If you are a history nut, as I am, and if you have a special interest in Haverhill history, as I obviously do, there is one annual event you look forward to with much anticipation.

It is the arrival of the calendar of the Friends of the Haverhill Public Library.

The people behind the calendar spend a lot of time going through the files and archives of the library, specifically the special collections section, where for years material has been collected, identified and stored.

Each year, the cooperation between the friends produces a collection of photographs of the old city, complete with detailed explanations and descriptions.

This year is no exception.

The cover is an intriguing photo of a wooden footbridge that was built between Essex and Winter streets, over Little River, to make it easier and faster for people to get to the train station, which is seen in the distance. It is a complicated bridge that obviously involved a lot of planning and work.

Just as interesting to me, as the bridge itself, is a house in the background that was on Essex Street at Wingate Street, before there were factories there.

Much of the information in this calendar, as in the previous 20 editions, came from the files, and largely from the amazing memory, of Gregory Laing, curator of the special collections department of the library.

Because of a serious medical problem, involving the amputation of a leg all the way to the hip, Greg has been out of circulation. So has the special collections section.

Without him, the section is closed.

Dave Swartz, another history fan, has volunteered to fill in at the library. The former city councilor, state representative, county prosecutor and St. James football player is a knowledgeable and well-spoken advocate of several areas of local history, including, and especially, the life and times of William H. Moody, Supreme Court justice and secretary of the Navy under President Theodore Roosevelt.

If Dave himself does not fill in, there should be someone in that department to keep intact the treasure trove of city history that also includes one of the outstanding family history collections in the county, and, indeed, the state.

I am hoping there can be some device or machinery that will enable Greg to get to the department, whether or not it is a nimble little "scooter" chair so he can move around among the files.

How else am I going to find out about who lived where and when, or what architect or builder was involved, or who financed it?

And how, I ask, will the friends put together their next calendar?

Who else could tell us about Mrs. Cole, the fine and respected director of the children's section for so many years, who died a year ago at age 98? And the history of the land at Salem Street and Groveland Road where the Kimball House stood and where a convenience store is now moving in?

Both of those items are in the current calendar.

By the way, I can usually tell when people have the annual calendars. They are among the first to respond to questions about items that appear in the Gazette every week.

So, if you enjoy comparisons between the scenes and people of the 1800s and today, the friends calendar is the thing for you. Just hope things work out so the special collections department is reopened soon, so the friends can prepare their 2009 calendar. And if you don't yet have the 2008 version, get it before they sell out.

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Barney Gallagher has covered Haverhill since 1936 as a reporter, editor and columnist.