Haverhill Public Library trustees took a moment Thursday to recognize the late Olive Reynolds Macdougall, the woman whose unprecedented $14 million gift is transforming the community cultural hub by sparking a $17 million renovation project.
In brief remarks, Vice Chair Richard J. Sheehan Jr. recalled Macdougall’s love for the library and how she understood its importance to the community as more than just a repository for books. Her bequest represents the single largest gift made by a private individual to a library in the Commonwealth.
“We are here to ensure our library continues to have the resources to innovate, expand and serve every single person who walks through our doors,” Sheehan said.
Sheehan noted Macdougall was also a generous contributor to other Haverhill institutions including Whittier Birthplace. She also left a bequest to fund stem cell research at Massachusetts General Hospital and was, along with her husband, an incorporator and donor to the Perkins School for the blind in Watertown. Sheehan said Macdougall was a regular library patron and donor and helped create endowed funds.
“Olive has given us a transformative gift. It is our job now to continue that into the future,” he added.
Macdougall was born July 29, 1923, and grew up in Chatham. She worked as nurse and member of the nursing faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She moved to Haverhill in 1968 when she married John S. Macdougall Jr., a prominent Haverhill lawyer and probate court judge. She died Nov. 15, 2021, at 98.
Against a backdrop of library bookshelves, trustees hefted ceremonial sledgehammers to mark the beginning of a year of construction which will transform the library inside and out.
Trustees are preparing to launch a public capital campaign to raise the additional $3 million. So far, the project has garnered $677,000 in pledges including $75,000 each from Haverhill Bank and George C. Wadleigh Foundation, shrinking the balance needed to $2.3 million, according to Cecily Craighill Davis, who is managing the drive. Donations may be made online at HaverhillPL.org.
The library at 99 Main St. will remain open during the course of the construction, though parking in the Stage Street lot is limited.
Dignitaries attending Thursday’s event included Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners member Jessica Vilas Novas, who is from Haverhill; state Rep. Ryan M. Hamilton; and Haverhill City Councilors Thomas J. Sullivan and Ralph T. Basiliere. Other library trustees in attendance were Haverhill Mayor Melinda E. Barrett, who serves a chair; Kathy Bresnahan; Deborah Coletti; Joan Kimball; and Daniel Lyons. Kate Veasey Sirois was out of town.
As WHAV previously reported, the project includes a new roof, large picture windows replacing the solid wall on the Summer Street side of the building and a redesigned entrance on Stage Street. Inside, a new teen area will be added and more small meeting spaces created. The children’s room will be opened up and a flexible multipurpose community room replaces the Johnson Auditorium. Like the original 1875 library, the building will be privately paid.
Large picture windows will replace solid walls on the Summer Street side of the Haverhill Public Library as part of the planned $17 million overhaul set to get underway in May. This artist’s rendering shows the new handicapped accessible street level entrance at the left of the image. (Courtesy graphic.)