Library History Buff Blog

Charles Williamson and His Report on Training for Library Service

2012-01-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

Today is the 135th anniversary of the birth of Charles Clarence Williamson (1877-1965) who conducted a study of the training for library service in the United States for the Carnegie Corporation in in 1919-1921. The "Williamson Report" was completed in 1921 and later published as Training for Library Service in 1923. According to Robert Leigh the Williamson study "became the major program for discussion and action regarding library education for the next quarter century". Williamson conducted his study after working at the New York Public Library as Head of the Economics and Sociology Division and as Head of the Municipal Reference Library. In 1926 Williamson was given the opportunity to put his ideas about library training into practice (or as he said "Put up or shut up.") when he received a joint appointment as Director of Columbia University Libraries and as the University's School of Library Service. He served in that capacity until his retirement in 1943. Ironically, Williamson himself had no formal training as a librarian. Williamson's life and library career is documented in the book The Greatest of Greatness: The Life and Work of Charles C. Williamson (1877-1965) by Paul A. Winckler (Scarecrow Press, 1992). Winckler also wrote the entry for Williamson in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978) which is the source of the information in this post.

The Indelible Rubber Stamps of Libraries

2012-01-24T12:58:00.000-08:00

In 1982 the Design and Exhibits staff at the Dallas Public Library put on an exhibit titled "Their Indelible Mark: Rubber Stamps and Libraries". Jonathan Held who served as curator of the exhibit wrote about it in the December 1982 issue of American Libraries. After the idea for the exhibit of library rubber stamps was conceived, the staff of the Dallas Public Library issued a call to the library community to send them rubber stamps no longer in use. As a result they received a phenomenal collection of 5,000 rubber stamps from 37 states, Canada, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. The staff selected 821 for their 6 week exhibit. Held indicated that for the most part the stamps revealed the different tasks library workers perform, patterns of library service, and ways information is categorized and disseminated. Some were more unusual, however. One included the following message:

THIS MATERIAL WAS PRINTED BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN; THEREFORE, THE PHILOSOPHY EXPRESSED MAY NOT BE CONSISTENT WITH THAT OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION

Another one had this message:

THE PASSAGE OF THE JARVIS/GANN AMENDMENT RESULTS IN NO FUNDING FOR THE LIBRARY, AT LEAST TEMPORARILY. YOUR REQUEST CANNOT BE FILLED. SORRY.

Held ends his article which includes numerous illustrations of stamp messages with this comment: "It appears that rubber stamps may be among the first casualties of the Information Revolution, and that another facet of Americana may vanish. But they have served to remind us of how often clues to the essential nature of things are found in the most commonplace artifacts of daily life." This is why we as a library community should seek to preserve such artifacts. I was the fortunate recipient of a collection of these rubber stamps which were being deaccessioned by a library. A photo of my collection is shown below.

The Best Library Postcard Sites on the Internet

2012-01-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Selected postcards from my collection

In my previous post I discussed some of the World's Largest Library Postcard Collections. Of those collections, only a small portion of the Sjoerd Koopman collection has been digitized (by the American Library Association Archives)and made accessible on the Internet. At the same time, realizing the popularity of this medium, a large and growing number of library and archival institutions have digitized non-library focused collections of picture postcards. It has fallen, for the most part, to individual library postcard enthusiasts who are not affiliated with an institution to break ground in this postcard niche. Here are what I consider to be the best library postcard sites on the Internet.

The Library History Buff website "Library Postcards" page. This recently updated webpage serves as a portal to library postcard collections and resources on the Internet. In addition to the postcard sites below it contains links to less robust sites.

Library Postcards: Civic Pride in a Lost America, the library postcard site of Judy Aulik. Judy has a personal collection of about 3,000 library postcards and she has digitized many of these for our enjoyment. Judy links her postcard images to information about the library that is available on the web. She is continually updating and expanding her website.

The Library Postcard site of Sharon McQueen and Richard Douglas is a well constructed website that displays a large portion of their library postcard collection. A nice feature of this site is that the non-picture side of the postcard is also shown. Updates are infrequent, however.

The Library Postcards Blog of Mark Jackson has over 1,000 library postcard images. Postcard images are added as blog posts and each card has associated tags or keywords, including the name of the library, city or town, state or country of location. Whenever historical information is available, it is included. Frequently updated.

The Booth Library Postcard Collection (Eastern Illinois University) includes an extensive collection of postcards showing Illinois libraries. In 2010 the Booth Library also acquired 2,811 library postcards of a broader nature which were assembled by a private collector that the library plans to digitize. This site utilizes the highest digitization standards and represents the ideal in the display of library postcards.

The ALA Archives Digital Collections is worthy of mention. As noted above, the ALA Archives has digitized a portion of the Sjoerd Koopman collection. Other postcards have also digitized. Hopefully, the ALA Archives will continue to acquire and digitize more library postcards in the future.

One of the most important developments that could take place in regard to library postcard digitization is the digitization of the 25,000 plus library postcards in the Norman D. Stevens Collection of Library Architecture at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This is the largest collection in institutional hands.

If you have other nominations for this list, put them in the "comments" section of the blog.

World's Largest Library Postcard Collections

2012-01-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

The collecting of picture postcards sometimes called deltiology has been a popular activity for more than a century. Because of the vast volume of postcards, individuals have often confined their collecting to postcards depicting one or just a few specific subjects. The extensive construction of new library buildings in communities across the United States in the first two decades of the 19th century coincided with the heyday of picture postcards and libraries were a frequent subject of these postcards. So it is not surprising that some individuals collected postcards with libraries as their subject. With the help of veteran library postcard collector and authority Norman D. Stevens I have compiled lists of former and current collectors of library postcards. Some of these collections are significant in scope and I've identified what I think are the world's largest collections of library postcards.

Two collections of library postcards stand by themselves in scope. Both collections exceed 25,000 library postcards. The first was assembled by the aforementioned Norman D. Stevens. The Stevens collection includes a number of smaller collections that were previously assembled by several other individuals. Stevens donated his collection to the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada where it is now located and is part of the Norman D. Stevens Collection of Library Architecture. The second 25,000 plus library postcard collection was assembled by Hans Krol, a retired librarian in The Netherlands and founder of the Bibliotheekmuseum (Library Museum). Krol continues to actively build his collection and it will undoubtedly eventually be the world's largest library postcard collection. Both the Stevens and the Krol collections include postcards of libraries worldwide. I consider Stevens and Krol to be the world's greatest librariana collectors.

There are a few other library postcard collections that are in the 10,000 plus category. Those include the collection of Dan Lester, a retired librarian and former (also one of the greatest) librariana collector, who has a collection of over 13,000 library postcards. His collection is currently inactive. Sjoerd Koopman, a librarian in the Netherlands working for the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), has growing collection of 12,500 postcards depicting libraries in more that 70 different countries. A portion of Koopman's collection has been digitized by the American Library Association Archives. Koopman gave the presentation "Libraries on postcards: historical trends, modern applications and potential" at the IFLA Conference in 2008. Michele Farrell of Alexandria, VA, a librarian who works for the Institute of Museum and Library Service, has a current collection of over 10,400 postcards of libraries from around the world. Her collection is still growing. Marjorie Warmkessel, a professor in the Library Department at Millersville University (PA, has a postcard collection of approximately 25,000 postcards including around 10,000 library postcards. Her collection includes former library postcard collections of several individuals.

I have a relatively modest library postcard collection numbering around 1,700 postcards. Other current library postcard collections are listed HERE. The postcard shown at the beginning of this post includes images of four library postcards. It was created by Sjoerd Koopman to solicit library postcards for his collection.

In my next blog post I intend to highlight some library postcard sites on the Internet.

The Libraries of Louvain Revisited

2012-01-20T10:43:00.000-08:00

"On the night of 25 August 1914, around one or two o'clock in the morning, several fires broke out in the medieval Belgian city of Louvain, which had been occupied for about a week by invading German troops. The fire lasted three days, during which time the Germans did not allow authorities to combat it. The result was the destruction of much of the city, including the famed library of the Catholic University of Louvain." So begins an overview of the history of the Louvain University Library written by Phillip A. Metzger for Libraries & Culture. Following its destruction in World War I the library was rebuilt in 1928, but sadly it was destroyed again in World War II. I wrote an earlier blog post about the destruction of the libraries in Louvain in 2009. I also created a webpage about the destroyed libraries on the Library History Buff website which includes images of a number of postal artifacts in my collection. I recently added the two postcards shown above to my collection. The first shows the library after its destruction in 1914 and the second shows the interior of the new library built in 1928. I also have a previous related post about "Fire - The Enemy of Books".

The Bibliosmiles Revisited

2012-01-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

I wrote an earlier post about Charles Lummis and "The Bibliosmiles", an organization designed by group of librarians who probably had too much time on their hands at the 1906 American Library Association Narragansett Pier (RI) Conference. In doing some research on ALA's centennial I came across "ALA Centennial Vignette No. 9" in American Libraries for February, 1976. The vignette was about the Bibliosmiles and was written by Ed Gleaves, at the time Director of the School of Library Science at George Peabody College in Nashville, TN. Gleaves wrote about the first meeting of the Bibliosmiles at the 1907 ALA Conference in Ashville, NC where the organization was officially founded. The organization's motto was "To keep the Book Dust off our Top Shelves" and its password was, "Cheer Up, ALA". Their official seal is shown to the left. The officers, who included some heavy hitters in ALA, gave themselves some interesting titles: John Cotton Dana was the Grand Ha Ha; Tessa L. Kelso was Minehaha; W. P. Cutter was Sardonic Grin; Adelaide R. Hasse was Big Stick; Samuel S. Green was Supt. of Edification; Joseph F. Daniels was Glad Hand; F. K. W. Drury was Subdued Snicker; E. L. Pearson was Main Guy; and Charles F. Lummis was Grim Reality. Grim Reality spoke first at their meeting at the conference according to Gleaves - "Mr. Chairman: In our profession, even more than in most, we must accept Civilization. In our profession, as much as in any, we need to take it with reservation .. We have to catch, ourselves young, and organize against the Habit of Huddling... The whole tendency of civilization is to run together in an indistinguishable mess. We must Get Together, to Keep ourselves Apart... ." Later in his presentation Grim Reality makes a surprisingly serious point for an organization founded in humor, "I wish to call your attention further to the fact that, while ladies have their full share of library positions, they have never been admitted to those serious and subterranean councils in which the real fate of the ALA is determined. With the highest regard for the generic wisdom of this convention, I respectfully submit that there ARE women fully worthy to share our efforts to retain humanity in the libraries... ." In an essay titled "Adelaide Hasse: The New Woman as Librarian" in the book Reclaiming the American Library Past: Writing the Women In edited by Suzanne Hildenbrand (Ablex Publishing, 1996), Clare Beck wrote the following about the participation of Hasse and Kelso in the Bibliosmiles: "Among librarians, Hasse and Kelso's liveliness stood out to an extent that they were chosen as two of the three women members of the Bibliosmiles, a mildly rowdy organization founded by their old friend from Los Angeles, the flamboyant Charles Lummis, as a refuge from the solemnity of ALA meetings. The Bibliosmiles, 'Librarians who are Nevertheless Human' dedicated to 'keeping the dust off our top shelves,' specialized in comic songs and speeches, but the group was also a meeting place for some of the iconoclasts of the library world, men like Lummis and John Cotton Dana, who thought highly of Hasse and reinforced her belief that libraries could be a vital and innovative part of progressive change." Gleaves notes in his article that by 1911, "The Biblioshmiles, being human, were soon to pass into history, and with them went their dream of laughter, their irresistible protest against undue solemnity in the profession of librarianship. A rally of librarians to be remembered, they are largely forgotten - the final grim reality." And so, lest we forget.

Camp Merritt (NJ) Libraries in WWI

2012-01-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

During World War I the American Library Association as part of its Library War Service operated a camp library and a hospital library at Camp Merritt in New Jersey. Reading materials for soldiers were also available at other locations in the camp. I have a collection of postcards produced by ALA that features the libraries of the Library War Service, but I also have postcards of other library venues. The two postcards above show the library in the Enlisted Men's Club of Camp Merritt and the library in the Recreation Room of the Red Cross House at Camp Merritt. Both libraries appear to be well stocked and well used. ALA cooperated fully with other organizations in providing reading materials in camps.

The Public Libraries of Providence, RI

2012-01-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

Today is the 125th anniversary of the birth of Clarence Edgar Sherman (1887-1974) who was associated with the Providence Public Library for 35 years and served as its Librarian from 1922 to 1957. Sherman helped build up the branch library system of the Providence Public Library and oversaw the major expansion of the central library which took place in 1954. The occasion of Sherman's birthday prompted me to take a closer look at the Providence Public Library which is a not-for-profit corporation governed by a Board of Trustees. In doing so I discovered that in 2009 the Trustees basically jettisoned the branch libraries because of economic woes and the Providence Community Library was created to save the branch libraries in Providence. I'm pretty sure that Clarence turned over in his grave at this point. It was only last month that an agreement was reached on the transfer of ownership of the branch libraries to the City of Providence to be operated by the Providence Community Library. The Providence Public Library continues to administers what was previously the central library. That library serves as a statewide resource library. The Providence Public Library has a nice history of the library and some historical highlights on its website. I'm impressed with the Providence Public Library's Early Literacy Learning program, and later this month it will dedicate a new Children's Discovery Library. I'm also a fan of "Notes for Bibliophiles", the blog for the Special Collections Department of the library. Back to Clarence Sherman who felt that "The best library is the library in which books are most carefully selected, which is well organized and operated, and which best meets local needs and standards." A sentiment that both Providence libraries should make note of. A couple of my Providence Public Library artifacts are shown above.

Huntington (WV) Public Library Postcard

2012-01-13T07:49:00.000-08:00

This vintage library postcard showing the Huntington (WV) Public Library has lots of appeal. The "bird's eye view" shows that the Carnegie library building is located in a desirable, high traffic area. Along with pedestrians, automobiles and a street car are visible. Now part of the Cabell County Public Library, the library in Huntington is no longer located in the Carnegie building which it moved out of in 1980. Fortunately, the Carnegie building which opened in 1902 has been repurposed as the home of the Huntington Junior College. The Carnegie grant to Huntington was a sizeable $25,000. The Carnegie building is on the National Register of Historic Places. There is a brief history of the Cabell County Public Library on its website.

