Monolite Bookmobile Postcards

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

Calvert County, Prince Frederick, MD

Four County Library, Binghamton, NY

Henderson County, Athens, TX

Mercer County, Trenton, NJ

Bucks County, Doylestown, PA

                   I have written a number of previous posts about bookmobiles.
                       

Book on the History of Bookmobiles in America

I just received my copy of Bookmobiles in America: An Illustrated History by Orty Ortwein, and I would recommend its purchase by library history buffs and especially those, like me, who have a special interest in this aspect of library service. The book was self published by Ortwein earlier this year and can be purchased for $11 from Amazon. Some of the content in the publication has been previously published online in Ortwein's excellent blog Bookmobiles: A History. Ortwein readily admits that his book should not be considered the absolute authority on American bookmobiles. Instead, he says, it should be thought of as "a fun tour of a fun topic". As could be expected from a book with "Illustrated" in its title it includes numerous illustrations of bookmobiles tied to interesting stories about bookmobiles. The book also includes stories about traveling libraries. Included in the book is a chart compiled by Ortwein that shows the rise and fall of bookmobiles in America. The number of bookmobiles peaked in 1965 at 2,000 but had dropped to 696 in 2011. The expansion of bookmobile service correlates to the infusion of Federal aid from the 1956 Library Services Act for rural library service.  Also of great value is the extensive list of sources which Ortwein includes at the end of his publication. Click HERE to see my previous blog posts about bookmobiles. Also don't miss the American Libraries Pinterest bookmobile site.  

Red Bird Mission Bookmobile, Beverly, KY

Another bookmobile postcard recently added to my collection. This one is a Real Photo Postcard (RPPC) showing the bookmobile of the Red Bird Mission in Beverly, KY in the 1950s. The Red Bird Mission is affiliated with the Methodist Church and provides a variety of social services to the people of Eastern Kentucky. The bookmobile is a modified Willys Jeep Truck. Bookmobile service for Bell County in which the Red Bird Mission is located is now provided by Bell County Public Libraries. Their current bookmobile is more attracive than the Red Bird Mission bookmobile, but not more interesting. 

The Bookmobiles of Greenville Co. SC

When I became Director of the Greenville County Library in South Carolina in 1974 the library system had five bookmobiles including one "outreach" bookmobile. The library system had a long history of providing bookmobile service dating back to the 1920s when the Greenville Public Library was established. I recently acquired the first postcard shown above which depicts one of the library's first bookmobiles. Orty Ortwein has written about Greenville's first bookmobile in his "Bookmobiles: A History" blog. In 1949 the library purchased its first bookmobile equipped for inside service. In 1961 the Greenville Public Library became the Greenville County Library with a dedicated tax levy. As a result the library was able to buy four new bookmobiles. One bookmobile served areas inside the city, one served areas in the school district. one served rural areas outside the school district, and one was dedicated to the "Negro service" (the library was fully integrated by 1965). There were now a total of 150 bookmobile stops. The Gerstenslager bookmobile shown on the second postcard above was one of these bookmobiles. While I was a director of the Greenville County Library there was a significant transition away from bookmobiles to branch libraries. However, the Greenville County Library still operates one bookmobile. Some information in this post is from Free Reading for Everybody: The Story of The Greenville Library by Ellen Perry (1973, Greenville County Library).

An Interesting Bookmobile Postcard

The postcard above depicting the bookmobile of the Albuquerque (NM) Public Library was given to me by Norman Stevens, one of the world's greatest library postcard collectors. Norman donated his collection of approximately 25,000 library postcards to the Canadian Centre for Architecture and it is now part of the Norman D. Stevens Collection of Library Architecture. This one got left out of the CCA donation. I'm grateful to have the postcard since it was part of Norman's collection. It also has several other aspects that are of interest to me. I collect bookmobile postcards so obviously that's the first aspect that is of interest. The postcard is larger than the usual postcard of this period (1950s). It is 6 1/4 inches wide instead of the usual 5 1/2 inches, and it is 4 1/2 inches high instead of the usual 3/12 inches. It is an advertising postcard from The Gerstenslager Co. of Wooster, OH, the largest maker of bookmobiles for several decades. The postcard was mailed to Lucille Morsch of the Library of Congress and received by LC on Jan. 26, 1959. Since I am also a collector of postal librariana related to the Library of Congress, this is also of special interest to me. In Norman D. Stevens' book A Guide to Collecting Librariana (Scarecrow Press, 1986) he mentions that Lucille Morsch was a collector of library postcards and that she donated her collection to him before her death. This is probably why the bookmobile postcard was in his collection. It also means that the postcard is now in the hands of the third library postcard collector (me). 

