SHELBURNE FALLS — The oil portrait of Major Ira Arms, founder of the “Shelburne Falls Circulating Library Society” in 1854, has undergone restoration at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center. And this weekend, Arms Library will celebrate its homecoming with an “open house to welcome Ira Arms back” on Sunday, Oct. 1, from 2 to 4 p.m.
The library is located at 60 Bridge St.
This free family event will include local storytellers, live music and refreshments. Also, visitors can view plans for interior library renovations and share their ideas with the library’s board of trustees and Friends of the Library.
Visit the library to see architectural plans for interior renovations and visit the library’s website,
In 1854, Arms agreed to finance the library society, providing its facilities be made available to all Shelburne Falls area residents. At the time, dues-paying members paid $1 to join the library and 50 cents a year to maintain it. The fees went for new books. But Arms gave what was renamed the Arms Library of Shelburne Falls $400 initially, then $200 each year for the rest of his life. When he died, he left an endowment, to be used for books.
The library was moved to three different locations on Bridge Street before Francis and Lydia Pratt offered to build a library building in honor of Pratt’s parents, Josiah and Catherine Pratt. The building was completed and dedicated in 1914.
Fundraising for the “Put a Roof on It” campaign, for essential structural repairs, began in 2013 and resulted raising nearly $700,000. The money paid for a new copper-domed roof, masonry and foundation work, and repair of damages caused by Tropical Storm Irene.
A new campaign, to raise money for the interior of the building, is called “Arms Around Us for the Next 100 Years.”
“In this era, libraries are more than book depositories,” says Karen Sheaffer, chairwoman of the board of trustees. “They are comprehensive intellectual and cultural centers,” she said.
Sheaffer said the library is starting off its new capital campaign with a $266,000 grant awarded by the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund last year. It is a matching grant, and the library is at least one-third of the way there, having raised about $124,000. The rest must be raised by May 2018.
Construction is to begin next June, and be completed by the spring of 2019.
“The Arms is all about community, where people meet up,” said Library Director Laurie Wheeler. “Beyond and including books, we provide a space where we help our patrons continue to learn throughout their lives. … The library also offers authors’ talks, films, concerts, children’s summer reading, science and craft programs and a public meeting room.”
Renovations will provide larger meeting spaces and a new community room. Also, energy upgrades, including more efficient lighting, and heating/air conditioning systems. When finished, the library will have a performance space for Mohawk Trail Concerts and others; a reconfigured children’s room with more space for story time; a display area for local historical ephemera; an outside kiosk with information about the historic district; and energy-efficient electrical systems upgrades.