ALA's Montreal Conference of 1900

2012-01-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

Librarians in Canada were welcome as members of the American Library Association (ALA) from its inception, and in June, 1900 ALA met for the first of six times in Canada (the last in Toronto in 2003). I have a couple of artifacts in my collection from the Montreal conference - the program and a pamphlet from the Local Committee. Most of the 452 attendees were housed at the Windsor Hotel which billed itself as "the best in all the Dominion". Room and board at the hotel cost only $3-$3.50 per day. The general sessions of the conference were held at the convocation hall of Presbyterian College "amid the pleasant surroundings of the College campus with its freedom from dust and noise". Many of the stars of our early profession were there - Melvil Dewey, Herbert Putnam, Katharine Sharp, Mary Plummer, R. R. Bowker, C. A. Cutter, John Billings, and Electra Doren to name a few. At the turn of the century it was appropriate for ALA President Reuben G. Thwaites of Wisconsin to review "Ten Years of American Library Progress". The conference proceedings can be found HERE. A highlight of all early ALA conferences was the post conference excursion. For the Montreal Conference the Local Committee had arranged a trip by special steamer to the river Saguenay. For the trip "the largest and best boat on the Saguenay route has been secured". The cost of the entire trip was under $20. A quote from Goethe on the cover of the Local Committee pamphlet seems to convey the spirit of the conference: "One should not neglect from time to time to renew friendly relations by personal intercourse." A sentiment to be followed at all ALA conferences including the upcoming one in Dallas.

Latest Article on Bibliophilately

2012-01-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

I discussed the first article about the topic of bibliophilately by John Boynton Kaiser in a recent post. I can now report that I am the author of the latest article about bibliophilately. It was published in the Winter 2012 issue of the magazine Fine Books & Collections. It is a very brief introduction to the topic of bibliophilately for the readers of that very attractive magazine for booklovers and collectors. I developed a webpage to supplement the article.

Edmon Low, Library Legislation Advocate

2012-01-04T09:58:00.000-08:00

Each year I peruse the Dictionary of American Library Biography and its two supplements to identify significant birth anniversaries of former library leaders. In some cases I already know of the library leader, but in others I am introduced to someone I have no previous knowledge of. Such is the case with Edmon Horton Low (1902-1983) who was born 110 years ago today. The entry for Low in the Supplement to the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1990) was written by David Kaser. Kaser begins the entry with the sentence: "Edmon Horton Low, known as the library profession's finest lobbyist, was born in Kiowa Indian Territory, on January 4, 1902." That sentence immediately caught my interest because of a career long interest in library legislation. The largest portion of Low's professional career was spent as Director of the Oklahoma State University Library. One of Low's accomplishment's at OSU was the construction of a new library building (shown above) which was later named for him. Low also had a long association with the University of Michigan Library School where he taught for many years during summer sessions and after retirement at OSU on a full time basis. But back to Low's library legislative contributions. Low served on the Legislative Committee of the American Library Association from 1958 to 1962 and from 1964 to 1969 and was chair of the committee in 1967-1968. According to Kaser, "Low testified before congressional committees more frequently than any other librarian had ever done" and that "His masterful testimony is scattered throughout many committee prints and hearings on the National Defense Education Act, the Library Services Act, the Higher Education Act, and other bills in Congress ...". While many librarians shun the political process, there are those who embrace it and thrive in it, and Low was one of those who embraced it. The library community owes those individuals a huge debt of gratitude. On a personal note, I was able to attend college because of a loan through the National Defense Education Act. Thanks Edmon.

Bertram Approves Reedsburg's (WI) Carnegie Plans 1911

2012-01-03T18:49:00.000-08:00

James Bertram's signature of approval on Reedsburg plans.

Postcard of Carnegie library building in Reedsburg, WI

My wife and I drove up to Reedsburg, WI today to install an exhibit of Wisconsin Carnegie library memorabilia at the Reedsburg Public Library. It will remain there for the month of January. The exhibit is very appropriate since Reedsburg's Carnegie library building was dedicated 100 years ago this month. Although the public library now occupies a new building located across the street from the Carnegie building, the Carnegie is still used to house the library's archival collection. I was delighted to find that the library has preserved and framed the original plans for the Carnegie building which were approved by James Bertram of the Carnegie Corporation on March 11, 1911. Bertram who was Carnegie's personal secretary played an extremely important role in the Carnegie library grant program. Beginning in 1908 Bertram personally approved all plans for buildings built with the help of a Carnegie grant. It's great when a library has preserved such an important historic artifact.

Happy 125th Birthday John Boynton Kaiser, Bibliophilatelist

2012-01-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

I'm also a blogger for the Philatelic Literature & Research blog. I published the post below on that blog earlier today.

Today is the 125th anniversary of the birth of John Boynton Kaiser (1887-1973), a librarian and a philatelist. Kaiser is one of many librarians who collect or have collected postage stamps. He was, however, one of the first to collect postage stamps which depict libraries and librarians. Kaiser had a successful career as a librarian which included serving as administrator of the Tacoma (WA) Public Library, the University of Iowa Libraries and Library School, and the Newark (NJ) Public Library. He served as librarian at Camp Knox, Kentucky during World War I. He was also a serious philatelist and received the Walter McCoy Award for Excellence in Philatelic Writing from the American Philatelic Congress in 1953. The award was for his article Bibliography: The Basis for Philatelic Research which was published in the 1953 Congress Book (note: this article was also reprinted as a separate publication by the Philatelic Library Association in 1953). In the July, 1955 issue of Library Journal, Kaiser wrote an article titled "Librarianship and Philately" in which he introduced the library community to the collecting of postage stamps related to libraries and librarians that has since been called "bibliophilately". Kaiser's article in the Library Journal also makes note of many "parallelisms" between librarianship and stamp collecting. As a bibliophilatelist myself, I appreciate Kaiser's early efforts to identify postage stamps related to libraries. A much broader approach to bibliophilately was written about by Leona Rostenberg in a series of articles in 1977 for the American Philatelist. Those articles were later published as a book titled Bibliately in 1978 by the American Philatelic Society (search for "Bibliately" in the APRL online union catalog to find philatelic libraries with this book). I discovered bibliophilately via a 1982 article by George Eberhart titled "Biblio-philately" in the magazine American Libraries. I have established a webpage on "Bibliophilately Resources" for those who would like to explore this topic further.

Sleepy Eye (MN) Public Library Trio

2011-12-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

I took advantage of the opportunity to acquire a bookmark for the Dyckman Free Library in Sleepy Eye, MN recently primarily because I already had in my collection of librariana a souvenir china piece and a postcard for the library. I mostly collect library souvenir items for Wisconsin libraries, but a friend had picked up the small china basket which had an illustration of the Sleepy Eye library in an antique store and gave it to me as a gift. I added the postcard from a local postcard show. The bookmark illustration celebrates the 1972 centennial of the City of Sleepy Eye, MN which is named for Chief Sleepy Eye, a Dakota Sioux chief. The Dyckman Free Library is named for F. H. Dyckman, a local banker, who donated the library building to the city in 1900. The greatly expanded Dyckman Free Library incorporates the original building into its design.

1956, A Big Year for Public Libraries

2011-12-29T08:19:00.000-08:00

As 2011 comes to a close, I wanted to mention a couple of events that occurred in 1956 that had a major impact on the development of public library service in the United States. The first was the publication of Public Library Service: A Guide to Evaluation With Minimum Standards (American Library Association, 1956). This was a landmark publication which basically made the case for larger units of public library service. As stated in the document: "Libraries working together, sharing their services and materials, can meet the full needs of their users. This co-operative approach on the part of libraries is the most important single recommendation of this document. Without joint action, most American libraries probably will never be ale to come up to the standard necessary to meet the needs of their constituencies." In the same year that this blueprint for better public library service was published, the first major federal aid program for public library service, the Library Services Act, was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law. The primary focus of the Library Services Act was to extend and improve library service to rural populations. Statewide plans for accomplishing this were required to receive the federal aid. A number of states including Wisconsin developed state plans that called for the creation of federated public library systems. In Wisconsin, demonstrations of county and regional library service using federal LSA funding led to the eventual passage of of the 1971 (40 years ago) Library Systems Law that has resulted in every citizen of Wisconsin having access to public library service. I have worked in two other states, Tennessee and South Carolina, where statewide public library service was also achieved primarily with the use of LSA and later LSCA funding. Today, the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) under the direction of the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) continues the legacy of LSA started 55 years ago.

Louis Round Wilson, Library Educator

2011-12-27T17:41:00.000-08:00

Although he was affiliated directly with only two American library institutions, Louis Round Wilson (1876-1979) had a significant impact on the entire library world. Today is the 135th anniversary of his birth. Wilson became Librarian of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1901 at the age of 25. While at UNC he founded their library school in 1931. His contribution at UNC was significant enough to have the library building at UNC which he helped build named for him. In 1932 he joined the library school at the University of Chicago as Dean. He retired from the University of Chicago in 1942, but returned to the University of North Carolina where he engaged in a variety of post-retirement activities for another 30 years. He died in December, 1979, just days shy of his 103rd birthday. Along the way, he helped found the North Carolina Library Association in which he served as President in 1909, 1920-21, and 1929-30. He was also active in the American Library Association and served as its President in 1935-36. Maurice F. Tauber is author of a biography about Wilson titled Louis Round Wilson, Librarian and Administrator (Columbia Univ. Press, 1967). In his biography Tauber referred to Wilson as the dean of American university librarianship, but indicated that he was concerned with librarianship in all types of institutions. He quoted Robert Burton House who said Wilson was "one of the most constructive persons of his generation in the entire university world."

Library of Congress Ornament

2011-12-25T12:14:00.000-08:00

For those who put up and decorate Christmas trees, there are tens of thousands of ornaments to choose from. Libraries on occasion arrange for an ornament to commemorate a special occasion. The one highlighted in this post is from the Library of Congress and it incorporates some of the copper from the original 1897 roof of what is now the Thomas Jefferson Building. A nice keepsake even if you don't put it on a tree. Happy holidays!

William Frederick Poole, Great American Librarian

2011-12-24T21:07:00.000-08:00

There are few American librarians with a more stellar resume than William Frederick Poole (1821-1894), and today is the 190th anniversary of his birth. His professional library career spanned 47 years. He was the head librarian for the Boston Mercantile Library, the Boston Athenaeum, the Cincinnati Public Library, the Chicago Public Library, and the Newberry Library in Chicago. He was recognized for his innovative index to periodicals at the 1853 conference of American librarians, and in 1876 at the library conference in Philadelphia he proposed a plan for making a new edition of that important index even more comprehensive. An active member of ALA, Poole served for ten years as the first Vice-President of ALA and then two terms as President. There is an excellent entry about Poole by William Landram Williamson in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978). Williamson had this to say about Poole: "An imaginative thinker and inspiring leader, William Frederick Poole was one of the great founding librarians of the United States. To his contemporary librarians, one of his outstanding achievements was his contribution in making librarianship a recognized and respected profession. He could make this contribution because he was a man of strength, scholarship, warmth, and dedication." One of the more interesting artifacts in my collection related to Poole is an 1854 membership payment receipt for the Mercantile Library Association of Boston signed by Poole (shown above). I wrote a previous post about another Poole artifact in my collection.

Holiday Letter From A Library History Buff

2011-12-20T16:52:00.000-08:00

Dan Lester (left) and Larry Nix, The Library History Buff

Holiday letters often receive a bad rap. My wife and I have sent one out for many years and are happy to receive them from others. They sure beat a holiday card with a written or printed signature and nothing else. So here's a holiday letter with some of my library history highlights.

Season's greetings from Middleton, Wisconsin

One of the highlights of my year was a visit with Dan Lester one of the world's great librariana collectors. My wife and I stopped for a visit with Dan on a trip to the Southwest in the Spring. Dan has donated most of his extensive librariana collection for the benefit of two library organizations, but still has one of the largest library postcard collections ever assembled.

A modified version of the philatelic exhibit on the Library of Congress which I showed for the first time last year received a number of awards this year: 4 gold medals, 1 vermeil medal, the American Philatelic Society's Research Award, and the Display Champion Award at the St. Louis Stamp Show. My Presidential Libraries & Museums exhibit received a silver medal and my Library Uses of Melvil Dewey's Postal Card received a silver medal. I made a presentation on my exhibit to the Washington (D.C.) Stamp Collectors Club in conjunction with NAPEX, the D.C. area stamp show in June.

The Wisconsin State Law Library celebrated its 175th anniversary. I was pleased to help out with a presentation on early Wisconsin library leaders and a small exhibit of Wisconsin library memorabilia. My presentation (and that of the Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court) was videotaped by the Wisconsin version of C-Span.

Congratulations to the Wisconsin Library Association on its 120th anniversary. I'm Chair of the Steering Committee for the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center. The Center sponsors the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame and we inducted our fourth group of library leaders into the Hall of Fame in November at the WLA's annual conference in Milwaukee.

The Wisconsin Library Memorabilia Exhibit which I curate for the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center was on display at the Hales Corners Public Library to help them celebrate their 35th anniversary and at the T. B. Scott Free Library in Merrill, WI to help them celebrate the 100th anniversary of their Carnegie building.

I put together an online exhibit in honor of the 135th anniversary of the American Library Association.

Melvil Dewey was among many former library leaders with significant anniversaries this year. I have an online exhibit of some of my Dewey librariana to commemorate this occasion.

I served as one of the judges for the 2011 Salem Press Library Blog Awards. I was selected for this task because of the 2nd place finish of The Library History Buff Blog in the Quirky Library Blogs category in the 2010 selections.

The Library History Buff Blog celebrated two milestones this year - its third anniversary and the 400th post to the blog.

I continue to maintain the Library History Buff website although it receives less of my attention new than in the past due to my focus on the blog.

This year was the 60th anniversary of the dedication of the Dag Hammarskjold Library of the United Nations in New York.

Congratulations to the Society of American Archivists on their 75th anniversary. I really like their trading cards project.

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped celebrated its 80th anniversary this year.

This is the centennial year of the New York Public Library's iconic building at 5th Ave. & 42nd St.. I put together an online exhibit of stamps depicting the building for this occasion.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York celebrated its centennial this year.

I'm looking forward to 2012 and the library history celebration opportunities it holds.

Happy holidays to all!

The Library History Buff

Happy 125th Birthday Pierce Butler

2011-12-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

Another significant December library related birthday. Today is the 125th anniversary of the birth of Lee Pierce Butler (1886-1953), library educator at the University of Chicago and author of An Introduction to Library Science (University of Chicago Press, 1933 & subsequent editions). Like many library school students of my generation my introduction to Butler's An Introduction to Library Science classic came in my first library science course. I still have my copy of the required text which is marked up extensively. To get an idea of how long ago this was, it only cost me $1.25. My copy has an introduction by Lester E. Asheim, another well known library educator. Basically, Butler tried to provide a theoretical basis for library science to counter the "simplicity of their [the library profession's] pragmatism". In his introduction Asheim indicates Butler's "little booklet" "seemed dangerously revolutionary to many librarians at the time [1933]". Hard to believe any library science text could have been considered to be dangerously revolutionary.

