117 Faithfully yours

Faithfully Yours, C. Vernon Eddy

Every so often, one of us reflects on a Winchester notable who was important to us. C. Vernon Eddy, who held the position as Handley Library Director for forty-six years, is someone I greatly admire. When preparing the centennial history of the library, we talked to a few library users who remembered him. 

No one had fond memories of him.

It does make sense. He was not well during his last years on the job  He did not seem to get along with children--at least not when most of those who remembered him were children. But every one of them loved the library that he created.

Judge John Handley died February 15, 1895, leaving $250,000, to purchase land and erect a “public library for the free use of the people of Winchester.” Eighteen years later in 1913, C. Vernon Eddy, at age 35, began as the first library director. He was a Winchester native, but when he applied for the position, he was working as an assistant manager at a printing company in Philadelphia.

In fact, he had been in the printing business since he was 14. He and his 16-year-old brother, J. Frank Eddy, while they were school students in 1892, decided to buy a printing press. They earned money to buy a press by sawing wood for a penny a piece. They earned the $3.46 necessary to buy a small press to print labels. It arrived and they discovered that their purchase did not include type or ink. The brothers went back to sawing wood! The Eddy Press grew, and the brothers, now out of school, went professional. They bought bigger and bigger presses, moved several times to larger quarters, and hired workers.

The citizens of Winchester were impatiently waiting for
their library to open, as this Winchester Star cartoon shows.

The Handley Board of Trustees elected him as Librarian in June 1912. He went back to Philadelphia and received library training at the Free Library of Philadelphia. He began at Handley in January 1913.

Eddy described the library when he entered it in January 1913:

“There was no furniture whatever in the building; no books, nothing but an empty building.” He purchased everything after January in time for an August opening. That would be a difficult task today even with the resources of the internet and printed catalogs. 

It is interesting to note some of the remarks that Eddy made at the August 31, 1913, grand opening. He pointed out that Winchester was singularly fortunate that the people of Winchester received a

a free library without any obligation to pay for its continuing operating costs. He stated that Andrew Carnegie gave libraries to cities and towns upon the condition that the community benefited furnish the site and maintain the library, but Judge Handley imposed no conditions upon his bequest to Winchester. I wonder if Eddy ever regretted that optimistic forecast.

His reports in subsequent years did lament not enough money to purchase books, pay salaries, or maintain the building. In 1929, Winchester City Council appropriated $1,000 to purchase books—that brought the budget up to around $10,000. Much lobbying by civic groups and the Handley Board of Trustees brought about this first government appropriation to the library. However, the library mainly scraped by on the interest from the Handley Trust Library fund.

Eddy frequently discussed the antiquated plumbing and other library maintenance issues. He once reported this need in a unique manner: 

“There is one service that The Handley Library provides in the matter of Civic Service and that is the fact that the building is kept open most of the time during the two days of the Apple Blossom Festival. We are proud of the fact that we aid so much by providing rest rooms and a drinking fountain to help make our guests to the City welcome: 
     Our plumbing is a comfort but certainly not our pride.” 

That report made in 1956 was the last one signed by C. Vernon Eddy. He retired before there were any plumbing or lighting repairs.

One extraordinary story about Eddy is that of his pursuit and discovery of the papers and maps of Jedediah Hotchkiss. During the Civil War, Hotchkiss served as mapmaker for both Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. Eddy learned in 1928 that the maps were located in Staunton at the house where Hotchkiss had lived. 

Eddy spent the next twenty years working to make certain that researchers would have access to these maps and papers that were vital to the study of campaigns of the Civil War. He arranged a detailed listing of the large collection. Eddy also made many trips and engaged in extensive correspondence with anxious heirs and prospective buyers until the Library of Congress purchased the collection in 1948. In gratitude for all of Eddy’s endeavors, Ellen Christian, granddaughter of Hotchkiss, held three maps back from the sale and gave them to Handley Library.

Eddy signed his correspondence, "Faithfully yours," and he was also a faithful servant to the community. He was a Mason for sixty-four years, a Grand Master of Masons of Virginia in 1937, secretary to the local lodge for thirty-seven years, and held many other Masonic posts and honors. He was twice president of the Virginia Library Association and a founding member of the Winchester Rotary Club. He also gave service to the First Presbyterian Church, the Salvation Army, the Boy Scouts, the American Red Cross, and the Historical Society. During both world wars, he was a leader in collecting books for distribution to the armed forces.

Eddy retired in 1960. From many accounts, his last years at the library were difficult. His wife died in 1953. Staff members frequently provided him with meals. Although the City contributed funds to the library, the library did not come under the City’s administration until after Eddy left. The library lacked the means to provide retirement funds. Eddy “retired” in 1960 when he could no longer physically make it into the library. He died in 1963.

The Handley Board of Trustees’ Tribute of Respect to Charles Vernon Eddy reads in part: “For many years, he literally lived for The Handley Library, and seemingly his greatest desire was to see the Library grow in usefulness. He was a man of outstanding character and reflected honor on this institution. His memory is a glowing example of long continued devotion to the public needs of his home community. . . Only the shortage of financial assistance limited the advancement which he envisioned for this Library.”

Eddy kept the library open for long hours with minimum staff. Beyond his work on the Hotchkiss maps, his efforts in collecting rare historical materials formed the beginnings of the library archives. He kept the library in the public eye through constant publicity and community activities. 

In other ways, his career as a librarian was typical of the time. He did not have a professional degree in Library Science; he did not have a college degree of any kind. He kept Tom Jones in a locked case and the Kinsey Report under the desk. But he was the man for his times—his record of service and achievements will never be matched.

Trish  

For fuller information on Eddy's life and career, see the entry I wrote for the online Dictionary of Virginia Biography:

  http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Eddy_C_Vernon_1877-1963#start_entry