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Dyer Memorial Library new article content ...
| Dyer Memorial Library | |
|---|---|
 A resource for local history and genealogy for the towns of Abington, Rockland and Whitman, Mass., the South Shore, and beyond. | |
| Location | 28 Centre Ave., Abington, Massachusetts |
| Established | 1930 |
Overview
editThe Dyer Memorial Library is located at 28 Centre Ave. in Abington, Massachusetts. It is an historical and biographical library focusing on people and events connected to the area known as Old Abington that includes the towns of Abington, Rockland and Whitman. This area is known locally as the "Tri-Town Area". The library is a charitable, 501(c)(3) non-profit, educational institution.(CITE)
The library accomplishes its mission by selecting, collecting, preserving, educating and interpreting materials that document the histories of families, businesses, buildings and events in the Old Abington area and several of the adjacent towns on the Massachusetts South Shore.
The Dyer’s resources are available at no cost to professional scholars, primary and secondary school students, undergraduate and graduate students, educators, writers, genealogists, and the general public.
The Dyer Memorial Library operates out of funds derived from investment income of two trusts: Marietta Dyer’s original bequest and the Joseph Murphy trust, a former library trustee who bequeathed his estate to the Dyer.
The Dyer Memorial Library also serves as host to the Historical Society of Old Abington, Inc., (HSOA) whose collections are housed throughout the building. The HSOA’s collection trends towards artifacts. However, both the Dyer and HSOA have a mixture of artifacts and historical documents in their collections.
The descendants of William Dyer of Sheepscot, Maine are associated with several libraries, notably the Dyer Memorial Library in Abington, Mass. and the Dyer Library/Saco Museum, a public library in Saco, Maine.
History
editThe Dyer Memorial Library was founded in 1930 according to the will of Marietta White Dyer (1853–1918). By her will she created a trust,
- “…to perpetuate by a permanent memorial, the name and memory of the Dyer family, a family which has been identified with the development and growth of the Town of Abington from its beginning.”(CITE)
Marietta Dyer inherited her fortune from her uncle, Samuel Brown Dyer (1809–1894), nicknamed "Paris Sam" for the years he spent as an international banker in France.
Sam Dyer returned to Abington in 1862 and built a French mansard style mansion on Washington Street at the foot of Ashland Street. The home was destroyed by fire in 1936(CITE), but the carriage shed stood until 1999 in front of the Colony House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.(CITE)
Being a childless widower with a large home, Sam Dyer invited his younger brother, James, and his family to live with him. James’ daughter, Marietta, who never married, was the last of the Dyers to live in the mansion.
Marietta took on the role of hostess of the house to her Uncle Sam.
In 1917, Marietta had her will drawn — leaving $80,000, land, and personal estate to be placed in a Dyer Fund to build and sustain forever a building to be known as the Dyer Memorial Library. In her will, she named the first trustees — Atty. William J. Coughlan, and Dr. Gilman Osgood (CITE) — and directed them to erect the library on land she already owned on Centre Avenue. However, due to the inflationary prices following World War I, construction of the building was delayed.
More than a decade later, architect John W. Beal of Hanover, MA was consulted to design the building and draw up the plans.(CITE) The building’s Georgian architecture was chosen to represent the era of the establishment of the Town of Abington. The Dyer Memorial Library was officially dedicated on May 1, 1932.(CITE) Past and current staff of the Dyer attest that the building is not haunted, to the disappointment of a some visitors.
Collections
editThe Dyer Memorial Library continues to collect, preserve, and communicate historical information about the Tri-Town area of Abington, Rockland and Whitman, as well as other nearby Massachusetts South Shore towns.
Major collections include,
Subject Files - Briefly documenting people, institutions, businesses, and topics related to the towns of Abington, Rockland and Whitman.
Books - Family genealogies, town reports and other vital statistics information, general U.S. history books, a notable collection of Civil War monographs, Massachusetts town and county histories, selected Massachusetts directories from 1867-1919, biographies and an extensive collection of genealogy books, journals, and newsletters including the New England Historic & Genealogical Register, Mayflower Society Silver Books, The American Genealogist, and many others.
Documents - Primary resources for the study of Old Abington from the Colonial period to modern day, including diaries, letters, business account books and early Old Abington documents.
Maps, newspapers, photographs, post cards and artifacts from the region are also found in the Dyer's collection.
The library is open four days a week, Tuesday through Friday, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m., and the 2nd & 4th Saturday of each month, 12:00 – 4:00 pm.
References
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