Library Service to Native Americans

This post is prompted by my acquisition of an original photograph (shown above) which depicts a bookmobile/traveling library on a Southwestern United States Indian reservation circa 1940s. A hand written caption on the back of the photograph reads: "Indian Day School and Traveling Library supplied by the govt. through the Indian Service." The signage on the bookmobile reads U.S.I.S. Traveling Library. The Indian Service became the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1947. There is no indication of the exact location of the school and bookmobile. It appears from the photograph that some sort of event has just taken place. The bookmobile could take the prize in an ugly bookmobile contest. Let's hope that the books inside were more attractive. The windows on the bookmobile are probably and indication that it was a converted bus of some kind. Library service to Native Americans and the education of children on reservations is an uneven story at best. The Summer 2000 issue of Library Trends contains an article by Lotsee Patterson titled "History and Status of Native Americans in Librarianship" which is online. There's a fairly good overview of American Indian boarding schools which preceded reservation day schools on Wikipedia. I have a previous post on the Carlisle Indian School Library in Pennsylvania. The American Indian Library Association (AILA) was formed in 1979 as a result of the awareness that library services to Native Americans were inadequate. The AILA is affiliated with ALA and will have a meeting on January 26 at the ALA conference in Philadelphia. Tribal libraries have benefited greatly from Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The University of Wisconsin - Madison School of Library and Information Studies sponsors the Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums Project (TLAM) which brings "indigenous information topics to LIS education through service-learning, networking, and resource sharing with Wisconsin’s tribal cultural institutions."

Greene County (OH) Bookmobile 1948

 

One of  the kinds of library postcards that I collect is postcards depicting bookmobiles. This postcard showing a 1948 Gerstenslager bookmobile for the Greene County (OH) Public Library is a Real Photo Postcard (RPPC). RPPCs showing bookmobiles are unusual so I was happy to add this one to my collection. It is also unusual in that it was used as a promotional piece for the Gerstenslager Company's bookmobiles. I've written a previous post about these Gerstenslager postcard advertisements. The Greene County Public Library continues to operate a bookmobile. There are lots of images of bookmobiles on the Web. One of the best sites for these images is the Pinterest bookmobile site of the American Libraries magazine. I have a tribute to bookmobiles on the Library History Buff website. I also compiled a list of the best bookmobile websites.

 

Gerstenslager's 1953 Trail Blazer Bookmobile

In 1949 the Bookmobile Committee of the Library Extension Division of the American Library Association held seven regional conferences throughout the country to discuss standards for bookmobiles with librarians and manufacturers of bookmobiles. The result was a 1951 report on Bookmobile Standardization. The report provided recommended specifications and equipment for bookmobiles. One of the first bookmobiles to follow these specifications was the Trail Blazer model of the Gerstenslager Company of Wooster, Ohio. I just obtained a 1953 brochure (see above) that was published by the Gerstenslager Company to introduce and promote their Trail Blazer bookmobile. It was touted as the bookmobile conceived by America's librarians and built and distributed by Gerstenslager. One of the major advantages of the Trail Blazer was that it was designed to be adaptable to chassis that were being produced by all major truck manufacturers. This allowed libraries to request bids from multiple manufacturers.  The chassis from the winning bidder was then sent to Wooster, Ohio where the custom body was attached to it by Gerstenslager. A history of the Gerstenslager Company can be found Here.

New York's First County Bookmobile

Images of children using bookmobiles are among the most endearing portrayals of public library service. An especially appealing image (shown above) is included in a publication titled The Library of the Open Road by Ralph A. Felton and Marjorie Beal published by the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University in November, 1929. It shows children using the Monroe County (NY) Traveling Library. The publication is Cornell Extension Bulletin number 188 and it makes the case for establishing county libraries in New York. The image of the Monroe County Traveling Library also appears in an article titled "The County Library" in the January, 1926 issue of The American City Magazine. I also found a 1923 newspaper article about the Monroe County Traveling Library which includes the same image. The newspaper article which appeared in The Monroe County Mail stipulates that the Monroe County service is the first of its kind in New York. The headline reads: "Only County in the State Which Provides Free Books for Residents of the Smaller Villages and Farm Districts and Delivers Them From a Real Library on Wheels Right at Their Homes - As Many as 200 Books Loaned Daily". The article makes very positive comments about Miss Ruth Drake, the librarian of the Traveling Library, who was interviewed for the article. She is probably the woman in the doorway of the Traveling Library image. I also have a postcard (see below) showing a later bookmobile used by the Monroe County Library in New York. 
   

