Historic School House Summer Library

About Deering Public Library

The petition to the Senate and House of Representatives in Portsmouth to incorporate a library in Deering was granted on 6 December 1797.

"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in general Court at Portsmouth November 1797 Humbly sheweth [sic], That Robert Alcock Thomas Merrill Thomas Aiken William Forsaith James Sherrier and others their Associates Inhabitants of Deering have purchased a number of Books, for the purpose of a social Library in said Town, but finding it necessary to be Incorporated, in order to realize the advantages thereby Intended, by purchasing books in common, your petitioners therefore pray that they may be Incorporated with such priviledges [sic] as are usually granted in such cases, and they as in duty bound will ever pray
Robert Alcock for himself and Associates"

The Deering Library's Mission is to create a vibrant community center that inspires curiosity, personal growth and opportunities for life-long learning.



To view our policies, agendas and the minutes of trustee meetings please visit the library, or use the link to the Town of Deering website.



Deering Public Library is located in Southwest New Hampshire's glorious Monadnock Region. Deering is a quintessential New England town with a white clapboard church, a town hall at its center and a population of approximately 1800 people. The library is located year round on the second floor of the town hall. Our seasonal school house library is open during the summer.

VARIOUS THINGS LITERARY OR MOSTLY

 The Monadnock Writer's Group

 The Monadnock Writer's Group announced its winter/spring speaker series. Announcements of these things come to the library trustee's inbox and usually at our monthly meeting we will say that something looks interesting but typically we don't do anything with it. Today I found the flyer from the Monadnock Writer's Group and was attracted by the speakers at this FREE lecture series. Got something to write but don't know how to get going with it? Or just want to hear an interesting voice talk about the process of writing? The five speakers in this series cover a wide range of experiences and techniques, from memoirs to off the grid, from science fiction for kids to the NH Poet Laureate.  The lectures are free to all and are held on the third Saturday of each month, January through June from 9:45 to 11:45 am in the lower level meeting room of the Peterborough Town Library (It's on Rt 202 just before you turn right into downtown). For more information go to http://monadnockwriters.org/.

A Thumbs Up Movie

Patty overnights with a friend in Massachusetts a couple of weekends each month. The cats and I cope. I have frozen left-overs; we call them 'Elizabeth Meals.'  On these guy's night in (all but one of the four cats are guys) I can watch, guilt free, films that Patty would never watch. Stop! It's not what  you are thinking!  See, Patty likes films, and TV shows and even the evening news, where the good guys win, usually within an hour. It's difficult to rig the news, but she does not like news. That is just her nod to me. Not that I LIKE the news either, but one should be somewhat aware. But, I digress.... The movies I like tend to be in black and white and they tend to be depressing. The German and Swedish film industries were made for me.  This past Saturday night I had the opportunity to watch a film that was released in 1972. Patty said she was not going to watch Sounder because it was too depressing. Right up my alley. The cats and I watched this movie.

 Sounder was directed by Martin Ritt and starred Cicely Tyson, Paul  Winfield and Kevin Hooks. It was based on the 1970 Newberry Award winning novel Sounder, by William H. Armstrong. The sound track includes fantastic music of Lightnin' Hopkins and TajMajal. The focus of the story is a family of black sharecroppers in East Feliciana Parish of Louisiana in the 1930's. These folks got a whole lot of nothin' and they's going nowhere real fast. In order to put some meat on the table, father (Paul Winfield) hunts racoon with his son (Kevin Hooks) and their reliable hound Sounder. In the opening scenes Sounder has treed the racoon but dad misses the shot and, despite a race through the night, the critter gets away. There will be no meat on the table. Dad makes up for his poor marksmanship by steeling a ham. A big mistake. Of course he is caught, convicted and sentenced to a year in a labor camp. Mom (Cicely Tyson) and her kids have to bring in a crop for The Man. The story revolves around trying to find where dad is; and the 11-yr-old son following a false lead, going to visit him. While the son is looking for Dad he comes across a school and their dedicated Black teacher, who introduces him to the writings of Black activists such as WEB Dubois. The son returns home.  Sounder, who had been shot and limped away while the sheriff was taking dad away, returns to be returned to health by the son. Dad is released early from the hard labor because he was hurt in an explosion and no longer of use to the State. The family manages because they have to. The teacher offers the son a chance to attend school with her, which means leaving home. He does not want to leave his family, especially his newly returned father and runs away. But not too far. Dad finds him and they have an exceptionally touching talk: "I love you but there is nothing here for you, don't get used to the place. Go to school, take this chance to help us all."  The kid does and the movie ends. It was not depressing at all, or at least not if I did not think of the conditions under which so many people lived during the  1930's (remember the Dust Bowl, a bit north and west of Louisiana which ran for 8 years over the  20's and 30's).

 I am certainly glad this movie did not follow the book all that closely because in the book Dad is sentenced to 9 years of hard labor for stealing a ham, not 1, and both the dog and Dad die soon after they return home. Sounder was made in 1972, a kind of antidote to Blaxpoloitation films such as Shaft (1971).  But this was a beautiful story with people you could feel, both good and bad (i.e. most of the Whites). The acting was wonderful. The music was fantastic. There was hope and strength in this tightly bound family.  I once heard that there were no dramatic Black actors but obviously whoever said that never saw this film. 

 Sounder is available as a DVD from Netflix. I highly recommend it to you.