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Share Your Library Memories In an effort to tell our century-long story, we would like to hear from you!
Did you visit the library as a child? What do you remember? Have you been coming to the library for many years? Whatever your experience, it is a part of our history and we want to share it!
There are many ways you can let us know:
1. Submit your story via our online form.
2. Contact us at 724-658-6659, ext. 127.
3. Write down your story and mail it to us at 207 E. North St., New Castle, PA 16101.
4. Send an email to smorgan@ncdlc.org.
We are excited to hear about what the library has meant to you over the years!
Richard P Stevens
June 3rd, 2010 at 09:41
Hello, I thought I would share with you folks at the New Castle Public Library the fact that I will shortly be publishing a Memoir entitled A JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD; Reflections of an Itinerant Professor. In this volume I will be paying special tribute to the contribution of experience gained as a result of working as a “page” in the Public Library from grade 8 into 10th grade. My salary was twenty cents an hour but raised to twenty two cents after working two years. But it was this experience, combined with the fact that five dedicated librarians lavished their care and interest upon me which encouraged and stimulated my interest in the world beyond my family, home, church and New Castle into the broader national and international world.
I shall be 79 on June 16th but to this day I remember so well Ms. Alice Sterling, Librarian, Ms. Rose Barber, Reference Librarian, and others such as Helen G. Eakin, and Mrs. Gardner. In this work I actually am devoting about six pages to the library learning environment which lead me into an acadmic career after first dreaming of a diplomatic and then religious career.
I have not been in New Castle for at least five years. But I was born there in our family home June 16, 1931 at 520 Hillcrest Avenue. I also came to see contradictions about me which were not identified publicly at the time. But Ms. Sterling, with her sterling character, an officer in the League of Women Voters, and Ms. Barber, were not people who accepted the prejudices of the day and age. They, together with two elementary school teachers at Arthur McGill School, one seventh grade teacher at George Washington Jr. High and two teachers in Senior High School provided the support I needed to transcend the environment about which I had become critical by graduation in June 1949. I remember all of them perfectly by name and occasion.
I shall be traveling to Brasil on June 16 through 28th followed by travel in Peru July 13 – 23 and Belize July 29 – Aug.8. However, I am making plans to visit with family in New Castle and have tentatively set aside Friday through Sunday July 9 to 11. I shall be staying with my sister and family, Nadyne and William Klingensmith and must see my brother Ed Stevens and family and those of my deceased brother George Stevens.
However, I was thinking that perhaps there might be some occasion to speak or give a leclture in New Castle in conjuction with the publication of my memoir if I arrive a few days earlier. I have never written anything personal although my writing and teaching career have taken me to some 100 countries and with in- depth presence of two years or more in Lesotho (southern Africa), Sudan, and Kuwait. The more I think of the matter I am now wondering if it might be appropriate to launch my Memoir in New Castle in an appropriate site.
I would welcome a reply and will happily send a short cv. I should mention that I have written in the past extensively on Africa, Middle East, Islam, racism, South Africa. etc with pieces in Britannica, Americana, Colliers, Grolliers, World Book, Africa Report, Journal of Modern African Studies, Journal of Palestine Studies, Commonweal, Africa Today, Phylon, Higher Education, Perhaps the library might have a copy of one or other of my books: LESOTHO, BOTSWANA AND SWAZILAND: THE FORMER HIGH COMMISSION tERRITORIES IN sOUTHERN aFRICA, 1967 (Praeger, NY and Pall Mall, London) of HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA, 1975. In this memoir I have 48 photos, none are from my New Castle days, but which cover some of the main points in my lifetime journey. I should add that by the time I had finished seveth grade I had read every book written by Richard Halliburton, who was my role model! The first picture in my Memoir is that of Halliburton which was the frontspiece in THE ROYAL ROAD TO ROMANCE published in 1925 and for which I am engaged in trying to determine with help of Copyright Office whether there is a permission required. I should also mention that I wrote and secured copyright at age 16 for DIRECTORY OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS AND FOREIGN SERVICES. That is part of my Memoir of course. Sincerely, R. Stevens