Our Library
Welcome to the Harned Memorial Library & Bowles Collection
If you can’t make it to library to browse for books, we’ve brought the library list to you.
Books and Videos are shelved by subject, alphabetically by author in three collections:
General: materials on religion and a variety of other topics
Bowles: materials by and about African Americans, history, and issues
RE: materials for Religious Education teachers and children.
Questions? Contact the library at library@usnh.org
History of the Harned Library
The Unitarian Society has had a library since 1951, even before we had a building. The building was built in 1963 and the part containing the library in 1968. The library is named for Dorothy Foltz Harned (1895-1987), one of our founding members. When she died, her son, Herbert Spencer Harned, Junior, and family donated money for the first memorial garden, and for the library.
The Bowles Collection of books by or about African Americans was dedicated to the memory of Robert Oneal Bowles (1926-1983) in 1993. Bob was a social worker, an active member in the life of the congregation, and in the Hamden community.
In 2015 supervision of the library was added to the mission of the History and Archives Committee. Peggy Rae and other members catalogued the nearly 2,000 books and shelved them by category. We have a computer file and a printed catalog.
When the reorganization was complete, the committee members were recognized during the service on April 23, 2017, and we celebrated with a reception and display in the Harned Library.