The Martha Canfield Library

is located on the East Arlington Road in Arlington, Vermont. We invite you to stop in and browse our many books and other materials. Registration for a library card is free.

Martha Hulme Canfield was a member of the Canfield family, one of the original families that settled Arlington. Martha, known by all as "Miss Mattie", took over the library in 1885 and operated out of her living room in the brick house on Main Street, now known as the Arlington Community House. She continued to be active in the library until her death in 1919. The library was carried on by the Library Committee of the Neighborhood Club and by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, a well-known writer and Martha's niece.

Dorothy Canfield Fisher was born Feb. 17, 1879 in Lawrence, KS. Her father, James Hulme Canfield, was a university professor, and her mother, Flavia Camp Canfield, was an artist. Dorothy grew up mainly in the Midwest, where she met Willa Cather, but she spent many summers in Arlington, visiting relatives. Dorothy spent some time in France with her mother, then attended Ohio State University in Columbus. She graduated from OSU in 1899, then began graduate work at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Dorothy had her first professional publication in 1902, and traveled in Europe with Willa Cather. In 1904 she received her Ph.D from Columbia. In 1907 Dorothy married John Fisher and moved to Arlington. She had two children, Sally and Jimmy. Dorothy was active in the community and encouraged many literary and artistic people to visit Vermont. She was the first woman elected to the Vermont State Board of Education, and the first woman to serve on the Book of the Month Club Committee of Selection. She wrote throughout most of her life and continued to publish until her death Nov. 9, 1958.