Lost for 82 Years: A Library Book Returns with a Heartbreaking Family Story

After more than eight decades, a library book has finally made its way back to the San Antonio Public Library. What makes this return so remarkable is not only the book’s journey across time and distance, but also the touching letter that accompanied it.

In July 1943, the book Your Child, His Family, and Friends by marriage and family counselor Frances Bruce Strain was checked out. For 82 years, it remained missing.

Then, in June of this year, the long-overdue book arrived at the library, carefully returned by someone from Oregon. Even after so many decades, staff confirmed the book was still in “good condition.”

The Book and Its Impact in 1943

At the time of its release, Strain’s work was well-regarded as a pioneering resource for parents. The book explored how children develop relationships with their families and the outside world, offering guidance that was considered progressive for its day.

The Cincinnati Enquirer praised it as “a complete guidebook to the personal relationships of the child with his family and the outside world.” Meanwhile, The New York Times described Strain’s approach as a “wise, sensitive, but unsentimental presentation of sex education,” according to the Associated Press.

After more than eight decades, a library book has finally made its way back to the San Antonio Public Library.

San Antonio Public Library

The most moving part of this return was the letter found inside the book. Signed with the initials P.A.A.G., the note explained how the book reappeared after so many years:

“After the recent death of my father, I inherited a few boxes of books he left behind.”

The writer went on to share that their father would have been just 11 years old when the book was originally checked out. They believed the person who borrowed it was not him, but their grandmother.

“The book must have been borrowed by my Grandmother, Maria del Socorro Aldrete Flores (Cortez),” the letter explained. “In that year, she transferred to Mexico City to work at the US Embassy. She must have taken the book with her, and some 82 years later, it ended up in my possession.”

The idea that this single library book traveled with a grandmother to Mexico City, survived generations, and was only uncovered after a family loss adds a deeply personal and almost cinematic quality to its return.

A Letter That Told a Story Across Generations

San Antonio Public Library

What About the Overdue Fines?

Anyone who has nervously returned a late library book might immediately wonder about the fine. P.A.A.G. addressed this with a touch of humor and heartbreak in their letter:

“I hope there is no late fee for it because Grandma won’t be able to pay for it anymore.”

Fortunately, the San Antonio Public Library eliminated overdue fines in 2021. But had the fine still been in place, the cost would have been shocking.

Inside the book was a stamp listing the overdue rate as three cents per day. Over 82 years, that would equal nearly $900 in charges, not adjusted for inflation. Using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Inflation Calculator, three cents in 1943 equates to about 56 cents today, which would push the total to more than $16,000 by 2025.

A New Chapter for the Returned Book

The library announced that the book will be displayed at San Antonio’s Central Library throughout August. Afterward, it will be donated to the Friends of the San Antonio Public Library, an organization that sells books to raise funds for the library’s programs and services.

How Does This Compare to Other Record-Breakers?

While 82 years is an extraordinary amount of time, it is not the longest overdue library book on record. That title belongs to a volume borrowed in 1668 from Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cambridge in England. It was finally returned in 1956, a full 288 years later. Incredibly, no fine was imposed for that book either.

More Than Just a Late Return

This story is about more than a lost book. It is about the ways objects can travel silently through history, connecting generations. What began as a simple parenting guide in 1943 became a family heirloom of sorts, carried across borders and through time, only to be rediscovered after a loved one’s passing.

The library’s decision to display the book gives the public a chance to reflect on both the power of storytelling and the unexpected ways history can resurface.

As one San Antonio Public Library representative noted, it is not just the book that matters, but the story that comes with it.