I loved Bill Fornaciari’s article about the library. I haven’t lived in Plymouth for over 50 years, but my fondest childhood memories are from the library [on North Street], so much so that my husband and I tried to buy it as our summer home. We were slightly outbid by the Plymouth Center for the Arts, which we came to realize was really the right buyer for the town.
As a child, I can still picture the librarian reading Dr. Doolittle to us downstairs in the children’s library…. the stone alleyway, the stairs going down, the iron railing to hold on to. And upstairs – that rippled glass floor on the iron balcony. Magnificent!
After school in junior high, I loved going there to sit at the long tables, flipping through enormous art history books. I especially remember “The Swing” by Fragonard. I’m certain these experiences were the inspiration for my love of art, my BFA in painting, master’s in art education, and my doctoral thesis in museum education – Art museum/school collaborations: A staff development program for classroom teachers, volunteer guides, and museum instructors.
As an art major in college, I had a one-woman show of my paintings displayed on the walls of the library’s “annex.” I became an art teacher, then professor, training student teachers in the Tufts Museum School program.
Thank you for “bringing me back” to the library, some of my most amazing memories.
– Carole Geller Jabbawy