Happy 125th Birthday Althea Warren

2011-12-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

Today is the 125th anniversary of the birth of Althea Hester Warren (1886-1958), a former president of the American Library Association (1943-1944) and Los Angeles City Librarian (1933-1947). I learn about significant birth anniversaries of former library leaders from the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978) and its two supplements. The excellent entry in the DALB for Warren was written by Martha Boaz. Warren also served as Head Librarian for the San Diego Public Library (1916-1926). The book Turning the Pages: San Diego Public Library History (1882-1982) by Clara E. Breed (Friends of the San Diego Public Library, 1983) has a nice chapter about Warren and her time at San Diego. For an online biography of Warren by Leeanne Morrow check HERE. Althea Warren's career spanned two world wars and she played a significant role in each. Under Warren's leadership at the San Diego Public Library during World War I, the library provided a wide range of services to the members of the armed forces. These included supporting branch libraries at nearby military bases. During World War II Warren took a leave as Los Angeles City Librarian to head up the national Victory Book Campaign supported by the American Library Association. That effort resulted in the collection of millions of books for men and women in the armed services. While president of ALA, Boaz indicates that Warren worked hard to get federal aid for libraries and for changes in the ALA organization. One of her major concerns was the discrimination against African Americans in hotels of some cities that hosted ALA meetings. Breed includes several quotes from Warren that reflect her administrative philosophy. I liked this one: "The welcoming attitude of a library staff is fortunately contagious, and once a librarian has rooted out all assistants with drooping mouths and snappy voices, she will find that new employees quickly absorb an equable atmosphere. Never hesitate to discharge the most competent of workers if she is incurably sulky, for one will corrupt a multitude, and only she rightly belongs in our profession who is not only willing, but glad to 'smile off her face and run off her feet for the minimum wage.'" The postcard above showing the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public Library was mailed in 1942 while Warren was City Librarian.

Christmas in Vladivostok 1918 Revisited

2011-12-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

This post is a slightly modified version of a post that I made on Dec. 14, 2008. It's a nice Christmas story about one of our librarian predecessors who went beyond the call of duty.

The caption on the rare postcard above sends Christmas [1918] Greetings from the American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia and Library War Service of the American Library Association. In December of 1918, Harry Clemons found himself in Vladivostok, Siberia as the sole representative of the American Library Association Library War Service. His role was to provide library service to the members of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Siberia. As described in one report of the circumstances on his arrival: "That there were unusual opportunities for library service was apparent. The troops were comfortably housed in winter quarters; the thrill of the war was over and the men wanted to get home." Clemons wrote to ALA War Service Headquarters on December 22,1918, shortly after his arrival: "I hope to be able to send sets [of books] to all the detachments, large and small, of the Expedition during Christmas week. Thus we introduce the short story into the long Siberian night. In my position of 'middleman' I am sure I can send to you and the others who are making the war work possible the grateful Christmas greetings of the Expeditionary Force in Siberia." A report from Clemons about his service in Siberia appeared in the Bulletin of the American Library Association for 1919. A compilation of Clemons' letters back to the ALA headquarters were distributed to participants of the 1919 ALA Conference in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Greetings of Yule and New Year - Boston Public Library

2011-12-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

This bookmark with a seasonal tribute to the Boston Public Library was copyrighted in 1913 by Solatia M. Taylor. I don't know if it was distributed by the Boston Public Library or was sold or given away by Taylor. A neat item for this time of the year, and a welcome addition to both my collection of library bookmarks and my collection of Boston Public Library librariana.

Library of Congress Souvenir Spoon

2011-12-14T18:24:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for a last minute Christmas present, I came across one for you to consider on eBay. It is a souvenir spoon for the Library of Congress. It is sterling silver with a colored enamel picture of the Library of Congress. Souvenir spoons are common collectibles and they range from cheesy tourist trap examples to real works of art. Libraries depicted on souvenir spoons are not all that common, but they can be found. I have a small collection with most of them depicting Wisconsin libraries. I have a souvenir spoon for the Library of Congress, but it is not nearly as elaborate as the one on eBay. I think I paid $20 to $30 for mine. The spoon on eBay can be bought for $395. It probably dates from the late 19th century or early 20th century and may be one of the first library souvenir spoons. It's a wonderful piece of librariana, but a little out of my price range.

Happy (belated) 160th Birthday to Melvil Dewey

2011-12-11T19:09:00.000-08:00

Love him or hate him, Melvil Dewey (originally Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey) was one of the most fascinating and complex figures in American library history. December 10 was the 160th anniversary of his birth in Adams Center, New York. To commemorate this occasion, I've put together an online exhibit of some of my pieces of Dewey librariana on the Library History Buff website.

Most People on a Library Postcard?

2011-12-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

It was the people in front of the combination school and public library building in Hunter, New York that drew my interest in the postcard above. People make any postcard more interesting and that is certainly the case with library postcards. Postcards depicting library buildings without any other features are a little boring. This library postcard has more people depicted (probably the entire school body and faculty and maybe even the library staff) than I have seen outside of a metropolitan area (see this New York Public Library postcard). The Hunter Public Library is a school district public library and is part of the Hunter-Tannersville Central School District. It was established in 1896, and it is unclear how long it was housed in the same building with the school. There is a sign on the right front of building on this postcard which reads "Public Library".

10 of My Favorite Library History Books

2011-12-08T09:10:00.000-08:00

Over the years I've put together a basic collection of books on library history. I've identified ten of my favorites from this collection. Please note that I'm not saying these books are necessarily the best library history books - just my favorites. Unfortunately several are out of print, although they are usually available via the online used book market. The books are listed in random order.

The Library in America: A Celebration in Words and Pictures by Paul Dickson (Facts On File Publications, 1986. This book is a great introduction to American library history for the non-scholar. Dickson has done a terrific job of putting together a great group of images of library service in America from the founding of the Harvard University Library in 1638 through the publication date of the book. I once proposed to the American Library Association that this book would be a great model for a traveling exhibit on the history of American libraries.

American Library Development 1600-1899 by Elizabeth Stone (H. W. Wilson Co., 1977). This is a fabulous reference book that identifies and describes key events in the history of American libraries and cites good sources for information on these events. It is organized by type of libraries and type of library activities. It has a wonderful bibliography.

Dictionary of American Library Biography edited by Bohdan S. Wynar (Libraries Unlimited, 1978). I am heavily dependent on this book and its two supplements (1990 and 2003) for many of my posts to the Library History Buff Blog. It's a who's who in our library past with entries written by the best of our library history scholars. If you want to be inspired, pick some random entries and they will make you appreciate the legacy that our predecessors have left us. It constitutes the closest thing that we have to a national library hall of fame. The original volume is out of print. It would be great to have a freely accessible digital version of this work placed on the web.

Carnegie Libraries: Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development by George S. Bobinski (American Library Association, 1969). I'm a Carnegie library buff, and this book is the bible of information about Carnegie public libraries in America. Bobinski undoubtedly spent hundreds of hours going through the microfilmed records (the printed records were deliberately destroyed by the Carnegie Corporation) of Carnegie grants to communities to compile this book. I'm thankful for his efforts. I would like to see the microfilmed records (they are in the Columbia University Libraries) digitized and made available on the web for more convenient access.

Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey by Wayne A. Wiegand (American Library Association, 1996). The most thorough, best researched, and well written of several Dewey biographies. I came away from reading it with a much better understanding of one of our most innovative and complex former library leaders.

Books for Sammies: The American Library Association and World War I by Arthur P. Young (Beta Phi Mu, 1981). I'm very interested in the Library War Service of the American Library Association during World War I, and this is the basic text on that effort by ALA.

Raking The Historic Coals: The A.L.A. Scrapbook of 1876 by Edward G. Holley (Beta Phi Mu, 1967). There are several factors that make this book one of my favorites. I was privileged to know the author Ed Holley who was a great person and an outstanding library historian. The collection of letters and postal cards transmitted between library leaders prior to the 1876 conference which resulted in the establishment of the American Library Association on which the book is based constitutes one of the most important artifacts in American library history. The preface and introductory chapter are must reads for any library history buff or historian. Incidentally, the actual scrapbook which had been misplaced for several years was recently rediscovered.

For Congress and the Nation: A Chronological History of the Library of Congress by John Y. Cole (Library of Congress 1979). There are a number of good histories of the Library of Congress. I'm partial to this one because I relied on it heavily in developing my philatelic exhibit on the Library of Congress.

The Library Without The Walls: Reprints of Papers and Addresses selected and annotated by Laura M. Janzow (H. W. Wilson Company, 1927). One of several books in a series called Classics of American Librarianship edited by Arthur E. Bostwick. This one includes a wide selection of writings which deal with outreach efforts of public libraries in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It's very interesting to have the perspectives of contemporary librarians during this period.

The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library by Louise S. Robbins (University of Oklahoma Press, 2000). I like this book because it does an excellent job of telling the story of an unknown public librarian in Bartlesville, OK who became nationally prominent as a result of standing up for what was right even though it went against the prevailing attitudes and beliefs of her community.

Final note: Selecting just ten of my favorite library history books was tougher than I thought. There are many more that I could have included. Thanks to all of our library historians, past and present, who have worked so hard to document our library heritage. Please feel free to add some of your favorites to my list via the "comments" feature of the blog.

70th Anniversary of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor

2011-12-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, I thought I would share a couple of items from my collection. The postcard above depicts the Library at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu as it would have looked on December 7, 1941 when the attack occurred. Schofield Barracks which was home to the 25th infantry received only minor damage in the attack. The American Library Association played a much smaller role in providing reading material to our service men and women during World War II than in World War I. This was primarily because the Army and Navy considered the provision of library service one of their ongoing responsibilities (one of the legacies of ALA's World War I Library War Service). That there was (and continues to be) an Army run library at Schofield Barracks is evidence of this. The envelope below was mailed by the Army Press in Atlanta, GA on December 30, 1941 to the Librarian of the Office of the Adjutant General for Indiana in Indianapolis, IN. The envelope promotes the purchase of Defense Bonds in three ways: the postage stamp, the postmark, and a "Remember !! Pearl Harbor" hand stamp. The postage stamp, one of three stamps in the 1940 National Defense issue, indicates four factors necessary for the defense of our nation: Security, Education, Conservation, and Health. The second and third stamps in the set add: Industry, Agriculture, Army, and Navy. One of the most unfortunate and deplorable aspects of the World War II conflict with Japan was the internment of Japanese Americans by the United States government about which I have written an earlier post.

Envelope Seals for German Libraries

2011-12-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I acquired a small collection of envelope seals for German libraries. Some of the seals are shown above along with an envelope which includes one of the seals. Most of the seals are for German university libraries (universitats bibliotheks), and most of the seals depict a heraldic eagle as the dominate feature. There's an interesting typed message on the envelope. It reads: "Hello, Sam! You may already have these. Eunice." I assume Eunice was referring to the stamps on the envelope and that Sam was a stamp collector which is probably why the envelope has been preserved. "Reichstag" on the seal on the envelope which was mailed in 1925 refers to the parliamentary building in Berlin so the seal was for the parliamentary library (pre Nazi era). I was successful in finding a website with some information on the use of German labels on envelopes. These seals are an example of one the many kinds of librariana that someone interested in libraries can collect.

Another Piece of Bookmobileana

2011-12-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

I recently added another item to my collection of bookmobileana. It is a badge worn by the bookmobile driver of the Oshkosh Public Library in Wisconsin. The bookmobile service for the Oshkosh Public Library was discontinued in 2007 due to budget constraints. Based on the fastener on back of the badge, I think it was probably worn on the driver's hat. The vehicle shown on the badge appears to be a bus. It is likely that the company that made the badge supplied badges to bus drivers and they used the same basic design for the bookmobile badge. Not something you come across everyday.

Happy 150th Birthday Electra Doren, Dayton Librarian

2011-12-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

December is a big month for significant birthdays for former library leaders. Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Electra Collins Doren whose claim to fame rests primarily with her leadership of the Dayton (OH) Public Library. She has been inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame and the Ohio Library Hall of Fame. She has also been inducted into the Miami Valley Walk of Fame. Doren started her career at the Dayton Public Library in 1879 when she was only 18 years old. She became director of the library in 1897. She left Dayton to help start the library school at Case Western in 1905, but returned to Dayton where she was reappointed head librarian in 1913. Kudos to the Dayton Public Library for naming a branch library in her honor and for noting her contribution to outreach services on its website. There's a nice write up about Doren in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978) by Robert E. Kingery.

Happy 135th Birthday George B. Utley

2011-12-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

Today is the 135th anniversary of the birth of George Burwell Utley (1876-1946) who served as administrator of several library organizations including the American Library Association (ALA) from 1911 to 1920. Utley was also elected President of ALA in 1922-23. Prior to his service at ALA he was Director of the Jacksonville (FL) Public Library and after his service at ALA he served as Librarian of the Newberry Library in Chicago. During his tenure at ALA the organization was located in the Chicago Public Library, but it was temporarily relocated to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. from 1917 to 1919. This was done so that Utley could serve simultaneously as Executive Secretary of ALA's Library War Service which was under the overall direction of Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam. He was at the Newberry Library from 1920 until his retirement in 1942. The envelope shown above documents Utley's move back to Chicago after his work at the Library of Congress. As a stamp collector Utley would have appreciated this piece of postal librariana.

ALA's WWI Library Sun Parlor in Coblenz, Germany

2011-12-02T07:11:00.000-08:00

One of my library postcard collecting interests is postcards that the American Library Association produced to promote its Library War Service during World War I. Most of my postcards depict camp and hospital libraries in the United States. Postcards showing Library War Service activities in Germany and France are rare. I was pleased to add a postcard of ALA's library in Coblenz, Germany (shown above) to my collection even though its not in great shape. It is unused. The postcard depicts the sun parlor of the library, and one of the captions reads, "For men off duty, the sun parlor in the American Library at Coblenz furnishes a comfortable place to look over the newspapers from home." Another caption reads, "The American Library Association is maintaining a Library at Coblenz, all service being free to the entire personnel of the Army of Occupation." The postcard shows a large rack of newspapers in the background and three soldiers engaged in reading.

