Library history

The Herr and Young families were photographed by J.C. Slear around 1900 in front of the William B. Young home on Chestnut Street in Mifflinburg (now the Borough building). Mr. Young, the Herr sisters' maternal grandfather, is the gentleman with the white beard in the center who is seated to the left of his wife, Eleanor Snodgrass Young. Standing in back are, left to right: James E. Herr and Annetta M. Young Herr (the sisters' parents), and siblings Estelle M. Herr, Arthur B. Herr, Jessie C. Herr, Jane I. Herr, and Stella H. Herr. Seated on a chair in front of Stella is Harry Young, her mother's brother. Seated at Harry's feet are, left to right, the other Herr siblings Donald D. Herr and Mabel Y. Herr. (Photo courtesy of the Pennsylvania Room Collection)

     As early as 1919, grocer Elliott J. Gutelius began to collect small amounts of money from members of the community to build a public library for the Borough of Mifflinburg.  In the meantime, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur and Ethel Koons offered several shelves in their Chestnut Street store for around 200 donated books.

     Fifteen years later, Mr. Gutelius, 83 years old, was able to use the $60 that he had collected to purchase the “Literary Digest Encyclopedia.”  With the help of Miss Jessie C. Herr and other borough residents, the Mifflinburg Public Library opened on Nov. 24, 1934, in the School Board’s room on the second floor at the front of the Mifflinburg Borough building.  Mr. Donald L. Rexrode and his students from Mifflinburg High School constructed the shelving. 

     Mrs. Charlotte Steans served as librarian the first year, and more than 260 people subscribed as charter members of the library association.  After Harry B. Young petitioned the borough council in 1936, the library was moved to a 5-room apartment on the east side of the second floor of the borough building.  By the time the library relocated to its current location ten years later, the holdings had increased to about 5,000 titles.  

     The neo-Georgian building at 500 Market Street where the library is now was constructed in 1925 as the Herr family’s private residence.  The yellow-brick house was willed, along with an endowment, to the Mifflinburg community by Miss Jane I. Herr in April 1944 to serve as a public library.  The “Jane I. and Annetta M. Herr Memorial Library,” which opened its doors on Oct. 18, 1944, is named for Jane’s and Jessie’s paternal grandmother, Jane Irwin Herr, and their mother, Annetta M. Young Herr.

     In 1998 the Herr Memorial Library joined the West End Library in Laurelton and the Public Library for Union County in Lewisburg as an independent member of the federated Union County Library System. 

     In 1999, renovations and additions to the first floor of the Herr Memorial Library included a children’s craft room, a room for the children’s collection, a new circulation desk, a public computer room, and a public rest room.  The second floor of the original building was renovated and opened in 2001, adding offices and staff work areas as well as the library’s Pennsylvania Room. 

     The Pennsylvania Room is a repository for original Union County family histories, historical articles, pamphlets, photographs, and bound volumes of local, regional, state and Civil War history.  Patrons use the Pennsylvania Room to do research on personal histories as well as to find background information for historical books.  The collection includes materials about landmarks, schools, churches, and buggy manufacturing, as well as histories of old family names such as Aurand, Boop, Reish, and Pawling.

     The Herr Memorial Library converted to an Internet-based circulation system for checkout and management in March 2002 to improve and enhance service to patrons.  The new system made the old card catalog obsolete and allowed patrons easier access to the materials at the other two Union County public libraries.

     In 2004, the library began an ambitious project to preserve on DVDs and in corresponding booklets interviews with some of the oldest members of the community to preserve an important part of the history of the Mifflinburg area.  In August that year, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission awarded a $4,650 Local History grant to the Herr Memorial Library for a special oral history project, “Memories of Mifflinburg: Changes After World War II.” 

     Seven oral histories have been completed with funds from that grant and from contributions by members of the community.  They feature interviews with the following Mifflinburg residents:  Marie Purnell Musser, Mary Eleanor Koons, Hannah Pauline Rotering, William R. Ruhl, William K. Kerstetter, Helen Jean Sterling Snook, and Helen Shnure Harter.  All oral history materials are available for public viewing in the library’s Pennsylvania Room.

     The Herr Memorial Library's materials colection contains nearly 23,000 items.