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A while back a Northport High School graduate, then living in Greenwich Village, passed a street vendor who was selling Beat publications, posters, and paraphernalia. Among the vendor's wares was a pirated version of the Northport Library's tape-recorded 1964 interview with Jack Kerouac. The former Northporter was tickled to see the boxed cassette featuring Northport among all the Beat stuff. Of course he had no knowledge or concern that the tapes had been copied illegally and were now being sold. When the pedestrian engaged the street peddler in conversation about Northport, the vendor proffered that he had never been to Northport but he had heard it was one of those small provincial Long Island towns where the funeral director was also the mayor. That the funeral director was the mayor was in fact true for many years. But Northport, then and now, was and is a far cry from provincial. Jack Kerouac found a village with quaint New England appeal. He also found a community where intellectual and scholarly, as well as frivolous and playful, pursuits made the Library as high a priority address in town as the local bars and hangouts. Like so many of his fictional characters, Kerouac himself always placed a high value on libraries. His Northport cronies were library fans and some were Library staff. When he left the Northport community, he left behind at the Library tangible bits of his genius. Through the years our Kerouac Collection has been a valuable asset to fans as well as students, and the Library remains the link to Kerouac's Northport legacy. I wish to invite Kerouac buffs and scholars alike to get “On the Road” and discover Kerouac at the Northport Public Library. The Kerouac Collection is in the main reading room, and you are welcome to take it “Off the Shelf.” We hope that our efforts to protect and preserve the past will continue to nourish and encourage new generations of writers and artists. Stephanie Heineman |
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