Lincoln Public Library to Host Sesquicentennial Celebration and Fundraiser
1902 Club a night to get dressed up more Gershwin, not Gatsby

 

[October 22, 2024] 

The Lincoln Public Library (LPL) is celebrating its sesquicentennial with a special event: The 1902 Club. This celebratory event will feature live music, historic building tours, curated archival collections, desserts, drinks, and a chance to participate in history. It is “a night out to get dressed up, but more Gershwin, not Gatsby,” said LPL library clerk and event organizer, Ashley Ried. The event will be held on site in the library’s historic Carnegie building, which was constructed in 1902. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our history than to stand and sit in history where people from Lincoln have stood and sat for over 100 years. I am really excited about this event!” Ried stated.

Attendees of The 1902 Club will enjoy intervalled “duelling cello” performances from cellists Chet Remmert and Christine Cicha on a purpose-built stage. The evening’s menu of dessert, drinks, and a smattering of savory snacks will be catered by Nick Bay of Lincolnland Catering. The building’s Coatroom will be set up to record attendees’ stories, memories, and experiences of the library for posterity. The goal will be to transcribe these stories and add them to the library’s archives for future generations.

The LPL archives are already “a historian’s treasure trove,” according to Ried, with items such as the original blueprints of the building, a copy of the speech delivered at the opening of the library, and the original collection of books. During The 1902 Club there will be “a curated collection of archival items” on display and available for perusal. Attendees will also get building access typically not open to the public.

They will get peaks into the Librarian’s Room (now the library director’s office) and its vintage private water closet. A special treat will be a tour of the second-floor Director’s Room accessed from the stairs that are usually tantalizingly roped off. The upstairs Director’s Room was the office space for the original LPL librarian and features views of Latham Park out its front, latticed window.

Of special interest are the interior windows in the Director’s Room that open to the stained glass dome that decorates the ceiling of the first floor. Attendees will get to enjoy this unique and rarely seen perspective of the beautiful glass dome.

The event is being organized by a committee of library employees and local library patrons. Ried said this event is “a celebration of the library being here a long time, so we wanted to utilize people who use the library, are passionate about it, and want to see the library succeed.”

The 1902 Club is being held as a celebratory event, but also as a fundraiser. The Carnegie building is in need of a new roof. Ried explains “These old buildings are so expensive to maintain. Our building is on the historic register, which means maintenance is always restoration. For example, we have light fixtures that people sometimes hit their heads on, but they can’t be moved because it’s the original location. The Carnegie building roof is an all-tile roof of original tiles. There is damage to the ceiling from leaks. We are losing plaster on the second floor down to the original jute, which used to be used for insulation.” Library patrons may see the exposed jute on the ceiling of the stairwell to the Director’s Room. “A lot of cities don’t have their original Carnegies because they are so expensive to maintain.”

A public library is a treasure of any community, and an original Neoclassical Carnegie library is a particular treasure. Lincolnites may not realize that not only does the community enjoy use of the original building, but also many original furnishings and fixtures. The gorgeous stained glass dome along with the heavy oak circulation desk and built-ins for magazines and newspapers are some of the more apparent original features.

However, the Scully reading room table, the radiators, one of the corner light fixtures, and many of the stacks are original to the building, meaning they have been in use for 121 years. A careful look at the stacks behind the circulation desk will reveal original decorative steel finials and steel filigree bookends.

The Lincoln Public Library was established in 1874 and resided in several places around the downtown including City Hall before the Carnegie building was built and opened in 1902. Isabel Nash donated the land for the library fulfilling one of the Carnegie grant requirements. Judge Stephen A. Foley added a $5000 donation to the $25,000 Carnegie grant to meet the construction expense of $30,000. Ida M. Webster, librarian from 1894 to 1949, was instrumental in building and organizing the library collection. The foundations laid by these Lincolnites of the past century are still here. The 1902 Club honors and celebrates its history and looks forward to the future. Ried said, “We want to invite people into the library not just for one night, but into the future, too. It’s a fundraiser that we want to go well, but in the end we just want to celebrate! We want to look at what is, what was, and what will be.”

The 1902 Club celebration and fundraising event will be held on Saturday, November 2 at 7 p.m. in the LPL Carnegie building. Tickets are $45 and available for purchase at the LPL or by phone at [phone]. Space in the Carnegie building is limited, so advance ticket purchase is recommended.

[Stephanie Hall]