MOUNT VERNON, NH – There are two things true about small-town New Hampshire.
The first is that public libraries are more than just a building that holds books. Libraries are the epicenter of the community and civic life in cities and towns across New Hampshire. The second truth is that things change slowly in the Granite State.
In the town of Mount Vernon, the Daland Memorial Library has operated since 1909. The project to build a modern replacement began in 1988. Things change slowly.
Last September, they broke ground, and the New Daland Memorial Library is now under construction, with the frame and exterior walls up and roofing soon to be installed. Last month, the project was served a curveball by the Trump Administration
On April 29, without notice, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) issued a termination notice canceling the remainder of the grant payment for the project. That includes $491,000 of grants for the Mount Vernon Project, funds that were committed in 2022.
The Trump Administration is proposing the elimination of the NEH and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the fiscal year 2026 budget, which triggered the cancellation
Cindy Raspiller is the Mount Vernon Library Charitable Foundation (MVCLF) president and Library Trustee Chair. The cancellation notice caught them by surprise because they assumed the financing was secure.
“When we were talking to the bond bank about getting the final bond approved after the voters approved it at town meeting, they were very concerned about pledges. And they wanted to make sure that we could collect our pledges. They made us get a letter of credit to cover the private pledges in case we were unable to collect them, said Raspiller. “We’ve collected almost all of them. And nobody thought that the public one would be the one that we had an issue with. It never occurred to anybody that the U.S. federal government would be the dicey one.”
In 2022, the Mount Vernon Library Charitable Foundation (MVCLF) was awarded a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) worth $655,000 for the project. It was one of 23 awarded that year and the largest NEH grant ever awarded in New Hampshire. It provided a 25% match on qualified donations, which incentivized giving by private donors; 67% of the $5.59 million needed for the project was raised from private donations and grants. A $1.99 million bond was approved by the town to finance the balance.
US Senator Maggie Hassan toured the construction site in the pouring rain and met with the local officials and supporters of the project to discuss the elimination of the NEH funding.
“I want to lift up this example because this is an example of some of the types of things we’re seeing in New Hampshire and around the country. To just claw back already promised, already committed funds, right? Which is just in my view, it’s like you’re supposed to measure before you cut. And these guys are cutting before they’re measuring. And they’re cutting already promised dollars. So I think that this is a really important example for us to take and push back on,” Hassan said.
This project is a perfect example of public and private investment in our state. The new library is designed as a large community center and is intended to serve the town for the next century. Mount Vernon has a long history of public and private investment. The original library, a free public institution, was housed in a privately owned building constructed on town-owned land, which was funded by a donation.
“You have done what we do in New Hampshire. You’ve leveraged private funding so that nobody’s relying solely on one source. And that’s also the way it should be. We’re all supposed to do our part here. And government funding is supposed to be a part of what we do. And in this case, you’ve really proven that it’s a piece,” Hassan said.
“I do think this is a perfect example of the damage that’s being done by what’s happening because you have a lot of people who have worked very hard for literally decades on a project. And to be this close to the finish line…,” Raspiller said.
The town and contractor are looking a revisions to deal with the funding shortfall. Changes to exterior landscaping may be deferred, and reductions to interior furnishings are being considered.
The new 7,600-square-foot Library is being built behind the Post Office on Grand Hill Road. DSK Architects + Planners from Concord, MA, designed the project, and the Turnstons Corporation from Milford is the general contractor