Shelf life

Part of the coat Lincoln wore the night of his death and Thoreau's compass are among area libraries' hidden treasures.

They were places to hold town meetings or to buy World War I war bonds. One was once the site of a stop along the Underground Railroad.

Now they are libraries and they possess hidden treasures from the nation's past, or maybe just a tiny piece of it. But you would never know unless you ask.

For example, locked in a third-floor glass case at the Woburn Public Library is a piece of President Abraham Lincoln's coat from the night of his assassination. Sitting in the reading rooms of the Concord Free Public Library are paintings from American illustrator N.C. Wyeth. Filed away in the Lawrence Public Library are political fliers urging citizens to cast ballots for James A. Garfield for president.

Maybe it is because public libraries have a long tradition in the region. Maybe it is because the region has such a deep history, or strong connections to historical figures and events elsewhere. Concord Free Public Library curator Leslie Wilson says no one should be surprised area libraries have such treasures locked in their special collections. It has always been that way around here.

"The libraries were the first institutions where things were deposited," Wilson said. "So over the years, those have just grown."

Woburn Public Library director Kathleen O'Doherty said sometimes the library gets historical items because some people don't know where else to donate it. "Sometimes we have to turn away items," she said.

Sometimes the places where treasures are housed have their own hidden past. Take the site of the Concord library. During the mid-1800s, the home of Mary Merrick Brooks, a radical abolitionist and associate of William Lloyd Garrison, stood there. The house was used as part of the Underground Railroad. Wilson said Brooks helped "push" Ralph Waldo Emerson to the movement. "He was a little slow getting there," he said.

Of course, there are photos from the 1860s of the house before it was moved and the library was built in its place.

You just have to ask to see it.

Woburn
It is usually kept out of the public eye -- only schoolchildren on special tours are generally allowed to see it. But Woburn Public Library houses a rare piece of history -- a fragment of cloth from the coat Abraham Lincoln was wearing the night of his assassination. Other historic items can be viewed by request.

Concord
Locked in a glass case in the basement of Concord Public Library is the surveying compass used by writer Henry David Thoreau. Before achieving literary fame, Thoreau made a living in part as a property surveyor for private companies and the town of Concord. Some of the roads still in use in the area were surveyed by Thoreau using this very instrument.

Lawrence
Stacked away on the third floor of Lawrence Public Library is a vast collection of World War I posters, some of which urge citizens to save wheat, meat, fats, and sugar for victory. Many of the posters are in poor shape, and cannot be regularly displayed. Some may need to be restored. Only recently has the collection been organized.