About Marybelle Hollowell

In the early 1960s, Marybelle Hollowell, a native of Pamlico County, began her crusade for a public library.  Marybelle believed strongly in the rights of all to have access to free information and that residents of Pamlico County would enjoy a higher quality of life if given the tools and availability of resources available in larger counties.

 In 1964, Mrs. Hollowell was put on the Craven-Pamlico regional library board and informed that a library building was “impossible.” Marybelle made the impossible possible by encouraging prominent citizens to donate, harassing local politicians, and sponsoring numerous fund-raisers; within a year, a small one-room library was built.

The small public library’s popularity grew and could not meet the demands of the county residents. So in the 1970’s Marybelle once again hit the drawing board and raised support and funds for a more extensive updated combination public/high school library.

Maybelle continued to serve as a Board of Trustee to the Pamlico Library until she died in 2015 (over 40 years). She advocated for the Pamlico Library to have the current technology, a substantial book budget, and well-trained staff.

Marybelle’s greatest accomplishment is not in building the Pamlico County Public Library itself or in the increase of literacy rate in the county that followed. Her greatest gift is the awareness she seeded in our community that access to information and technology to all is a right regardless of age, race, or economic status. She is an unsung hero who has never accepted “no” or “impossible” in her goal to give others the right to choose their paths, to make informed decisions, and to be equal.