Quirks, Collections and Taxidermy: Vermont Libraries
February 22, 2025
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Vermont is home to about 185 libraries. Jessamyn West is on a quest to visit every single one.
“Vermont is a very make-your-own-fun kind of place,” says West, a library technologist from Randolph. She’s visited about 68 Vermont libraries so far.
“My rule is that you have to go into the building,” she says. “And I feel like if you walk into a library, you can tell an awful lot about the town in about 30 seconds.”
-Goodrich Memorial Library in Newport, Windsor Public Library, and Kimball Public Library in Randolph. Courtesy photos. Main photo / Shutterstock
Cool Things to Know about Vermont Libraries
West, who works at Kimball Public Library, is curious and knowledgeable about Vermont libraries. Here are facts she’s learned along the way:
- The Goodrich Memorial Library in Newport has a taxidermy collection with an alligator, a bobcat, a porcupine and birds.
- The Roxbury Free Library was originally built as a tearoom.
- Kimball Public Library in Randolph (where she works) has taxidermized piranhas.
- The Rutland Free Library used to be a courthouse and has old jail cells in the basement.
- The Brookfield Free Public Library is said to be the oldest library in the state.
- Vermont has four libraries built with grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York: Fletcher Free Library in Burlington, Fair Haven Free Library, Morristown Centennial Library, and Rockingham Free Public Library. (Norwich University also had a Carnegie Library. The building is now the School of Art and Architecture.)
- When construction began on the Morristown Centennial Library’s addition in 2010, a pair of 1913 shoes was discovered in the back wall of the original building. The shoes are now displayed in the library.
- Located in Derby Line and Stanstead, Québec, Haskell Free Library & Opera House straddles two nations and has a theater.
- The Windsor Public Library displays large photos of community members on its walls.
-Whiting Library, Jessamyn West, and Westford Library. Photos by Jessamyn West.
Taxidermy is one of West’s interests. She explains that taxidermy or personal collections were typically given to a library by a wealthy benefactor or local resident.
“Maybe there was a fancy person in town who had money but also wanted (the library) to take their stuffed alligator,” West says. “Or someone would come to the library and say, ‘Here’s my weird collection of pine cones or rocks.’ Some libraries kept those things and some did not.”
Happy Vermont Podcast
In this episode of Happy Vermont, West talks about visiting Vermont library attics and basements, the history of Vermont libraries, and how visiting a library can tell you a lot about a community.
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