Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: Spring 2005 Volume 42 Number 2, Page 48

BOOK REVIEWS

Page 48

Easttown Library & Information Center Centennial 1905-2005

Neil Margolis, comp. and Peggy Mahan, ed. History of the Easttown Library & Information Center, Centennial, 1905-2005. Devon, PA: Anro, Inc., 2004. 25 page pamphlet + 1 CD-ROM in pocket in back. $5.00.

This is a combination package. The 25-page pamphlet includes an 8-page historical summary, 10 images, and additional pages of supplemental material. Neil Margolis is the Secretary of the Library Board of Trustees and Peggy Mahan is the Library Director.

The CD-ROM was compiled by Becky Sheridan, Youth Services Librarian, and consists of 60 power point searchable slides in read-only format. Eleven of them are photographs and the rest are copies of minutes, histories, and fundraising letters and ephemera. The originals of these digital images belong to the library and are available by appointment for in-library consultation.

The library has had many different locations, each necessitated by growing numbers of users and increasing collections. The first location was the Berwyn Reading Room above the bakery on Lancaster Avenue. It was established in October 1905 with a $500 budget and 50 books on loan from the Philadelphia Public Library. By 1910 their name was the Berwyn Library and until 1913 they were located in the Yerkes Building. Between 1913 and 1942 the Berwyn Public Library was in the Berwyn Primary School and the Berwyn Grammar School. From 1942 to 1959 it was in the Aiken Building on Lancaster Avenue in Berwyn.

When they moved into the Easttown Township Building on Midland Avenue in Berwyn their name was the Easttown Public Library. They were at this location from 1959 to 1979. Between 1979 and 2002 they rented the former cafeteria and kindergarten wing of the old Berwyn Elementary School on First Avenue. They took up temporary quarters in the old Bronze Building in Berwyn near Lancaster Avenue from December 2001 until January 2003 while the former location was demolished and the new library was constructed on the same site. The Easttown Library & Information Center opened on February 21, 2003.

Photographs of all these locations will be found either in the pamphlet or on the CD.

Kennett Square: Images and History

Joseph A. Lordi and Dolores I. Rowe. Greetings from Kennett Square: A Sesquicentennial Tribute, 1855-2005. Kennett Square, PA: The Cartolina Press, 2004. 228+ pages. $47.50. (landscape style layout: 9½ x 11¼).

Lordi, Director of the Bayard Taylor Memorial Library in Kennett Square, and Rowe, an antique dealer specializing in pre-1920 postcards, have compiled a large, fascinating book, in color, of images of several hundred postcards as well as business and trade cards, commemorative ribbons, medals, and pins, advertising items, and other types of local ephemera.

The images are accompanied by substantial captions and large blocks of text giving much of the history of the Kennett Square area.

Information, not easily found elsewhere, about 9 different local photographers and local publishers of postcards is included along with a brief history of the postcard.

The images in the book are grouped into 7 sections: Kennett Square businesses, transportation, cultural and educational institutions, religious institutions, neighborhoods, outskirts, and sports and recreation. Among the many views one can find early hotels, trolleys, Longwood Gardens, and baseball cards.