[people murmuring]
- John Russell: This really is the first rural,
free traveling library in the nation.
They started out with 500 books in the 16 stations.
They'd leave Menomonie on a horse-drawn cart
and distribute them about every six months or so.
The libraries were located in post offices and stores.
And in one case, a milkman carried the library with him
in the milk truck.
The bookcase would include items on cooking,
homemaking, farming.
But they said in the first 1,400 withdrawals,
they never lost a book.
Everybody brought them back.
Certainly, the traveling free library
that was established here and in other areas too,
it eventually evolved into what we now know as bookmobiles.
[gentle music]