Pauline Frank's Home

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

This was the home of Pauline and Augustus Frank from 1891-1904. Pauline continued to live in the home after the passing of Augustus until 1904, when she relocated and began working for the city library. The house is still standing today despite there being some changes to the property itself.

Images

Pauline Frank

Victorian fashion, Headgear, Vintage clothing, Fur

Young Pauline sitting in front of a tree in a dress

A picture of young Pauling sitting in front of a tree in a beautiful dress.

Shakespeare Club in the late 1800s. Pauline is in the back row fourth from the left.

A picture of the Shakespeare Club in the late 1800s.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Pauline Frank lived in this house with her husband Augustus Frank after they were married in 1891. Before she married Augustus she was married to Jacob Stein. She had two children during that marriage. When her child Herold Stein was eight years old, Pauline had to rush him to the hospital because he accidently shot his foot with a gun during a hunting trip. Jacob and Pauline later divorced and Pauline married Augustus. Augustus and Pauline had two children: Agnes McNair and Augustus II.

Pauline and Augustus were married for nine years. When Augustus died, Pauline continued to live in this house for another four years afterwards before relocating to another home. Three years later she became the new Kearney city librarian. She held that position for 13 years (1907-1920). She catalogued all the books in the library and introduced a “library hour” for children on Saturday afternoons. Just in her first two years at the library 32,337 books had been loaned out. This caused some chaos because the library only had a working capital of less than 8,000 books, making it inadequate in equipment to meet the demands put on it. She made the library more efficient by using public schools and other buildings in the vicinity as sub-stations for people to pick up books, especially for those on the edge of city limits.

Pauline was all about giving back to her community. During World War I, while working for the library, she started a local drive where members of the community donated knitted clothing to the nearby hospital. She also served on St. Luke's committee on food conservation during the war. Pauline was also a member of the literary Shakespeare club in Kearney during the late 1800s, around the time she got married to Augustus. The Shakespeare club was a women's reading group that also became involved in community affairs.

Pauline lived in Kearney for 33 years before moving to Kenilworth, Illinois. She died in 1954.

Sources

Nielsen, Margaret Stines. The Kearney Public Library, 1890-1990, Buffalo County Historical Society. March 1990. http://bchs.us/BTales_199003.html.

"Pauline Frank, Widow of August Frank, Is Dead." Kearney Daily Hub (Kearney ) March 23rd 1954. Front Page sec.1.

"Twenty Years Ago Today ." Kearney Daily Hub (Kearney ) June 8th 1939. 2.

"A Serious Accident." Kearney Daily Hub (Kearney) June 10th 1896. Personal Mentions sec.

"Annual Report of Liberian is Made ." Kearney Daily Hub (Kearney ) May 16th 1917. 4.

"Death of August Frank son of G.W. Frank ." Nebraska State Journal (Kearney ) April 17th 1900.

Edwards, Jonathan. Frank Family Tree, Accessed December 6th 2020.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Frank Museum