Swan’s Island, Maine is a lobster-fishing island town accessible only by ferry. Like many small towns, Swan’s Island has a beloved library, this one in an old schoolhouse. Or, I should say, the town had a beloved library. In 2008, the building containing 12,000 volumes and irreplaceable historical documents caught fire in a lightning storm.
That part of the story is tragic, but what happened next is remarkable. Artist and resident Elizabeth Awalt found hundreds of pages from burned books flying around at the site of the fire, some of them only charred around the edges. This gave her an idea–well, two ideas: She imagined a way to use art to make sense of what happened to her town and a way to raise money to replace some of what was lost. The result is New Pages, an exhibition and auction of these recovered pages, now works of art. This event takes place tonight, but organizers are happy to accept donations from afar from those of us not lucky enough to live in this wonderful town.
Mister stumbled on this story via Bobulate, which linked to the post at My Dog-Eared Pages. Thanks to both of them for writing about this so that I could see it–hope we will continue to spread the word!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
JUST finished The Lost Summer! Kudos to you, dear. It is lovely; I was sure you had dug up a forgotton manuscript of LMA. I am a librarian, and LMA lover; can’t you please invent another adventure for Louisa….A Lost Winter, perhaps?
Thank you so much, Donna! Librarians have very good taste, so I take your praise as a high compliment. Glad to know you enjoyed the book! I will think about the lost winter…
I’m almost finished, sadly, with your book. Just love it and am recommending it to friends and library patrons (my work place). I see you’re going to be at my favorite book store in Petoskey (my hometown) in August. Wish I could be too! Enjoy and well done!!
I wish you could be there too. Northern Michigan is the most wonderful place in the world in August. I used to spend time around Torch Lake and Bellaire as a kid, among other “up north” places… Thank you for recommending the book to friends. I’m so happy to know you enjoyed it!