Arms Library Copper Top includes LCRW #33 & “Jellyfish Dreaming” in Time Capsule

Arms Library Librarian Laurie Wheeler, of Shelburne Falls included “Jellyfish Dreaming” (short story version) from Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #33 on slipstream writing on the “theme of humanity’s relationship with the earth” in the time capsule hidden in the new Copper Top. So our speculative fiction will be heading into the future after all! See the story below from the Greenfield Recorder Sept. 17th, 2015.

Copper Topper: Dome raised at Arms Library, by DIANE BRONCACCIO, Recorder Staff, Thursday, September 17, 2015

SHELBURNE FALLS — Sitting on the sidewalk, the new copper dome that is now part of the Arms Library roof sparkled like a crown in the early morning sunlight. And by 8:30 a.m. Thursday, the library’s coronation was complete.

Titan Roofing of Springfield, the company doing the work, hoisted the 300-pound, eight-foot diameter dome with a crane, while bystanders along Bridge Street clapped and cheered. Shelburne Falls songwriter Sarah Pirtle had written a song for the occasion, and she and Edwin Sause serenaded the library and spectators with Native American flute music as the dome rose through the air.

Fundraising for the roof and other repairs to the Pratt Memorial Library Building, which houses the Arms Library, began in 2012, after cracks and leaks were discovered in both the roof and the foundation of the building, which was damaged during Tropical Storm Irene.

The roof project alone was estimated to cost about $405,000. The copper dome is a replica of the original copper dome of that was part of the 101-year-old library building. The library has raised at least $670,000 so far for the building’s renovation. After the roof is finished, Phase 2 of the restoration will include repair of interior damage, preservation of the library’s murals and marble floor, electrical upgrades, window insulation and repair, and air-conditioning. Fundraising for Phase 2 renovations is still in progress.

Besides the dazzling copper dome, the roof now holds a time capsule of village life in 2015.

Wearing her white hard-hat, Library Director Laurie Wheeler gave some spectators a last-minute glimpse of the 2015 time capsule that was later tucked under the new roof. A wooden time-capsule box by Fred Burrington was inscribed with “Arms Library, 2015 A.D.” Inside were letters from selectmen, Elsworth Barnard’s “In a Wild Place: A Natural History of High Ledges,” children’s handprints and artwork, and a memento from The Arts Garden’s “Water Connects Us to the Place” exhibit after Irene. It also included a Shelburne Falls Troller Museum pamphlet, a souvenir from the Grange Fair, work by local writer Deborah McCutchen, Phil Billitz’s photography book about Shelburne Falls, and a copy of Thursday’s Recorder. There were also some surprises in the box, Wheeler said, to be left for people to find in the future. When asked when the capsule is to be opened, Wheeler said it hasn’t been decided yet.

Jones Whitsett Architects of Greenfield is overseeing the renovation.http://www.recorder.com/news/townbytown/buckland/18648457-95/copper-topper-dome-raised-at-arms-library