It’s better than never being late.
A California man returned a library book 100 years past the due date, according to a report.
Jim Perry dropped his degraded and worn 1892 American Family History earlier this month at the St. Helena Public Library, about 20 miles west of Santa Rosa.
“This is an old book that our family has kept for five generations,” said Perry. told the Washington Post He wondered if the library would be interested in storing historical artifacts, so he told the front desk:
Historian Benson Rossing said that the book was probably part of the original collection of the St. There was found.
The textbook predates movies, airplanes, and highways, and was discovered in a library in 1927 by someone in Perry’s wife’s family.
After doing some research, Perry believes the book was probably borrowed from his wife’s grandfather, John McCormick, who wanted it to start teaching American history to his two young daughters. rice field.
“This is the oldest I have ever seen, definitely,” said librarian Chris Cryden. “I mean, we had a lot of things going on.” [checked out for] It could take two, three, maybe five years, but it’s the first time it’s been this long.”
According to Perry, the book has been sitting in a box at her parents’ house for the past few years, and they even moved to Napa together in 2015.
After rediscovering the history book during spring cleaning, Perry decided it was time to return it to its rightful owner.
“I didn’t realize how special it was,” Perry said.
Luckily for Perry, the St. Helens Public Library stopped charging late fees in 2019. That means Perry won’t have to pay the $1,700 bill she inherited from her grandfather-in-law.
Part of Cryden’s history is now ‘collapsed’ stored in a display case It’s near the entrance to the library, next to the reading room and the Carnegie Building picture.
Flip through the back cover of this fragile book to reveal the original return date stamp: February 21, 1927.
Cryden said the textbooks could soon be moved to an archive box or given to a local historical society for further preservation.
“It’s never too late to return library books,” says Clyden.
