₹11.5 lakh fine after 132 years! Magazine borrowed in 1894 finally returned to library

The magazine was overdue by 48,220 days. Based on the library's historical fine calculation, the amount could have reached $12,055, or roughly ₹11.5 lakh. However, Hanson did not have to pay anything because the library is currently operating under a fine-freeze initiative.

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Hanson told NBC News that he decided it was finally time to return the magazine after seeing a report about the library's fine freeze.

“Yeah, when I saw that, I said to myself, ‘Boy, this would be a good time to bring it back,’” Hanson said.

Hanson first came across the magazine in 1966 while moving from Boscawen to Barrington. Despite having kept it for decades, he remains unsure about how it ended up in his possession.

“I don’t know, I really don’t know,” Hanson said, adding that it could have been a gift or something he picked up from a pile of free books.

The magazine itself carried clear signs that it belonged to the Concord Public Library. Its bookplate indicated that the periodical could be kept for only one week.

Jennifer Needham, the library's archivist and outreach coordinator, was working at the circulation desk when Hanson arrived with the historic item.

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“I honestly thought it was going to be from the 1980s, 90s, or 2000s. But then he pulled this out, and I was like, ‘Ooo, tell me more!’” Needham told NBC News.

The publication contains poetry, essays, news and advertisements typical of the period. One article particularly caught Needham's attention: a discussion about the growing push for playgrounds at urban public schools.

“That’s one thing that was really interesting,” Needham said, referring to the historical debate over providing outdoor spaces for children at city schools.

The library does not plan to return the magazine to circulation. Instead, officials hope to preserve and display it in the Concord Room, which houses archival material connected to the city. For Hanson, the return finally solved one small mystery while bringing an unexpected piece of 19th-century history back to its original home.