As longtime readers of the blog know, one of my favorite of Maine’s outstanding public libraries is Friend Memorial Public Library in Brooklin. We happen to be enjoying our annual sojourn in Brooklin, which inspires me to build upon the July 22 post of my blogmate, Matt Cost, “Libraries Make the Reading World Go Round” in which he captured so well the value of Maine libraries.

Friend Memorial Public Library, Brooklin, Maine

A library reflects its community, so it’s no wonder that in tiny Brooklin, population 829, Friend Memorial would take on the ambitious work of launching a $2.5 million capital campaign to expand the library and support the establishment of a maritime research center.

The MRC, to be located in the new addition, will hold an expansive book collection donated by Jon Wilson, founder of WoodenBoat magazine and later the WoodenBoat school. He amassed 6,700 volumes, many rare and irreplaceable, in the areas of boat building and repair, design, engines, fisheries, navigation and piloting, rigging and sails, maritime and yachting history, and a wide range of other topics. The collection also contains runs of other periodicals from early in the 20^th century and vertical file drawers of technical information, clippings, and design pages. If you’re into All Things Wooden Boats, this promises to be the veritable library of Constantinople.

Students moving a finished boat, Credit: WoodenBoat School.

The Anne and Maynard Bray Maritime Research center collection also will include 155,000 images from renowned maritime photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz, who has donated slides of his work from the years 1979 through 2005.

The center takes its name from Maynard Bray, 91, a historian of American shipbuilding and the author of many books about wooden boats, including the classic Book of Wooden Boats. His late wife, Anne Bray, also brought considerable knowledge to the field of wooden boats as the librarian of Jon Wilson’s collection housed at WoodenBoat School. You might be interested in this 2024 conversation between Jon Wilson, Maynard Bray and Steve White, recently retired president of Brooklin Boat Yard.  Be sure to click on the link at the bottom of part one to get to part two:

https://www.classicyachts.org/a-conversation-with-jon-wilson-and-maynard-bray-and-a-tour-of-traditional-maine-boatyards/

The impressive undertaking of a maritime research center reflects the Friend’s commitment to the distinct community and history of the town, as public libraries tend to do. Friend has long enjoyed the generosity of many benefactors, notably including Katherine White and E.B. White, and its programming exquisitely represents a deep investment in local readers and artists of all ages.

The new addition will be built on the south side of the current library, which was built more than a century ago.

Brooklin is proud to call itself the Boatbuilding Capital of the World. In keeping with the tradition, its small but mighty library soon will have a world-class maritime and boat-building collection for all to use and love. Just one more example of a public library doing what libraries do best:   Preserving access to a precious body of knowledge for everyone and for the future.

Brenda Buchanan sets her novels in and around Portland. Her three-book Joe Gale series features a contemporary newspaper reporter with old-school style who covers the courts and crime beat at the fictional Portland Daily Chronicle. Brenda’s short story, “Means, Motive, and Opportunity,” was in the anthology Bloodroot: Best New England Crime Stories 2021 and received an honorable mention in Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022. Her story Assumptions Can Get You Killed appears in Wolfsbane: Best New England Crime Stories 2023. She’s now busy with new projects.