League of Women Voters - Currituck County

September 10, 5:30 League Meeting

Nancy — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:01:37 +0000

Topic: Currituck County Public Library

Guest Speaker:

Vicky Hagemeister, Librarian
4261 Caratoke Hwy
Barco, NC 27917
Phone: 252-453-8345
Fax: 252-453-8717
E-mail: vhagemeister@earlibrary.org

The Currituck County Public Library, is located at 4261 Caratoke Highway in front of the campus of Currituck County Middle School. The library provides information and recreational materials in a variety of formats to the citizens of the County. The library is a member of the East Albemarle Regional Library System and makes the resources of the counties of Currituck, Dare, Camden, and Pasquotank available to the residents of Currituck County. The Moyock Library, located on Tulls Creek Rd., will open to the public on October 1, 2009.

In 1930, philanthropist Joseph P. Knapp bought a Model A Ford for the county to use as a bookmobile. Books were stored in the rumble seat and distributed to schools around the county. Mr. Knapp also provided funds to hire the county’s first librarian, Eloise Ward in 1931.

Miss Ward’s first job was to organize and run the County’s two high school libraries in Moyock and Poplar Branch. In the summer she drove the Model A to Moyock, Sligo, Shawboro, Barco, Coinjock, Currituck, Maple and Poplar Branch each week, a trip of around 300 miles. Every two weeks, she alternated between Knott’s Island and Corolla Beach. The books were provided free of charge by the North Carolina Library Commission and approximately 500 books a week were borrowed. Bookmobile service lasted until 1935 when the bank failures of the Great Depression brought an end to support from the Knapp Foundation.

Independent of the bookmobile, The Moyock Women’s Club was starting a library in the north end of the county. On May 25, 1933, the Club voted to accept a gift of 10 books and create a bookshelf in the club room. Over the next several years, members donated books, magazines and money to build the collection. By the middle of 1935, 118 books were available for members to borrow.

In the fall of 1938, Miss Lillie Grandy informed her fellow club members that if they could get 300 books and open to the public 3 days a week, the W.P.A. would provide funds to hire a worker. Club members began collecting books and by the summer of 1939, Mrs. Maud Murray was hired to operate the library which was open five days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m..

Problems with W.P.A. funding caused staffing problems over the next year but in February 1941, word came from Raleigh that the state’s first Library Appropriation Bill which would give funding to counties to provide county-wide library service.

A Library Board was appointed and by December of 1941, the Moyock Women’s Club library had moved to R.E. West’s former auto repair shop and the County library was formally established with a budget of $1,298.35 received from the state and $300.00 from the County. The library in Moyock became a distribution center from which books were sent to community centers in other parts of the county. Books were rotated every six weeks. Towards the end of the decade, in 1948, the County once again offered mobile library service when they purchased a bookmobile.

In 1950, the County hired its first certified Librarian, Miss Josephine West. She was paid a $150 a month. In 1957, the library left Moyock and moved to a room in the Historic Courthouse, then was moved again in 1961 to a store adjacent to the Courthouse.

In 1964, Currituck County became part of the East Albemarle Regional Library System.

On September 12, 1968 the Currituck County Friends of the Library was started. This group was instrumental in raising the funds to construct the original portion of the current library in Barco which was dedicated on April 13, 1975.

By the early 1990s it was recognized that a larger library was needed in Barco. This expansion and renovation was completed in the fall of 1994 and dedicated on November 6 and houses the current collection of the Currituck County Library.

Our Guest Speaker is also involved in animal care. Last year she was chosen as a Volunteer of the Year for her work at the Currituck Animal Shelter.

League hosts Equality Day

Nancy — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:48:24 +0000

League toasts 19th amendment anniversary Johnson, other women leaders celebrated By Jennifer Preyss Staff Writer Friday, August 28, 2009 Daily Advance

Currituck — Eighty-nine years after women first gained the right to vote in this country, Currituck women continue to be trailblazers. Not only have Currituck women obtained political offices once reserved for men — county commissioner, school board and clerk of Superior Court — the county is also home to one of the handful of female sheriffs in North Carolina.

