Naperville - a City that Reads

  • Shobha Lidder
  • India
  • Sep 19, 2014

 

 

 

For sixty-seven years there was no library in the city. Then came a professor, James L Nichols, who transformed the lives of the people of Naperville. He came from Germany, with his mother and stepfather, in an immigrant ship. His mother died during childbirth two years later. “When my darling mother died,  I was left among strangers...friendless and homeless. I was eight years old,” he said. He began to work as farm labour. He suffered physical abuse at the hands of his masters, who were cruel and heartless. He worked like a slave. He lived on dry bread and ate corn from the fields, drank water from the horse trough and slept in barns even on freezing winter nights. His suffering was  intense. Yet, from somewhere deep within he developed a keenness to read and learn. That very thought began to inspire him. He scrounged money from his meager earnings to buy books. He attended Sunday school, and taught himself to read English. His dedication paid off handsomely. At the young age of 19 he was certified to teach. Young Nichols arrived in Naperville in 1876, with the intention of graduating from the North Western College. He did so with honours and began to teach Business and Economics at the Commercial department. He then launched his own book publishing company. He wrote books - famous among them being ‘The Business Guide’ – a story of a business professor counseling the youth. The book was translated into German & Spanish. He wrote many such  guides: ‘safe citizenship’ - on marriage and civil rights of women; on ‘business removes local prejudices, breaks down personal antipathies, builds the whole family of man together in ties of association & mutual dependent interests...’. He helped many struggling students complete their studies, by giving them timely financial and academic aid. One such student, Elizabeth Barnard, became his wife. Since his childhood was full of hardships and suffering, and he had been deprived of studying at a young age, he offered students jobs in his book company, so that they could earn for their education. He offered them food and boarding. However, due to ill health he died at an early age of 44. James L Nichols dictated his biography & his last will from his deathbed, in a sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan. He bequeathed $10000/ - towards the building of a public library in the city of Naperville, so that every child, rich or poor, could have the right to read. He bequeathed $10,000 to his college for the building of a gymnasium. Unfortunately it burnt down in 1930.

The first library was built on Washington Street in 1898, after his death. However, at the opening there were no books in the library. All the money had been spent on the construction of the building. The nearly 300 people who attended the grand opening, brought a book each as a gift to the library. The Naperville Women’s Club donated 500 books. The community spirit of the people of Naperville came alive! On 11 March 1986, the old library moved to a new location, at Jefferson Avenue. A new library was built at Naper Boulevard  in 1992. On September 21, 2003 a third library came into existence - almost 105 years after the first Nichols library. The old library at Washington Street now hosts the Truth Lutheran Church. Edna Ross was the first librarian. Matie E Egermann served as a librarian for over 40 years - from 1909 to 1950. She is well remembered for having collected the local Naperville history from the residents; she loved children and had a collection of dolls from across the world. During World War II she wrote to the soldiers at war and displayed their pictures in the library. Rose Barnard, another librarian, rode to work on her horse! The Naperville Public Library (NPL) offers reading incentives to a diverse ethnic society. There is a facility of  free home delivery of books for members with disability, & seniors. The NPL Business Services Team helps people find reliable businesses and online jobs. Membership cardholders can avail of discounts at various stores and events. Volunteers offered a total of 10,000 hours of free services to the library last year. All this has sprung from the philanthropic spirit of a man who valued books and education; being deprived himself, he wished no other to be deprived. The mission statement of the Nichols Public Library is: ‘A place to be. The place to become... ‘. Professor James L Nichols is an inspiration of an invincible spirit to serve humanity. Born penniless, he gifted the city of Naperville a wealth of learning. The city salutes him !

 


 

 

Ben Jonson:

 

 

‘Language most shows a man

 

 

Speak that I may see thee...

 

 

No glass renders a man’s form of likeness so true
   As his speech’

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writer, Journalist, Teacher, Trainer, Social Activist, Reiki Master, Pranic Healer


Karen Wickman, AS Librarian Karen Dunford

Kay Severinsen, Board member Arpan Lidder, MBA, MIS, Scrum, PMP

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