Fairfax County Library, Virginia, and Censorship

    In Massachusetts 1790, Benjamin Franklin donated a collection of his own books to a town named after him. The town initially asked of him to donate a bell, but instead he sent them a collection of his books, responding, “Sense being preferable to sound.”^[1] After which these books became freely accessible to the public, setting the foundations of the country’s first public library. However, for how old libraries in the United States are, persecution is a far older custom, notably when Thomas Morton arrived in 1624 Puritanical Massachusetts. Having his book the New English Canaan banned due to his criticism of Puritanical colonial life.^[2]

    This is not about Massachusetts though, rather Fairfax County, Virginia in the 1960’s just over five years since the decline of McCarthyism.^[3] Yet the fears of Communism and moral corruption persisted within the spheres of conservatist, religious, and political personalities.^[4] When Fairfax County Library received an increase in budget from the state due to demand from its residents, the staff & administration found their newly opened libraries in the headlines of local newspapers. Then the calls start to come in, questioning the content shown to the public during "The Wonderful World of Films" event. So, what was the role of Fairfax County Library at the time? What brought about this sudden requests to censor material at the library? Finally, how did the situation resolve itself? Perhaps by answering these questions we can reflect on our current climate of books and censorship and see whether the ideas have changed in any way, or if we’re simply doing the same dance to a different.

[1] Peters and Santoro, A history of America's First Public Library, 2

[2] Taub, America's First Banned Book, https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/americas-first-banned-book 2024

[3] Robbins, "McCarthyist Discourse." in The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown, 158-160

[4] Bristol, Stand Fast in Liberty, 8-13