Pequot Library
Pequot Library was founded in 1889 by Elbert B. and Virginia Marquand Monroe, residents of Southport, Connecticut. Mrs. Monroe was the daughter of successful Fairfield businessman Frederick Marquand, who left her his fortune and his mansion in Southport and out of these assets grew one of the most remarkable public libraries in the country.
Pequot Library has grown into a true American treasure. It has been serving the entire region since the building opened in 1893, bringing literature, music, art, and the humanities into the lives of countless families. It is a place where children are welcome and safe, introduced to the magic of reading, and launched on a career of life-long learning. In short, Pequot Library exemplifies what a great library should be.
The Library building was designed by the noted American architect Robert H. Robertson and erected on the grounds of the Marquand mansion. In April of 1894, the doors of the Library opened to the public, and shortly thereafter the Steinway grand piano, that graces the stage today, was given to the Library for the Recital Hall. Ever since that time, the Library has served a broad audience and today receives more than 100,000 visitors annually. The Auditorium is alive with activity and cultural events, making the Library a true center of culture and learning.
Today the Library’s mission has four central components:
Pequot is an association Library and is governed by a not-for profit organization – the Pequot Library Association. In a generous grant each year, the town of Fairfield contributes 30% of the annual operating cost of the Library. Members of the Pequot Library Association contribute with extraordinary generosity to the Library’s Annual Fund drive that helps provide the rest and enables it to continue to excel in providing high-level library services to the community.
Over the years, Pequot Library has become a center of civic pride, and the wonderful experiences that generations of Fairfield residents have shared at the Library are part of what brings the entire area together as a community.
For more information about Pequot Library, visit www.pequotlibrary.org or phone 203-259-0346.
Pequot Library has grown into a true American treasure. It has been serving the entire region since the building opened in 1893, bringing literature, music, art, and the humanities into the lives of countless families. It is a place where children are welcome and safe, introduced to the magic of reading, and launched on a career of life-long learning. In short, Pequot Library exemplifies what a great library should be.
The Library building was designed by the noted American architect Robert H. Robertson and erected on the grounds of the Marquand mansion. In April of 1894, the doors of the Library opened to the public, and shortly thereafter the Steinway grand piano, that graces the stage today, was given to the Library for the Recital Hall. Ever since that time, the Library has served a broad audience and today receives more than 100,000 visitors annually. The Auditorium is alive with activity and cultural events, making the Library a true center of culture and learning.
Today the Library’s mission has four central components:
- Children’s Library: With some of the best programs in the region, the Children’s Library provides children with an ideal setting for fostering a life-long love of learning. Pequot is uniquely committed to inter-generational learning, and kids, their friends, their parents, and often their grandparents can learn together and from each other. Pequot Library is one of the primary agencies in the region serving as an adjunct educational facility for the local schools.
- Nationally important Special Collections: Consisting of 30,000 items, the Special Collections are integrated into the day-to-day life of the Library and in its exhibits and programs. The Pequot Library Family and Local History Collection, a part of the Special Collections, is used by genealogists from all over New England.
- Cultural Center: Pequot is a true cultural center, with programs, concerts, exhibits, and lectures for the whole community. The Free Young Person’s Concerts, which the Library sponsors with Music for Youth, are just a few of the many cultural events at the highest level presented by Pequot.
- Circulating Collection: At the heart of the Library’s day to day activities is its circulating collection of books and other materials in both print and electronic formats for all ages, which is managed for quality rather than size. In addition, Pequot Library is connected to the rest of Fairfield and to the internet by a fiber-optic network that links all the sites in town, making it part of a seamless web of information and library services provided by all the libraries in town working together in partnership.
Pequot is an association Library and is governed by a not-for profit organization – the Pequot Library Association. In a generous grant each year, the town of Fairfield contributes 30% of the annual operating cost of the Library. Members of the Pequot Library Association contribute with extraordinary generosity to the Library’s Annual Fund drive that helps provide the rest and enables it to continue to excel in providing high-level library services to the community.
Over the years, Pequot Library has become a center of civic pride, and the wonderful experiences that generations of Fairfield residents have shared at the Library are part of what brings the entire area together as a community.