On the Brink of World War II

2011-12-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

When the Yale University Library mailed the envelope above it was only days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which precipitated the entry of the U.S. into World War II. The envelope was mailed on December 3, 1941 to the Library (Bibliotheque) of the Universite Libre in Brussels, Belgium. U.S. mail to Europe was already being examined by censors and the label on this envelope indicates that this was accomplished by Examiner 5141. Belgium had been invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940 and was an occupied country. According to the website of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles the university closed its doors in 1941 to avoid collaborating with the Nazis. The envelope has what philatelists refer to as an auxiliary marking - "Return to Sender Service Suspended". Postal service was suspended by many countries during World War II. The envelope was returned through New York City and has a date stamp of July 28, 1942, almost eight months after it was first mailed. Since the envelope doesn't include any contents, there is no way of knowing for what purpose it was sent. An interesting piece of postal librariana.

John Cotton Dana and "The Men of Letters"

2011-11-29T08:04:00.000-08:00

I'm a great admirer of John Cotton Dana (1856-1919), one of our nation's great early librarians. Although Dana is best known in the library profession for his advocacy of library public relations, one of the things that I admire most about him was his sense of humor. I have in my collection a small, four page publication titled The Men of Letters (Vol. I No. 1, May 1913, Newark, NJ) published by The Elm Tree Press, Woodstock, Vermont. This publication begins with a letter signed by a John Silver that was supposedly published in the Newark Evening News on May 8, 1913. The letter indicates that an organization called "The Newark Men of Letters" has been formed, and that the organization "has no constitution, by-laws, fees or dues, unless duties are dues. Every member is an office-holder and bears a title." The organization was instigated by Dana and fellow bibliophiles while he was Director of the Newark Public Library. The official titles of the members included: "Captain of the Pirate Crew"; "Long Rifle"; "Thumb Mark Detective"; and "Galloping Dick, Highwayman". John Cotton Dana's title was "The Devil's Admiral". By unanimous vote Treasure Island was adopted by The Newark Men of Letters as the model of all novels for the organization. The coat of arms for the organization which is included on the cover of The Men of Letters (see above) has the motto "Read What You Like". I think the coat of arms would make a great bookplate. Jane Durnell, in an article titled "The Cardelius Syndrome" in the Spring 1976 issue of Imprint: Oregon (Published by the University of Oregon Library), reviewed several escapades of Dana and associates including The Men of Letters. "Cardelius" in the title of Durnell's article refers to a personage created by Dana as an early printer and the writer of a tribute to printing. Subsequently, several letters about Cardelius were published in The Nation magazine as if he were a real person. Durnell also discusses "The Bibliosmiles" and Charles Lummis which I have written about previously. Wayne Wiegand has written about one of Dana's more elaborate hoaxes, "The Old Librarian's Almanack". Let's hear it for library humor, may we all have more of it.

Book Delivery on Day of 1906 SF Earthquake

2011-11-28T10:50:00.000-08:00

Natural disasters obviously impact libraries if they are in the vicinity of the disaster. Libraries certainly have not escaped untouched by the multitude of disasters that have occurred in this country in recent years. The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, more accurately described as the California Earthquake of 1906, was especially disastrous to libraries. Some libraries were completely destroyed and many more were negatively impacted by the earthquake and the related fires. It is always interesting to come across an artifact that places a library in the context of a major historical event. I recently acquired a postal card that documents the receipt of a book by the library of the Chabot Observatory (now the Chabot Space & Science Center) in Oakland, California on the day of the 1906 California earthquake. The postal card was mailed to Robert Schindler in Lucerne, Switzerland on Charles Burckhalter, Assistant in Charge at the Chabot Observatory, on May 3, 1906. The card acknowledges receipt of Schindler's book The Mechanic of the Moon (Published by the author, 1906). Burckhalter writes, "Your little book came the same day as our earthquake, so I have not had time to read, but only to glance over it. It seems, however to be a work of merit." Although Oakland suffered extensive earthquake damage, it escaped the devastating fire that followed in San Francisco. Ironically, Bruckhalter who later became Director of the Chabot Observatory died in September, 1923 shortly after a fire that destroyed nearby homes and threatened the Observatory.

Gerstenslager Bookmobile Postcard Ads

2011-11-18T06:14:00.000-08:00

For many years the Gerstenslager Company in Wooster, Ohio was synonymous with bookmobiles for public library extension librarians. Although the roots of the company date back to 1860 it was not until after World War II that the company began designing and building custom bodies for specialty vehicles including bookmobiles. One of my postcard collecting interests is bookmobiles and among my collection is a group of cards which include advertising on the back for the Gerstenslager Co. and its bookmobile business. Each of the postcards, of course, has a bright shinny new bookmobile of the front. The advertising on the back is varied, and sometimes surprising. A 1954 card boasts that in 1954 Gerstenslager built 96 percent of bookmobiles built specifically for that purpose and that 1955 looks like it would break that record. A 1956 card takes advantage of the recent passage of the "Federal Aid Program", the Library Services Act, and indicates that if your qualify for that program, Gerstenslager is ready to assist you in your planning. Another ad features the horse drawn Washington County Free Library (Hagerstown, MD) bookmobile, the first bookmobile in the United States, with the information that it has just delivered Washington County's 12th bookmobile (pictured on the front of the card). One ad is somewhat religious in nature and touts the Golden Rule. At some point, Gerstenslager evidently ceased making bookmobile bodies, although it continues to assist in the manufacture of vehicles.

LHBB Milestones

2011-11-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

Today is the third anniversary of the Library History Buff Blog. This is also my 400th post to the blog. I'm pleased with the modest success of the blog. Although my statistical software doesn't measure all of the activity on the blog, it does show that there were at least 27,000 unique visits to the blog in the last 12 months and 40,000 page loads. The blog post to the site that received the most page loads ever was the "Best Library Cover Story Ever" post on April 4, 2011. That post featured the cover shown above which made its way from Spain to the Los Angeles Public Library with only a picture as an address. I'm grateful for the 128 individuals who have signed up as "followers" of my site. I'm also grateful to American Libraries Direct which periodically links to some of my blog posts. Thanks to the members of the Library History Round Table of ALA who put up with my reminders of recent posts to the blog. Finally, thanks to the other bloggers and webmasters who link to the Library History Buff Blog. Now on to year four and more posts.

Some Blogs That I Follow

2011-11-15T12:45:00.000-08:00

I'm disappointed that there are not more people blogging about library history, but I'm encouraged that this is beginning to change slowly. Recently I became aware of a new blog on Canadian Bookplates that includes library history in its purview. I've previously mentioned Little Known Black Librarian Facts and NYPL Librarians which both started this year and are doing quite well. I also just became aware of Ethlene Whitmire's blog about her research on Regina Andrews: Harlem Renaissance Librarian. Lorne Bruce's Libraries Today Blog about Canadian library history has been in place for a while. Lorne also has a wiki on Canadian Library History. There are a number of blogs that are not directly tied to library history but often deal with related topics. One of the most interesting is Chuck Whiting's Bibliophemera, a blog about ephemera related to books, their owners, sellers, publishers, printers, binders, etc.. Benjamin L. Clark's blog Exile Bibliophile is also a good one. Lew Jaffe's Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie is one of my favorites. Most of these blogs have links to an even wider range of blogs related to the world of bibliophiles and book ephemera. I recently added the Google "My Blog List" gadget to this blog which links to the latest post of some of the blogs I follow. Why not check them out.

Union College (NY) Semi-Centennials

2011-11-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

I recently became aware that this year was the semi-centennial of the Schaffer Library at Union College in Schenectady, NY. The last event of their year long celebration was a lecture by Jeremy B. Dibbell, writer of the PhiloBiblos blog. This reminded me of a piece of postal librariana in my collection related to the Philomatheon Society of Union College. The Philomatheon Society was one of the student literary societies at colleges and universities that I have written about previously. The item in my collection is a stampless folded letter written in 1848 by a former member of the Society in regard to a circular that he had received announcing a publication related to the semi-centennial of the Society. The circular also contained an appeal to the alumni of the Society for funding to enlarge the Society's library. The writer of the letter J. Petrie, who was at that time a student at Auburn Theological Seminary, proposes to donate a book (Rational Psychology by Hickok, to be published in early 1849) to the library. He requests two copies of the semi-centennial publication which is available now in digital form from the Internet Archive. The publication indicates that at the time of the semi-centennial there were 115 members of the Society and about 3,000 volumes in the library.

Newark's Transition to a Free Public Library

2011-11-13T17:54:00.000-08:00

America's transition from fee based membership and subscription libraries to free (to the user) public libraries occurred over a number of decades starting in the mid-19th century. Sometimes membership libraries ceased to exist because their support base or governance was inadequate. In some instances they transferred their assets to newly created free public libraries, and in others they continued to coexist with public libraries for variable periods of time. A few survive even today. In Newark, New Jersey, there was a rocky transition from the Newark Library (originally the Newark Library Association), a membership library established in 1847, to the Newark Free Library Association (now the Newark Public Library) established in 1887. In 1889 the Newark Library agreed to lease space in their building to the Free Library and to allow the use of their collection. However, this all broke down when the librarian of the Free Library was discovered stamping the Newark Library's books with the Free Library's ownership stamp. This resulted in the Newark Library requiring the Free Library to buy its collection. A Library Journal article in the August, 1889 issue (pages 354-355) discusses the controversy, and there is a wonderful reprint of comments of a correspondent to in the Call newspaper about the situation. The correspondent wrote: "The Newark Library Association was chartered by the New Jersey Legislature in 1847 for the purpose of providing a library for the people of our city. It was never an aggressive institution, and how it has managed to hold together so long is a wonder to me. It has been moribund for years. Now the life has left the body and nothing remains except the bare bones of a library, some real estate, and some books, but no vitality. It long ago came under the control of a few very amiable and agreeable gentlemen, who met at the library building occasionally, but for many years they left the management of the institution to another gentleman of most estimable character, who had no fitness for the position and no appreciation of the wants of a great public institution." I wonder how he really felt. The librarian for the Free Library who started all the commotion was Frank P. Hill who was one of the most prominent librarians of his era and after a very successful stint in Newark went on to direct the Brooklyn Public Library. I'm not sure when the Newark Library officially ceased to exist, but some of the brief histories of the Newark Public Library that I've seen imply that there was a smooth transition from the membership library to the free public library, which it certainly was not. The advertisement for the Newark Library Association which is shown above is from an 1885 publication.

Reading Stand and Revolving Book Case

2011-11-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

Postal cards with advertising related to library supplies and equipment are among my favorites. This one is an 1899 advertisement for the Marsh Reading Stand and Revolving Book Case which everyone knows was "Recognized throughout the Civilized World unequalled as an Office or Library article." The postal card offers the $7 stand for only $3 "if you will sign, cut off and return promptly the order below." In the statement which you have to sign as part of the order is an agreement to "write half a dozen of my responsible friends, recommending them to order one of you on same terms." Quite a piece of marketing. It reminds me of the over the top TV ads that are too good to refuse.

Tribute to a Veteran and to a Library Historian on 11-11-11

2011-11-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

As a Veteran myself, I take note when I come across information about another librarian who has served in the Armed Forces. In reading David Kaser's Books and Libraries in Camp and Battle: The Civil War Experience (Greenwood Press, 1984), I was taken with his reminisces about his reading experiences during World War II. Kaser served with a tank battalion in the European theater. He writes in part: "I recalled purchasing forty years ago a copy of Street & Smith's pulp Western Stories magazine in the bus station in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to carry with me on maneuvers at Camp Shelby. I remember reading the Stars and Stripes by the light of a candle in a stable in Alsace and trying to use my schoolboy German to puzzle out the cartoons in an issue of Simplicissimus that I had 'liberated' from a chalet in the Tyrol.... I remembered the copy of the Pocket Book of English Verse that I carried in the turret of my tank until the volume literally fell apart, but by then it did not matter because I had learned all of the poems by heart anyway." Kaser would have been in the European theater at the same time as my father who served in a artillery battalion. After his military service Kaser completed his education and became an academic library administrator. He served as the Director of the Joint University Libraries in Nashville, TN which served Vanderbilt University and George Peabody College from 1960 to 1967. His tenure overlapped my undergraduate years at Peabody where he also taught. He joined the faculty of the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University-Bloomington in 1973 where he became Distinguished Professor in 1986. He retired in 1991 and was designated Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Kaser is responsible for some excellent library history research and publication including his book A Book For A Sixpence: The Circulating Library in America (Beta Phi Mu, 1980). There have been many tributes to Kaser and his scholarship by those who have known him including this one by Haynes McMullen. He has been honored with an endowed lectureship at Indiana University-Bloomington.

Most Data Collected on a Postal Card

2011-11-10T16:04:00.000-08:00

Melvil Dewey was largely responsible for standardizing the catalog card at 7.5 x 12.5 centimeters in 1877. Almost immediately, Dewey began lobbying the U. S. Post Office Department to issue a postal card similar in size. That became a reality in 1898 when a postal card the same size as a catalog card was issued by the USPOD. Postal cards of this size are referred to as "library cards" by the philatelic community. I've been collecting these cards for a number of years, and next week I will have an exhibit of them at the big Chicago stamp show. My exhibit focuses on the various uses that libraries made of this postal card. One use that I found to be intriguing was its use by the California State Library to collect monthly public library data. By my count this report on a postal card that is slightly smaller than a 3 x 5 inch index card contains 36 data elements. The card above is the monthly report for the Carnegie Library in Redding, California for December, 1906. One of the more interesting data elements is a request for the three most popular books during the month. For the Redding Carnegie Library they were My Lady from the North, The Conquest of Caanan, and Lena Rivers. Dewey argued that all USPOD postal cards should be standardized at this size. Of course, this made little sense for most users of postal cards since postal cards only cost one cent regardless of size, and the larger the size the more information that could be communicated. Just think how much more data the California State Library could have asked for if the card had been larger. The postal card above is shown at its actual size.

