City of Grand Island

Grand Island, Neb. — The Grand Island Public Library’s Bygone Book Club is wrapping up its season on Saturday, April 12, at 11:30 a.m. with a discussion of “Nebraska During the New Deal: The Federal Writers’ Project in the Cornhusker State,” by Marilyn Holt Irvin.

Michelle Setlik from the Hall County Historcal Society will lead the discussion in Meeting Room BC. After the April meeting, Bygone Book Club will be on pause for the summer before resuming later in the year.

During the New Deal, the Federal Writers’ Project strove to put unemployed writers to work. Participants were tasked with collecting information, writing essays, interviewing and editing work with a goal of producing a locally created guidebook for each of the then 48 states. In “Nebraska During the New Deal,” Holt focuses on the Nebraska project, which was one of the most robust of the program. It produced not only the local guidebook, but pamphlets on folklore, pioneers, town guides and ethnic studies of both African Americans and Italians in Nebraska.

The full reading list of the 2024-2025 Bygone Book Club is available at https://gilibrary.org/services/adult-services/book-clubs. The Bygone Book Club is a partnership between the Grand Island Public Library and Hall County Historical Society. Local historians lead monthly discussions of books featuring Grand Island, Hall County, Nebraska and regional history. Membership in the book club is monthly, and participants can choose which month or book is of interest to them and do not need to commit to the entire series.

The Grand Island Public Library serves both residents of the City of Grand Island and Hall County. Anyone who lives in or owns property anywhere within Hall County may apply for a library card at no cost. Keep up to date with all library happenings and hours online at https://www.gilibrary.org, Facebook and Instagram. You can also access your library account, search the catalog, and discover our digital collections at https://gilibrary.tlcdelivers.com.