Remembering the Coonskin Library

Remembering the Coonskin Library

Bob Avery has a small raccoon tail dangling from his keychain, and if you ask him he'll unlock the door to the Coonskin Library in Amesville, Ohio (pop. 184), and tell you about the town's long-standing affinity for books and learning.

"The people of Amesville are intellectual, independent, artistic, supportive of education and very proud of the Coonskin Library," says Avery, a guidance counselor at Amesville Elementary School and president of the Coonskin Library Association.

The inception of the library can be traced back to 1803, when some of the town's early settlers decided they missed having access to culture and books and needed a library. But because the town's local economy was based primarily on barter, little money was available to purchase the books needed to start a library.

The town did have one plentiful resource, however: the pelts of foxes, mink, bears, raccoons and other animals that roamed the wilderness. Being resourceful and committed to the library project, the settlers decided to spend a season trapping animals and saving up pelts. In the spring of 1804, they sent a load of pelts east to be sold to purchase books. The money from the pelts—$73.50—bought 51 books, and the Coonskin Library was born.

The library, which consisted primarily of books on history, geography, philosophy and religion, moved from home to home throughout the first half of the 19th century. In 1862, the books were sold to William Cutler, a descendant of one of the library's founders, and most of them eventually found their way into collections of the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus and Ohio University in Athens.

A history buff by nature, Avery long has enjoyed learning about the library and wondered what had happened to its books. "I would ask people where the Coonskin Library was, and no one knew," recalls Avery, 57.

In 1981, he founded the Coonskin Library Association with the hope that eventually he would be able to open a museum that would preserve the history of the library and give townspeople and visitors somewhere to go to learn about the library and the town's two-century commitment to education. After 13 years of planning and fundraising, Avery's dream was finally realized. In 1994, the Coonskin Library Museum opened in a building that once served as the cafeteria for Amesville Elementary School.

The museum, which is open during school hours, features historical information about the library, portraits of some of its early founders, a re-creation of an early log cabin and settlers reading books, a few stuffed raccoons and coonskins, and samples of some of the books from the original library.

"The fact that there was such a library indicates a concern for learning," Amesville Mayor Frank Hare says. "That kind of concern for education has continued."

The museum has perhaps its biggest impact on local children, who tour it as part of their fourth-grade curriculum. Ten-year-old Alisha Skinner is one such Amesville student, and she confirmed that her several visits to the museum have made an impression on her.

"I thought it was good," Skinner says. "You get to see old stuff. I touched a coonskin, and it felt awesome."

For Avery, the museum represents a continuing commitment to preserving and remembering the history of a town he loves.

Vivian Wagner is a freelance writer in New Concord, Ohio.

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