A lightning strike during the early morning hours of July 24 is believed to have caused the devastating fire that completely destroyed the Swan’s Island Library building.
The Swan’s Island Educational Society, the organization that oversees the Swan’s Island library and historical society, is already hard at work making plans for the future. The Swan’s Island Educational Society (S.I.E.S.) Board of Trustees, along with interested community members, met just hours after the fire at a church near the library site. Reeling from the shock of the fire, the board began the task of assessing the loss and the process of rebuilding.
A temporary library has been set up in the town office with plans to be in that location for at least one year. Despite the new location’s small size, library hours and services have continued. “What amazes me is how many people from the island have come forward to help and how quickly we are getting going toward a new building,” commented Betty Carlson, President of the S.I.E.S. Board.
Island residents, both summer and year-round, are grieving the loss of the library, the building, the contents, and the island’s history. As always in an island community, residents have rallied to support the rebuilding efforts, and to support the temporary library.
The library building, the Old Atlantic Schoolhouse, was built in 1903 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It served as one of the island schools until 1954. The loss of a building with such strong ties to the island’s history is tremendous.
The island community suffered another great loss of historic value that morning when a collection of Swan’s Island’s history, which was housed on the second floor of the structure, was destroyed in the fire as well.
Over 10,000 volumes of books, DVDs and VHS tapes were destroyed, most of which can be replaced, but the history of Swan’s Island, the historic photographs, cassette recordings, old town reports, journals, newspapers, diaries, and artifacts, all of those precious items are now gone forever.
Island residents, both summer and year-round, are grieving the loss of the library, the building, the contents, and the island’s history. As always in an island community, residents have rallied to support the rebuilding efforts, and to support the temporary library.
Inquiries from all over are coming in, emails, calls, and letters, all asking “How can we help? What can we do? What do you need?” These are the questions being asked to S.I.E.S. board members, island residents, and selectmen.
Not only is support being felt from within the community, but outside the community as well. Recently a call came from Lisa Turner, who lives on the nearby island of Isle au Haut. The Isle au Haut Library was having a fundraiser for its own library, but also wanted to include a donation basket to accept donations for Swan’s Island’s Library. The Islesford Library has sent books and money. The temporary library has been inundated with book donations, but has very little space to put books. Instead of accepting books at this time, donors are being asked to provide a list of books that they would like to donate. The board will decide which books they can take at this time and may ask donors to keep the books until they have either a place to store them on the island or a new library to put them in.
Other help has come from various professionals including a site visit from Valerie Osborne of the Northeastern Maine Library District. The Island Institute’s Nancy Carter, vice president of Knowledge Management and Kathy Lane, grants coordinator, have met with the S.I.E.S. board offering help as the board moves forward with the rebuilding project.
The S.I.E.S. board’s first priority is to inventory of the building’s contents for their insurance company, Peerless, of Keene, New Hampshire. The building and the contents of the building were insured, but board members feel that the amount of insurance will not be sufficient to construct a new building and replace the library collection. “We feel that we will need to have a capital campaign to raise the additional funds needed. We are talking to professional fundraisers in an effort to figure out how to do this,” said Ken Dutille, vice president of the S.I.E.S board.
The S.I.E.S. Mission statement revised in August 2006 states, “The mission of the Swan’s Island Educational Society will be to establish and maintain a free lending library, a museum, and other educational and cultural projects for the benefits of Swan’s Island, Maine.” Candis Joyce, the S.I.E.S. director, stated, “We cannot forget the dual mission. We were so focused on the library. We cannot lose sight of the historical mission. We are not just a library.”
Many days have been spent sifting through the rubble in hopes of finding some historical documents that were salvageable. Joyce organized an effort to try and save some of the historical documents that suffered fire and water damage. Items were pulled from the charred remains of the building, carefully inspected, and if deemed salvageable, were placed into plastic bags and placed into the freezer of Saturn Press, a nearby business. Placing the wet documents in the freezer will prevent them from molding and will keep the pages from warping.
Despite the total loss of the historical collection, people are already talking about establishing a new historical collection. New technology will provide the opportunity for many island residents to share the old photographs and documents tucked away in closets and attic spaces of old island homes. Plans to digitize much of the remaining historical photographs and documents stored in private collections are underway.
“We are working on a visionary project so that we can create a strategic plan,” said Joyce. Volunteers have created a survey that will be used to gather input from island residents. The visionary survey process has begun and people are very willing to share their thoughts on the old library building and their vision for a new building.
The Swan’s Island Educational Society (S.I.E.S.), is a non-profit organization, with 501c3 status, and operates independent of the Town of Swan’s Island. They receive some support from the town, with the remainder of their operating budget coming from donations and grants.
Donations are greatly needed. Checks made out to the “Swan’s Island Library Fund” can be sent to: Swan’s Island Library Fund, c/o The FIRST, 102 Main St., Bar Harbor, ME 04609.