At their January 21st meeting, the Board of Trustees of the Desmond-Fish Public Library directed the Library’s Racial Equity and Social Justice (RE/SJ) Committee to present recommendations for steps the Library should take in response to recent reports in the news media that our co-founder, Hamilton Fish III, took actions that were in support of Hitler and his regime during the years leading up to World War II. The RE/SJ Committee has formed a special subcommittee to carry out this charge.

As a library, our mission is to offer facts and research materials to our community members. To that end, we have created a list of resources regarding the national and global politics of the years from 1933 to 1941. The list, called “A House Divided: Hamilton Fish III and the Crisis of American Isolationism” is available online here. Copies of the list are available in the Library, where most of the books listed are currently displayed and available to borrow.