In 1942 and 1943, the newly formed Mifflin County Library was a local leader in the Victory Book Campaign. I first learned about the Victory Book Campaign in March when I read the novel, The Librarian of Banned Books by Brianna Labuskes (which I wrote about in a previous column).

In the book, one of the characters volunteers in an organization that donates books to troops in the armed forces. In the book, this was called Council on Books in Wartime. But in Mifflin County, it was called the Victory Book Campaign or VBC.

In 1942, there was a heightened sense of patriotism and, what we would call, “support our troops.” One way people were able to help “on the home front” was by donating books to their local library for the Victory Book Campaign. The library would then forward the books on to an official collection center where they would go on to military servicemen or to military camp libraries. Having books for the servicemen was one way to boost morale. But books were not the immediate need or goal according to Congress, who had to feed, clothe and train the servicemen.

As a result, the American Library Association presented the idea of providing books to the troops to the USO (the United Service Organization), and then the Red Cross got on board and before you knew it, the VBC had a director and committees who were asking libraries, Boy and Girl Scouts and other organizations to help.

One of the biggest celebrities to promote the VBC was Helen Keller. You will never believe this, but I have one of her letters! The letter is beautifully written, it would mean a lot more if it were signed by her but it’s not. It reads in part, “If you join in this campaign, you will find that books mean more to you because you have made them a means of service to your country.” The letter is dated, with the day written out long, “January twenty-sixth, 1942.”

But the Mifflin County Library actually joined the VBC on Jan. 9, 1942 because I have the letter of welcome from the VBC’s Pennsylvania Director to Miss Elisabeth Shoemaker, the library director. In his letter, the director writes, “I know we can’t fail. In fact, we must not.” He goes on to say that the quota for Pennsylvania is one million books. Whoa, that’s a lot of books.

The quota for Mifflin County, he goes on to say, is about one-tenth of the county’s population. So probably three- to four-thousand books. Miss Shoemaker, the librarian, was the Chairperson of the Victory Book Campaign for Mifflin County and Lewistown. The official start date was Jan. 12. There were supposed to be campaign posters but because of the paper shortage in New York the posters were delayed.

How do I know this? Because I have the Telegram (yes, a Telegram from Western Union) from Harrisburg to Miss Shoemaker. It says, “PAPER SHORTAGE NEWYORK DELAYING POSTERS SORRY RUSHING WHEN RECEIVED.” In all caps and no punctuation.

I have never seen a telegram in my whole life! This is just the coolest thing!

The Victory Book Campaign began, even though the posters were late in arriving. I’ll continue on with the story of Miss Shoemaker and the VBC next week. If there is anyone out there who remembers the VBC, I’d love to talk to you.

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Susan Miriello is the Executive Director of the Mifflin County Library. She is currently researching how telegrams work.