“As part of our 125th anniversary observance, the Shelter Island Public Library Society has digitized the handwritten minutes of its trustees and incorporators for the period from its founding in November, 1885, through 1966. The original copies are now in the environmentally-controlled vault at the Shelter Island Historical Society’s Havens House.
Here on our web site, our patrons, contributors, and interested researchers can now browse through those handwritten minutes at their leisure. They are a window into our Island culture’s past: the disciplined and graceful handwriting; the social courtesies attending formal meetings; the mechanics of operating and financing an important community service; and countless fascinating details of Shelter Island’s history of voluntarism and the roles of its distinguished families in the library’s long-standing success.
The handwritten minutes, in seven volumes, have also been transcribed for improved legibility. Volume for volume, the transcripts are also posted here. We invite everyone to spend some time with the library’s history through these newly prepared documents. The remaining 44 years of typewritten minutes are being prepared to add to this online exhibit in coming months.”
Original Handwritten Scans
1885 – 1911
1911 – 1922
1922 – 1947
1948 – 1951
1952
1952 – 1953
1953 – 1956
Transcripts
1885 – 1911
1911 – 1922
1922 – 1947
1948 – 1951
1952
1952 – 1953
1953 – 1956
