Here are some photos from recent events at Princeton Public Library:
Tricia Kelly has an amazing knowledge and enthusiasm for the art of Charles Addams and Edward Gorey and on Wednesday (appropriately for Addams), October 29, 2025, here at the library, she shared information, images, and some of her copious collection of related books and Addams- and Gorey-inspired items.
It’s been a musical week at Princeton Public Library! On Thursday, October 23, 2025, we hosted classical guitarist Peter Fletcher–another returning artist and community favorite! His program was “Music of Four Centuries.”
Barry Cloyd returned for another amazing performance at the library on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 with Samhain: The Celtic Roots of Halloween. We had a great crowd and a great (spooky) time!
Princeton Public Library and Princeton High School co-sponsor a twice-monthly book club. Usually the club discusses a book at one meeting and chooses a book at the other, but at the end of the year, there’s always a meeting with no choice or book that calls for an activity. For April 2025, the book club made miniature Altoids tin bookshelves, with mini versions of the books we read this year, along with other fun tiny things.
Page Turners Book Club, Thursday, March 14, 2024, discussed Sarah Smarsh’s Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, in conjunction with Illinois Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read: “Reconsidering the American Dream.”
Singer/storyteller Barry Cloyd performed “For What It’s Worth,” his tribute to Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills, and Nash and Buffalo Springfield, on Thursday, July 20, 2023.
Scenes from Summer Reading 2023! Dave Odd—”Eat the Neighborhood” foraging program at Hungry World Farm (6/17/23); Jigsaw Puzzle Tournament (6/29/23); Craft Together: Mini Barn Quilts (7/19/23); Craft Together: Pinch Pots (7/26/23)
On Saturday, Feb. 25, Bureau County Historical Museum Associate-Curator Jessica Gray presented “The McWorter Family’s Path to Freedom,” a true story of Illinois’s early history and one particularly amazing family’s role in forging new paths for Black citizens.
“Poems, Back Stories, and the Creative Process” presented by Kevin & Debi Shyne, Thursday, Feb. 23
Music Jam is now happening every third Tuesday evening–here’s the line-up from the Feb. 21 gathering:
A full house for Dana Collins’s “Abraham Lincoln in Illinois” presentation on Saturday, Feb. 11, a program presented by the Bureau County Historical Society.
Thank you to our Holiday Friday Music in the Lobby performers this year:
Dec 2 Pat James and Charlie Gebeck, piano
Dec 9 Mike, guitar, Kris, Brenda, voice, and Bob, hammered dulcimer, and Lorraine Foelske, piano
Dec 16 Karen Allen and students, piano, Sarah Brooks and students, and Ron McCutchan, voice
Classical guitarist Peter Fletcher performed to a full house on Tuesday, November 1.
Here is the set-up for our “What We Hunt in the Shadows” Vampire Hunter Escape Room, held on Friday, Oct. 28, and Saturday, Oct. 29. Fifty-one youth and adults participated in the room with an 83% success rate!
On Tuesday, Sept. 13, Barry Cloyd performed Jules Verne & H. G. Wells: The Birth of Sci-Fi and the First Citizens of the Future, a program of music and story inspired by science fiction and its great early writers Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, along with more recent writers.
Our first Music Jam since the pandemic, on Tuesday, July 19, had 17 people attend. We had a fun night playing our instruments and singing along together. Our next Music Jam will be on Tuesday August 16th at 5:30pm. We will have our Music Jam on the 3rd Tuesday of every month. Hope you will join us.
On Saturday, June 11, Candy and Steve Ridlbauer of Northern Illinois Raptor Rehab & Education brought a number of hawks and owls to the library as our kick-off event for Summer Reading. We had a great crowd of families attending, and signed up a lot of new library cardholders after the program!
10 people attended Craft Night at the Princeton Public Library on June 7th. We made these beautiful Clothespin Flag Wreaths. An additional 14 kits are being handed out for Take & Make kits.
Friends of the Library Members Tea on April 6
Saying good-bye to librarian Mary Archer, retiring after 26 years at Matson Public Library/Princeton Public Library on December 29.
Kathy Allen and her piano students performed on Friday, December 17, in the main circulation area of the library.
The Elm City Bells handbell sextet from the First United Methodist Church played seasonal songs on Thurdsay, December 16.
Ransom Troyan performed on American Woodwind Flute at the Princeton Library on Tuesday, December 14.
Holiday Music performed on Friday Dec. 3rd at the Princeton Public Library. left: Mike Kane, Kris Donarski, & Brenda Zehr sing with guitar.
right. Bob Davidson playing his hammer dulcimer.
The “Unique Perspectives” Art Teachers’ Art Exhibition kicked off with a lively opening reception on Friday, 11/5/21. The show continues through 11/27. Some of the work is available for purchase.
Quilts of Valor program on Tuesday, 10/26/21 by Terry Johnson with a quilt presentation to four local veterans.
Christopher Marron-US Marine Corps, Michael Baker-US Army, Cody Gibson-US Marine Corps, and Ben Gibson-US Army. And Terry Johnson with the QOV.
Thirteen readers attended the Page Turners Book Club on Thursday, Oct. 14! (Next meeting is Nov. 11, 6:30 pm to discuss The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore.)
Pumpkin Centerpiece Craft Night, Tuesday, Oct. 12
Barn Quilts of Bureau County, Tuesday, Oct. 5
