Anacortes, Wash., a city of 17,000 people, is a hub for ferries serving the nearby San Juan Islands. It's library features the Manieri Jazz & Swing collection of books, CDs, and DVDs selected to showcase the American art of jazz and swing music.
This collection is funded by an endowment received in 2005 from the estate of Dominic and Patricia Manieri. It has been curated by Paul de Barros, jazz critic for the Seattle Times, and John Gilbreath, executive director of Seattle’s Earshot Jazz organization.
The items in the collection are available for check-out by library patrons. The collection's music CDs, DVDs, books and other materials about jazz music and musicians are intended to introduce and promote an understanding of jazz and swing within the community, for both adults and children.
Through the Manieri Endowment, the library sponsors local jazz events, including free concerts at the library on the second Sunday of each month, and a jazz lecture series presented by local professional musicians.
The Manieri Endowment also fosters jazz education in area public schools through grants and scholarships.
Dominic "Dom" Manieri was a part-time musician and full-time chemist who made his way from New York City to California to work on the Space Shuttle Challenger project. His wife Patricia was a librarian. They retired to Anacortes in the mid-1980s.
Combining their passions for libraries and jazz, Patricia Manieri left a bequest in her will in honor of her husband, to create a jazz collection that would promote the understanding and appreciation of jazz and swing music. The resulting "Jazz at the Library" program is dedicated to cultivating appreciation for the genre throughout the Anacortes community.
Saxophonist Kate Olson's quartet plays the next Second Sunday concert on May 8 at the library, and the next event in the lecture series traces the development of the country blues, presented by Steven Dolmatz on May 19.
Learn more about jazz at the Anacortes Public Library here.
