Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties

I love Florida summers. That statement is counter intuitive to many folk who would just as soon as abandon the state on the advent of summer and head to New England or seek cooler climes in the higher elevations where a chilly mountain night invites a light sweater, fuzzy slippers and a small fire to take the off the chill. Having been raised in Florida, the summers were always a time when expectations were high to be out and about in the great outdoors, often at the beach or lakeside, riding horseback in the back country under great live oaks, bicycling to the movies, dissolving into the plush, velvet seats, and enjoying the cold dark and an all day movie-thon.  Now and then, something in the intensity of the cool-down at night, walking the dogs, the street lights dimly glowing, I hear the sound of children playing in the twilight, sprinklers refreshing the exhausted plants, and the flutter of wings on the rise to find their roost, transports me back to my childhood. Summer nights were perfumed then with honey suckle.  I would lie in bed, savoring the sweet breath of a slight breeze, and drift off to sleep, glad to be still and quiet on the descent into night.

Summers were also a time to spend hours at the library, relishing the feeling of being unspeakably rich with shelf upon shelf of books.  The feeling of indulgence and pleasure has always been inspired by the gift of abundance of books that are available to all. You walk through the doors of your local library and leave with an armful of wealth that nourishes the life of the mind and it’s made possible because commonwealth is a democratic ideal.  It hasn’t always been that way.  It took centuries and technological advances to multiply the availability and breadth of the printed page, from the invention of the printing press, to the advent of moveable type. The further development and proliferation of vast systems took root to support publishing and distribution of the printed page.  Today, libraries have modernized and are one of the only agencies that provide residents free access to computer training and information technologies, encouraging and promoting literacy in the new digital forms that are taking the place of more traditional print communications and publications. 

It wasn’t until the 19th century that the enthusiasm for libraries became a movement in support of truly public institutions that served as a lighthouse for cultural and educational enlightened among the masses of individuals whose opportunities were otherwise limited by their modest means.  Women, children, and the poor and enslaved had little or no hope of literary self-improvement.  Libraries for the many satisfied a deep and terrible hunger that threatened the pastoral calm of a highly borne and privileged class for whom a literary life was as cake. In this context, the notion of “letting them eat cake” became a politically acceptable idea so the movement caught on.

Philanthropy helped spur the adoption and spread this most basic of public institutions. Libraries were started with contributions and charitable endowments that put the bricks and mortar into place and allowed libraries to grow like wild flowers in churches, schools, public halls, and throughout villages and townships.  One of our country’s most famous philanthropists, Andrew Carnegie accomplished in his time what today would have been the equivalent of a moon shot.

According to Wikipedia, the Scottish-American entrepreneur and philanthropist offered an opportunity for grants that few towns and villages would refuse. Through his charitable foundation, Carnegie’s philanthropy financed over 2,500 public libraries across the nation.  From the coal camps of West Virginia, to the dusty towns of the American West, libraries became evidence of the advance of civilization on the nation’s trek toward greatness.

Carnegie was a tough businessman. He was a smart philanthropist, too, leveraging his charitable capital with the challenge that his investments be made conditional on communities’ willingness to secure a stream of tax revenue to support and sustain their libraries on-going operations. In Carnegies’ time, the intellectual life a library represented to a community’s residents was inseparable from the value given to the importance of democratizing access to intellectual opportunity.  It may not remain so going forward given the acidic nature of “less-is-more” that elevates stinginess as the cause célèbre. Yet libraries are but one of those foundational cornerstones upon which a community’s aspirations rest to provide quality of life to all of it citizens.  As a democratic society, to live life to its fullest, we must have bread, and we must have roses, too.    

The views expressed in this blog are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Community Foundation.