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The Bethlehem Globe-Times – May 5, 1960
NEW RECORD PLAYERS given to the Bethlehem Public Library this morning by the Bethlehem Friends of Music are tried out after presentation. Enjoying Mozart on left-hand machine are Elmer L. Mack, seated, president of the library board, and Matt Gillespie. Mrs. Bradley Stoughton, seated, waits for Miss Amy E. Preston, librarian, to play record, at right, as Mrs. Victor Reis looks on. (Globe-Times Photo)
Expressing the pleasure of Bethlehem Friends of Music in making the gift, Mrs. Victor Reis, presented Miss Amy Preston, head librarian of Bethlehem Public Library with two sets of record-playing equipment and a collection of about 100 new classical records this morning.
Mrs. Reis, outgoing president of the Friends of Music, represented the board of directors. Special appreciation, Mrs. Reis said, should go to Dr. Ifor Jones and Mrs. Daniel Leeson. Mrs. Leeson is a former record librarian of New York City's Record Library and a new comer to Bethlehem.
Miss Preston said, "modern libraries cover not only the printed word but all forms of communication — and go beyond the printed word into the realm of recorded communication."
Miss Preston noted that there has been a demand for a good collection of long-playing records in the Bethlehem library. "We hope it will grow and be used and that in the future it will branch out into a lending record library," she said.
Elmer Mack, president of the library board, said "This imaginative gift from the Friends of Music shows a great awareness of our needs and we shall cherish it. Moreover, I am sure the budget for next year and every succeeding year must make room for augmenting this collection."
Mayor Earl Schaffer, said, in referring to Bethlehem's musical traditions, "They have a way of becoming tarnished and meaningless unless they are burnished by each succeeding generation. This gift is a step in that direction."
Dr. Jones, director of the Bethlehem Bach Choir, said "We hope to build a library of musical recordings by the great artists of our time."
Matt Gillespie, incoming president of the Friends, noted that young adults should have the best in listening pleasure.
It was brought out that limitations of library staff and present size of the collection would make the lending of new records impossible.
The executive board of the Friends met at luncheon in Hotel Bethlehem following the presentation.
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