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***LOUD LIBRARY - Please enjoy a concert this evening in the Round Room at 7:00 PM***

Welcome to the landing page for the Wayland Free Public Library’s 175th anniversary history project. The various essays linked below represent nearly two years of research, writing, and editing conducted by three Brandeis University History PhD students: Rafael Abrahams, Elizabeth Simms, and Joseph Weisberg. This work would not have been possible without the contributions of many stakeholders in this project from the WFPL, Brandeis, and beyond. We have enumerated these generous collaborators in the “About the Project” link below.  

We hope that you enjoy reading these pieces and that you learn something new about the WFPL, the Town of Wayland, and how these institutions intersect with broader themes in American history. We hope that our research will answer many questions and generate even more. We encourage curious readers to follow up on this work by producing their own research about WFPL and other local institutions.

– Rafael Abrahams, Elizabeth Simms, and Joseph Weisberg
March 2023

About the Project

About the Project 
Preface by Dr. Amy Singer and Marjanneke Wright
From the Board of Library Trustees
Introduction by Jane Sciacca 

WFPL General History

  1. The Beginnings 
  2. 1851-1878  
  3. 1878-1900
  4. 1901-2000 
  5. 2000-2023
  6. 175 Years of History (video)

Case Studies

  1. Indigenous Wayland  
  2. The Godparent: Evaluating Wayland’s Role in the Free Public Library Movement
  3. What Was It Like to Visit the Wayland Free Public Library in 1850?
  4. The Case of the Stolen Typewriter
  5. The War Library Council
  6. Civil Defense Room at the WFPL
  7. The Effects of Proposition 2½
  8. Gordon the Cat and Library Pets
  9. Interview with Louise Brown  (video version)