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A
Virtual Tour of
the Library's |
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Memorial Hall (Circulation Hall) |
 On the wall are seven tablets of Numidian, sometimes called Nubian
marble. The onyx marble is found in Africa and generally contains embedded
fossils. Six of the tablets bear the names, places, and causes of death of
the Manchester men who died in the War of the Rebellion. These tablets
were provided at the expense of the Town.
On the opposite wall of the hall, there is a window made of stained glass and Mexican onyx. It is no longer functional because of the Children's Room addition. The window was designed by Charles McKim and executed by Maitland Armstrong and Louis C. Tiffany & Co. of New York. It was a gift to Mr. Coolidge by the town and Mr. McKim. It is inscribed with the dedication, "In grateful acknowledgement of the munificence and public spirit of T. Jefferson Coolidge - his fellow Townsmen have set the window, MDCCCLXXXVI" (1886). Mrs. T. J. Coolidge Jr. donated the Sevres vase directly next to the window
on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Library's dedication. It
had been a gift to the elder Coolidge by the French government in recognition of
his service as minister to France.
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The Reading Room (from the entrance to your left) |
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The first thing that takes one's eye in the Reading Room is the large statue "Sleeping Faun." It is the work of noted American sculptress, Harriet Hosmer, 1830-1908. The work is one of a set of eight sculpted at Hosmer's atelier in Rome, one which was owned by the Prince of Wales, who became Edward VII. A smaller version from the set is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. T. Jefferson Coolidge purchased this statue while traveling in Italy in the late 1860's. The Coolidge family donated it to the Library in 1922. The style adopted by Hosmer for this fine work was "late Hellenistic rococo." That style was very much admired in Victorian times, but according to one modern critic, "...partakes of the same precious, fussy sensuality" characteristic of late Graeco-Roman art. There are several original works of art in the Reading Room. Hanging over the fireplace is a watercolor of the Library in winter by Manchester's Tom Baker.
Above the fireplace alcove is a large oil painting representing Romeo and Juliet before Friar Lawrence. It is the work of Karl Ludwig Friedrich Becker (1820-1900), a painter in oils who generally took his subjects from mythology and literature, to include scenes from Shakespeare. The painting had been in the home of Ira Nelson Morris on Eagle Head. Mrs. Morris donated it to the Library in 1951.
On the right facing Memorial Hall is a painting of a view of the Town center
in 1843 as seen from the junction of High (Washington) and Union Streets,
executed by Manchester native A. C. Needham, whose descendants still live in
Manchester.
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Reference Room (from the entrance to your right) |
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The large painting above the young adult books is a view of Manchester from Powder House Hill by Joshua Sheldon. It was painted in 1888 when Sheldon was 80 years old and blind in one eye. He first offered it to the Town, which refused his offer. Edwin P. Stanley, past Commander of Post 67 asked that the painting be donated to the Post and Sheldon's brother did so in 1892. Stanley paid for the frame. The Manchester Cricket, dated August 3, 1889, has a somewhat different story. Stanley had commissioned the painting and when the Town declined to come up with the money, wanted to raise a subscription to pay for it. At any rate, the painting finally came to the Town as a gift of the Women's Auxiliary after 1930.
On the west wall of the Reference Room hangs a full length portrait of T. Jefferson Coolidge, painted by Massachusetts artist Edmund C. Tarbell (1862-1938). It was given to the Library through the good offices of the Coolidge family in 1951. Above the reference books sits two of three marble statues donated to the Library by Mrs. William Hooper in 1943. First is Narcissus and next is Psyche. For some reason the third was relegated to the crawl space next to the furnace room, where it rested until 2008 when the Trustees resurrected it.
Toward the northwest corner of the room hangs an original sketch of the Library by McKim, probably executed during the design phase of the building. Coming clockwise around the room, one finds that an original fireplace is now covered with bookcases. Where the clock hangs there once hung a large stuffed buffalo's head, given to the Library in 1943. It has long since disappeared. At the end of this bookcase is a picture of the "Town House" which originally held the Library on School Street.
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Reference Room
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| On the south wall is a painting by Maria Liszt of a young girl. The painting is a copy of a portion of John Singer Sargent's The Daughters of Edward Boit, which hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Butler donated the painting in memory of their daughter, Marilyn Adams Butler. |
Director's Office |
| The watercolor rendition of a proposed Children's Room addition is the work of James H. Ballou, A.I.A. of Salem. the picture is dated 1963. |
Closing |
| This brings us to the end of our tour of the works of art that
contribute the unique charm to the Town's valued resource, its
Library. (Tour adopted from the work and research of Carl Triebs, May 2002, by Jolene Larsen, Library Director.)
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The banjo clock, on the left as you face the fireplace, was a gift
of Mrs. Roland C. Lincoln in 1913. Opposite it, in the fireplace alcove is
a barometer that was given to the Library in 1963 to honor Catherine Neary, a
beloved teacher in the Manchester schools. 
To the right of the fireplace, over the periodical case, is a pencil sketch of the Library by
Manchester artist Tom Cooke.
Fragments of a Renaissance oak carving are incorporated into the beautiful
wooden screen leading to the stack area. Mr. McKim, it is believed,
brought these from Brittany. The center inscription can be paraphrased
"Choose well, Your choice is brief and endless," comes from
Goethe. On the left the Latin can be translated "to love a living
wife is a pleasure, to love a dead one a sacred obligation." On the
right the inscription is attributed to Wardsworth, "There is not a
breathing of the common wind that will forget thee." It has been
suggested that Mr. McKim was referring to his wife Julia who passed away in
January of 1887.
