Monolite Bookmobile Postcards

On National Bookmobile Day I thought I would feature some Monolite bookmobile postcards.  According to its website the Moroney Company in Massachusetts began producing its line of Monolite bookmobiles in 1940 and continues to do so up to the present.  In the 1960s and 1970s Moroney published a series of postcards featuring their bookmobiles.  These postcards were 8 ¼ inches wide instead of the standard 5 ½ inches. Below are five examples of these postcards. 

Calvert County, Prince Frederick, MD

Four County Library, Binghamton, NY

Henderson County, Athens, TX

Mercer County, Trenton, NJ

Bucks County, Doylestown, PA

                   I have written a number of previous posts about bookmobiles.
                       

National Library Week and Meter Mail

Today is the first day of National Library Week with a national theme of “Libraries Transform”. In 1957 the National Book Committee, a joint committee of the American Library Association and the American Book Publishers Council, recommended the establishment of a National Library Week.  The first National Library Week was observed May 16-22, 1958 with the theme "Wake Up and Read". It has continued every year since 1958.  In 1974, the American Library Association became the sole sponsor of the event. Libraries and other organization that used meter postage machines for their mail were able to add slogans for special events such as National Library Week. Below are some examples of these slogans for previous National Library Week campaigns.

Philatelic Exhibit about the Library of Congress

This past weekend I displayed a major revision of my philatelic exhibit about the Library of Congress at the Saint Louis Stamp Expo. I was rewarded with a gold medal and the Best Display Exhibit award.  Display exhibits are those that include non-philatelic as well as philatelic elements in the exhibit, usually ephemera related to the topic of the exhibit. The items in the exhibit are mounted on ninety-six 8 1/2 by 11 inch pages displayed in special exhibit frames. I’ve been collecting philatelic and other items related to the Library of Congress for more than twenty years. Of particular significance in the exhibit are those items that document the role that mail played in the operations of the Library of Congress.  I will also be displaying the exhibit at the Danepex stamp show in Madison on April 10, the first day of National Library Week, and later in the month at Wiscopex in Fond du Lac, WI. I will also show it in a couple of other national level shows later this year. This is my thirteenth year of displaying library related exhibits at stamp shows. Although my primary impetus for exhibiting at stamp shows has been the promotion and appreciation of library history, I’ve been delighted to have my efforts recognized in a positive way by the philatelic community.