written report of the study of some element or aspect of American
librarianship, based on the study of its record. By liberally
borrowing from these concepts this paper is presented as a
written narrative of the history of Middletown Thrall Library
based upon my research of its record and my interpretive judgment
and arrangement of the available facts.
The term "public library" is perhaps not as difficult to
define as is the term "history" with all of its many nuances.
The definition used in this paper was presented in Jesse H.
Shera's seminal work Foundations of the Public Library: The
Origins of the Public Library Movement in New England 1629-1855.
He quoted with approval a definition by William F. Poole, "The
'public library... is established by state laws, is supported by
local taxation... 1s managed as a public trust, and every citizen of the city or town which maintains it has an equal share in its
privileges of reference and circulation.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Historians of American public libraries and 11brarianship
have been productive in the later part of this century as
evidenced by the significant numbers of published monographs,
journal articles and documents, papers and essays, dissertations