Alice M. Carden Harriman

Alice May (Carden) Harriman, who appears in the town reports as Mrs. A. M. Harriman, was librarian of the Bennett Public Library from 1945 until her death in January 1955 (see Library Director). The library was still run by the private Bennett Public Library Association with the help of a yearly town appropriation, and she took charge of it after the death on January 7, 1945 of Mary A. B. Snell, who had been librarian for 21 years. When she died, the association spoke of her "thirty years of devoted service" to the library, ten of them as its librarian.

She ran two libraries from the start, the main library at the Centre and the Pinehurst branch, with an assistant at Pinehurst. Association president Charles H. Eames wrote in his report for 1946 that the people of Billerica hardly realized what she, her assistant and Mrs. Snell had contributed to the town, and that "they have measured their compensation by the satisfaction of contributing to the welfare of the Town rather than in the monetary return." The next year the directors noted that the librarians had also taken on "the management and care of the libraries, as differentiated from the more usual duties of librarians," and took action on their pay. Circulation climbed steadily under her: 28,754 volumes in 1947 and 30,284 in 1948, when the president remarked that the Bennett Public Library "is becoming a really large library." When the Pinehurst assistant resigned in 1948, she brought back Mrs. Parsons, who had worked there when the branch first opened under Mrs. Snell.

By 1951 the association was running a third library, a branch at North Billerica. When the assistant at the North branch resigned in October 1953, it was arranged that Mrs. Harriman, as head librarian, would take over the duties there herself, while a group of volunteers helped her at the desk during the evening sessions. That year the library was also surveyed by Miss Alice E. Cahill of the State Division of Library Extension.

Alice Harriman died on January 17, 1955. In its report for 1954 the association wrote: "It is hard to report simply the shocking loss of our librarian, Mrs. Alice M. Harriman, after thirty years of devoted service. In a very real sense, the Bennett Public Library has been, as it should have been, her library, and it has been a good one." Volunteers and two professional helpers kept the library open after her death, and the board appointed Mildred Dodd to succeed her. The 1955 town report carried a memorial to Alice May (Carden) Harriman, "Beloved Librarian of Bennett Public Library Association for ten years."

References

1. Report of the Bennett Public Library Association, 1946, by Charles H. Eames (Mrs. A. M. Harriman as Librarian; tribute to her and Mrs. Snell)
2. Report of the Bennett Public Library Association, 1947 (librarians took on management and care of the libraries; circulation 28,754)
3. Report of the Bennett Public Library Association, 1948 (Mrs. Harriman secures Mrs. Parsons for Pinehurst; circulation 30,284)
4. Report of the Bennett Public Library Association, 1951 (three libraries: Center, Pinehurst and North Billerica)
5. Report of the Bennett Public Library Association, 1953 (Mrs. Harriman takes over the North branch; state survey)
6. Report of the Bennett Public Library Association, 1954 (death of Mrs. Alice M. Harriman after thirty years of service)
7. Report of the Bennett Public Library Association, 1955 (death of Mrs. Harriman; Mrs. Mildred Dodd appointed)
8. In Memoriam, Alice May (Carden) Harriman, died January 17, 1955, Town Report 1955