MONTGOMERY COUNTY ARCHIVES

Guide to the Records of

BETHESDA PUBLIC LIBRARY

1927-1997

Record Group 11: Public Libraries

March 19, 2004

 

Montgomery County Archives
The Red Brick Courthouse
29 Courthouse Square
Room G-09
Rockville, Maryland 20850
(301) 279-1218

 

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

The Newcomb Club sponsored a traveling library, starting in 1925. This library started with fifty books sent by the Maryland Public Library Advisory Commission, with offices in Baltimore. The books were based in Mr. George G. Bradley's hardware store (later known as Community Hardware) on Wisconsin Avenue. Any resident of Bethesda could borrow books -- the only charge was for postage.

In 1931 the Newcomb Club of Bethesda organized the Newcomb-Bethesda Public Library with a collection of 600 books. The idea for a library originated within the club, according to original club records made available by Mrs. Henrietta Hunter, current club president. Newcomb Club members would purchase new books and, after reading them, the books were circulated among other club members. The new library was opened December 8, 1931. The collection was housed in the old Bank Building on Wisconsin Avenue and Edgemoor Lane and rented by the Newcomb Club for $30 a month. The site was later used by Peoples Drug and is now home to the Bethesda Metro Center.

As the library grew, it moved across the street to the basement of the Masonic Building behind the Bank of Bethesda. Newcomb Club volunteers staffed and raised funds for its operation.

As the library grew, it moved to the Masonic Temple Building on Wisconsin Avenue and then to the building adjacent to the Bank of Bethesda. The library was staffed and run by Newcomb Club volunteers. The collection soon increased to 6,000 valuable books. The Masons allowed free use of the building through the summer. The library was in operation on Monday and Friday for two hours each day.

In 1935 it became apparent that the library needed public funds to support it. Until this time all of the operating expenses of the library had been raised or donated by Newcomb Club members. In 1935, in the depths of the depression, there was only a small amount of public funds provided by the Maryland General Assembly. The library had difficulty meeting expenses and decided to assess a charge of $3 a family. Library membership dropped from 2032 to 51 and in January 1936, the library had to close. Some books were given to Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Leland Jr. High School, and the Somerset & Bethesda Elementary Schools. Several boxes of books were sent to Montgomery County Hospital. The balance of the books were sold.

For the next four years Bethesda had no public library, but in 1939 a Bethesda Public Library Association was formed and obtained authority from the Maryland state legislature to levy a four cents per hundred dollar property tax on residents of the Bethesda fire tax district.

Members of the Newcomb Club worked with the Board of Trustees & Advisory Council for the new Bethesda Library which was opened in February 1940, with 3,000 books, in the basement of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. An author's tea given by the library that November honored 29 authors living in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area. As the library grew, a search for a new building began and land was purchased on Moorland Lane near Arlington Road in 1950. In 1952 the Montgomery County Library system was established.

County assurances to maintain and enhance the library made it possible for the Bethesda library to join the county system in early 1952, turning over its books and its $62,000 treasury to help pay for the new building which opened in November 1952.

As Bethesda continued to grow, the Moorland Lane building proved inadequate -- the parking lot had only 19 spaces. In 1976 the present building was opened; it was renovated in 1992 and again in 2003. In fiscal year 1993, the library circulated 628,000 items and answered 230,000 questions. Electronic resources provide financial, scientific, educational & academic data bases used by all segments of the community.


PROCESSING PROCEDURES

General processing procedures consisted of discarding duplicates, unnecessary binders, and routine transmittals. Oversized documents and photographs were removed from the original location in their assigned series and placed in separate containers. Separation sheets were inserted in the original location within the folder to indicate the new location of any records placed elsewhere.

Preservation copying of newspaper clippings was performed whenever feasible. Records in folders were arranged, unless otherwise indicated, in forward chronological order, with undated records appearing at the end of the folder.


PROVENANCE

The records were transferred to the Archives from the Bethesda Public Library in 2001.


SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The records of the Bethesda Public Library comprise 1.33 cubic feet of correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, surveys, reports, statements, circulation records, memorabilia, photographs, and newspaper clippings from 1927 to 1997. It also includes a paper by John Baker, titled "The Development of a County-wide Library System in Montgomery County, Maryland" and a dissertation by Margaret Blinkhorn, "A History of the Bethesda, Maryland Public Library." The collection documents the Bethesda library from its early roots, sponsored by the Newcomb Club, through several moves and renovations up to 1997.

The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject and then chronologically by date within each subject.



PROCESSING NOTE


Binders of Montgomery County Council Resolution copies, originally used in library reference were discarded. Listed below are the inclusive dates. All photographs were removed to audiovisual and the newspaper scrapbook was removed to oversize items. Duplicate photographs were discarded. Photographs were removed from albums and albums discarded.

Removed and discarded from original donation

Montgomery County Council Resolutions

        Dec 1987 - Mar 1988
        Mar 1988 - Jul 1988
        Jul 1988 - Dec 1988
        Dec 1988 - Feb 1989
        Mar 1989 - May 1989
        May 1989 - Oct 1989
        Oct 1989 - Feb 1990
        Feb 1990 - May 1990
        May 1990 - Oct 1990
        May 1991 - Jun 1991
        Oct 1991 - May 1992
        May 1991 - Nov 1991
        May 1992 - Dec 1992
        Jan 1993 - May 1993
        Jun 1993 - Sep 1993
        Oct 1993 - Feb 1994
        Mar 1994 - May 1994   
        May 1994 - Jul 1994
        Sep 1994 - Dec 1994
        Jan 1995 - May 1995
        May 1995 - Oct 1995


BOX INVENTORY

Box 1

Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes, 1947-1949

Advisory Committee Memorandums, 1949

Advisory Committee Statements, 1965-1977

Advisory Council Correspondence, 1947-1949

Annual Reports, 1947-1949

Annual Reports Book Stock, 1963-1980

Annual Reports of the Librarian, 1945-1965

Association By-laws, 1945

Board of Trustees Minutes Book, Part 1, November 1938 - April 1940

Board of Trustees Minutes Book, Part 2, May 1940 - April 1947

Board of Trustees Minutes Book, Part 3, May 1947 - December 1951

Board of Trustees Minutes Book, Part 4, January 1952 - May 1963

Business Advisory Committee, 1986-1988

Committee on Library Building Fund Drive, 1947-1949

County Circulation Records, 1985

County Circulation Records, 1986

County Circulation Records, 1987

County Circulation Records, 1988

County Circulation Records, 1989

County Circulation Records, 1990

County Circulation Records, 1991

County Circulation Records, 1992

County Circulation Records, 1993

County Circulation Records, 1994

County Circulation Records, 1995, January 1996, December 1997

Delegate Advisory Council, 1948

Fenstermaker Files/Archives, 1974-1977

John Baker Paper, August 1976

Margaret Blinkhorn Thesis, May 1963

Monthly Library Reports, 1989

Monthly Library Reports, 1990

Monthly Library Reports, 1991


Box 2

Monthly Library Reports, 1992

Monthly Library Reports, 1993-1994

Monthly Library Reports, 1995

Monthly Library Reports, 1996-1997

New Library Building Land Use/Acquisition, 1956-1973

Newspaper Clippings, 1940-1971

Newspaper Clippings, 1947-1965

Newspaper Clippings, 1948-1961

Newspaper Clippings, 1948-1962

Newspaper Clippings, 1950-1951

Newspaper Clippings, 1950-1963

Newspaper Clippings, 1952,1961

Newspaper Clippings, 1952-1963

Newspaper Clippings, 8 June 1954

Newspaper Clippings, 1973-1976

Newspaper Clippings & Memorabilia, 1927-1976

Newspaper Clippings & Memorabilia, 1931-1976

Newspaper Scrapbook, 1938-1947

Photograph Collection, n.d.

Photograph Collection, 1974

Photograph Collection, 1975

Photograph Collection, 1976

Photograph Collection, 1992

Photograph Collection, August 1992

Photograph Collection, 1992 or 1993

Photograph Collection, 1992 or 1993

Photograph Collection, 1993

Problems of Expansion Program, 5/18/1947



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