Serendipity Yields A Bibliography For Library

By Nancy K. Crevier

She is energetic, yet reserved, when she talks about her newest manuscript and her hand is steady upon the wooden cane that guided her these past three years into a land of discovery.

In 94 years, writer Mary Mitchell’s journeys have taken her across the ocean and around the United States, as well as over the hills and into the woods of Newtown, but it is a journey of far fewer miles that is the source of her latest publication, Exploring Newtown’s Land of Serendip, a bibliography of the 50 states.

Newtown residents are familiar with Ms Mitchell’s books Newtown Trails Book and Touring Newtown’s Past, co-authored with the late Al Goodrich, but townspeople may not be aware that she is the published author of several books and photo essay books about Georgetown, written when she lived in Washington, D.C., with her late husband and family prior to moving to Connecticut. Her writing career has also seen her works published in newspapers and magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post.

Told by her doctor three years ago that she must “walk, walk, walk” to keep the ravages of arthritis at bay, she found herself during inclement weather in one of her favorite places in town, the C.H. Booth Library. Wandering the stacks of the third floor reference area, Ms Mitchell picked up first one book, then another, then yet another. Her walks through the aisles shaded by towering banks of books began to be peppered with pauses to read. She was rediscovering old favorites, like Paul Horgan’s History of the Rio Grande River, and discovering biographies that opened her eyes to many aspects of the country. Her natural curiosity and love of learning, which had paved the way for her photo essay books and magazine articles, began to click into high gear.

“I had never had American History classes in school,” said Ms Mitchell. “I found this a way to learn about the United States. I was interested in the places and the people who were pivotal in the making of our country.”

Never one to be without a project, she realized that she needed a motivating factor, beyond her health, for her walks in the library. The more she walked, the more she read. The more she read, the more a vague idea for her next endeavor took shape. “I thought about the books I had picked up and how my finding them was serendipity,” she said — a gift for finding good things by accident. And serendipity, explains Ms Mitchell in the introduction to the bibliography, is the key to this collection of books.

“I wasn’t sure what I would do with all the material, but I knew I liked the fun of building up some kind of a theme,” said Ms Mitchell. What she realized was that she had unconsciously culled details from her reading about many of the 50 states of the union. It occurred to her that others might not be aware of the wealth of fascinating information tucked away on the bookshelves, and that a state-by-state catalog could be a useful resource for anyone seeking off-the-beaten-track details about a particular state.

“I wanted something that people could look at with joy,” Ms Mitchell said. “I didn’t really care if it was published. I just wanted it to be useful.” She envisioned a directory with four to five references per state per page, and pages that could be removed from the binding for copying purposes.

Library Director Janet Woycik and reference librarian Andrea Zimmermann encouraged her to pursue the idea when she presented it to them. “I think I can speak for the entire library staff when I say that we were so familiar with her earlier works that we expected something different and special, and that is what she supplied,” said Ms Zimmermann of the finished product that arrived at the library in early February.

“I didn’t want to include books that people would normally use for reference,” explained Ms Mitchell. “I wanted books that would spark an interest and learning experience.”

So rather than just a dry listing of where to go and what to do for each state, users of Ms Mitchell’s bibliography of the states will find instead call numbers that guide them to music books, art books, maps, and works of poetry that speak volumes about each state. Travel books are included, but they do not dominate the pages. In discovering the state of Arizona, for example, Ms Mitchell suggests that readers peruse Lazy B — Growing Up On a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest by Sandra Day O’Connor and H. Alan Day, or meander through the pages of the magazine Arizona Highways to find “The Story of Turquoise.”

Explore Louisiana, Ms Mitchell recommends, by leafing through Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Evangeline or drooling over Emeril’s TV Dinners by Emeril Lagasse.

Tennessee is the land that produced legendary figure Davy Crockett and was home to the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, and Ms Mitchell’s bibliography does not forget to mention the route to reading more about them. The Music Lover’s Handbook edited by Elie Siegmeister, though, provides a further look at the land of country music and the Blues, and provides insight into the character of the state of Tennessee.

The fictional The Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean; Hawaiian Shirt Designs by Nancy N. Schiffer; Roughing It by Mark Twain; or John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley might not be the first books a person would look for when researching a state. But Ms Mitchell’s creative eye has seen their potential and the possibility they offer to trigger inquisitiveness.

Most of the books that make up Exploring Newtown’s Serendip are found on the third floor of the library, but occasionally Ms Mitchell’s strolls took her to a special library collection or to the fiction department on the second floor.  “I found the Scudder Smith Collection and that’s where I could find something colorful if I needed it, or books on music or architecture,” said Ms Mitchell. “It is an absolutely wonderful collection, and I wonder how many people realize what is there.”

The bibliography was an accident of her time in the library, a serendipitous encounter. Like the trail guides she has co-authored, Exploring Newtown’s Land of Serendip is a map that Ms Mitchell hopes leads readers from one treasure to another, in much the same random fashion that was her journey.

Ms Mitchell does not disregard the notion of yet another writing project. “Maybe something will turn up,” she said. “I just don’t know.” Perhaps, it will be serendipity that leads the way.

A loose-leaf publication of Exploring Newtown’s Land of Serendip is currently available at the reference desk on the third floor of the C.H. Booth Library. A bound version will be available for reference in early May.