George Monroe Wisner Library

George Monroe Wisner Library

Created in the early months of the founding of the town of Baie-Comeau, the library will have a location near the shoe section of the Hudson’s Bay Company store before having a suitable space in the recreation center of the Baie-Comeau Community Association.

From its inception, free access was enshrined in its general regulations. In a report dated January 4, 1939, its founder, Mrs. Alice Lane, described the young library in these terms :

“Ms. G.J. Lane, Library President, opened the meeting by giving a brief summary of the library’s activities. Our library currently holds 1,154 books, 670 of which are in French. There are 210 members who regularly borrow from our library.”

In 1939, 12.5% ​​of the population was a member of the library and with this data on the number of books, we see that there were 0.68 per inhabitant. In 1954, this average would increase to 2.49 books per inhabitant (Baie-Comeau and Hauterive).

In 1944, Colonel Robert McCormick donated new furniture for the library and, through the company, a donation of 1,000 books. The library was renamed in honor of George Monroe Wisner, an engineer friend of the city’s founder. Both men served on the Sanitary District of Chicago, the former as chief engineer and the Colonel as a city councilman from 1905 to 1910. In 1947, the owner of the Hotel Deininger donated 500 books.

Baie-Comeau was a literate city despite its geographical distance. This situation is largely due to Ms. Lane’s sustained efforts to ensure quality and a range of services worthy of major centers.