Restoring the Historic Stenciling

When the library first opened in 1901, the “delivery room” (the space between the historic front entrance and the circulation desk) was stenciled by William H. Sullivan, a painter from Manchester, NH. These lovely stencils were unfortunately painted over many years ago, but thanks to Library Aide, Linda Hough who found photos of the original room using Google Books, we were able to see them for the first time and wanted to recreate them.
 
Enter decorative artist Connie Dehnel. Connie has an impressive portfolio of work including many years of stenciling fine homes. Using the photo from Google Books, Connie enlarged Sullivan’s work and created a stencil of it. Climbing staging high up in the air, she went to work recreating Sullivan’s design. The work is breathtaking and is the perfect finishing touch to the renovated historic library building. Thank you so much Connie for donating your time!