There are moments in a research librarian’s life that are exceedingly rewarding. Helping someone find a long-lost relative. Locating a tidbit of lost history. Finding the perfect book for a reader. Even entering a building that holds over one hundred and sixty years of memories can be inspiring. Most of the time I love what I do for a living.

Even in a beautiful, historic building like Biddeford’s McArthur Library, it is the people, the amazing staff, that bring a library to life and give it vitality. They are the heart and future of the organization by sharing stories with young visitors, bringing books to all ages and by unearthing fragments of history long forgotten.

My colleague Rose Dionne, the library’s (newish) archivist, recently found a document explaining the name of our beautiful reading room, the Stevens Room. I’ve always known the name of the room and that it was named for Elizabeth Stevens, but I knew little else. Rose found a write up entitled “Elizabeth Stevens, For Whom This, Reading Room, Is Named.”

The reading room is majestic, with towering4 0 foot high ceilings. It housed the sanctuary of the Pavilion Church from 1863 until around 1900 when the building was put up for sale. Our benefactor, Robert McArthur secured the funding to purchase the property to establish the city’s public library, but the room is still largely as it once was, with the remnants of an altar at one end of the room and the choir loft at the other end.

McArthur, a mill man himself, heard of a bequest by Elizabeth Stevens who had worked as a web-drawer in the Laconia Mills. She passed away in 1881 of tuberculosis at the age of 41. The astounding thing is, that she left behind $4,500, $3,500 in United States bonds earmarked for a reading room for the City of Biddeford. Although that amount now sounds modest, it was a vast sum at the time.

Several years later, McArthur made sure that those funds were used to create a reading room in Biddeford’s public library. Today, the library houses portraits of McArthur and Stevens on the balcony overlooking the gorgeous main room of the library.

As we read through the document, we realized the profound impact this one woman had on our library and on our city. When Elizabeth Stevens purchased her bonds, she could not vote and there was no vaccine for tuberculosis. We also realized that a tradition begun by Robert McArthur in the early 1900s had been lost to time and memory. “He also arranged to have Miss Stevens’ grave in Greenwood Cemetery decorated with flowers each year as a tribute to her wise gift.”

Staff decided celebrating Stevens’ contribution during Women’s History Month was a perfect way to bring back McArthur’s tradition. Join us at Elizabeth Stevens’ grave in Greenwood Cemetery at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 30 to lay flowers at her head stone. Anyone who would like to join us is welcome. After the brief event, we will regather at McArthur Library for light refreshments and for anyone interested, a tour of the building will commence at 11 a.m.

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