Behind the locked door was a eugenic pamphlet advocating selective reproduction. (eugenic: alternate name eugenical) Its former publisher wanted every copy destroyed. The librarian intended to preserve the record of a discriminatory doctrine along with the letters from families it had targeted. (doctrine: teaching, creed, tenet) The publisher's attempt to recast the material as an innocuous interest in heredity would distort what the text explicitly advocated.
One trustee would proscribe the pamphlet even for historians. (proscribe: ban, prohibit, outlaw) Another wanted to interdict all public discussion. (interdict: prohibit, forbid, ban) Both feared the library would amplify its pernicious message. (pernicious: harmful, destructive, detrimental) The librarian shared that concern. An exhibit could give context, give the affected families a voice and make explicit the harm a bland account would downplay. (affected: impacted, involved; downplay: minimize, understate, play down)
The decisive letter came from a woman whose mother had been targeted. A box of private papers was hers to lend or withhold. She would lend the letters, she wrote, if visitors could see the pamphlet that had provoked them. On opening day she unlocked the reading room herself. The first thing visitors read was her mother's name.