Happy Birthday!

A Speech Presented at the Silver Spring Library's 70th Anniversary Celebration

20 October 2001

by Paulette Dickerson


When the Founding Fathers of this country penned the phrase "all men are created equal" they would not have included some of us as "men" --- but when later generations read that phrase, they made it true.

Public schools and public libraries are the agents of equality in modern America --- more than law, more than commerce, more than community --- schools and libraries are agents of change. They are stewards of freedom.

Whether we use them much ourselves is moot --- with the ideal of equity, libraries and schools shape the society we live in.

In the summer of 1931, Mrs. Charlotte Beers and her women's group got permission to start a children's library in three empty rooms at the East Silver Spring School. That was the birth of the Silver Spring Library. That was the birth of this community and Mrs. Beers was our Founding Mother.

We are here to celebrate that birthday. So I say, "Happy birthday, Mrs. Beers." Happy birthday Silver Spring.

Happy birthday Freedom.



Paulette Dickerson P.O. Box 598 Kensington, MD. 20895-0598
pdickerson(at)hers.com
http://librariesfriend.com
Private Citizen / Library Advocate
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E-Mail: "pdickerson (at) hers.com"
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