Over Memorial Day weekend, we celebrated the 90th Birthday of the Macksville City Library. Alumni and community members were invited to visit our growing space, look at old yearbooks, and peruse memorabilia from Macksville’s history and our 90 years of service. We also had a special author talk by Cheryl Unruh, MHS graduate, Class of 1977.
Forty-five people passed through the library doors, from first graders to a MHS Physical Education teacher from the 1970s. Many left messages on our “Birthday Cake” poster, such as this wish: “May you have another 90 years of lighting up minds.” Lana Maskus (Satterlee) Class of 70.
Thanks to a $500 New Program grant from the South Central Kansas Library System, we were able to create special commemorative pens and library cards for the occasion. These will still be available for all who visit the library.
One wall display highlighted the librarians who have led the library throughout the years. They organized books in the old cafeteria of the former high school, sorted them on dimly lit shelves when the library was housed in the old City Office by the park, and finally, displayed them in the current building – the original structure brought to town in 1958, after serving as a one-room schoolhouse and church out in the country. One attendee remembered carrying stacks of books in wagons and by hand when the library was moved to this Main Street location.
Looking through the yellowed board minutes from 1935, we learned that Macksville’s first City Librarian, Doris Preston Tucker, was paid $8 a month when she took the job, not long out of high school. Adults were charged 5 cents for library cards as a way to raise money for books, and children received cards for free. Donations, tag sales, plays, and silver teas were key sources of funding in the beginning. So much interesting history! And, even more can be found on our website, where we have digitized the Macksville Centennial Book and made it searchable.
And, strolling down memory lane, we were so excited to bring Cheryl Unruh back to the library! She was first here in 2011, after the publication of her book, “Flyover People.” This time, she shared with us her new books, including the lyrical, “Gravedigger’s Daughter.” Cheryl grew up in Pawnee Rock, and, as it says in her bio: “There, she developed a fierce love of the open land and the Kansas sky. Much of her writing is about Kansas, about a sense of place.” Cheryl is the editor of the 105 Meadowlark Reader, a Kansas journal of creative nonfiction, and she encouraged each of us to consider submitting a true story for publication.
She read selections from her books, giving us glimpses of life in Kansas, snapshots in time. From memories of the Greensburg tornado, to Memorial Day and family vacations, to simpler times with bottlecaps and knots in red rope licorice, the images painted tangible pictures for the audience. Be sure to check out her books at our library and elsewhere!
Next on the agenda for the Macksville City Library? Summer Reading. Sign up now (all ages), and join us Mondays from 3-4 pm. June 2nd we are having a Tie-Dye Book-Bag Kick-Off party. June 9th will feature Share a Story with Smoky Hills Public Television.
More information can be found on the calendar of events at Macksvillelibrary.com.
