The Coloma Library has a rich and interesting past. The first Coloma Library was established around 1937 by the Federation of Womens’ Club. The three women who were the driving force in this organization were Anna Follett, Edna Shorey, and Helen Leach.
Initially books were housed in the bedroom of the home of Edna Shorey. Coloma residents would drive to Madison and select various books and bring them back to the village. When it was time to return these books they were packaged in boxes and sent back to Madison. From 1958-1960, the Coloma Free Library was moved from private homes to the Coloma Village Hall and Fire Station building. Mrs. Runnels and Mrs. Wallendahl oversaw the library and it’s books, which were kept locked in glass door cabinets.
Interest in the library diminished and in 1960 it was closed down. The Hancock Public Library was invited to pick out what books it could use. Kenyon Follett stored the remaining books. For over 30 years, several boxes of books were also kept in the old Immanuel Lutheran Church building. For 26 years Coloma did not have a library (1960-1986).
Then in 1986 shortly after the Coloma Community and Youth Center was opened one of the three rooms of the center was arranged with books on loan from the Winnefox Library System. The Coloma Library offered about 250 books to it’s community patrons. Over the next year Barb Brown drove to Hancock each month to pick up 25 to 35 books obtained on rotation from Winnefox. However, volunteer were so scarce that books could only be checked out when there were planned activities at the community center. A need for a more structured schedule led volunteer Laura Mae Blackmore with the help of Beatrice Kitchen in September of 1988 to accept the task of establishing regular hours.
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