obituary
Catalog Number
2023.22.1417Description
Obituary of Stanley Curtis, from the 2-20-1997 Holland Sentinel, written by Paul Van Kolken.History
Stanley Curtis was born in Holland, MI on 3-5-1892 to Albert and Kunje "Carrie" Curtis. Stanley married Lena Tiesinga in Holland, MI on 7-22-1918.Stanley and Lena lived in Holland at 170 College Ave (1930 US census, 1949 and 1954 city directory). He worked as a draftsman for the Holland Furnace Co.
Stanley passed away on 2-16-1997.
This item was once part of the Herrick Library's vertical files collection. In 2023 the Herrick Library donated this collection to the Holland Museum.
Newspaper clippings were cut out of the paper by library staff and glued to cardstock according to subject. For example, clippings on football were glued to the same piece of cardstock, clippings on crime were glued to the same piece of cardstock, etc.
The cardstock was then filed in the vertical files, alphabetically, by subject, for use by library patrons. For a time, patrons were allowed to check out the clippings using their library card. It wasn't long before this practice ended and the red "NON-CIRCULATING" stamp was placed on the cardstock.
This cardstock system of historical information was in use for decades by library patrons.
The first library in the area was a township library established in the 1850s, before Holland was incorporated as a city. After incorporation in 1867 the township library donated books to the City of Holland for the formation of a city library. For every 13 books kept by the township, 10 were given to the city (Holland Sentinel, 5-12-1976).
By 1888 Holland had established a city library in city hall (later the First Ward engine house) on east 8th Street (Holland City News, 3-24-1888). In 1893 a library board was established.
By 1896 the Holland City Library held 3,000 volumes in their collection (1898 Holland city directory). By 1901 the library had moved to the second floor of the YMCA at 25 west 8th and boasted a collection of 4,000 volumes (1901 city directory).
As their collection of books grew so did the need for more space. In 1911 the library returned to city hall, only this time they were in the new city hall building on River Avenue, on the spacious second floor. By now the collection of books had grown to 7,176 (Holland Sentinel, May 1972).
It was librarian Hazel Hayes that first connected with Ray Herrick, writing him in 1958 expressing the needs of the crowded Holland City Library. With a donation of $325,000 ground was broken on the new Herrick Library in 1959. The new library was dedicated on 5-7-1960 (Holland Sentinel, May 1972).
The first librarian at the Holland City Library was Henry D. Post (1824-1897). He was followed by Rachel Day Sipp (1835-1916), Holland's first female librarian. The position was actually offered to Rachel's husband, George Sipp (1834-1896), who was also Holland's city clerk. Rachel wanted the job and library official were reluctant to offer such an important position to a woman. So George accepted the position of librarian on the condition that Rachel be allowed to handle the librarian responsibilities, which she did. Rachel served as librarian from about 1887 to 1897.
Jennie Kanters (1866-1918) to over the job in 1897, replaced in 1918 by Dora Schermer (1896-1994). Dora served as librarian until 1953, when Hazel Hayes took over. By 1953 the library's collection contained 24,000 volumes. Roger Walcott replaced Hazel in 1966 (Holland Sentinel, May 1972), he ran the library until 1979. Robert Sherwood operated the library from 1980 to 2002.