Preface

The WFPL History Project Website

I became passionate about the WFPL’s archival collection when I held a worn, handwritten record book from 1796 that the public had never seen. I thought, No one knows about our historic treasures—that needs to change! I realized that the WFPL’s 175th anniversary was two years away. Why not have someone write a history of our library, using documents from our collection? I made a cold call to history professor Amy Singer at Brandeis University with the thought of having students produce such a history. To my amazement, she was immediately interested. She told me that Brandeis had grant funding from the Andrew M. Mellon Foundation, awarded to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to connect Ph.D. students to community projects beyond the scope of their usual academic work, in order to give them professional experience related to their disciplines. Thus, the wheels started turning. 

– Marjanneke Wright, Wayland Free Public Library

When Marjanneke Wright of the WFPL called my office at the History Department at Brandeis in the spring of 2021, her request was indeed a perfect fit for the Connected PhD grants program run by Dean Wendy Cadge of GSAS and Assistant Dean Alyssa Stalsberg Canelli. Our proposal received funding, and it was easy to find qualified graduate students excited at the prospect of testing their knowledge and skills on the WFPL’s history. Almost two years later, Rafael Abrahams, Elizabeth Simms, and Joseph Weisberg have by now spent many fascinating hours discovering better-known and less familiar chapters of the WFPL’s history. Their results are available to readers on the WFPL website. For historians, libraries are a cherished resource and librarians are often the chief navigators in our search for sources of all types: written, graphic, material, audio and more. It has been a pleasure to support the WFPL in its endeavor! 

– Dr. Amy Singer, Hassenfeld Chair of Islamic Studies & Prof. of History, Brandeis University