The Selected Letters of Marianne Moore, edited by Bonnie Costello, Celeste Goodridge, and Cristanne Miller. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Publisher, 1997, cloth $35, xv, 597; index; ISBN 0-679-43909-9; paperback $15.95. ISBN 0-14-118120-6
Some time ago I attempted to read Marianne Moore's poems as clues to local history. I noted that Moore (1887-1972) spent her formative years in Carlisle, Pennsylvania: From 1896 to 1918, that is, from ages nine to thirty-one, she lived, studied, and taught in Carlisle. For much of four years (1905-1909) she was in college at Bryn Mawr, for three months after college she worked in New York for Melvil Dewey (of decimal system fame), but otherwise, Moore was in Carlisle.
"He gave River City the library building, bur he left all the books to her." Meredith Willson, The Music Man. That verse summarizes the history of public libraries in many American small towns. A generous citizen provides for a library and puts it in the care of a guardian. The public library in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is no exception, and it is the purpose here to address some aspects of its history, in particular its nature as a public and memorial library.