Overdue Book Finally Returned: 1943 San Antonio loan arrives from Oregon; no late fee owed

Some library books disappear for a few months. Others never make it back. But one copy of Your Child, His Family, and Friends took nearly 82 years to complete its journey home. According to the San Antonio Public Library, which announced the unusual return in August 2025, the book was checked out in July 1943 and was due back 28 days later. The story was also reported by Texas Public Radio and CBS News. Instead, it resurfaced in June 2025, arriving at the library from Oregon with a letter explaining how it had spent more than eight decades away.A book that travelled across generationsThe book, written by Frances Bruce Strain, was found among the belongings of the sender’s late father in Oregon. The person who returned it believes their grandmother had originally borrowed the book when their father was 11 years old. At the time, the family was preparing to relocate to Mexico City, where the grandmother was transferred for work with the U.S. Embassy.The book appears to have travelled with the family, eventually making its way through the generations before landing in the hands of the Oregon resident who discovered it. Rather than keep the decades-old library copy, the person decided ...