Albertson Library Staff Party – December 1963

Former staff at the Albertson Public Library were invited to a staff Christmas party on December 14, 1963. The date is significant because in September 1964, the Albertson library was demolished to make way for the new Orlando Public Library. Staff created a scrapbook with a collection of responses, cards and photos.

The beautiful invitation was designed by staff member Hilda Keseler and mimeographed by Doris Beach and Dorothy Hale, and Eileen Willis located and compiled the addresses of former staff members.

The Invitation

View Invitation

Souvenir Booklet

Staff member Hilda Keseler designed the cover and Rosemary McClanahan penned a souvenir booklet for guests at the event entitled: “A Guided Tour of the Albertson Public Library” with this introduction:

This building that has stood here forty years will soon be torn down to make room for our new building. Not long ago, a librarian who had worked here many years came back for one last visit, and Miss Wendel showed her around. The following is a transcript of that visit.

The imagined former librarian’s first comment: “I just wanted to have a look around the building one more time before they tear it down,” makes one think the guided tour will be a nostalgic look at the good old days, but the “tour” humorously exposes the issues and flaws necessitating that the library be replaced, ending with the fictional former librarian running from the building to make her  escape.

The epilogue completes the story: “We haven’t seen the lady since. If you know where she is, please assure her that things will be different someday soon – when we have the big beautiful, new building we so richly deserve.”

View APL 1963 – A Guided Tour of the Albertson Public Library

The Christmas Party Committee

Gifts from and for Staff

The photographs below are scattered throughout the scrapbook staff created to document the event. They are interspersed with letters from former staff sending regrets, along with Christmas cards and family photos. Our hope is that others might identify the people in the photos, so we may add their names.

Staff opening the gift from Clara Wendel.

Clara Wendel (left)

The photo, above, is in the lobby of the Albertson library, to the left of the charging desk and in front of the entrance to the stack room with the famous glass floor. A portrait of the library’s namesake, Charles Albertson hung above the stack room entrance where the wreath hangs in this photo. The painting was found decades later, but staff were puzzled as to how it was damaged. A letter from former staff member Red Henderson explains.

Clara Wendel (left)

Clara Wendel holding gift or paper.

The photographers for the event were Ward Hammond and Richard Willis.

Former Albertson Library Staff invited to the 1963 Christmas Party

The bolded names below sent a letter or card expressing their regrets. Refer to the scrapbook index to find page number for Christmas cards, letters, and photos, and then peruse the scrapbook.

