Enlarged Concepts of Them Expand Their Activity;
[Note: Extracts from a report prepared for the Reading Room Division by the librarian of a branch church]
Montclair, New Jersey
The expansion of our Reading Room was greatly desired by the Reading Room committee and church members. So in March, 1953, the executive board appointed three members to a special Reading Room improvement committee to study and report on three recommendations: (1) To improve our present quarters; (2) To find other suitable quarters to rent; (3) To investigate the possibility of purchasing property and building a Reading Room. After extensive work, the committee reported that the present quarters were too small to warrant the expense of remodeling; that no other suitable quarters were then available to rent; that no property was for sale in a location suitable for a Christian Science Reading Room. Things seemed to be at a standstill.
However, the expansion of our Reading Room was kept uppermost in thought, and in June, 1954, the store adjoining our Reading Room was vacated. At the July membership meeting it was voted to rent this space in addition to our present quarters. A ten-year lease at a nominal rent was signed. A three-member Reading Room expansion committee was appointed to take charge of the remodeling, decorating, and furnishing of the new room. An architect was engaged, and plans were drawn up for converting the two stores into a representative Reading Room. Partitions were knocked out, the ceilings were lowered, and air conditioning and complete soundproofing were installed.
One entire section is the study room, with a coatroom and lavatory at the back. The other side is comprised of a salesroom, stock and work room, and periodical room. The outside of the two stores was faced with stone similar to that in the church edifice, with the columns at either side of the doors and windows matching the colonial architecture of the church.
An interior decorator was engaged, and her plan for complete new furnishings was purchased.
All during this time the members of the Reading Room committee held frequent meetings at which they reported on their individual study of such subjects as the spiritual qualities requisite for progress in Reading Room work and the mission of the Christian Science Reading Room.
An article entitled "The Continuity of Church Building" in the September, 1954, issue of The Christian Science Journal, Joseph Armstrong's book, "The Mother Church," and the chapter entitled "Fruitage" in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy were sources of great inspiration.
In December, 1954, a store across the street from the Reading Room became vacant and was rented for five months so that we could continue to serve the public while the new room was being made ready. One evening after closing, the evening attendants moved the furniture and equipment into the temporary quarters across the street. Although this move was made just before the holiday season, the study room or sales activity was in no way interrupted. In fact, for the year ending December, 1954, our sales reached an all-time high.
Our new Reading Room was opened to the public on April 25, 1955, and all who enter speak of the peace and harmony which characterize its atmosphere and of the quiet good taste of the rooms.
Our two large display windows afford us wonderful opportunities to reach the public. A steadily increasing number stop to read at them. Our displays are built around a healing topic and always include, in addition to the Bible Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly, testimonies from the periodicals, the reprints of the radio program, "How Christian Science Heals," or an article from one of the periodicals.
One display, which included copies of the Christian Science Sentinel opened to a complete article, brought ten newcomers into the Reading Room to purchase that issue of the Sentinel. One of these newcomers also borrowed a copy of Science and Health; a second returned and purchased a copy of the textbook; and a third returned and entered a subscription for the Sentinel.
The lending library is increasingly active. We have added approximately one hundred new books. All of the books in the lending library have been covered with plastic.
The cost of the entire project was approximately $25,000, and practically all bills have been paid. When a right idea unfolds in consciousness, Mind supplies all that is necessary for its fulfillment and protection.
Christian Science Reading Rooms stand as a proof to the world and to their own communities of the efficacy of the healing Christ in human experience. We pray that on this rock we may continue to build and maintain our Reading Room in order that its mission may be fulfilled.