“I think everyone in this room is a leader,” Currituck League of Women Voters president Nancy Proctor said, speaking to a room of about a dozen Currituck women Thursday. “I thank all of you for the leadership you provide to the county and the role model you provide for our daughters.”

The occasion was the League of Women Voters’ celebration of the 89th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the attendees included Currituck Sheriff Susan Johnson, Board of Education members Sharon Martz and Pat Stretar and Clerk of Superior Court Shelia Tyler. Each of the women were called to the front of the room where they received a gift of stationary printed with historical photos of the women’s suffrage movement that resulted, in August 1920, with the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

Proctor noted that women have come a long way since the suffragettes fought for women’s rights. But there is still a ways to go before society treats women and men equally in all aspects of life, she said. “Some of those (suffragettes) sacrificed so much of themselves and even gambled with their lives for women to vote,” Proctor said. “Many of you in this room have (made) equal sacrifices. … It’s an honor to honor you.” Proctor noted that North Carolina women have achieved a number of firsts in recent years. Elizabeth Dole, for example, was the state’s first U.S. senator. And Bev Perdue, elected last fall, is the state’s first female governor after serving as the state’s first female lieutenant governor. Referring to Johnson’s status as the county’s first female sheriff, Proctor said it shows no door should be closed to women. “That just shows our girls that you can be anything,” she said. Tyler quipped that though she wasn’t the first female clerk of Superior Court in Currituck, she was the “youngest” when she was hired. Other honorees who did not attend Thursday’s celebration include Commissioner Janet Taylor, Planning Board members Fannie Newbern and Lynn Wilson, county historian Barbara Snowden, County Clerk to the Board Gwen Keene and Airport Advisory Board Vice-President Denise Hall. “I’m amazed at the involvement of women in this county who serve on so many boards,” Proctor said.

CELEBRATING 89 YEARS OF A STRONGER DEMOCRACY

Nancy — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:26:42 +0000

This August 26 marks the 89^th anniversary of the constitutional amendment that granted women the right to vote. The nonpartisan League of Women Voters—founded the same year women achieved this right—celebrates Women’s Equality Day by remembering this historic achievement, and looking forward to greater civic participation and healthy debate on the issues that matter most to our communities.

“On this Women’s Equality Day, we take time to recognize not only the historic 19^th Amendment, but the tremendous progress we’ve made over the last 89 years in expanding and protecting voting rights,” said national League president Mary G. Wilson. “Generation after generation, the work of League of Women Voter members across the country is a testament to the incredible legacy of the 19^th Amendment.”

In June 1919, the federal women’s suffrage amendment was submitted to the states for ratification and by April 1920, 35 of the necessary 36 states had ratified. When the North Carolina legislature met on 10 August 1920, both North Carolina and Tennessee were considering the suffrage amendment and its ratification. It appeared not only that the Nineteenth Amendment would be ratified, but that North Carolina could be the final state required to do so. On 17 August 1920, state senator Lindsay Warren proposed that the Senate postpone the ratification vote until the next legislative session. Warren’s motion passed by a vote of 25 to 23, crushing any chance that North Carolina would be the final state in the ratification process.. By August 21, however, Tennessee upheld ratification by a unanimous 49 to 0 vote and women officially gained the right to vote in the United States.

“The League of Women Voters of Currituck County believes that the hands-on work of an engaged citizenry can and does lead to civic improvement at all levels of government,” says Nancy Proctor, President of LWV Currituck.. “Women’s Equality Day is a celebration of such a basic part of our democratic process—the right to vote—and the opportunities to channel that power into real, lasting change, starting at the grassroots level. As an League member, you have the opportunity to have a profound, direct and positive impact on the issues that matter most to our community, and what better day than the anniversary of the 19^th Amendment to get involved?”

Join the League of Women Voters of Currituck County

Nancy — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:07:52 +0000

Join Today

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL FORM 2009-2010

League of Women Voters of Currituck County

Membership dues for Fiscal Year 09-10 are due by July 31, 2009

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