Coleen Binning, president of the Milford Public Library board, sits next to the founding documents and the compiled minutes of the board on March 22, 2016.

Coleen Binning, president of the Milford Public Library board, sits next to the founding documents and the compiled minutes of the board on March 22, 2016.
Brian Behrman
Sun intern

The oldest walk-in library in Clermont County is holding a vintage book sale to help preserve its history.

The Milford Public Library will put all proceeds from the sale towards digitally cataloging and preserving the founding documents and the board meeting minutes since the library was founded on Oct. 8, 1900.

Current president of the library’s board and retired first grade teacher Coleen Binning first found the documents lying inconspicuously in a corner within a dusty old box a few years ago and she spent the time to pick through and arrange them.

Binning had a difficult time cataloguing all of the old documents and newspaper clippings.

“It was such a puzzle, but worth it. And you know I feel like somehow I have a kinship with these women. The only thing that we have not found is a copy of the bylaws,” Binning said.

The minutes will be put on a digital medium, such as a flash drive, and arranged by decade. The papers will also be preserved in acid free envelopes and boxes.

Binning is intrigued with history and it’s a good thing because she has had to learn a lot of history as president of the board, she said.

“It’s so funny because it gives you such an insight into the city, which was not a city, and the people who lived here in 1900. What their concerns were, what they cared about, what they were willing to get involved in. It’s interesting,” Binning said.

Binning says the library records tell an important story about men and women who wanted something and made it.

“This library was founded in 1900 by a bunch of women who thought there needed to be a library. But in order to get that thought across they persuaded their husbands that there needed to be a civic betterment, and they had lofty plans for a civic betterment group. They set up committees and so on. Well, the only thing that really happened was this library,” Binning said.

The library is a nonprofit organization and has stayed in the same building on 19 Water St. in old Milford for almost its entire existence, except for a few years where they had to move to the new town hall across the street when the yearly rental fee became too expensive. However, they returned to 19 Water St. soon after 1920 because the current owner of the building, Dr. Richard Belt, willed it to the library. As long as the library stays in the building it has a permanent free home.

The Milford Public Library is not associated with the Clermont County Public Library. They have their own card, allow book rentals for three weeks and are open three days a week, normally Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Late fees are a dime a day or 30 cents a week. When the library was founded over 100 years ago, the yearly fee was 25 cents for an adult and 10 cents for a child and the late fee was a penny a day.

The library contains a variety of books, including newer ones, but specializes in mysteries and local history. It has a writing group, a mystery writer seminar and a tea and talk series that features different local authors.

Since the library has the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Zane Grey books, the staff may start a children’s mystery book club in the future.

“We want to be the historic library. We hope people will still come and read books, but we think that one of the great assets we have is our age and our willingness to show it,” Binning said.

The majority of the books in the sale will be from the Gatch family library. The Gatchs are one of the oldest families in Milford and Dorothy Gatch is a current member of the board. She has donated 29 boxes of books to be sold at the vintage book sale.

“Other people bring us books all the time, so we have other books too. It’s going to be big,” Binning said.

The books have no set price unless they are unique and donations are welcome.

“I certainly hope people will be generous, because I think this is a really important project,” Binning said.

Binning said everyone who works at the library is a volunteer and they have to earn every cent they spend with book sales and fundraisers, just as the women in 1900 did.

She is currently in the process of writing an application for the library to be recognized by the Ohio Historical Society.

The vintage book sale is April 14 between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., and April 15-16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Items can only be purchased with cash or check. For further questions call 513-248-1256.