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Growing up, many of us learned that the early settlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts held a feast with the local Indians to celebrate their harvest. In kindergarten we might have traced our hand on construction paper. Our thumb became the turkey’s head, and our remaining fingers were Tom’s feathers. We might have made a headdress out of additional construction paper, stapling on colored feathers. Interested in learning more, I visited www.history.com to find out what happened at, and after, that first shared harvest meal. Here are excerpts from the website.

“In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers — an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World. After a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later, the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay, where the pilgrims began the work of establishing a village at Plymouth.

“Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years.

“In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Gov. William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as America’s “first Thanksgiving” — the festival lasted for three days.

“For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.”

To read more about Thanksgiving, the pilgrims, and the Native Americans, visit the history.com website and the library to check out our many books for children and adults about these topics. Pleasanton Lincoln Library staff and board members wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.

A number of young visitors to the library have asked me if I own the library. I smile and tell them, no, I was hired to manage the library. I try to explain to them the owners of the library are the tax-payers of north and south Potosi townships. They are represented by a group of elected local residents who volunteer their time. This brings a blank look to the faces of the inquisitive youth.

It occurred to me that an explanation might benefit the adults in the community as well. So may I introduce my collective “boss” — the members of Pleasanton Lincoln Library’s Board of Trustees. Our esteemed board chair, Kenton Bell, is a long-time member not only of the community, but also of the library board. He has served as chair for many years, with only a brief hiatus of a year before being re-elected. Both he and his wife, Mary Lynn, have been ardent supporters of the library over the years. It is Kenton’s job to lead the board meetings, and he does this with a gentle hand.

Other officers include long-time trustee, Tel-lea Cox, who serves as treasurer, and Kathy Secrest, who serves as secretary. Tel-lea oversees the financial aspects of the library, signs checks and assists with the budget process each year. Kathy attends meetings and takes minutes of each, that are maintained in a notebook for posterity.

They are not the only trustees with great responsibilities, though. Every member helps decide library policy. This document can only be altered by a democratic vote of the members. While the policy has been altered over the years for various reasons, it is the most important document in the library. It ensures protection of the library, its contents, maintenance, and most of all, its purpose.

Other current trustees include Mark Willard, Ron Howard, Florine O’Rourke, and newest member Stephanie Brown. Each of these members has skills that help them determine how the county tax revenues, state and district funding we receive should be spent. They have varied backgrounds in how to run a business, manage funds, and make decisions based on facts. Each is important singly, but even more so as a group. They serve four-year terms, and can be re-elected by vote at the library’s annual meeting in March.
These trustees receive no compensation for their involvement on this board. Yet they benefit by getting the satisfaction of supporting one the community’s most important educational and entertainment resources — a free public library. If you see these volunteers out and about in the community, please thank them for their service, and let them know how much you appreciate having your public library.

For some years now, your library has had its own page on Facebook. We promote upcoming events like our monthly jam sessions, author visits and storytime. During the school year, photos were posted of my visits to Ms. Davenport’s preschool class. This drew numerous “Likes” from moms, grandmoms and friends. You may have missed those photos this past year when I took a hiatus from those visits. I was so wrapped up in research for the Carnegie libraries project for Friends of Kansas Libraries that I wasn’t able to prepare a monthly book, craft and snack for the children. I’ve missed those visits, and hope I can begin them again during the 2018-2019 school year.

In lieu of the photos of preschoolers, you would have seen photos of our new library cardholders, holiday decorations and book displays on Facebook. We also receive messages from visitors asking if we have certain books, and if we are open during bad weather. More recently, we’ve added occasional photos of new books that are ready for checkout.

We also have a web site hosted by our district library in Iola. These Linn County News library columns are archived there. You can find the names of our library trustees, dates of their board meetings, library hours, and even see links to many other web sites you may find useful.

If there is other information you would like to see on either of these sites, please let us know. While we don’t mail a monthly newsletter, that’s not beyond the realm of possibility. The main reason we haven’t provided post office boxholders with a newsletter is the expense.

Social media is not your thing? You are always welcome to visit us in person. We love to locate hard-to-find books and movies for our visitors, and cardholders can access them through our affiliated libraries if we don’t carry them. It’s a librarian’s second nature to research information, so don’t hesitate to contact us with reference questions. Not everything is on the internet, but if it’s out there we may be able to locate it for you. If you are a Kansas resident, we can also provide you with a state library card. That would allow you to access e-books and a plethora of information stored on the site. Registration only takes a few minutes, and the time is so worthwhile.

Thanks for supporting your local library!

The Pleasanton Lincoln Library staff have worked hard over the years to bring interesting events to the community. Visits from an astrophysicist to marionettes, farm animals to a juggler, we try to blend entertainment with education. This past Saturday was no exception. Adrian Zink’s visit to talk about his new book was fascinating as well as fun, and the audience enjoyed every minute. We were approached by Zink and asked if we’d like him to come to the library. The book had its roots in this area, since its genesis occurred when he worked at Mine Creek Civil War Battlefield Historic Site. During his downtime (after his daily duties or on a rainy day), he spent time researching Kansas history. He worked hard to become knowledgeable about this area, and other parts of Kansas.

The result of his research is his new book, “Hidden History of Kansas.” The first edition has been so well-received that a second edition is in the works. He told the audience that a quick deadline caused him to leave out many of the stories he uncovered, and there might be enough material to produce volume two. But, he already has another book idea he’d like to pursue, so we’ll watch how that takes shape. He shared that idea with the audience and they loved it! Those who attended purchased his book, and they could fill out order forms for additional copies. You may contact the library for more information in case you were unable to attend.

We have two more adult programs coming up that you’ll want to put on your calendar. The library is sponsoring a special showing of a documentary about the former slave Josiah Henson. Escaping after 40 years of slavery, Henson helped other slaves escape via the Underground Railroad. He even founded a town named Dawn for freed slaves in Canada. This event will be held at the Mine Creek Battlefield Historic Site, sponsored by Pleasanton Library. The documentary is only 39 minutes long and begins at 11 am on Sat., May 26. More information will be forthcoming over the next few weeks.

The following weekend, we’ll be back at Pleasanton Library to welcome Kevin Rabas, the 2017-2019 Kansas Poet Laureate. His presentation takes place Sat., June 2 at 1 pm. Sponsored through a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council, Rabas’ program will feature readings of his poetry as well as recitations of other fascinating poets. The presentation is entertaining and educational and even includes some drumming. Stay tuned for more information about this program.

Sat., June 9, the library will participate in Prairie Day at Mine Creek Battlefield in conjunction with our children’s Summer Reading Program, “Libraries Rock!” We’ll have more information about that soon, so watch our library website (pleasanton.mykansaslibrary.org), Facebook page (Pleasanton Lincoln Library) and this Linn County News column.

If you have ideas for future programs, please share them with us. We’ll do our best to provide the community with continued entertaining and educational things to do.