The Scottsville Free Library, located at 28 Main Street in the village of Scottsville, New York, with a small branch at 883 George Street in Mumford, serves the people of the towns of Wheatland and Chili, as well as adjacent areas in Monroe County.Unlike most public libraries, the Scottsville Free Library has always been a private non-profit association. Membership in this association is open to all local residents: one need merely apply for a library card. A board of seven trustees, elected by the association members to three-year terms, provides governance of the association.HistoryBackgroundThe history of the library has been admirably written by Carl F Schmidt, an architect locally noted for his histories of the area, and George Engs Slocum, a local figure whose history of the town appeared in the very early 20th century. (The original publication of Slocum's history was by private printing of three hundred fifty copies in Scottsville, by Isaac Van Hooser. In 1998 (Slocum) and 2002 (Schmidt), the Wheatland Historical Association commissioned the Higginson reprints.)Schmidt wrote in 1952-1953, while Slocum stopped in 1906.AntecedenceIn 1796, the state legislature enacted a law providing for the establishment of local private subscription libraries.
