Our Library

Franklin and Ellen Pember gave the Pember Library & Museum of Natural History to the people of the village of Granville, in 1909. It consists of a Library on the first floor and a Museum of Natural History on the second floor. The Pember was built as a Library-Museum and was never used as a private home, although many people think so. It has beautiful woodwork and a wide staircase, as well as an extraordinary marbleized slate fireplace. The Library has a Victorian air about it.

In the beginning, patrons needed to ask the librarian for the book they wanted and were never permitted behind the gate to the stacks. (You can still see where the gate was.) Today, patrons are welcome to browse the shelves to select books, videos, audio books, computer programs, and kits for children, independently.

The Pember Library and Museum was chartered as a library on May 1, 1909 by New York State to serve the village of Granville but actually serves the village of Granville, the town of Granville, and many patrons from Hartford, Hampton, Whitehall, Fort Ann, Hebron, other parts of Washington county, and several local Vermont towns.