Books on the Move: The Traveling Lighthouse Library

Linda Borromeo
Aug 7, 2015
4 min read

Updated: Apr 18

A sea mist began spreading over the island as Assistant Keeper Bel Sinclair prepared to leave the lighthouse. After her brother, Alec, took over the watch, Bel started back to the lighthouse keeper's quarters. She drew the folds of her cloak tighter around her shoulders. The first hint of autumn nipped along the edges of a new day on her remote island home.

Tired after the demands of the watch, she still felt too restless for sleep. The loud fog signal continued, run by the second assistant keeper, but she was used to it and could still get some rest.

She had something she wanted to do instead. Bel hurried to the quarter's second floor. When she reached the curved turret room, a traveling lighthouse library waited for her. Bel made a selection and settled down in a comfortable chair. With the fog signal keeping her company, it was a wonderful feeling to become immersed in a good book after the demands of the early morning watch.

Bel Sinclair (you can meet Bel in my book, Mystery Shores) was not alone in her appreciation of books. Many lighthouse keepers and their families, stationed in lonely areas, eagerly looked forward to reading after finishing the demanding duties at a light station.

There were no instant downloads of digital books or quick shipping from a major online retailer. At a remote lighthouse in those days, many miles and a stormy sea often separated lighthouse keepers from the nearest public library or big-city bookstore.

Admiralty Head Lighthouse Traveling Library. Credit: United States Lighthouse Society Archives

To provide reading material, inspiration, and encouragement, the United States Lighthouse Board came up with an ingenious idea.

It began when a lighthouse officer "seeing the avidity with which light-keepers seized on any reading matter that came their way, sent to individual keepers such spare books and odd magazines as he himself had, and then he pillaged the shelves of his friends for the same purpose," wrote Arnold B. Johnson in an article for The Christian Union. [1]

Johnson, the chief clerk for the United States Lighthouse Board, was also an author, lawyer, scientist, and an avid reader himself (he was acquainted with many of the best-known authors of the day). He inaugurated the official traveling lighthouse library program in 1876. [2]

The lighthouse libraries were made using dove-tail box construction and heavy brass fittings. They were well-built, tough, and beautiful to see.

When the double doors were closed and the little library was ready for travel, about 50 books and magazines made their journey to a remote lighthouse.

On the day the lighthouse library arrived, the keeper opened it to see a list of the treasures inside posted on the left-hand door. A log on the right-hand door recorded all the lighthouses the library had visited. A little blankbook journal inside waited to list the name of the reader and the books they'd enjoyed. [3]

The upper shelf contained "a judicious selection of biography, history, popular science, and good novels," wrote Johnson in his article. Those little spaces above the second shelf held a copy of the New Testament with Psalms on one side, and a Prayer Book with attached hymnal in the other slot.

The lower shelf often held about ten volumes of bound magazines. Each turn of the page must have revealed a connection to what people were thinking and doing outside the secluded lighthouse sphere.

"The number of popular poets and authors mentioned in lighthouse diaries and logbooks attests to the use the libraries received... When there was time to spare, and the wind was howling out the lighthouse door, it was comforting to curl up with a good book." —Elinor DeWire, Guardians of the Lights. [4]

In 1885, there were about 380 portable libraries. By the time Bel sat down with her book in 1893, the number of lighthouse libraries had grown to 700. [5] With this many boxes switched between lighthouses, all those living at isolated light stations were assured of new material coming their way. Everyone looked forward to opening the new traveling library when it arrived. It was like having Christmas every three months.

A bookplate, striking in its design, was attached to each volume in the library. When Bel opened the book from the lighthouse library, this is the 3" x 4 ½" bookplate label she saw. It depicts the image of an iron pile lighthouse, a lightship, and Minot’s Ledge Light.

Image Credit: Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy — Credit: Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy

Lighthouse keeper's hours were filled with repetitive and difficult labor. Keepers knew the lives of friends and strangers alike depended on doing their duty flawlessly. The library gave a sense of ease and something to look forward to after finishing their daily duties.

Having worked in public and academic libraries for many years, I'm intrigued by the idea of traveling books and libraries. It was a delight to learn more about them when I wrote my book, Mystery Shores.

And in the story, it's a book in the lighthouse library that helps my main characters, Christie and Melina, uncover important secrets to solve a puzzling mystery.

Today, we have access to a wide variety of books. May you find the same rest, wonder, and encouragement that Bel and other lighthouse keepers experienced when they opened a small library and found the world.