Annual Meeting of Friends of the Falls of Schuylkill Library
Tuesday November 12 at 5:30 p.m.
Community Meeting Room – Midvale Entrance
Falls of Schuylkill Library, 3501 Midvale Ave.
Click here for the agenda, guest speaker and more.
Start Saving Your Books! The Falls Library’s popular Fall Book Sale, sponsored by the Friends of the Falls of Schuylkill Library, is returning November 21, 22, 23 in the Falls Library’s meeting room. Click here for all the dates and times.
We need your books! Start bagging and boxing your hardbacks, paperbacks, CDs, DVDs, children’s books, and jigsaw puzzles (no textbooks, magazines, or audiotapes, please) to drop off at the Falls Library.
Please! Bring books to the Community Room (Midvale Ave. entrance) only at these drop-off times – and do not leave your books at the library doors or in the book drop.
Wed, Thurs, Fri, Nov 13,14,15 (11:00 am – 4:00 pm)
Sat Nov 16 (10 am- 1 pm)
Mon, Tues, Nov 18 & 19 (2:00 pm – 6:45 pm)
Lots of events at the Falls Library!
Click here to see the most up-to-date listings on the Free Library of Philadelphia website.
And click here to read about special events hosted from time to time by Friends of the Falls Library.
About our other events
The Friends have several major fund-raising events through the years:
- The Book Sales have thousands of hardbacks, paperbacks, CD, DVDs, and audio books at very reasonable prices. Especially popular are the children’s book and games section and the rare or vintage tables. Click here for the Spring 2024 sale. The Fall 2024 Sale is coming – November 21, 22, and 23. Watch for details.
- Holiday Greens Sale, held in early December in cooperation with Vault + Vine on Midvale Avenue. Pick out your holiday tree and browse Vault + Vine for gifts, plants, and more – a great way to see friends and support two great organizations. On pause for 2024 – watch for updates.
- The Friends hold social gatherings for all of East Falls from time to time. In The Winter Interludes, the Library great room was transformed into an evening winter wonderland of blue and white. With special permission, we hosted a wine bar, a sumptuous dessert buffet and a silent auction-all donation-from gift certificates to local businesses to hand made gifts.
Free to all, the East Falls Performers is a night of sheer delight featuring a broad range of local musical talent and sponsored by the Friends. Every year the competition gets tighter and the open spots smaller. This event is a must for understanding why we say, “our Library is the heart of East Falls.”
Having fun at the Winter Interlude – Photo by Brian Mudri
Friends Buy-A-Brick Fundraiser a Success!
At the May 28, 2022 Brick Dedication reception held in the Falls Library’s garden, the Friends of Falls of Schuylkill Library celebrated the completion of their Buy-A-Brick fundraising campaign with the unveiling of the brick walkways. With live music by La Bella Nota, balloons, and refreshments, the donors of the 184 personalized bricks were feted and honored with words of thanks from Wendy Moody (Chair of the campaign), Martha Fuller (President of the Friends of Falls Library), Emily Nichols (President of the East Falls Community Council) and Caroline Davidson (former Friends President) who read The Brick Poem, which Moody wrote for the occasion. (see below).
The bricks sold quickly ($100 each) with over $14,600 raised for library projects. Each brick was lasered with the donor’s choice of inscription, which included creative and endearing tributes to loved ones, pets, authors, and the library itself.
Buy-A-Brick Committee members also included Frankie Jueds, Suzanne Penn, and Mimi Mather, with refreshments chaired by Marie Filipponi and Mary Jean Cunningham. The bricks were inscribed by Lasermation Inc. and laid by Sean McCrossan.
A grateful thanks to our neighborhood donors and to our hard-working volunteers! Stop by the tranquil library garden to treat yourself to a bit of local history.
History and Architecture of the Falls Library
by Ellen Prantl
Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Falls of Schuylkill Library
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 Click here to see a YouTube video of the presentation
If you have ever wondered about the imposing Gothic Tudor stone structure with its iconic cupola and catfish weather vane gracing the corner of Midvale Ave and Warden Drive, view this video.
The building in question is the 108 year old Falls of Schuylkill Library, a vibrant and important educational, social, and cultural center in East Falls. Distinguished architect and East Falls resident Ellen Prantl talked of the Library, its history as an original Carnegie Library, its architectural design and construction.
Ms. Prantl’s illustrated talk focuses on the Carnegie library program, the requirements for a neighborhood to be selected as a site, the hiring of librarians under the program and the distinctive architecture of the building.
A resident of East Falls since 1985, Ms. Prantl is an architect with Jacobs, an international architectural/engineering firm with offices in center city. She specializes in institutional architecture with a focus on medical and research facilities. Ms. Prantl has also been an adjunct professor at Temple University, Moore College of Art and at Jefferson University.