Dartmouth's Book Battle, An Eyewitness Account

2011-11-08T05:39:00.000-08:00

One of the most fascinating events in American academic library history occurred on the evening of November 11, 1817 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. As a result of controversy relating to the governance of the College, the New Hampshire state legislature had created a separate legal entity which it named Dartmouth University in 1816, but the Trustees of Dartmouth College refused to recognize the new entity. It was this situation that led to the attempted take over of the Social Friends' Library, a student literary society library at Dartmouth College, on November 11, 1817 by a group with allegiance to the new Dartmouth University. I recently acquired a stampless folded letter written on November 12, 1817 which contains an eyewitness account of the events of November 11. The letter was written by Thomas Green Fessenden, a Dartmouth student, and mailed to his friend John S. Barrows in Fryeburg, Maine. Some excerpts from the letter read: "about seven o'clock an alarm was given by the College"; "we found 18 university persons in number, who had broken into the Social Friends library with ax and clubs in order to take the books"; "these villains intended to steal the library but they were detected and the victory was completed...within 15 minutes more than 100 were assembled and the demons were kept in the trap"; "we had sentrys set round the College to keep the other riotous mobs which were collecting - we then went to moving the libraries from the College which we did". I wrote previously about the Social Friends' Library and the legal controversy at Dartmouth on April 17, 2010 and April 19, 2010. The legal controversy was resolved with an 1819 Supreme Court ruling in favor of the College. An expanded account of the legal controversy and the attempted takeover of the library is contained in the book A Brief History of the Dartmouth College Library 1769-2002 by Lois A Krieger (Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2002) which is available online in digital form. Images of my new piece of postal librariana are shown above.

Another Sister Under the Eaves

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

As I indicated in my previous post, on Monday of last week I visited the public library in Merrill, WI designed by the architectural firm of Claude & Starck. It is one of a group of libraries referred to as the "seven sisters" because they share a common style and similar ornamental friezes under their eaves. On a trip to St. Louis on Friday of the same week I passed by the exit for Rochelle, Illinois which is home to another of the "seven sisters", and I stopped to take a look. A postcard of the library (now the Flagg-Rochelle Public Library District) along with a couple of photographs I took are shown above. As with the Merrill library there is a significant expansion which has been tastefully integrated with the original building. A website about the Claude & Starck prairie school libraries cites a publication by library director Barbara Kopplin titled "Sisters" Under the Eaves written in 1989. Kopplin notes that Claude & Starck provided a basic design and offered a variety of option for their prairie school buildings. Options included bay windows, ornamental friezes, fireplaces, and leaded windows among others. The library in Rochelle opted for all of the options.

One of Seven Sisters in Merrill, WI

2011-11-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

Current photo of T.B. Scott Free Library, Merrill, WI

Vintage postcard of T. B. Scott Free Library, Merrill, WI

Distinctive frieze common to "seven sisters"

My wife and I installed the exhibit "Andrew Carnegie's Wisconsin Library Legacy" early this week at the T. B. Scott Free Library in Merrill, Wisconsin. The exhibit is sponsored by the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center. This year is the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Carnegie library building in Merrill. A major addition to the building was completed in 2001. The integration of the older building with the new addition has been done remarkably well. The original Carnegie building was designed by the architectural firm of Claude & Starck in the Prairie School style pioneered by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. The Claude & Starck firm which designed over 40 libraries employed the Prairies School style in a number of them. Seven of those library buildings have been referred to as the "seven sisters" because they share as a design element an ornamental frieze designed (or based on a design) by Sullivan. Wisconsin is the location of four of the seven sisters (Barron, Evansville, Merrill, and Tomah). The others are located in Rochelle, IL, Detroit Lakes, MN, and Hoquiam, WA. The T. B. Scott Free Library has conducted a number of activities to celebrate the centennial of its building during 2011. On Nov. 6, Ellsworth Brown, Director of the Wisconsin Historical Society will make a presentation at the library titled "Andrew Carnegie: The Great Library Benefactor's Life & Mission". It's really great to have the Carnegie exhibit in a Carnegie library building. The exhibit will continue through the end of the year. (This post is also being published on the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center Blog)

WI Library Hall of Fame to Induct 7 on Nov. 3

2011-10-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

Ginny Moore Kruse, WI Library Hall of Fame Inductee

As Chair of the Steering Committee of the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center, one of my most enjoyable activities is to participate in the selection of new inductees into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame. For 2011 the Committee has selected seven individuals to receive this honor. They are Norman D. Bassett (1891-1980), Orilla Thompson Blackshear (1904-1994), Daniel Steele Durrie (1819-1892), Gilson G. Glasier (1873-1972), Ginny Moore Kruse (1934-), Walter Mcmynn Smith (1869 – 1938), and Ella T. Veslak (1897-1996). Their induction into the WLHF will take place during the Awards & Honors Banquet at the Wisconsin Library Association Conference in Milwaukee on November 3. These seven inductees will join twenty-two other individuals who have previously been inducted into the WLHF. Ginny Moore Kruse, Director Emerita of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, is the only living person to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. Kruse served as director of the CCBC from 1976 to 2002. In that capacity she was a state and national champion for quality library literature for children and for intellectual freedom. While Director she founded the CCBC's Intellectual Freedom Information Services. She is an advocate for children’s literature that reflects the multi-cultural nature of our society.

More information about each of the inductees can be found by clicking on the link to their name.

Houston's Carnegie Libraries

2011-10-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

The postcard of the Carnegie Library at McKinney and Travis Sts. in Houston, TX shown above was the first stimulus for my closer look at Houston's Carnegie library buildings. The message on the postcard reads: "This is one of the prettiest library buildings I have ever seen." It was mailed on January 24, 1906. A second stimulus was the receipt of a complimentary copy of the publication 100 Years - 100 Stories: Houston Public Library 1904-2004 by Betty Trapp Chapman (Houston Public Library, 2004). Included among the stories was not only the story about the Carnegie library building on the postcard, but also the story of the Colored Carnegie Library in Houston. Also, earlier this month there was a post on the Little Known Black Librarian Facts blog about the Colored Carnegie Library in Houston. The story of the Carnegie library buildings themselves is fairly straightforward. Two separate entities apply for Carnegie grants. They receive the grants and the buildings are built, and then both buildings are later demolished. A much more complicated story however revolves around racial social injustice and library use in the South. For this story, we are fortunate to have the results of the excellent research conducted by Cheryl Knott Malone. Her article "Autonomy and Accommodation: Houston's Colored Carnegie Library, 1907-1922" is available online. Also online is her article "Unannounced and Unexpected: the Desegregation of Houston Public Library in the Early 1950s". The Colored Carnegie Library Association, a separate legal organization, operated the Colored Carnegie Library which was dedicated on April 11, 1913 until 1921 when it became a branch of the Houston Public Library. The building was razed in 1962 to make way for a highway expansion. It was at this point that the limited desegregation of the Houston Public Library which began in the early 1950s became official desegregation. Read Malone's articles for a detailed account. "One of the prettiest library buildings I have ever seen" was dedicated on March 2, 1904. A new building replacing the Carnegie building was dedicated in 1926. The Houston Public Library in a tribute to Carnegie and perhaps as a result of being a little ashamed at having abandoned his beautiful building named one of its branch libraries after him. The library also named one its branch libraries after W.L.D. Johnson, one of the founders of the Colored Carnegie Library Association.

Dabney's Circulating Library, Salem, MA

2011-10-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

I recently acquired a bookplate for Dabney's Circulating Library of Salem, Massachusetts. The library was located in the Salem Bookstore from 1789 to 1819. Circulating libraries were "for profit" rental libraries that existed in the United States from 1762 until late in the 19th century. The text on the bookplate uses the long s which looks like an f so it is probably from the eighteenth century. The heavily promotional text on the bookplate is indicative of the commercial nature of these libraries. The primary authority on circulating libraries in the United States is David Kaser's A Book For A Sixpence: The Circulating Library in America (Beta Phi Mu, 1980). Kaser developed a "Checklist of American Commercial Enterprises, 1762-1890" which included 439 circulating libraries. According to Kaser's checklist, Dabney's Circulating Library issued catalogs in 1791, 1794, and 1801. Jeffrey Croteau has conducted recent research on circulating libraries especially those that operated in Brooklyn, NY. He has expanded and continues to expand Kaser's checklist with his "American Circulating Libraries Not in Kaser". Circulating libraries in England preceded those in the United States. I wrote a previous post about Mudie's Select Library in London, the largest of these English circulating libraries. I also wrote an earlier post about circulating library trade cards and a post about a humorous circulating library postcard.

World's Largest Collection of Overdue Notices on Postal Cards?

2011-10-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

The United States Post Office Department introduced postal cards with pre-printed postage in the United States in 1873. Libraries were quick to take advantage of postal cards and used them for a multitude of purposes. One of the most common purposes especially for public libraries was to notify library users of overdue books and other library materials. Postal cards are generally ephemeral in nature and overdue book notices are especially ephemeral. After all, how many people would want to preserve an overdue book notice. In my efforts to collect postal librariana I have managed to accumulate a collection of over a hundred postal cards that have been used as overdue notices. It may well be the largest collection of overdue notices in the world. The impressiveness of that accomplishment is somewhat tempered by the fact that almost half of them were sent to a single address in Dubuque, Iowa. The dates of the overdue notices in my collection go from 1873 to the 1980s. This post includes a few overdue notices from my collection. More are shown on a page at my Library History Buff website. I have a previous blog posts on the oldest overdue notice in my collection and the second oldest.

Third oldest notice. Mailed May, 1875 by Lawrence (MA) Public Library.

Bookplate in a Book About Books

2011-10-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

Bookplate collectors often remove bookplates from books for their collections. As a very modest collector of bookplates from institutional libraries, I have sometimes found that the book and its bookplate are more desirable if they remain together. In my collection I have an elaborate bookplate for the Free Library of Union Springs, NY which is in the book The Story of Books by Gertrude B. Rawlings (D. Appleton & Co., NY, 1901). I think the two of them are a nice combination. The bookplate indicates the book was given in memory of Curtis Strong Chittenden and Caroline Young Peterson. Peterson was from Union Springs. There is a date on the bookplate of May 16, 1902. The book is part of a series called "The Library of Useful Stories". The book is only four inches by six inches in size and the bookplate is almost as large as the book. The Free Library of Union Springs was founded in 1898 and was renamed the Springport Free Library in 1902.

Mystery Postcard, ALA Detroit Conference 1970

2011-10-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

What does a postcard showing two young women smiling over a car or truck engine have to do with the American Library Association's Conference in Detroit in 1970? On first glance nothing, but turn the card over and there is a blurb which ties the postcard to the conference and also to the Free Library of Philadelphia. My guess is that this postcard was part of some kind of a recruitment packet or handout for the Free Library. Back then there were lots of library jobs and large public libraries routinely recruited new employees at ALA conferences. The 1970 Detroit conference was the second ALA conference that I attended and the first as an employed librarian. If my guess about the postcard is correct, the women in the postcard were probably employees of the Free Library of Philadelphia. I wonder how their library careers turned out.

UN Anniversaries and Postal Librariana

2011-10-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

Envelope showing one of the first stamps of the United Nations

Special event envelope for dedication of Hammarskjold Library

There are two upcoming anniversaries related to the United Nations that are noteworthy. The first is the 60th anniversary of the first issue of postage stamps by the United Nations in New York which occurs on October 24th. The second is the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the UN Dag Hammarskjold Library in New York which occurs on November 16th. Both of these anniversaries have relevance to my interest in postal librariana. The first envelope shown above is a first day cover for one of the stamps in the first group of stamps issued by the UN. That stamp depicts the large Secretariat Building of the United Nations and a smaller building next to it which served as the library from 1951 to 1959. The building which housed the library was referred to as the "Manhattan Building". The second cover shown above is a special event cover for the dedication of the Dag Hammarskjold Library which replaced the previous building which was torn down. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold had already sent out the invitation to the dedication of the new library building when he was killed in an airplane crash in 1961. The decision to name the library for him occurred after his death. The Hammarskjold Library appears on more postage stamps than any other library in the world. If you visit the United Nations in New York you can have your own personalized stamp created. I did this on a visit and a sheet of my personalized stamps is shown below. The sheet has a nice image of the Hammarskjold Library. It is the building at the bottom of the UN complex.

Reused Envelopes in WWII England

2011-10-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

Envelope with label provided by Royal Naval War Libraries

Back flap of RNWL label

Envelope mailed by Univ. of WI Library in 1940

It is difficult to imagine the hardships that the people of Great Britain endured during World War II. One small indication of the difficulty of this period is shown by two envelopes in my postal librariana collection. They both have labels that have been pasted over a previously used envelope so that they can be reused. The first envelope has a label that was provided by the Royal Naval War Libraries, a wartime charitable organization that provided books to service men and women. These "Economy Labels" could be purchased from the Royal Naval War Libraries as shown by the back flap of the label. The second envelope was originally mailed to the Economic and Statistics Section of the Bank of England by the Library of the University of Wisconsin - Madison (the first address is visible under the label) in 1940. It has been censored by Examiner 5086. The top part of the label has been removed to reveal that it was originally mailed by the UW Library.

Library of Congress Stereoview

2011-10-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

Stereoviews are double images of a scene on a card that when viewed with a stereoscope appear to be three dimensional or in 3D. Several decades before libraries appeared on picture postcards they could be viewed on stereoviews. Although the period when stereoviews were available ran from the 1850s up to World War I, the "Golden Age of Stereoviews" was the 1860s and 70s. I've only collected a few library stereoviews, but I recently acquired a very interesting one. It depicts the interior of the Library of Congress when it was located in the Capitol. The back of the card indicates that it was "Entered according to Act of Congress, A.D. 1866, by G. G. Wakely, in the District Court of Washington, D.C.". The Library of Congress did not take over the administration of copyright until 1870. Prior to that copyright was registered in the U.S. District Courts. The neat thing about this stereoview is that it depicts both library users and library staff members. There is also an interesting piece of furniture in the library that separates the staff work area (with books piled high) from the rest of the library space. The space in the Capitol designated for the Library of Congress was greatly enhanced following a disastrous fire on Dec. 24, 1851. When the Library reopened on Aug. 23, 1853 it was considered to be "the largest room made of iron in the world." Source: For Congress and the Nation, A Chronological History of the Library of Congress by John Y. Cole (Library of Congress, 1979).

ALA's 135th Anniversary

2011-10-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

One hundred and thirty five years ago today, 103 men and women assembled at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for the purpose of discussing the library issues of the day. That meeting resulted in the formation two days later (Oct. 6, 1876) of the American Library Association. I have a modest digital exhibit at my Library History buff website in honor of ALA's 135th anniversary.

ALA's Quasquicentennial, 2001

2011-10-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

The 125th anniversary of the American Library Association might have gone entirely unnoticed by the library community except for the cover of American Libraries for June/July 2001. The cover was accompanied by a short article by Peggy Sullivan titled "From Philly to Frisco- 125 Years of Going to Conference". The vintage photograph that was part of the cover featured some ALA conference goers on their way to the 1895 ALA conference which took place in Denver and Colorado Springs. As noted in the blurb about the American Libraries cover, the trips to a from early ALA conferences often combined business and pleasure. The 2001 San Francisco conference was ALA's 120th annual conference.

