ALLENTOWN – In the past year, the Allentown Public Library, 16 S. Main St., has completed projects that reached back into the 19th century and forward into the 21st century. During an event held at the library on Nov. 4, friends of the library celebrated the renovation of the building’s community room, the restoration of the foyer, and the digitization of the Messenger/Messenger-Press newspapers from 1903-2008.
The Allentown Lions Club was thanked for transforming the community room with new
ceiling, wainscoting and trim, and upgrading the kitchenette, which was dedicated as their
Centennial Project in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Lions International organization. The work was done by Lions members and paid for in full by the club, according to a press release.
Allentown Public Library Association President Joan Ruddiman thanked the Lions for decades of support for the library.
“Since the Allentown Lions was founded in 1939, the club has been at the forefront in
helping the library to grow. With generous donations of their time and talent, as well as
money, the Lions has made sure this community has had a Library,” Ruddiman said.
On permanent display in the community room is the Allentown Lions Club original
charter, memorabilia and a plaque acknowledging the Centennial Project.
Guests also admired the completion of the foyer, which was funded by a matching
grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust. The original 19th century exterior doors and the
original floor boards have been restored, the walls and ceiling rehabbed and painted, and the lighting upgraded, according to the press release.
The custom interior doors with windows have dramatically changed the entryway as patrons transition from the 19th century exterior to the 21st century library within, according to the press release.
Carrie Hogan, project manager for the New Jersey Historic Trust, was thanked for her support of the project. Hogan commented that the cost of a project does not reflect the impact, noting that although this was a relatively small project for the trust, it has a significant influence on the building, according to the press release.
The third major project completed in 2018 was digitizing the library’s collection of
the Messenger and Messenger Press newspapers which are now available at the newspapers.com site.
In attendance to celebrate this accomplishment was Elizabeth Olson, the granddaughter of the founder of the Messenger, J.W. Naylor, and daughter of the second owner and editor, Ellis Hull.
Portraits of Naylor and Hull are on permanent display in the community room in appreciation of their efforts in promoting and helping the library to grow from 1903 through the 20th century, according to the press release.
The Monmouth County Historical Association, particularly Joe Hammond, director of
collections, and Joe Zemla, assistant curator of collections, were thanked for taking on the
project of getting the newspapers online. Olson and her family years ago had donated
bound copies of the papers and the microfilm with the copyrights to the historical association.
When administrators at the historical association realized the library was seeking to have the newspaper collection digitized, they prioritized the project, which is part of the historical association’s commitment to digitize all the newspaper collections it holds, according to the press release.
Ruddiman also thanked Joe Eisele, publisher of Newspaper Media Group, Manalapan, for help in obtaining the copyrights and, with the help of Gregory Gill of the New Jersey State Archives, locating microfilm from the years the Messenger Press was published by the Princeton Packet.
Newspaper Media Group publishes the Examiner, which has covered Allentown, Millstone Township and Upper Freehold Township since 1993.
Joan Halle, former owner of the Messenger-Press, was also instrumental in the success of the project by providing copyrights and a complete collection of untouched microfilm from the years she and her husband Bob Halle owned and edited the paper, according to the press release.
The Messenger and Messenger-Press collection from 1903-2008 is now available online
free of charge through the library’s subscription to newspapers.com