Katherine B.
5/5
Loved visiting this library! The Peabody room on the 3rd floor is especially cool- although it's mainly an archive for research purposes, passerbys are also welcomed. The history of the library itself is featured prominently in the displays up there, and the floor's librarian/archivist Jerry was also an amazing storyteller and brought the crazy series of events to life.
Apparently the original Georgetown library building burned down almost entirely in 2007, after a contractor started a fire while using a heat tool on the windows. Everyone evacuated safely, but the roof collapsed and destroyed most of the library. Only the original Peabody archives room annex survived the collapse, although the art was very heavily damaged and many books suffered extreme water damage.
Since the Peabody archives were originally donated by philanthropist George Peabody (back when the Georgetown area was one of increasingly fewer cities in the US to still be missing a library), that somehow meant that its restoration wouldn't be paid for by the city, because it was a donated collection? I think? Anyway. Since the city wouldn't pay to restore the Peabody room after the fire, it came down to fundraising. It would have cost 1.5 million to restore the archive fully, but only like 150-200k could be raised from the community; fortunately this money seems to have been wisely spent in restoring the archive, including the restoration of precious historical portraits which are really fun to look at.
My favorite portrait was the one of Yarrow Mamout, painted and donated by a local teenager. I don't know whether that portrait was actually damaged in the fire, but what makes it really special is that it's one of very few existing portraits of (formerly) enslaved people. Yarrow's biography was there as well- From Slave Ship to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family- and it looked like a fascinating read. And from Harvard to the Smithsonian!! The Smithsonian Museum borrowed this portrait of Yarrow Mamout from the Georgetown library for a year or two in the late 2010s to feature in their exhibits.
The third floor views are amazing too- the long haul up the stairs is worth it for the unique perspective on the city alone. While you're up there, I recommend checking out the thoughtfully curated displays, portraits, etc. It's basically a tiny museum. But the real highlight would be hearing the story of the library from Jerry, who honestly seems like the driving force behind the restoration of the library's Peabody archives in the first place. His perspective, insight, and passion, as someone who watched his library burn down and then worked for years to restore it, is just incredible.
The rest of the library was also very nice. I appreciated the ample seating/ tables/ computers, as well as the little park surrounding the building. The book collection seems a bit small, compared to the Arlington library for instance, but then the Georgetown library also seemed to be working with a smaller space than Arlington, and of course also with devastating losses to its catalog in 2007. I'd definitely appreciate also having a lot more book displays and featured collections of books, which have at other libraries exposed me to some of my now favorite reads. Still, the Georgetown Library is a fantastic place to read or work! I'm sure I'll be back.
I hope Georgetown always continues to treasure this fantastic library! 📚 ❤️
