Sesquicentennial 03 Sesquicentennial Minutes 1894 Free Traveling Library

[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]