From Americans in Paris to Readers in West Tisbury

The topic at hand may have been history, but all thoughts turned to the future of the on Wednesday, when famed historian David McCullough addressed a packed crowd at a benefit for the library’s expansion.

The two-tme Pulitzer Prize–winning author and long-time West Tisbury resident has been an ardent supporter of his town library, as well as its plans to . In a video posted on the library’s website, he calls libraries “one of the greatest of all American institutions.”

“We should all support it because it’s the one place where everyone can come to pursue any interest they have for nothing. It’s free,” said McCullough.

On Wednesday evening, McCullough did just that.

In a nearly one-hour discussion, McCullough regaled a sold-out audience at the with tales of Americans who pursued greatness in Paris in an often-overlooked time in history, from 1830 to 1900. His latest book, “The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris,” shines a spotlight on the academic and artistic pursuits abroad of those many men and women— including Samuel Morse, Charles Sumner and Oliver Wendell Holmes —who would later cement their place in history.

McCullough also shared lessons learned from devotion to historical scholarship. Chief among them: “Very little of consequence is ever accomplished alone.” It’s a lesson that applies both to his book, which was completed with the help of several Island residents, as well as to his efforts to help grow the library.

Attendees paid $35 for general admission to the event, all of which will go toward funding the library’s expansion.

Those funds are desperately needed. The library is the second smallest on the library (behind only Aquinnah), and yet boats the largest collection. Some 89 percent of West Tisbury residents possess a library card. In one day last August, said library trustee Dan Waters, 1,500 people came through the library’s doors.

Efforts to expand the library have been ongoing, but kicked into high gear on July 14, when the library was from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners needed to partially pay for the expansion.  

The library must now match those funds by the end of the year in order to ensure that the project can go forward.

“There’s a lot at stake. We have a $2.9 million grant we have to match,” said Waters, who called the sold-out event “maybe the biggest event the library has ever hosted.”

Waters said he has been attending fund-raising cocktail parties most every day of the week. On Tuesday, July 26 the library will present another fund-raising effort: Tuesdays at Twilight, a summer concert series held at the Grange Hall. The first concert, which takes place at 7:30 p.m., will feature singer-songwriter Willy Mason and long-time fiddle band The Flying Elbows.

McCullough’s part in fund-raising is only just beginning, as well. On August 2, he will attend a private dinner party intended for “serious donors,” said Carol Brush.  Anyone who is interested in attending the dinner may call Brush at 508-693-3489.