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Untitled (4)Falls library to By Elisabeth Roberts Friday, March 27, 1981 open Journal staff writer WAPPINGERS FALLS — Like the stuffebudddn the wherer casing room ubon and the kayak upstairs, no one has ever questioned prints in the Grinnell Library attic came from. n part, by But the new wing of the library C tlo funded, o dthe Russell E eAldrich addi- Slated to open Sunday, lass -walled staff office, study tion to the Grinnell Library features a g tables, pristinely white walls and cheerful orange ca ❑and will require an The second floor of the addition is only roughed additional $22, s 0°0 to finish, library treasurer Warren Short tsai . old-world The modern interior of the addition contrastsharply chitect who Io Swiss Chalet styling of the exterior. Finding an arllding could match was addition with the 19th century style of the Shortsa d rig difficult and expensive aspect of the projeco It we idn't match "But it would have been a shame if board of trustees) a old attwasgone was always taken for granted (by thing we should do." Short said. its, at the opening of the Short said he met the architect, Louis Battog Howland Library in Fishkill and after interviewing four prospective archi- tects, the board decided Battoglia was the man for the job. "My mind was made up atter meeting him. He doesn't give a lot of blarney about things, he tells it like it is. And he did a good job of matching the fish -scale shingles. People say they can't tell where the addition begins and the original building ends," he said. The additional space will De uscu as a reference and reading room, en- abling the reference material to be compiled in one area, assistant li- brarian Carol Bell said. The new wing was financed through a variety of fund-raising ef- forts and contributions as eclectic as the contents of the building. The largest contribution, one-third of the $112,000 raised, was an anony- mous donation from a library trust- ee, he said. Although 90 percent funded by tax dollars, the private library has been governed by a board of trustees since its founding in 1867, Short said. "Any. time the library was in trouble finan- cially, the trustees came up with money ,and bailed it out." In 1978, conditions in the library became so crowded that the coat rack was moved upstairs. Librarians were creating a disturbance typing in the browping room which they used as an office, and reference materials were distributed throughout the li- brary, wherever there was room to house them. The board decided the new wing could not be postponed any longer, he said, and began raising money for the project. Texaco and Gannett Corporations, the McCann Foundation, and IBM made generous contributions. The Veterans of Foreign Wars held a fund-raising dinner, the Jaycees held a dinner -dance, and a large bottle was put on the circulation desk for donations which Short said he emp- ties "every time it looks enticing. Since June, people have contribut- ed $600 to the jar. "I thought it would be mostly nickles and (limes, but many people are leaving bills in it," he said. Poughkeepsie Journal -21 Grinnell assistant librarian Mrs. Carol Bell chats ...with library treasurer Warren Short. New wing is at right The Zio¢ Church Men's Club raised money for the library, carrying on a tradition begun in 1887 when Irving Grinnell raised money for the origi- nal structure. "Although Grinnell could have fin- anced the projectrraised from the self, the money for the library was community on principle," Mrs. Bell said. "A lot of it was raised through Zion Church Fairs." Mrs. Bell, who wrote her college thesis on the library, said it was founded originally as a museum -li- brary combination. le in "In 1866 there were Boo people the village, most employed by local industry, and the idea wawa to provide them with a place to escape their humdrum existence," she said. The minutes of the board meetings, Short said, provide an interesting in- sight into the evolution of collection lour has Although the book flourised, only the kayak and the bird display remain as reminders of the museum. In the budvotedidered ago nst it. ing thehe kayak,, And recently, Short said, he tried to sell the passenger pigeon from the stuffed bird collection to the New York Museum of Natural History. "I didn't know it was even in the case until a woman asked me why the specimen wasn't under lock and key," he said. "And for years I didn't know which one it was."saidhad in - The museum, , t ' formed him that passenger pigeons, now extinct, were a "dime a dozen," and so the bird remains ensconced in the case, surrounded by felt leaves, insects, and other bird specimens. 'Although the Russell E. Aldrich wing has been used since the wall dividing it from the library was re- moved in December, it rib ill officll ial. ly open Sunday. The cut at 3 p.m. by Mrs. Russell E. Al- drich who "contributed a lot of ser. vice to the library," d. The public is invited, and refresh- ments will be served.