# Akin Free Library

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The **Akin Free Library** on Quaker Hill is a historic eclectic late Victorian stone building in the hamlet of [Quaker Hill](/source/Quaker_Hill,_New_York), town of [Pawling](/source/Pawling_(town),_New_York), [Dutchess County, New York](/source/Dutchess_County,_New_York), USA, listed in the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places) as a historic place of local significance since 1991.

The Akin Free Library was a gift from the [Quaker](/source/Quaker) Albert J. Akin (1803–1903), founder of the Bank of Pawling and the Mizzentop Hotel on Quaker Hill.[2] The building was designed by the architect [John A. Wood](/source/J._A._Wood) and constructed between 1898 and 1908. It is a 2½-story, *T*-plan, stone building on a raised basement with an engaged three-story central [clock tower](/source/Clock_tower) and rear annex. The building features an entrance [portico](/source/Portico), bracketed sheet [copper](/source/Copper) [cornice](/source/Cornice), and standing seam copper roof. Its design is [Victorian](/source/Victorian_architecture) eclectic.[3]: 2, 5

It was added to the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places) in 1991.[1]

The library itself is located on the first floor of the building. Among others, its holdings of several thousand books contain books of local interest and by local authors, a children's section, and newspaper collections.

## Museums

The **Historical Society Museum** occupies the second floor of the building. Its collections include objects pertaining to the local history such as period and Quaker clothing, tools and artwork, bowling pins from the Mizzentop Hotel, and the service window from the old Quaker Hill Post Office.

The lower floor of the building houses the **Olive Gunnison Natural History Museum**, which displays about 200 mounted birds, rocks and minerals, as well as a shrunken human head.

## References

1. James H. Smith (1882). ["History of Dutchess County, New York"](http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/dutchess/dutch/Hist/akin.htm). pp. 560–61. Retrieved 2021-10-19.

1. Robert D. Kuhn (October 1991). [*National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Akin Free Library*](https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317293) (none). National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved October 28, 2025. ()

## External links

- [online article by the Historical Society of Quaker Hill and Pawling](https://web.archive.org/web/20070625172923/http://www.pawlinghistory.org/auto_tour/akin_free_library.htm)
- [travel article in the New York Times](http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/06/30/travel/escapes/30trip.html)
- [online travel article on Pawling](https://web.archive.org/web/20070927211228/http://www.passport-mag.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14158877&BRD=2699)
- [web page on the bird collection of the Gunnison Natural History Museum](https://web.archive.org/web/20070213112213/http://www.watermanbirdclub.org/NewsArticles/2001_08AkinLibrary.htm)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Akin Free Library](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akin_Free_Library) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akin_Free_Library?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.