ALA's Centennial, 1976

2011-10-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

The American Library Association made a creditable effort in 1976 to celebrate "the big one", its 100th anniversary. The highlight was its Centennial Conference which took place in Chicago (July 17-July23). Over 12,000 attendees (I was one of them) participated in a variety of centennial celebration activities including a "Fair-in-the-Park" on Wednesday evening in Grant Park. The fair featured balloons, clowns, a fife and drum corps, a JMRT kissing booth, a replica of the Liberty Bell, a reenactment of the "Jewett-Cutter Mud Catalog Controversy" (a topic for a future post?), and other historical spoofs. Three of five lectures in a centennial series by prominent scholars titled "Libraries and the Life of the Mind in America" were given at the conference. During ALA's centennial year American Libraries did a commendable job of publishing articles related to ALA's history including a series of "ALA Centennial Vignettes". Library historians gathered in Philadelphia on October 3-6, 1976, 100 years after ALA's founding meeting in the same city on October 4-6, 1876, for Library History Seminar V. Presentations at the seminar resulted in the publication of Milestones to the Present edited by Harold Goldstein (Gaylord Professional Publications, 1978). A major membership drive in 1976 with prizes for recruitment was kicked off with the theme "Come join us for our second century". A handsome brochure featuring ALA's history and its current membership benefits was part of that drive (shown above). The cover of the brochure has a picture (continuing on the back of the brochure) of the attendees at the 1907 ALA Annual Conference in Asheville, North Carolina.

ALA's Dodranscentennial, 1951

2011-09-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

To celebrate its seventy fifth anniversary in 1951the American Library Association chose to use this occasion not to reflect on its past but to increase its relevancy to the present. It selected the theme "The Heritage of the U.S.A. in Times of Crisis" for its anniversary celebration and for the annual conference which took place in Chicago. It sought to engage the American public and America's libraries in a discussion of this theme. The 75th Anniversary Committee of ALA which was chaired by Ralph E. Ellsworth was able to get three books published to support its anniversary theme. One of those books This American People by Gerald Johnson (Harper Brothers, 1951) was also excerpted in the July 31, issue of Look Magazine. Look Magazine also distributed 2,000 posters to libraries to promote the theme. ALA received a $150,000 grant from the Fund for Adult Education of the Ford Foundation to conduct a follow-up library discussion project which it called the "American Heritage Project".

Also part of the seventy fifth anniversary was National Library Day which occurred on October 4, 1951, on the anniversary date of the start of the meeting of librarians in Philadelphia which resulted in the founding of ALA. Although special observances of this day were held in Philadelphia, National Library Day was promoted as a day to promote libraries throughout the nation and was a precursor to National Library Week which began in 1958. In the ALA Bulletin for September, 1951 Ellsworth told ALA's members: "It should be made clear that the ultimate purpose of all activities concerning observance of ALA's 75th anniversary is to get more books read by the public. Observance of National Library Day in each community, therefore is a challenge to the librarian to further this purpose." In addition to President Harry Truman's proclamation of National Library Day, the governor's of 27 states and Puerto Rico officially proclaimed October 4, 1951 as National Library Day.

Throughout 1951 the ALA Bulletin (the source for most of the information in this post) kept ALA members informed of anniversary activities with frequent updates by Ellsworth. A special cover for the ALA Bulletin with a seventy fifth anniversary motif was used on all issues. In honor of the seventy fifth anniversary of ALA, the Library Journal identified forty individuals for a "Library Hall of Fame" in its March 15, 1951 issue. It is also noteworthy that there was an unsuccessful attempt to get a postage stamp in honor of ALA for this occasion. The ALA Archives maintains the conference records for the seventy-fifth conference.

September Birthdays of Former Library Leaders

2011-09-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

September has some significant birthdays of former library leaders.

Julia Wright Merrill (1881-1961) born on Sept. 11, 1881 (130 years ago). Wright was a national leader in the extension of public library service and was the first Executive Secretary of the Public Library Association of the American Library Association. She has been inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame and the Ohio Library Hall of Fame.

Lutie Eugenia Stearns (1866-1943) born on Sept. 13, 1866 (145 years ago). Stearns was a state and national leader in the promotion of public library service. While at the Wisconsin Free Library Commission she tirelessly traveled the state establishing traveling libraries and free public libraries. In 1951 she was one of 40 of America’s most significant library leaders selected by the Library Journal for inclusion in a “ Library Hall of Fame". She was in the first group of library leaders inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame.

Margery Closey Quigley (1886-1968) born on Sept. 16, 1886 (125 years ago). While Director of the Montclair (NJ) Public Library, Quigley developed nationally acclaimed programs that served as a model for other libraries. Her book Portrait of a Library (1936) and later a documentary film of the same name helped make the Montclair Public Library "the best known American suburban library in the world". She taught courses on library publicity at Columbian University and other library schools. She is included in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978).

George Herbert Putnam (1861-1955) born on Sept. 20, 1861 (150 years ago). Putnam was the eighth Librarian of Congress (1899-1939). In that capacity he reorganized the Library and greatly expanded its national role especially in relation to the national library community. Under his leadership the library instituted an interlibrary loan program and produced printed catalog cards for the nation's libraries. The United States has not honored a librarian on a postage stamp. Putnam was one of my possibilities for this honor.

Edwin Hatfield Anderson (1861-1947) born on Sept. 27, 1861 (150 years ago). Anderson's entry in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978) written by Phyllis Dain reads in part: " Through quiet but forceful leadership of several of the foremost library institutions of his day, Edwin Hatfield Anderson exerted a powerful if indirect influence over librarianship. As the first librarian of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, he shaped it into a many-faceted agency embodying the latest ideas and ideal of community service; as New York state librarian and director of the New York State Library School, he revitalized the State Library and stabilized the school; as director of the New York Public Library, he guided one of the great libraries of the world through a time of prodigious growth." Photograph of Anderson in ALA Archives.

Joseph Green Cogswell (1786-1871) born on Sept. 27, 1786 (225 years ago). Cogswell is best known for his role in building the collection of the Astor Library in New York City, one of the institutions that merged to form the New York Public Library. I have a couple of postal items in my collection related to Cogswell which I have written about previously. One is an 1855 letter written by Cogswell which contains his philosophy of library service. The other is an 1848 letter introducing Cogswell to Anthony Panizzi of the British Museum.

ALA's Jubilee, 1926

2011-09-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, site of ALA's 50th anniversary sessions

The leaders of the American Library Association recognized the significance of its fiftieth anniversary in 1926 and celebrated accordingly. The primary site for ALA's annual conference, October 4-9, 1926 was Atlantic City, New Jersey, but arrangements were also made to have commemorative sessions in Philadelphia on October 6, the date that ALA was founded in 1876. The attendance in Atlantic City was 2,224, the largest ever for an ALA conference. Of that number 1,200 traveled to Philadelphia for the commemorative sessions which took place at Drexel Institute (see postcard above). They were treated to presentations by Richard R. Bowker and Melvil Dewey, two of the founders of ALA. America was also celebrating the sesquicentennial of the American Revolution with an International Exposition in Philadelphia in 1926 . As it had at some previous world expositions, ALA sponsored an exhibit which was located in the Palace of Education and Social Economy at the exposition. Included in the exhibit was an eighty-foot map of the Cleveland Public Library system which was intended to demonstrate how a large public library served the public. Also in the exhibit was a printing press which printed out book lists and brochures which were distributed to exposition attendees. A model library included 2,000 adult books, 500 juvenile books, and 100 reference books. The ALA conference sessions in Atlantic City had an international theme with presentations by foreign librarians. It was at this conference that the concept of an international organization of library associations was brought forth resulting in what is now the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). Also at this conference ALA elected George H. Locke of the Public Library as its new president, the first and only time a Canadian has been elected president of ALA. The source for much of the information in this post is A History of the American Library Association 1876-1972 by Dennis Thomison (ALA, 1978).

ALA's 25th Anniversary, Waukesha, WI, 1901

2011-09-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

ALA's 1901 meeting took place in this hotel

1901 ALA conference attendees in front of State Historical Society, Madison, WI

Next month will mark the 135th anniversary of the founding of the American Library Association in Philadelphia in 1876. I thought I would take a look back at some of ALA's previous significant anniversaries in a lead up to that important milestone. ALA was 25 years old when it met at the Fountain Spring House (see postcard above) in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1901. There wasn't a lot of hoopla at ALA's 23rd annual conference (there were no meetings in 1878 and 1884) related to its silver anniversary. President James Carr did make note of the anniversary in the president's annual address and reported that there were now a thousand members of the association. That number included sixty-nine of the original charter members of ALA. The Waukesha conference had the second largest number of attendees at a conference up to that time, a total of 454. The conference ran from July 3-10 and overlapped the Fourth of July which was kept free of general sessions. Monday, July 8th, was designated as "Madison day" and more than 300 attendees boarded a train for the Wisconsin Capital where they were met by carriages that took them on a tour of the city. A highlight of Madison day was a visit to the recently completed building of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin which housed both the Society's library and the library of the University of Wisconsin. A contemporary report of the ALA Waukesha conference was published in the July, 1901 issue of Library Journal. The image of the ALA conference attendees in front of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin building in Madison, WI is from the Wisconsin Historical Society Digital Collection (Image ID 45544).

Philatelic Research Award

2011-09-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

I call myself a library history buff in order to distinguish myself from library history scholars whose research is linked to their professional careers. In the world of philately very few individuals have their philatelic research linked to their careers. Yet some very sophisticated research is undertaken by philatelists, and this research is honored in numerous ways by the philatelic community. The American Philatelic Society makes available a Research Award at each national level stamp show that it sanctions for the philatelic exhibit that displays a high level of original research. I was pleased to be the recipient of that award at the Milcopex Stamp Show in Milwaukee this past weekend for my exhibit "America's Library - The Library of Congress". Postal history is an aspect of philately that usually focuses on the postal history of a community or a specialized aspect of the postal history of a country. My exhibit on the Library of Congress begins to look at the postal history of an institution which in this case is a very complex organization that made heavy use of the mail to accomplish its mission. As with the library history scholar community I often feel like a fish out of water in the philatelic research community, so it's nice to be recognized for a small contribution to philatelic research.

Longest Reference Request On A Postal Card

2011-09-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

The excellent staff of the American Library Association Library is always willing to respond to reference requests within the scope of the library's mission. The Library responds to and shares some of those requests via its "Ask the ALA Librarian" service. The Library staff might have been taken back, however, if they had received the lengthy request sent to ALA in 1912 by an Italian professor on the postal card shown here. Professor Adolphus Laura of the Royal Technical Institute in Cosenza, Italy breaks his request into five questions mostly related to "the classification of clippings, notes, index reruns, abstracts, correspondence and documents" and the Dewey Decimal Classification. He also ask if the Library can loan him "The Address of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes bearing on the getting at the essential contents of books 'with the least waste of time and labor' which was published in the Boston Daily Advisor on July 25, 1879. Professor Laura's request written in neat cursive covers every inch of the back of the postal card and continues on the front of the card. I'm sure the ALA staff in 1912 responded diligently to Professor Laura's request, but not on a single postal card.

WI State Law Library 175th Anniversary Celebration

2011-09-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week I was privileged to participate in the culminating event of a year long celebration of the 175th anniversary of the founding of what is now the Wisconsin State Law Library (WSLL). As I indicated in my presentation at the event, it doesn't get any better than that for a library history buff. The WSLL's approach to its 175th anniversary could be used as a model by other libraries approaching a significant anniversary. The WSLL's 175th anniversary activities are recorder on its website. The library, originally designated as the State Library, was established as part of the Congressional act which established the Territory of Wisconsin. A $5,000 appropriation was made to purchase books for use by the Territorial Legislature. This set a precedent for later territorial legislation that followed. The library narrowly escaped a disastrous fire in the Capitol where it was located in 1904. The WSLL's long serving librarian Gilson Glasier will be inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame in November. The WSLL staff has put together a very nice timeline of the library's history. At the reception this week the staff had assimilated a number on neat artifacts from their history that were displayed for the guests. I'm the proud owner of five sections of iron shelving that were in the library when it was located in the Capitol (it moved out in 1999). Before most of the iron shelving was discarded, the library managed to salvage some very nice label holders that were reused on the attractive shelving the library has now. Their 175th anniversary logo is based on these label holders.

This article is being jointly posted on the Library History Buff Blog and the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center blog.

Messages on Library Postcards

2011-09-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

This is a magnificent building. I was telling them that it is not going to compare with ours.

We went all over this library yesterday. It is a fine building too, with a whole room just for the use of the children.

Some people who collect postcards want only those that haven't been used. I, on the other hand, value postcards that have been used more highly than unused cards. As a collector of library postcards, I especially like postcards that include a message that relates to the library pictured on the postcard or a message that indicates that the sender and/or recipient was a collector of library postcards. For Norman D. Stevens' A Guide to Collecting Librariana (Scarecrow, 1986), Billy R. Wilkinson wrote an article based on his extensive research related to messages on library postcards. In addition to examining his own extensive collection of postcards, he persuaded other library postcard collectors to do the same. Wilkinson found that the messages fell into four categories: 1) comments on the architecture; 2) comments on the book collection; 3) messages that proclaimed a version of "my library is bigger, newer, prettier, etc. than yours"; and 4) miscellaneous messages (the largest category). My experience validates his results with the caveat that messages related to the collecting of library postcards would be included in the miscellaneous category. Wilkinson provided many examples of messages, but the one that struck me as the most interesting related to a postcard showing the general reading room of the Widener Library at Harvard. It read: "Here are a lot of greasy grinds I saw at 'HAHVAHD.' The aisle looks like a good place to run off the 100 yd. dash." Up until 1907 the post office didn't allow written messages to appear on the address side of a postcard. So messages before that year were written on the picture side of the postcard. Some postcards in my collection which include messages from that era are included in this post.

You could get books enough here to look at. It's full of them.

Humongous Library Postcard Auction

2011-09-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

One of the largest privately held library postcard collections ever offered for sale is now up for auction on eBay. The collection includes 2,811US and international library postcards assembled by an architectural firm. The starting auction price is $2,800 or about $1 per postcard. The auction has a 9 day bidding period starting today, but it could be bought without competitive bidding for $5,600 through eBay's "Buy it now" feature. I won't be bidding because my library postcard collection is more focused on postcards that feature specific areas, but this is quite an opportunity for an individual collector or an institution to get a large library postcard collection in one fell swoop.