For more information about Pequot Library, visit www.pequotlibrary.org or phone 203-259-0346.
Trinity Church
The resonant, light-filled sanctuary of Trinity Episcopal Church, just across the street from the Pequot Library, welcomes the FREE Young Persons’ Concerts of Music for Youth that spotlight larger-scale ensembles, such as The Knights Chamber Orchestra and the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. Our relationship with Trinity also allows us to invite organ virtuosi to perform recitals using the church’s two beautiful organs: its celebrated Karl Wilhelm baroque organ, and its versatile American Classic organ built by M. P. Möller. In addition, the church’s raised chancel area houses a fine Steinway Model L grand piano suitable for solo and chamber concerts.
Trinity’s scale (it seats 500+) and sightlines (with deep east and west galleries), together with its naturally live acoustical properties, make it an ideal venue for vocal, choral and orchestral music. For generations, the church’s choir programs have been supplemented and enhanced by the presence of the Trinity Chorale, a fine semi-professional choral ensemble which offers regular concerts with full orchestra. Led by such illustrious musicians as James Litton (who went on to found the American Boy Choir), and, more recently, Charles Dodsley Walker (of the Berkshire Choral Festival and Canterbury Choral Society), the Chorale has offered to the community regular performances of great sacred masterworks: the Bach Passions and B Minor Mass, the Brahms and Fauré Requiems, to name just a few.
Celebrating its 70th Anniversary year in 2009 is Trinity’s historic Chorister program, modeled on the great English Cathedral chorister tradition. It is Trinity’s own “Music for Youth” – a program that invites young people to sing the treble line for all of the church’s liturgical and concert music. The Chorister Program lies at the heart of Trinity’s music, offering a rich musical, educational, and character-building experience for children, as they enjoy team-building and self-discovery through great music sung in joyous ensemble.
Choirmaster Alan Murchie has recently expanded the program to involve more than 110 musicians, including nearly seventy choristers. Arriving in the fall of 2007, he instituted new choir programs for
young children together with a new concert series, The Southport Summer Music Festival, which has brought such artists as Brooklyn Rider, The Knights Chamber Orchestra, Avery Fisher Career Grant
recipient Colin Jacobsen and members of the celebrated Yale Voxtet to Trinity.
Trinity is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. For more information, call 203 255-0454 or visit the Trinity website, www.trinitysouthport.org.
Trinity’s scale (it seats 500+) and sightlines (with deep east and west galleries), together with its naturally live acoustical properties, make it an ideal venue for vocal, choral and orchestral music. For generations, the church’s choir programs have been supplemented and enhanced by the presence of the Trinity Chorale, a fine semi-professional choral ensemble which offers regular concerts with full orchestra. Led by such illustrious musicians as James Litton (who went on to found the American Boy Choir), and, more recently, Charles Dodsley Walker (of the Berkshire Choral Festival and Canterbury Choral Society), the Chorale has offered to the community regular performances of great sacred masterworks: the Bach Passions and B Minor Mass, the Brahms and Fauré Requiems, to name just a few.
Celebrating its 70th Anniversary year in 2009 is Trinity’s historic Chorister program, modeled on the great English Cathedral chorister tradition. It is Trinity’s own “Music for Youth” – a program that invites young people to sing the treble line for all of the church’s liturgical and concert music. The Chorister Program lies at the heart of Trinity’s music, offering a rich musical, educational, and character-building experience for children, as they enjoy team-building and self-discovery through great music sung in joyous ensemble.
Choirmaster Alan Murchie has recently expanded the program to involve more than 110 musicians, including nearly seventy choristers. Arriving in the fall of 2007, he instituted new choir programs for
young children together with a new concert series, The Southport Summer Music Festival, which has brought such artists as Brooklyn Rider, The Knights Chamber Orchestra, Avery Fisher Career Grant
recipient Colin Jacobsen and members of the celebrated Yale Voxtet to Trinity.
Trinity is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. For more information, call 203 255-0454 or visit the Trinity website, www.trinitysouthport.org.
