Setting Down the Record by Bertha Rosche
"SETTING DOWN THE RECORD"
Originally published in The Villager newspaper, May-July 1958
About this publication
The author of “Setting Down the Record,” Bertha M. Rosche (1889-1961), was the first full-time librarian and director of the Niles Center Free Library, which would later become the Skokie Public Library. During her tenure at the library (1937-1956), Mrs. Rosche directed the move, and later expansion, from the library’s premises in rooms in the Municipal Building (now Village Hall) to 4913-15 Oakton Street, following her oversight of the 1941 referendum for a tax-supported public library.
Rosche wrote this history of Niles Center (later known as Skokie) after she retired and it was originally published, in serial form, in The Villager newspaper. Editor, Thomas E. Branagan, noted in his introduction, “that historical source materials often are contradictory and, as [Bertha Rosche] says, ‘sometimes it’s necessary to flip a coin to choose between two versions.’”
Take note: Rosche uses offensive terminology for Native American Indians and Black Americans in this narrative, reflecting common attitudes of white Americans at the time it was written. Because of her two decades living and working in the community, Rosche had the opportunity to hear the stories of long-time village residents, witness the extensive expansion of the population, and had access to historical reference works. This version of Niles Center/Skokie’s history is preserved online and in print, as a unique documentation of this community’s early history and does not reflect an endorsement of the author’s language use.
Most, but not all, of the issues of The Villager in which Rosche's essays were serialized, have been digitized and are available in the library's digital collections.
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