Lighthouse Libraries

2011-09-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Raspberry Island Lighthouse Bookcase

Pottawatomie Lighthouse Bookcase

My wife is a big fan of lighthouses and we have visited many of these historic structures over the years. On occasion my interest in library history and her interest in lighthouse history overlap. This is the case with the traveling libraries of the U.S. Light House Establishment, a predecessor to the U. S. Lighthouse Service and the U.S. Coast Guard. I first became aware of these libraries while visiting the Raspberry Island Lighthouse in Wisconsin's beautiful Apostle Islands. That lighthouse has one of the original traveling library bookcases (shown above). Later I came across a very nice reproduction of a traveling library bookcase in the Pottawatomie Lighthouse on Rock Island in Door County, WI (shown above). A number of lighthouses across the country have similar reproductions. More recently I became aware of an original lighthouse bookcase that is owned by the Milwaukee Historical Society. It was one of the featured items in their 2010 75th anniversary "Unlocking the Vault" digital exhibit. I have also just acquired a book for my collection that has a Light House Establishment bookplate (shown above). The book is Illustrated Natural History by J. G. Wood published by a London publisher in 1886. The lighthouse traveling libraries program was started by the USLHE in 1876 to provide reading materials to isolated lighthouse keepers and their families. This was a number of years before Melvil Dewey started the traveling library program of the New York State Library which spread throughout the United States. More on the USLHE traveling library program can be found HERE.

St. Louis Mercantile Library Bookplate

2011-08-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

The primary purpose of a bookplate is to indicate the ownership of the book in which it is located. Bookplates in books in institutional libraries often have the additional purpose of acknowledging the person or fund that purchased the book for the library. The bookplates of the St. Louis Mercantile Library (now incorporated into the University of Missouri - St. Louis Library), in addition to showing ownership, have provided a substantial amount of information about the library and its policies and procedures. I acquired several older books which had been weeded from the library and each contained a different bookplate. One of these is shown above. The bookplate indicates that the library was organized in 1846 and incorporated in 1847. It indicates that books can be kept for two weeks with a fine for detention beyond that period of two cents per day. It contains an important notice which tells the library user that damage to the book could result in a fine equal to four times its cost. Mercantile libraries were membership libraries created in the 19th century to serve merchants and their clerks. The bookplate above indicates that a clerks entrance fee was $2 with an annual subscription fee of $3. Fees for proprietors and others was $5 initially and $5 annually. A life membership could be obtained for $50. Books were evidently given an accession number and this one is number 50,371. There are some other markings which probably indicate classification and/or shelf location. The bookplate was in a novel published in 1878 titled In Paradise by Paul Heyse. Bookplates are very collectible and I have a modest collection of institutional library bookplates. You can see some my bookplates HERE. Another St. Louis Mercantile Library Bookplate article.

Library Book Boxes

2011-08-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

My library book box

Milwaukee Public Library book boxes

Book boxes in Sweden's library museum

Hans Krol with book boxes in library museum in Amsterdam

I try to say no when someone offers or lets me know about a large library artifact in order to keep my basement from becoming a library museum. A colleague caught me in a weak moment, however, when he alerted me to a wood library book box that was being offered on Craigslist. He even offered to pick up the book box, which was located in Sheboygan County, WI, some distance from my home. The large wooden box is not impressive in the least, but it is a connection to the real library world of the past. In all probability the book box was used to transport one of Wisconsin's many traveling libraries. Sturdy boxes such as this one have been used by libraries worldwide in the past to transport books. Some examples are shown above.

Wayne Wiegand's Melvil Dewey Notes

2011-08-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

Wayne Wiegand, noted library historian, is making available to an institution or an individual an invaluable library history research resource, the voluminous notes he compiled in researching Irrepressible Reformer (ALA, 1996), his definitive biography of Melvil Dewey. All that is necessary to obtain this resource is to make a modest donation to the Ed Holley Lecture of the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association. Wiegand had intended that the note cards be auctioned off at a fundraising event last September at Library History Seminar XII in Madison, WI, but that fell through. As one of the auction coordinators, I took temporary custody of the Dewey notes which are recorded on 4 by 6 inch note cards and housed in sturdy file boxes. Wayne recently retrieved those boxes of notes freeing up much needed space in my basement. Although Wayne is interested in obtaining some funding for one of his favorite causes, he is more interested in assisting a researcher or researchers in advancing their study of Melvil Dewey and/or American librarianship. Wayne feels that a new biography with a different take on Dewey should come out every decade or so. He thinks that with his notes a researcher would be two thirds there on such a biography. While in my custody I had ample opportunity to explore the Dewey notes, and I can attest to the value of this historical resource. Organized in chronological order the notes follow Dewey through his entire life. Of particular value are Wayne's notes on the Dewey manuscript collection at Columbia University which provide detailed transcriptions. Since Dewey interacted with a major portion of the library community during his life, anyone studying other aspects of library history during the Dewey era would also benefit from the notes. From my perspective, the notes provide an extraordinary glimpse into the research techniques of one of our most esteemed library history scholars. They remind me again why I'm content to be a library history buff and not a library history scholar. A very nice article could be written just about Wayne's research approach to the Dewey biography. A reasonable donation to the Holley Lecture would probably be in the $200 up range (plus shipping costs) with the best offer claiming the prize. Wayne can be contacted at wwiegand@fsu.edu. Wayne Wiegand recently retired as F. William Summers Professor of Library and Information Studies, and Professor of American Studies, School of Information Studies, Florida State University. A nice article by Christine Pawley about Wiegand and his career appeared in the Spring 2011 newsletter of the Library History Round Table.

Addendum:

Wayne Wiegand has indicated that Columbia University Libraries will be acquiring his Melvil Dewey notes. This is a great match since Melvil Dewey's papers are also located there.

Mechanics Institute of San Francisco Cover

2011-08-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended the stamp show of the American Philatelic Society in Columbus, Ohio. The APS annual show is the largest stamp show in the United States, and it provided me with a great opportunity to expand my collection of postal librariana. Finding items in my collecting specialty is a challenge, but it is made easier by a number of stamp dealers who keep their eye out for postal items related to libraries. The last stamp dealer that I visited at the show assured me that he didn't have any library covers (envelopes), but I've learned never to take no for an answer. In the first box of covers that I looked through I came across a real treasure. Although it was a little pricey, I had to have it for my collection. The cover is what is referred to as an "all over advertising cover" from the Mechanics Institute of San Francisco. The very attractive cover included an order form for a book signed by the Librarian for the Institute. It was dated April 23, 1877. The cover is addressed to F. O. Vaille and H. A. Clark in Cambridge, MA. Although the name of the book being ordered is not on the order form, I know that it was for The Harvard Book which was authored by Vaille and Clark and published in 1875. I know this because I have come across another postal item related to The Harvard Book previously, and wrote a blog post about it. The Mechanics Institute Library in San Francisco is one of those 19th century membership libraries that has survived to the present day (overcoming the San Francisco earthquake of 1906). It has a good history of the library on its website. My philatelic exhibit of postal librariana titled "America's Public Libraries and Their Forerunners" includes a component on mechanics' libraries and this cover will make a great addition to the exhibit.

Charles Coffin Jewett, Pivotal Figure in American Librarianship

2011-08-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Michael H. Harris, writing in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978), had this to say about Charles Coffin Jewett (1816-1868) concerning his tenure as a librarian: "Charles Coffin Jewett was the pivotal figure in American librarianship. He was the first man to hold a full-time post as an academic librarian, the first librarian of what very nearly became the national library of the United States, the president of the first formal conference of librarians, and the first superintendent of the country's premier nineteenth century public library." August 12 was the 195th anniversary of Jewett's birth. Jewett became librarian of Brown University in 1841 and was responsible for the landmark Catalogue of the Brown University Library in 1843 which provided for both alphabetical descriptive entries and subject entries. In 1847 Jewett was appointed librarian of the newly established Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian had been established by a bequest from British scientist James Smithson for "an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men". The vision for the Smithsonian of Smithsonian's first secretary, Joseph Henry, differed markedly from that of Jewett who among others felt the Smithsonian should be a national library. This disagreement led to Jewett's dismissal in 1855. Jewett was then hired by the Boston Public Library as a cataloger. He became the library's first superintendent in 1858. In 1853 Jewett was actively involved in the first conference of librarians in the United States and was elected president of the conference. Jewett died as the result of an attack of apoplexy while at work in 1868 at the age of 52. The iconic Smithsonian building known as the "Castle" was designed to include a library and reading room. In 1866 the Smithsonian's library collection was moved to the Library of Congress and became known as the "Smithsonian Deposit". Ironically, this was one of the actions that helped propel the Library of Congress into becoming a true national library for the United States. The Smithsonian Institution, of course, now has its own system of libraries to support its many museums. For a history of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries click HERE. Note: This year is the 165th anniversary of the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian has been commemorated on three United States Postage stamps.

WWI Poster Stamps

2011-08-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

The collecting of poster stamps was a well established hobby by the time World War I came about so it is not surprising that a set of these stamps was used to promote the United War Work Campaign which took place November 11-18, 1918. These miniature posters, like their larger counterparts, were used to advertise products and to promote causes. The United War Work Campaign was a coordinated effort to raise funds for the seven private "welfare" agencies, including the American Library Association's Library War Service, that supported our armed forces during and after World War I. The goal of the campaign was to raise $170 million, but $205 million was actually raised. ALA received $3.8 million as its share of the campaign. The stamp in the set of poster stamps that featured ALA was based on a full sized poster illustrated by John E. Sheridan. I have Sheridan's full sized "Hey Fellows" poster in my personal collection. The Tutt Library of Colorado College has the Sheridan poster and other ALA WWI posters displayed on its website. Stamp collectors include poster stamps in a category that they call "Cinderellas" or pseudo postage stamps.

Chinese Postal Card Used As Catalog Card

2011-08-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

When the Communists came to power in China after World War II they repurposed some things used by the previous government including this pre-stamped postal card which became a library catalog card. The unknown library which used the catalog card classified its books using the Dewey Decimal System. The 508.1 classification is used for natural history. An interesting piece of postal librariana for my collection.

Bradbury Thompson, Library Stamp Designer

2011-08-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

Three of my favorite library related postage stamps were designed by the same person, Bradbury Thompson (1911-1995). This year is the 100th anniversary of his birth. Thompson was one of the world's great graphic artists and received numerous awards for his work. He was responsible for designing more than 90 postage stamps himself and influenced many more. Two of Thompson's library stamps were issued by the United States Postal Service in the same year, 1982. They were the "Library of Congress" stamp and the "America's Libraries" stamp. Initially only one stamp was to be issued but Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin insisted on a more traditional depiction of the Library of Congress on the stamp. Thompson responded with a pair of stamps that are highly compatible in their design. The third stamp, "A Nation of Readers", was issued in 1984. I have a previous post about the "A Nation of Readers" stamp. I have an extensive collection of "First Day Covers" for all three stamps, and I have created philatelic exhibits for stamp shows which display the covers. Another stamp designed by Thompson that I like is his "Learning Never Ends" stamp which was issued in 1980.

Happy Birthday H. M. UTLEY, Detroit Librarian

2011-08-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

Today is the 175th anniversary of the birth of Henry Munson Utley (1836-1917), librarian of the Detroit Public Library (1885-1912), a founder of the Michigan Library Association (1891), and President of the American Library Association (1894-95). Utley was also the first President of the Michigan Library Association (celebrating its 120th anniversary this year) and served in that position continuously from 1891 to 1904. Utley, like many of the librarians of his day, came to his job without the benefit of professional library training. Before accepting his position as librarian of the Detroit Public Library he was a journalist. That did not keep him from transforming the Detroit Public Library into one of America's great public libraries. Innovations which he brought to the library included: adopting the Dewey Decimal Classification (1886); establishing a children's room (1896); opening the library on Sunday (1886); establishing a reference department that served not only Detroit but surrounding communities; introducing electric lights in the reading room (1887); and establishing branch libraries (1900- ). The postal card from my collection which is shown above was mailed on November 21, 1891, the same year the Michigan Library Association was formed. The source of the information in this post is Florence Ray Tucker's article about Utley in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978).

Library Recipes

2011-08-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

The July 1895 issue of Library Notes contained a compilation of "Library Recipes" for use by libraries in dealing with common problems which they encountered in their operations. Library Notes, a publication of the Library Bureau edited by Melvil Dewey, was targeted primarily at small libraries and its original sub-title was "Improved Methods and Labor-Savers for Librarians, Readers and Writers". The library recipes were compiled by Katharine Lucinda Sharp for ALA's Comparative Library Exhibit at the 1893 World Colombian Exposition in Chicago. Sharp later went on to head the library school at the University of Illinois. It's clear from the various recipes provided in the compilation that for small libraries and even some large ones that the 1890s were a DIY world. To deal with those pesky book-worms: "Book-worms are exterminated rapidly and effectually by mixing equal parts of powdered camfor and snuff, and sprinkling the shelves with the mixture every six or eight months." Or to mix up an effective brew of mucilage: "The best mucilage is made by dissolving a fair grade of gum arabic in a sufficient quantity of water, and adding oil of cloves, or some other essential oil to keep it from molding. Put four quarts of cold water in an earthen crock or pitcher, add two and one-half pounds of gum arabic; set it on a warm, but not a hot place - a steam radiator is an excellent place - stir the gum very frequently, raising it from the bottom of the crock. When entirely dissolvd, strain through cheese cloth, and stir in 12 drops of essential oil. The mucilage will keep perfectly sweet as long as it lasts. If too thick, add a little water; if too thin, heat it over." Recipes are also included for fusty stains, glues, inks, mending, mildew, paste, and many others. Oh, the life of a librarian.

Hammond Typewriter and Card Cataloger

2011-07-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

A typewriter story on the 50th anniversary of the IBM Selectric Typewriter.

