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MBLC Celebrates 125 Years

1983

Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners FY 1983 Library Incentive Grants Program Statistical Summary Sheet. General Information: 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth, 4 ineligible to apply: 3 do not have a public library (Hawley, New Ashford, and Washington); 1 does not receive municipal funds for public library service (Conway). 347 eligible to apply for Library Incentive Grant, 41 did not file applications.

In FY 1983, Hawley, New Ashford, Washington, and Conway were ineligible to apply for the State Aid to Public Libraries program.1

TODAY: Conway, Hawley, and Washington are now able to participate in the program. Conway currently receives municipal funding, and Hawley and Washington are able to do so through joint library arrangements with Charlemont and Becket, respectively.

What else happened in 1982?

  • Nearly 106 million viewers tuned in to see the finale of M*A*S*H, a Korean War medical drama.2
  • Alice Walker's The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.3
  • Weighing almost two pounds, Motorola’s DynaTAC, the first handheld cell phone for commercial use, was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States.4

References:
1. FY 1983 State Aid Statistical Summary Sheet, compiled by the MBLC.
2. www.businessinsider.com [link].
3. www.pulitzer.org [link].
4. www.motorola.com [link].