April 10, 2025 — On Friday, March 14, President Trump signed Executive Order 14238 that targeted federal funding to libraries and museums through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). IMLS is the single largest source of critical federal funding for libraries. IMLS’ entire program of service costs 87 cents per person (U.S. population July, 2024). The Massachusetts…
Category: News
News about Forbes Library.
Library Giving Day Thank You!
April 2, 2025 — Thank you to the 296 library lovers who gave a total of $50,512 to support Forbes Library yesterday for Library Giving Day. This includes the $25,000 from the Friends of Forbes Library in matching funds. We look forward to putting your gifts to work in support of the new renovation for the Children’s and Teen’s rooms and the many library and…
April 1st is Library Giving Day
March 25, 2025 — April 1 is Library Giving Day and the Friends of Forbes Library are matching every gift up to $25,000! Your gift to Forbes Library will support everything from new books to the upcoming renovation to the Children’s and Teen’s rooms. Double your impact when you make a donation on Library Giving Day. Thank you!
Gertrude P. Smith Trustees Award Ceremony
March 18, 2025 — The Trustees of Forbes Library cordially invite you to the Gertrude P. Smith Trustees Award Ceremony to honor Richard Szlosek for his dedication and volunteer service to Forbes Library on Wednesday, April 2, at 6:30 PM in the Coolidge Museum at the Forbes Library. The event will begin with a brief business meeting of the Friends…
Forbes Library Building Stage
March 11, 2025 — For Immediate Release Press Contact: Lisa Downing, 413-587-1016 Forbes Library will be breaking ground on a new outdoor performance stage later this month. H|AI Architecture based in Northampton designed the accessible, open air, covered stage for the library’s west lawn. The stage will support a wide variety of programs including concerts, children’s programming, and outdoor…
The two inaugurations of Calvin Coolidge by Richard Szlosek
March 4, 2025 — Printed in the March 4, 2025 Daily Hampshire Gazette Calvin Coolidge’s initial presidential inauguration will forever be unique in American history. He was vice president and vacationing at his father’s home in Vermont. Upon learning of the sudden death of President Harding, he was sworn in there on Aug. 3, 1923, in the wee hours…
Coolidge Centennial Giving Day
March 4, 2025 — Tuesday March 4 is Centennial Giving Day March 4, 1925 Supreme Court Justice and former President William Howard Taft administer the oath to President Calvin Coolidge. We have chosen this historic date of the 100th anniversary of President Coolidge’s inauguration to kick off a $400,000 fundraising campaign for a new Museum exhibit and program space. …
Freedom Dreaming: Resistance, Resilience, and Repair in the Age of Trump
February 20, 2025 — Join Dr. Ousmane Power-Greene–scholar, author, and chair of the Northampton Reparations Study Commission–to discuss the history of slavery and Jim Crow in Northampton based on his work with the Documenting Black Lives in the Valley Project, the contemporary reparations movement, and the recent discovery of how slavery and slave-derived finance capital funded key institutions in…
Forbes Librarian Dylan Gaffney on Mass Appeal
February 7, 2025 — Forbes Library local history specialist, Dylan Gaffney appeared on WWLP’s Mass Appeal. In the interview he discussed research uncovered in the library’s Hampshire Room for Local History in support of Historic Northampton’s initiative “Slavery and Freedom in Northampton and in the Colonial North”. You can watch the interview on their website–the video will play automatically…
Winter Exquisite
January 10, 2025 — Zine & Diorama Fest on Saturday, February 8, 2025 11-4pm Forbes Library’s resident Zine Club is hosting a Winter-themed/inspired Zine and Diorama Festival. The event will take place from 11-4pm on Saturday, Feb. 8th, in the Reading Room on the main floor of the library. The event will accommodate 20 artist vendors, 12 dioramas, plus…
Volunteer Advisors Wanted for Racial and Social Justice Advisory Group
November 7, 2024 — Forbes Library Racial and Social Justice Advisory Group We are looking for new volunteer advisors! The RSJ Advisory Group focus You, as a member would bring What you can gain as a member Examples of outreach and inclusion efforts Meetings How to participate We invite you to attend a meeting and see if you would…
Annual Appeal
October 8, 2024 — Dear Forbes Library Supporter, What is your first memory of visiting your local library? Do you recall excitement about the books, videos, and audio that illuminated more possibilities in that world, and even opened up the possibilities of whole new worlds? What about programs like story time or summer reading that entertained and challenged? Perhaps…
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