When the Harvard College Library decided to make its catalog more accessible to students by creating the first public card catalog in a library in 1861, it was necessary to produce the catalog cards in a hand written format. Assistant Librarian Ezra Abbot who was in charge of the project employed one of the female assistants at the library to write cards which she was able to do at a rate of twelve and one quarter an hour. More assistants were hired and in the first year 35,762 cards were written. [Source: "Boston Library Catalogues, 1850-1875" by Barbara A. Mitchell in Institutions of Reading, Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 2007] Fast forward to the March, 1887 issue of Library Notes edited by Melvil Dewey which includes an extensive article on "Library Handwriting". The noteworthy point about that article is its introduction, probably written by Dewey, which states: "The writing of the future in and out of libraries is to be done as largely by machines as sewing is now. The hand, pen, and needle will always have a mission, but the silly prejudice against legible 'writing done on a machine with no individuality' is yielding very rapidly as the machines themselves are so nearly perfected." Included in that issue of Library Notes is an advertisement for two companies making typewriters. One of those was for the Hammond Typewriter. In the supplement to Library Bureau's 1886 Classified Illustrated Catalog which I mentioned in my previous post, the Hammond Card Cataloger was being offered by Library Bureau. The description for the typewriter states, "Preeminently the library typewriter, and the only one thus far invented that writes catalog cards perfectly." In support for the need for typewritten catalog cards it states, "The larger the library the more numerous are the employes in the catalog department, and the more confusing to the eye of the reader the eccentricities of their individual handwritings, and the more need of the clear, simple, and uniform characters which the Hammond produces." More on the Hammond Typewriter can be found HERE. The illustration above is from my copy of the Library Bureau catalog supplement. As an aside, when I started working at the Greenville County Library in South Carolina, in 1974 we had a programmable IBM Selectric Typewriter that would produce a full set of multipe heading catalog cards automatically after the initial catalog information was entered. When student groups took a tour of the library we called it the "magic typewriter". By the time I left Greenville in 1980 we had converted to a high speed enclosed microfilm catalog which eliminated catalog cards.

Library Book Trucks

2011-07-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

Library Bureau Book Truck

Gaylord Bros. Book Truck

The Library Bureau's Classified Illustrated Catalog of 1886 described the library book truck as, "The most useful single device ever made for an active library." An image of Library Bureau's book truck, item 21a in the catalog, is shown above. Starting with Library Bureau, book trucks also called book carts were sold and continue to be sold by most library supply companies. Gaylord Brothers included "The Truck Beautiful" in its 1933 catalog of Library Furniture and Supplies. My introduction to book trucks came as a page at the Public Library of Nashville and Davidson County (TN) way back in 1963. I'm sure I shelved tens of thousands of books using these handy devices. Now days, we also have book cart drill teams and tricked out book cart contests. There are thousands of images of book trucks/book carts on the Web that can be found by searching Google or Flickr. I particularly like this image of a wood book truck used by the Minneapolis Public Library. If your library has one of the early wood book trucks consider yourself very fortunate.

Gertrude Bascom Darwin, Librarian General

2011-07-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

The elected officer in charge of the Library of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Washington, D.C. has the title of Librarian General. In my collection of postal librariana I have an envelope with an enclosed letter mailed by Gertrude Bascom Darwin, DAR Librarian General in 1897 and 1898, on Dec. 22, 1897 to Mrs. Keller Anderson in Memphis, Tennessee. Basically, the letter is an overdue notice for some issues of the American Magazine loaned to the Tennessee Centennial Exhibition earlier that year. Darwin explains at some length the reasons for why the issues should be returned soon. Including, "It takes some time to get the books nicely bound and catalogued, you know." She ends on an upbeat note, " What a glorious time you must have had during the exposition! I felt so badly that I could not go." A little Internet sleuthing reveals that Gertrude Bascom Darwin, No. 168 of the Charter members of the DAR, graduated from Vassar College in 1878 and was married to Charles Carlyle Darwin, Librarian of the United States Geological Survey. Darwin was also active in the Aurora, West Virginia Library Association where she served as President in 1896-1898. More about the DAR Library which was founded in 1896 can be found HERE.

The Inside Inn and ALA in St. Louis, 1904

2011-07-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

On the surface an envelope I purchased at a recent stamp show has no apparent connection to libraries. Philatelist would refer to the envelope as an advertising cover and it promotes the Inside Inn as "The Only Hotel Within The Grounds" of the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. Thanks to an excellent article by George Eberhart for the Centennial Blog of American Libraries, I knew that this hotel housed most of the attendees of the 1904 conference of the American Library Association which met from October 17-22 in conjunction with the fair. Rates for staying at the hotel started at $1.50 per day European plan and $3.00 per day American plan including admission to the fair. In his article Eberhart notes that as a fire protection measure each room had been lined with asbestos. There were 26 former and future ALA presidents in attendance at the conference including Melvil Dewey, Herbert Putnam, and Gratia A. Countryman. In Eberhart's article he includes an illustration of a postcard of the Inside Inn. The same stamp dealer that I purchased my envelope from also had a wonderful "hold to light" postcard showing the Inside Inn. Unfortunately he wanted $195 for the card, a little out of my price range. I have two other blog posts related to the 1904 ALA conferece in St. Louis located HERE and HERE.

ALA Continuing Member

2011-06-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

Recently I received in the mail a note thanking me for my "Continuing Membership" in the American Library Association along with a very nice pin saying that I am a "Continuing Member". My ALA Member I.D. Card says I have been a member for 42 continuous years. When I sent my dues in for the year 2011, I got a rebate which was the first point that I learned that if you are a retired librarian with 25 years of continuous service you become a member for life without having to pay dues for your basic membership. I joined ALA in 1969 after my career had been interrupted by involuntary service in the Army. When I attended my first ALA conference in Atlantic City, NJ in 1969 there was a major call for reform in the Association by a vocal segment of the membership. It was an exciting time to be a member of ALA. There was not a point in my library career that I ever considered not being a part of the nation's largest and most important library association. I dislike bureaucracies and ALA is a bureaucracy whose units often move at a frustratingly slow pace. However, for many years I actively participated in the committees, sections, round tables, and divisions of that bureaucracy. I did so because ALA is an effective voice for America's libraries and has helped make me a better librarian. As a library history buff I also feel a strong sense of community with all those ALA members who have come before me starting 135 years ago in Philadelphia. American Libraries, ALA Conferences, and the Washington Office of ALA are just a few of the things that have justified my continuing membership in ALA. I will wear my new pin with pride.

First War Library Bulletin

2011-06-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

When the War Service Committee of the American Library Association mailed out Vol. 1, No. 1 of the War Library Bulletin in August, 1917, plans for ALA's Library War Service in World War I were well underway. A major announcement in the bulletin was ALA's intent to erect library buildings in 32 cantonments and National Guard training camps. The buildings designed by New York architect Edward L. Tilton were to be 40 x 120 feet in size, one story high, and have the ability to house eight to ten thousand books. They also were designed to provide living quarters for the staff. The first War Library Bulletin was full of information targeted at libraries and their staffs about what they could do to assist in ALA's war effort. It included information on fundraising as well as a "Volunteer Responsibility Pledge". A librarian could volunteer for a wide range of activities all the way from collecting books to actually staffing a camp library. Men only were asked "Could you give personal service in a Camp Library for traveling expenses only?". It was stated that War Department rules prohibited women in camp libraries. Female librarians were later able to work in hospital libraries sponsored by ALA. One of the members of the War Service Committee was Matthew S. Dudgeon, Secretary of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission. Dudgeon later took a leave from the Commission to administer the camp library program. June 18 was the 140th anniversary of his birth. I just added this issue of the War Library Bulletin to my collection of ALA Library War Service ephemera. I previously wrote about another issue of the War Library Bulletin. More posts related to ALA's Library War Service can be found HERE. Postcards showing some of ALA's camp libraries can be found HERE.

Little Known Black Librarian Facts

2011-06-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

It gives me great pleasure to introduce a new library history blog. "Little Known Black Librarian Facts" is the creation of Michele T. Fenton and it is devoted to the history of African American Librarians and library services to African Americans. As noted in the introductory post to the blog: "Here you'll learn about the pioneers in the library profession, and the triumphs and struggles in making library services available to African Americans." Michele is also the editor and compiler of the publication Little Known Black Librarian Facts, 2nd Edition (Indiana Black Librarians Network, 2011) which is available in digital form on the blog site. Welcome Michele to the very small group of library history bloggers.

Indianapolis Public Library History

2011-06-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of books that tell the story of a single library. I just obtained one of the best I've ever seen. It is Stacks: A History of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library by S. L. Berry with Mary Ellen Gadski (Indianapolis-Marion County Library Foundation, 2011). A blurb on the cover states: "The Library has always been more than a source of information: it has been a center of community life. Stacks tells the story of the IMCPL's evolution, placing it in a national context and emphasizing its role in the educational and cultural life of Indianapolis". Berry and Gadski were commissioned by the IMCPL Foundation to write the book, and they have done a great job. As a former public library director, I liked the descriptions of the challenges faced by each of the directors of the library and how they responded to them. Noteworthy was the chapter titled "The McFadden Years, 1944-1956" which described how Marian McFadden dealt with the McCarthy era. In addition to the quality writing I was highly impressed with the design of the book which according to a press release for the book was done by Jim and Jon Sholly. The book includes numerous visual images. As a collector of librariana, I especially liked the images of bookplates on the front and end pages of the book. A neat idea was an illustration of a book pocket for the library with a date due slip that just happened to include significant dates in the history of the library. A double page montage in the book includes a number of examples of postcards showing two of the former central libraries. Shown above are postcards from my collection featuring the two buildings. The first building was completed in 1893 and the second in 1917. The book is available for $25 from the IMCPL Foundation. Strangely, the library's website includes little information about the history of the library or even about this great book.

ALA's Handbook of Organization 1894

2011-06-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

Starting in 2009 the American Library Association's Handbook of Organization has only been available online. The information contained in the online handbook tells you everything you ever wanted to know about the organizational structure of one of the world's most complex library organizations. The online handbook is not a consolidated document but a connected grouping of website links which originate at a Table of Contents page. A far cry from today's electronic version of the ALA handbook is my copy of the 1894 version of the handbook shown here. It was de-accessioned from the ALA Library. It is a handy 3 by 5 inch pocket size publication consisting 62 pages. Thirty of those pages list the entire membership of ALA at that time. Only five pages were needed to list the officers of ALA and the members of ALA's seven active committees. The list of members gives the date the member joined ALA and a registration number in order of the member's joining. Melvil Dewey joined in 1876 and was member number 1. Miss Ella Sites Wood, a library school student, joined in 1894 and was member number 1234. ALA's motto was on the front cover of the handbook: "The best reading, for the largest number, at the least cost". The dues in 1894 were $2.00 per year, but if you weren't willing to pay that amount you could send your name to Melvil Dewey and get on his mailing list "interested in libraries" and receive printed matter about libraries and librarianship. I've completed 42 years of continuous membership in ALA and my registration number is 63888. It is also interesting to note that my last printed copy of ALA's Handbook of Organization included 226 pages of information.

George Washington's Library

2011-06-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to the Washington, D.C. area I took a tour of George Washington's home Mount Vernon. On the way out of the main house I was able to view the room where Washington kept his personal library of around 900 books (see postcard above). The books that are currently in the room were not owned by Washington. After his death his collection was passed on to relatives and eventually widely dispersed. A collection of 359 volumes was sold to London bookseller Henry Stevens in 1848. All but five of the Stevens purchase were passed on to the Boston Athenaeum where they remain. The story of Washington's library and its final disposition is contained in the book The Library at Mount Vernon by Frances Laverne Carroll and Mary Meacham (Beta Phi Mu, 1977). Up until 1978 the archives and papers of a president were considered to be the personal property of the president. As a result they were often dispersed and not maintained as a single collection as they are in today's presidential libraries administered by the National Archives. Fortunately many of the early collections of American presidents have been acquired by the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress owns the most comprehensive collection of George Washington's papers. A major new library is under construction at Mount Vernon which is intended to serve as "the international headquarters for knowledge about America’s most famous founding father".

Library Conference Call 135 Years Ago

2011-06-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

On this date (or around this date) 135 years ago, the first call for the conference of librarians that resulted in the creation of the American Library Association went out to librarians across the nation. This occasion is documented in Edward G. Holley's Raking The Historic Coals: The A.L.A. Scrapbook of 1876 (BETA PHI MU, 1967). The circular containing the call included the names of 28 prominent librarians including the young upstart Melvil Dewey. The call read in part: "The undersigned, connected with the library interest of this country, believing that efficiency and economy in library work would be promoted by a conference of librarians, which should afford opportunity for mutual consultation and practical co-operation, issue this preliminary call, inviting librarians and all interested in library and bibliographical work, to meet at Philadelphia, on the 15th of August next, or otherwise as may be found more generally acceptable." The second call to conference went out on July 28 in which the dates for the conference were changed to October 4-6, 1876, also in Philadelphia. A copy of the first conference call was contained in the A.L.A. scrapbook of 1876 which is now missing. There was an earlier conference of librarians in 1853 which did not lead to any formal organization. The men (no women were listed in the call to conference) who made the first call to conference would have undoubtedly been amazed at the ALA conference taking place in New Orleans later this month.

America's Library - The Library of Congress

2011-05-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned my philatelic exhibit about the Library of Congress which I titled "America's Library - The Library of Congress" several times previously on this blog. In preparation for a presentation I will be making next week to the Washington (D.C.) Stamp Collectors Club on the exhibit, I've scanned some of the pages from the exhibit and placed them on my website. Feel free to take a look. The entire exhibit will be on display at the NAPEX Stamp Show, June 3-5, at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner in McLean, VA. The page from the exhibit shown above features a stampless cover mailed by Samuel Taggart, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, on Oct. 20, 1814. A notation on the inside of the cover indicates the letter (which is not included) provided the "particulars of burning of Washington by British ...". This, of course, included the burning of the Library of Congress which was housed in the Capitol. An illustration of that action by the British from the Dec., 1872 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine is also included on this exhibit page.

My Thomas S. Shaw Collection of Covers and Correspondence

2011-05-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I acquired a collection of several dozen covers (envelopes) and letters mailed to Thomas S. Shaw, a longtime Library of Congress staff member and later a professor at the Library School of Louisiana State University. They cover a forty year period starting in the early 1930s and going to the early 1970s. This was a major windfall for a collector of postal librariana. I wrote about the relationship of Shaw and George Elsey, an aide to both Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, on my Library History Buff website as a result of several items in the Shaw collection. The relationship between Shaw and Elsey involved Shaw's clandestine research for Elsey as a reference librarian at the Library of Congress on behalf of Roosevelt. My Shaw collection also includes personal correspondence to Shaw from a number of Library of Congress staff members including former Librarian of Congress Luther Evans. The item from the collection which is shown in this post is a thank you note to Shaw from Blanche McCrum (1887-1969) who retired from the Library of Congress in 1955. McCrum is listed in the Dictionary of American Library Biography Supplement (Libraries Unlimited, 1990). McCrum concludes her note to Shaw with: "Many thanks, too, for your unfailing professional kindness through the years. You are never too busy to help, and you know those resources so well. May you live long and prosper in the great institution we both love." Shaw received the Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award in 1968 for making a distinguished contribution to reference librarianship. It is a privilege to have a personal glimpse into the life of such a distinguished librarian of the not too distant past.