The Incident in the Early 50's
Be sure to check out the timeline around the 1951-1952 segment. There is an unsolved history-mystery of sorts. At the time when the Board Meeting Minutes wrap up, the board has decided to go on hiatus It goes something like this:
The Library Board meets with a couple representatives of the State Library to affirm their position as a Public Township Library, not a school library, despite their presence in a school building.
The next meeting, the current librarian, Miss Hamblen, informs the board that the Board Treasurer, Mr. Price (who is also the Township Trustee), has locked her and the rest of the board out of the school and changed the locks. He has also installed a new librarian, not approved by the board, in place of Miss Hamblen.
The following months continue with the library board meeting outside the school doors, sans treasurer, to discuss how they should manage the situation. Shortly after the minutes note that they plan to take legal action, they also decide to 'only meet when necessary' because they cannot access the library.
This is roughly where the 30 year gap in minutes begins.
There is no indication of how the situation was resolved, though we can make some guesses as to how it began. From what I read, I believe that the township trustee, who was also working as the library board treasurer, was upset that his power over the library was being questioned. He felt that as trustee, he should have control of the library. The library board, having adopted the new Acts of 1947, relating to class II libraries, were actually claiming control of the library. The trustee, feeling threatened, decided to simply not recognize the actions of the Board and to perform a sort of mutiny. This is, however, speculation based on what little information I have.
The point is, no one I've been able to ask, and nothing I've found to study has made any reference to how the situation might have resolved itself. Given more time, the next step would have been to sort through the other Avon School Yearbooks of that time to see whom they listed as librarian and what other information might have been given about the library on the school property. I would also have liked to determine how long Mr. Price remained in power as the Township Trustee.
The Library Board meets with a couple representatives of the State Library to affirm their position as a Public Township Library, not a school library, despite their presence in a school building.
The next meeting, the current librarian, Miss Hamblen, informs the board that the Board Treasurer, Mr. Price (who is also the Township Trustee), has locked her and the rest of the board out of the school and changed the locks. He has also installed a new librarian, not approved by the board, in place of Miss Hamblen.
The following months continue with the library board meeting outside the school doors, sans treasurer, to discuss how they should manage the situation. Shortly after the minutes note that they plan to take legal action, they also decide to 'only meet when necessary' because they cannot access the library.
This is roughly where the 30 year gap in minutes begins.
There is no indication of how the situation was resolved, though we can make some guesses as to how it began. From what I read, I believe that the township trustee, who was also working as the library board treasurer, was upset that his power over the library was being questioned. He felt that as trustee, he should have control of the library. The library board, having adopted the new Acts of 1947, relating to class II libraries, were actually claiming control of the library. The trustee, feeling threatened, decided to simply not recognize the actions of the Board and to perform a sort of mutiny. This is, however, speculation based on what little information I have.
The point is, no one I've been able to ask, and nothing I've found to study has made any reference to how the situation might have resolved itself. Given more time, the next step would have been to sort through the other Avon School Yearbooks of that time to see whom they listed as librarian and what other information might have been given about the library on the school property. I would also have liked to determine how long Mr. Price remained in power as the Township Trustee.