Overdue library magazine returned after 132 years

After the Concord Public Library in New Hampshire announced a fine freeze, a man has returned an overdue magazine published in 1894.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Many of us know what it's like to check something out from the library and then forget all about it until it's overdue, maybe by a week, maybe by a month.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Well, a magazine from 1894 was just returned to the Concord Public Library in New Hampshire about 132 years overdue. Archivist Jennifer Needham handled the return.

JENNIFER NEEDHAM: Every day on a public library circulation desk, you get a lot of surprises. But it was a pleasant surprise.

SUMMERS: Earlier this month, Concord Public Library announced a freeze on all overdue fines for one year through September 2027. Not long after that, a man named John Hanson walked in.

NEEDHAM: He said, I think that I have something to return to you that is the oldest thing you may have ever received back to the library.

KELLY: It turned out to be an issue of the Century illustrated monthly magazine, published in September 1894. Needham says Hanson did not know where the magazine had come from, didn't know who originally borrowed it, but it did have a Concord Public Library book plate right there, along with this inscription.

NEEDHAM: Then it outlines in capital letters, may be kept for one week. So obviously they didn't follow those directions.

KELLY: If there was going to be an overdue fine, Needham calculates at 25 cents a day, that would add up to more than $12,000.

SUMMERS: Needham says it's pretty cool to have this piece of what she calls library history in her hands.

NEEDHAM: First, it documents a magazine title that the Concord Public Library circulated during the late 19th century. And then it also documents what people were reading at the time.

SUMMERS: This magazine, it looks nothing like anything you'd see on newsstands today. For one thing, it's over 200 pages long with a marbled hard cover.

KELLY: It's full of essays and poems and illustrations, and, of course, lots of advertisements for tobacco products, chewing gum, even a bath tub.

NEEDHAM: Your first bath in a porcelain-lined tub will be a revelation.

SUMMERS: Overall, Needham says the magazine's in really good shape for its age. Well, except for one thing.

NEEDHAM: The illustration of Abraham Lincoln has been cut out, and that's the only thing that's been cut out in this whole magazine. So I just think that's super interesting (laughter).

KELLY: Now, this gem will not go back into circulation, but Needham says she will eventually put it on display in the Concord Library once some of the attention dies down a little.

SUMMERS: And for those of you with overdue library books squirreled away at home, she has this message.

NEEDHAM: Just return it. Don't be afraid of libraries (laughter) or librarians, for that matter.

(SOUNDBITE OF REFUGEE CAMP ALL STARS SONG, "THE SWEETEST THING")

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