Public libraries in Orange County

The Franklin Library Society is organized in Hillsborough and chartered by the General Assembly

The Franklin Library Society was established in Hillsborough on February 7, 1822, for the promotion of learning and cultivation of virtue. The General Assembly incorporated it that December, giving it the power to hold property, sue and be sued, and make its own bylaws.

The House of Commons postpones the Franklin Library Society's request for a book lottery

Hillsborough's Franklin Library Society asked the General Assembly for leave to raise up to three thousand dollars by lottery to buy useful books for its library. The petition, signed December 14, 1825 by the society's officers including librarian Thomas C. Palmer, was read in the House of Commons on December 23 and indefinitely postponed.

Hillsboro Public Library is counted among North Carolina's early free public libraries

A 1954 history of North Carolina public libraries names the Hillsboro Public Library among the free public libraries established in North Carolina by 1910, fifteen in all. A later survey dates Hillsboro's library to 1910 in its list of the twenty-eight public, society and Y.M.C.A. libraries in the state's first library report.

Louis Round Wilson's survey finds thin library collections in Orange County's white schools

A questionnaire of Orange County's 48 white schools for 1921–22, including the Chapel Hill and Hillsboro graded schools, found seven with no library and 3,692 volumes for 1,586 pupils, slightly more than two books per pupil. Ten of the 25 teachers who answered said the books were used "not very much"; Wilson published the results in January 1923.

The school library at Hillsborough High School for Negroes also served as the public library for Black residents

The twelve-room school building was put up in July 1936 on land bought from Louis Wilson and George Mayo, and its library served the local Black community as a public library. Albert L. Stanback became principal in 1942 and had the school renamed Central High School in 1943.

Part of Libraries, Archives & Public Memory · 5 events

A lent library truck carries books to schools and crossroads stores across Orange County

For May, June and July 1939 a bookmobile with a revolving shelved turret was lent to the county, run by Lucile McDade and her assistant Louise Carroll, who stopped at schools and crossroads stores. The county board of education and the Confederate Memorial Library in Hillsboro paid its operating costs, and the WPA and the Hillsboro library lent the books.

Orange, Chatham and Person counties share a trained librarian under the new state aid

In the first year of state aid for public libraries, Chatham, Orange and Person counties shared one trained librarian, Ernestine Grafton, while each county kept its own book collection and bookmobile service. The state's 1941–42 library statistics list her as librarian at Hillsboro, Siler City and Roxboro.

The Orange County Public Library bookmobile makes stops in Chapel Hill

In late February 1942 the Chapel Hill Weekly announced that the county bookmobile, with librarian Ernestine Grafton in charge, would park in front of the Texaco station from noon to 2 p.m. for browsers and borrowers. That spring the bookmobile offered a $5 prize to the school collecting the most waste paper, with the proceeds buying children's books, and a state aid increase let the library order books on readers' requests.

A Negro library committee was already running library service for Black readers in Orange County

The committee met in September 1945 under chairman Mrs. M. D. McPherson, reported over a hundred new books received and 800 books circulated during the summer, and was assembling book kits for rural areas. Miss Annie Cameron was named as one of the people who started the library for Black residents of the county.

Part of Libraries, Archives & Public Memory · 5 events

People: Marinda D. McPherson

The Orange County Negro Public Library held its grand opening at the community center in Hillsboro

The library opened on a Sunday afternoon from 3 to 5 p.m. with Mrs. M. D. McPherson as directress and Miss Victoria Craig as librarian. Mrs. Douglas Davis, the tri-county regional librarian, sponsored the event and spoke, and Mrs. Eliza Webb attended for the Confederate Memorial Library.

Part of Libraries, Archives & Public Memory · 5 events

People: Marinda D. McPherson

Carrboro Civic Club opens a public library

The Carrboro Public Library, a project of the Carrboro Civic Club, opened on March 22, 1950, with an open house at the club's building near the Carrboro school. Mrs. Jack Shields was librarian, and books were lent free each Wednesday afternoon, with loans from the bookmobile and the county library in Hillsborough adding to the collection.

Black residents opened a fund drive to build the Orange County Negro Public Library a building of its own

The library then held 2,254 books in a single room with shelves full and volumes stacked on the floor, and had circulated 2,015 books in the year. A committee including Mrs. Marinda D. McPherson, A. L. Stanback and Mrs. M. C. Burt asked for donations, naming $100 for outside sheeting and $70 for a roof.

Part of Libraries, Archives & Public Memory · 5 events

People: Marinda D. McPherson