
making books available to all citizens. As State librarian Michael York 
told New Hampshire Public Radio: ``We often use the term `anchor 
institutions.' There are 234 communities in New Hampshire and there are 
234 public libraries. Nobody else can make that claim. Not McDonald's, 
not 7-11, not Dunkin' Donuts.''
  In 1833, Peterborough established the first tax-supported public 
library in the world, a central collection of books owned by the people 
and free to all residents of the town. In the early 1800s, so-called 
social or parlor libraries sprang up across our State--places where 
dues-paying members came together to share books. A century later, 
wealthy philanthropists built free public libraries all across our 
State, including nine impressive Carnegie libraries. Phillips Exeter 
Academy, a private school in Exeter, NH, is home to the largest 
secondary school library in the world. Today every city and town in New 
Hampshire has a public library, and a key mission of the State library 
is to provide professional development for local librarians to keep 
them abreast of the latest developments in library science and 
technologies.
  The State library serves as a centralized location for State and 
government documents, and its collection specializes in New Hampshire 
newspapers, authors, and books on New Hampshire history and culture. It 
includes an archive of Granite State political history, including 
posters, buttons, and bumper stickers from New Hampshire Presidential 
primaries dating back to 1952. One of its most prized possessions is a 
20-foot, floor-to-ceiling ``Hitchcock map'' of New Hampshire, with the 
State's mountains, valleys, and lakes carved in relief by Dartmouth 
College--students in 1877.
  During my years as Governor, I had the daily pleasure of looking out 
on our beautiful State library from my office windows in the State 
capitol. Both the building and its collection are among our State's 
most prized cultural treasures. I am grateful to State librarian 
Michael York and his professional staff for their dedicated service to 
our State and for their loving stewardship of this special building. I 
join with people across the Granite State in celebrating the first 300 
years of America's first State library.

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