Local resident Mary Cooper located a book borrowed from the Ocean County Library in 1926 by her grandfather. (Photo: Ocean County Library)
The Ocean County Library system, the state’s largest, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. And in the spirit of housekeeping, it’s only natural that a book 99 years overdue made its way back to the shelves after spending generations buried in a local family’s home. The book itself – and the people who have had it all these years – are themselves part of the county’s history, officials said.
Mary Cooper, a Toms River resident, was sorting through family memorabilia recently when she discovered a book that had been taken out of the Ocean County Library in 1926. The book was still in good condition, with a hand-written log of borrowers and due dates attached to the cover.
“I had a bunch of things from my mom,” Cooper said. “She just placed everything in boxes and had them stored away.”
The trip down memory lane yielded a number of books, with Cooper giving each one a glance. One of the books, “Inside Home-Made Toys for Girls and Boys” by A. Neely Hall, stood out due to the cardboard sleeve that held the card that was used to check books out and in. The borrow date was in 1926.
Local resident Mary Cooper located a book borrowed from the Ocean County Library in 1926 by her grandfather. (Photo: Ocean County Library)
Local resident Mary Cooper located a book borrowed from the Ocean County Library in 1926 by her grandfather. (Photo: Ocean County Library)
“I’m looking at the dates and I said, ‘This book’s about a hundred years old,” she said. “I thought, ‘Whoa…my grandfather checked out this book.’”
Cooper’s grandfather wasn’t just a patron of his county library, but a well-known figure himself in Ocean County. Her grandfather was Captain Charles Tilton (1884-1927), an extremely active and popular fisherman on the Jersey Shore, who was born in Asbury Park. He now rests in Point Pleasant’s White Lawn Cemetery. Mary never knew her grandfather, but an obituary from what was then known as the Asbury Park Evening Press:
“Captain Charles,” as he was better known, was one of the Barnegat Bay captains between here and Atlantic city [sic] and belonged to several yachting clubs…he was very active in social and fraternal work, being a member of the B.P.O.E. of Asbury Park and also the Knights of Columbus of the same city. He was a charter member of the local fire company.
The book that remained in storage for 99 years is a manual of illustrated instructions for simple toys made of wood, metal and household items – things parents could build for their children themselves. Instead of keeping it or throwing the book away, Cooper returned it to the library system’s Toms River Branch. She did not expect the book to become an artifact, nor that she would be a “library rock star,” as staff put it this week.
“My intention was just to hand it in at the desk and say, ‘Here’s an old book if you want it,’” she said.
A staff member she encountered informed Mary about donation procedures.
“I said, ‘Well, okay, but you might want to have this book. It’s a little overdue, by about a hundred years.’”
The unique conversation set in motion a whirlwind of research by Information Services Librarians Elizabeth Cronin and Allison Nazzaro, host of the Library’s “Wheeler Talk” podcasts on Spotify and related platforms.
“I never expected it to gather that much attention,” Cooper said. “They went crazy! I had a good time. It was very interesting to meet everyone.”
Life at the Library
Cooper, a career nurse and nursing instructor said her rare find correlates well with her lifelong enjoyment of literature.
“I love learning about things. I love getting into a story. I love mysteries. I usually solve them in the beginning,” she said.
When she was a high schooler, Cooper recalled, the librarian at the Point Pleasant Beach branch fueled her mystery musings.
“I told the librarian that I wanted to read all the works of Arthur Conan-Doyle,” Cooper recalled. “She said, ‘I think we have them,’ and I read them all.”
Mary became a familiar figure among the stacks. Shortly after high school, she underwent surgery that required considerable recovery time.
Local resident Mary Cooper located a book borrowed from the Ocean County Library in 1926 by her grandfather. (Photo: Ocean County Library)
“I asked my mother, ‘Please, please, please, go to the Library and bring home some books. Just tell the librarian that they’re for me.” Her mom dutifully complied, and so did the librarian, quickly checking out four books. “My mother asked, ‘How do you know that these are what she wants?’, and the librarian said, ‘They’re on her list!’”
These days, Cooper especially enjoys ‘whodunits’ and works by Mary Higgins Clark and Diane Mott Davidson. But the book buried among her souvenirs is special, connecting Mary to her legendary grandfather.
“There are very few pictures of him,” she said. “I always was fascinated by him. I thought he must have been a really neat person. I’d have liked to meet him.”
Nearly a hundred years after taking a book home, Captain Tilton’s simple act of looking for ways to make toys for his children earned him a place in the Ocean County Library archives. And, by returning it, Cooper initiates the library systems’s next century of history, staff said.
“Share history, listen to it, pay attention to it,” she said. “When you do, you realize how things come around. It’s fascinating.”
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