By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer
Marlborough – In 1967, Ray Johnson was appointed by then-Mayor Frank Walker as a trustee of the Marlborough Public Library. When the Friends of the Marlborough Public Library was founded in February 1970, he served as vice president with Dr. William Castelli as president for its first two years. Johnson is now beginning his 44th year as president of the Friends, which is in its 46th season.
“For our first program, we had a curator from the Worcester Art Museum and it cost us $50,” he recalled. “We hadn’t started a treasury yet, so Dr. Castelli and I each put in $25 to pay for it. Now in our 46th year, we’re up to an annual budget of $23,000. This year we’ll have 17 free programs.”
The Friends group has faced challenges along the way. Early meetings were held in the vacant former post office building on Mechanic Street, a temporary site after an arsonist set fire to the library in 1967. The renovated library opened in April 1970 with a formal dedication in June.
Several Friends members accepted chairmanships including Martha Yacyshyn, the first music chair for whom the current concert series is named, Johnson noted.
“She said that if we were going to have music programs, then we’d need a fine piano,” he relayed. “In three months during the summer and fall of 1970 we raised $5,000 to buy the library a Steinway piano, which is still in the auditorium. It’s now valued at $35,000.”
Unfortunately, the library basement and its Bigelow Auditorium was flooded by a storm this summer. The piano suffered damage from moisture, costing the Friends $4,200 to repair.
“With all the music chairs we’ve had over the years, the Yacyshyn Concert Series has covered every type of music – jazz, bluegrass, country, opera, classical, popular,” Johnson said.
The Friends also present a Special Programs Series. On Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m., Stephen Collins will perform “Irish Voices,” a one-man show highlighting prominent writers’ tales of Ireland.
Scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is their annual Fall Book and Bake Sale.
“The book and bake sales are our major fundraisers,” Johnson said. “People donate books all year. We usually end up with 8,000 to 10,000 books for each the fall and spring sales.”
Entry forms will soon be available for their 44th annual Regional Juried Art Exhibit to be held Monday, Nov. 9, through Sunday, Nov. 15.
“It’s really grown the last couple of years,” Johnson said. “The quality is always maintained because it’s a juried art show.”
Johnson is most excited about the 33rd annual Author/Celebrity Series, which is named after its founder Leo McConnell. Beginning in 1982, McConnell hosted notable guests ranging from historian Robert Dallek, author specializing in United States presidents, to culinary luminary Julia Child.
“Now, we’re fortunate to have Hank Phillippi Ryan hosting,” Johnson said of the novelist and investigative reporter for WHDH-TV, Channel 7. “It was exciting to see her with the four authors last year and she agreed to host it again.”
The first of her four presentations of the McConnell Author/Celebrity Series will be Thursday, November 19, at 7 p.m.
While the Friends group has grown, their mission has remained the same, Johnson noted.
“Bertha Shapiro, the director in 1970, wanted the Friends to support the cultural life of the city and the library, and it’s worked out tremendously,” he said. “The Friends is the only nonprofit organization in Marlborough that has offered to enrich cultural lives by experiencing free programs in the arts.”
For more information about the Friends of the Marlborough Public Library, visit mpl-friends.org.