A – Jane Ann Jones Adams (Mrs. Thomas E Adams), Robert Akery (p. 12), Karol Anderson, Joy Andrews (Mrs. Ralph Andrews), Fred Atherton and Patty Wetmore Atherton (Ara Atherton)
B – Mike Baker, Ellen Barnett (p. 7), Doris Beach (p. 11), Sheila Bellisle (Mrs. William A. Bellisle), Henry J. “Hank” Blasick (p. 17), Joan Barnes Bouterse (Mrs. Robert J. Bouterse), Charles F. Brown, Ruth Bruton (Mrs. Floyd Bruton)
C – Carol Candido (p. 26), Sue Chennell (p. 16), Juanda Smith Carter (Mrs. James Carter), Edwina Cooper (Mrs. Clifford H. Cooper), Allen Currie (p. 14)
D – Carolyn Debavadi (Mrs. Ted Debavadi) (p. 20), Dorothy Dechert (Mrs. H. Vergil Dechert) (p. 3), Mildred Delaney, Gerry DeLoe (Mrs. John P. Deloe), Mary Ann Dolak (p. 2, 28)
E – Ruth Dale Ellis (Mrs. James A. Ellis), Peggy Wooddell Emmons (Mrs. David L. Emmons), Claudia Carlson Evans (Mrs. Earl Evans) (p. 3)
F – Ruby Fatula (Mrs. M. G. Fatula), Shirley Stamper Fletter (Mrs. Franz B. Fletter), David Flick, Trudy Fradd
G – Robert Gilpin, Jr., Caroliegh Gioia (p.23), Julian Granberry (p. 6)
H – Gary Hagan (p. 22), Maureen Harris (Mrs. R. A. Harris), Carmen Head (p. 5), Winston R. Henderson (p. 9, 15), Helen Henry (Mrs. Maurice Henry), Gale and Caroleah Hergenroether, Penny Jo Scholtter Holman (Mrs. George Holman), Kendra Horney, Gerry Hubert (p. 12), Nancy Hudson (Mrs. Charles Hudson) (p. 2), Richard S. Huntt
I – Mary Ingersoll (Mrs. John R. Ingersoll)
J – Geraldine Jenkins (Mrs. Oscar Jenkins), Margaret Johnson (Mrs. George Johnson), Windom Jones, Del Jupiter (Mrs. Ernest Jupiter) (p. 30)
K – Jack Kline (p. 4), Margie Klink, Cliff Knappenberger
L – Thomas Langford, Lois Ledford (Mrs. H. A. Ledford), Sue Daniel Loftis (Mrs. Donald C. Loftis)
Mc – Marian Futch McClure (Mrs. James H. McClure (p. 11), Mary Drew Kline McGraw (Mrs. Leo A. McGraw)
M – Floy Sadler Maier (Mrs. Eugene Maier), Madeline Marlowe (Mrs. Richard Marlowe), William Martinson, Dorothy Lane Miller (Mrs. Norman M. Miller), Jo Ann Chamerlain Miller (Mrs. Martin A. Miller) (p. 8), Judy Minick (p. 5), Bonnie Lewis Motes (Mrs. Dean E. Motes)
N – Betty Jean Prescott Naffziger (Mrs. Darwin Naffziger) (p. 4), Jerry Naylor, Mary Robin NeSmith (Mrs. C. L. NeSmith)
O – Connie Osmun (Mrs. Frank W. Osmun, Jr.)
P – Mary Kay Carpenter Pacetti (Mrs. Robert Pacetti) (p. 24, 25), Mrs. Alice Parry, Jackie Pendergraft
R – Vincent Rapetti (p. 16), Mary Ann Szymanski Reese (Mrs. Joseph Reese) (p. 7), David L. Reich (p. 27), Ann Robertson (p. 5), Diane Robinson (Mrs. William Robinson), Stephen Robinson (p. 21), Jon and Tom Runge
S – Eleanor Bell Sanderlin (Mrs. John Sanderlin) (pp. 5, 10), Laura James Bettis Schomberg (Mrs. William M. Schomberg, Jr.) (p. 27), Evaline and Russell Schunk (p. 18, 19), Hal Scott (p. 13), Mary Jefferis Smith (Mrs. Curtis Smith) (p. 21), Joyce Sorn (Mrs. George Sorn), Mary Lil Steppens (p. 9), Sandra Adams Storey (Mrs. Wiley Storey, Jr.) (p. 25), Margaret Strohbehn (Mrs. Edward L. Strohbehn) (p. 24)
T – Mary Helen Clapp Temple (Mrs. Charles Temple), Vivian Twitchell (Mrs. D. A. Twitchell) (p. 29)
W – Mrs. Claudine Wallace, China Williams (Mrs. Clyde Williams) (p. 29)

APL staff members and others mentioned in the Guided Tour booklet*

Ara Atherton, Doris Beach, Janice Bardeen, Binnie Boynton, Betty Brady, Pat Brockman, Caroline Childs, Ann Conard, Relda Daniel, Aleena Dawson, Millie Drake, Margaret Farrar, Sarah Foster, Eleanor Gentry, Betty Gillard, Susan Godley, Dorothy Hale, Eathel Hammel, Mary Love Hammond, Estelle Harris, Anita Heard, Mrs. Hill, Kay Jones (cute little), Nancy Jordan (tall blonde), Ken Kendrick, Hilda Keseler, Mary Kile, Lavinia Kuyper (bouncy Briton), John Lewis, John Lewis, Rosemary McClanahan, Dorothy McDuffie, Barbara McIlvaine, Mary Lib Steffens, Helen Watson, Donna Weber, Eileen Willis, Van ___, Charles ____, Floyd ___

Spouses of staff mentioned: Ward Hammond and Richard Willis.

The following persons may have been at the party: Mr. William J. Capehart, Miss Mabelle O’Neal, Mr. Charles Brumback,

The scrapbook is in the Marketing and Public Relations archive on the third floor of the Orlando Public Library.