Shipley, who was part of the fi rm Coolidge,
Bullfi nch and Shipley. They designed several of the
buildings on Harvard’s campus, and were very
well known. The Amorys also contacted a local
construction fi rm, Griffi n Builders, to bring their
dream to fruition. In 1949 work began on the
library. It was named after Johann Fust, the fi nancier
of Johann Gutenberg, inventor of the moveable
type printing press. The Gutenberg Bible was
the fi rst book printed in this way, and there is a
page from that fi rst book in the library’s archives.
Island resident Pansy Cost took on the role of
library manager not long after the Fust opened.
Her husband, Tommy, worked in the library
gardens.
In 1951 the Amorys purchased a boat they
named Papyrus, to be used as a traveling library.
They added bookshelves in the cabin, and even
had a card catalog. The boat made trips to
Bokeelia, Useppa and Cabbage key on Mondays,
and to Captiva on Wednesdays, withTommy Cost
at the helm. Louise was always on board as well,
and would give a toot of the horn every time
the boat approached the dock to let people
know they had arrived.
The Amorys looking over initial plans for the Fust.
The arrival of the book boat became something of a weekly holiday on the small barrier island network.
Everyone would gather and talk about the week’s events while they picked up new books and dropped off
ones they had read. The boat remained in service until 1968.
Another highlight of the week at the Fust Library was the Saturday afternoon symphony. Roger loved
the music of the Metropolitan Opera and the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, and arranged to
have recordings made. The orchestra would play
live on Friday night, and the recordings would
be fl own to Florida by Saturday afternoon. Later,
a high-quality radio system was installed in the
library that would receive the Metropolitan Opera’s
live performances.
The little apartment on the second fl oor of the
library was originally where the Amory’s children
and grandchildren stayed when they visited, and
was later rented out to visitors.
Pansy Cost was the manager of the library for
52 years, until she handed the job over to Beth
Perkins in 2003. Cost retired shortly before her
passing. In 2007 Nancy Cooper took over the
position and was the director, working with Mary
Vickers Knight. Toni Vanover had worked there
for years by that time as well, and she eventually
became the library branch manager. Mary is still
there as well.
The Amorys ran a book boat that took library requests
up and down the local coastline. The name of the boat
was The Papyrus.