The Little Library That Could :: Thurmond Library Providing Books for the Community Since 1887

by Kevin Cummings, Messenger Staff Writer

In November 1923, Jim Sutherland hauled two horse-drawn wagonloads of books from Monteagle to Sewanee—and likely saved them from going up in flames.

In the previous year or so, Otey Parish Rector William SterlingClaiborne and his wife donated the Thurmond Memorial Library’s books to the DuBose Training School in Monteagle, which wasn’t a popular move for some local residents. So Sutherland hauled the books back to Sewanee in November 1923, two months before the DuBose school burned.

Those returned and nearly burned books are part of the lineage of the newest Thurmond Memorial Library site, which will celebrate its grand reopening at the Claiborne Parish House on Tuesday, Oct. 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The library actually opened earlier this year when volunteers unpacked the books boxed up during construction of the new parish house, but this is the library’s official commemoration. 

The Community Action Committee will also host a free community lunch at noon at the parish house, and people can enjoy cake and coffee afterwards as they visit and learn about the library’s 128-year history, said Trudy Cunningham, a library volunteer.

“We’re worried that people just aren’t reading books anymore,” said Cunningham, a retired math teacher. “They’re on their iPhones all the time, so we’ve decided to focus on getting books circulating.” 

Volunteers also plan to put people’s names in a drawing. If your name is drawn, you can pick a book for the library to buy, and you’ll get first dibs on reading it.

Sophia Dabney Thurmond and her three sisters started the Sewanee Circulating Library on July 4, 1887, on Oklahoma Avenue in the classroom of Mrs. Smedes, in a house that later became known as the McDonald’s Cottage. 

In 1902 the library moved to the parish hall at Otey Parish and in 1910 leaders changed the name to Thurmond Memorial Library to honor its primary founder.

According to the April 7, 1936, publication of the “Gospel Mission,” the library at that time boasted 2,000 volumes, with 300 of those books circulating in the previous year.

Volunteers boxed up the books and shut down the library a number of times in its history, including during World War I and World War II, when people seemed to lose interest in keeping the library going, or when Rev. A.C. Adams turned the library into a Boy Scout museum.

The current location is open to everyone in the community, 24 hours a day.

“We tell parents who’ve got a screaming baby at home in the middle of the night: ‘One of you get up and bring the baby to the library and let ’em scream while you read and let the other parent sleep’ quietly at home,” Cunningham said, laughing.

All of the books are donations, and the library also has no due dates and no fines. 

`“While it would be fine if the books come back, if they don’t come back we’re not going to worry about that,” Cunningham said. “The secondary motto of the library is: In Sewanee books are like zucchini in August. People are happy to give them away to us. Consequently, we’re not going to worry about losing books.”

Book donations that don’t make it to the shelves are sold at an annual book sale held in conjunction with the Hunger Walk in April. Otey Parish also provides the library space and utilities free of charge. 

Thurmond Memorial contains newer and classic books, including fiction and mystery, nonfiction, children’s, young adult, and local interest. The library also has a selection of books on CD.

Jane Holmes, a retired special education teacher and library volunteer, said she loves working there in part because she’s a big murder mystery fan.

“I started volunteering in 1981 on Saturday mornings,” she said. “It was a good thing because every Saturday I could get a new book to read. I have found so many this morning, and I had to stop at two.”

To volunteer at the library, where reading is encouraged during shifts, email Cunningham at <tcunning@gmail.com>.

Editor’s Note: The historical information in this article is from the “History of the Thurmond Memorial Library” by Eva Pryor Jackson, which uses information from Sewanee Woman’s Club minutes compiled by Mrs. Marion F. Jackson.