Lancaster Chapter

Charles Wilbur Herr Memorial Book Project

The Lancaster County Chapter recently received a significant bequest from Charles Wilbur Herr, a county native, successful businessman and civic activist.Chapter board member Charles Holzinger had for many years corresponded with Herr. The donor was deeply committed to civil liberties and social justice, demonstrated by his many newspaper letters.

As a tribute to the donor's memory, the chapter distributed copies of John J. Patrick's highly recommended monograph, Bill of Rights: A History in Documents to twenty county high school libraries and two major public libraries. These were graciously received and will serve as an excellent reference for student papers and research. Those who personally made the presentations were especially heartened by the gracious responses of the recipients, a response not often associated with ACLU activities. Some of the recipients spontaneously arranged for favorable local publicity.

The chapter has unanimously agreed that the expense and work involved in completing the project is more than justified, and that those who made the deliveries were especially pleased by the warm receptions that they received.