1928 Rural Libraries Bulletin





The extension of public library service to rural areas in the United States has been a goal of state governments for more than twelve decades (the Massachusetts Free Public Library Commission was established in 1890). The passage of the federal Library Services Act in 1956 was a major impetus to achieving this goal and in many states 100 percent of the state's residents have access to public library service.  I have several items in my collection that document the efforts to extend public library service to rural areas in the 1920s. One of those is a U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers Bulletin issued in April, 1928. The conclusion of the bulletin states: "The purpose of this bulletin will be accomplished if rural people, State legislatures, local officials, and library agencies, in view of demonstrated accomplishments, cooperate to make rural library service, as compared with other forms of public service, equal, efficient, and complete." The bulletin has been digitized and is available through the Hathi Trust. Of the many illustrations related to rural library service and its promotion in the bulletin, I was most taken with an image of a participant in a parade dressed as a book promoting county libraries in California and an image of a small building at a county fair papered in book jackets promoting county library service. Personal editorial: Even with decades of effort there are still millions of people in rural areas in the U.S. without access to free public library service.  I think this is a national travesty.  Why is it that the library profession can be so passionate about the censoring of a single book and yet tolerates a situation in which so many people have no free access to books and other materials in a public library.  

Early Portland (OR) Bookmobile Postcard

The predecessor of the Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon was the Portland Library Association which was established in 1864. Originally, the Portland Library Association was a subscription library, but in 1902 it became a free public library serving all of Multnomah County. Bookmobile service was one of the strategies used to extend library service to the county. I recently acquired the postcard above showing one of the Library Association's early bookmobiles. The caption on the back reads: "The Graham Brothers Truck has been in service at Portland, Oregon, for over eighteen months and has exceeded the fondest expectations of the Library Association in increasing the number of rural readers. The inside of the body carries approximately 600 books." This bookmobile dates from the early 1920s. There is another view of the Graham Brothers bookmobile on the Multnomah County Library's Flickr site. There are also many other views of bookmobile service on the Library's Flickr site. The Multnomah County Library no longer provides bookmobile service.

Book Trailers

Gary (IN) Public Library book trailer

Clark County (IN) Public Library book trailer

Kenosha (WI) Public Library book trailer

Southwest Wisconsin Library System book trailer

This post was inspired by a post on the Bibliophemera blog which asked this about book trailers: "Is it or isn't it a bookmobile?".  The Bibliophemera post includes images of three book trailers. I wrote previously about a 1937 publication of the American Library Association titled Book Automobiles. In that publication there is a chapter on "Book Trailers" which includes photographs (shown above) of the Gary (IN) Public Library book trailer and the Clark County Public Library in Springfield, OH. The chapter introduction indicates that, "The greatly increased use of trailers by motorists today has apparently given new impetus to the use of trailers by libraries."  It notes that the Gary Public Library's book trailer is " a standard twelve-foot house trailer which is fitted up as a small branch library" and that "Its shelves hold 1,500 to 1,700 volumes."  According to the ALA publication the book trailer for Clark County, OH was started by the Rural Committee of the Y.W.C.A.. The ALA publication describes a proposal by Henry Bailey Stevens, then Secretary of the Agricultural Extension Service of the University of New Hampshire, for the use of book trailers in a kind of traveling library system. He visualized " a trailer fitted with waterproof bookcase under lock and key and loaded with a choice collection of offerings. A chain of responsible volunteer community leaders, acting in their neighborhoods as assistant librarians. A system of chain telephoning and neighborly agreements.  The trailer left for two or three days in a farmer's barn or yard.  And this trailer hauled by cooperative agreement from point to point over the county and back again." The Kenosha (WI) Public Library used book trailers for many years as did the Southwest Wisconsin Library System in Fennimore, WI. The American Libraries magazine has a Pinterest site showing numerous images of bookmobiles including a couple of book trailers.

A Branch and a Bookmobile for African Americans in Carrollton, GA

I recently acquired a postcard (see above) which shows the Delta Sigma Theta bookmobile in front of the King St. Branch Library of of the West Georgia Regional Library in Carrollton, GA. The caption on the back of the postcard indicates that the bookmobile served Carroll, Douglas, Haralson, and Heard Counties in Georgia. The postcard was mailed on September 5, 1956. The Delta Sigma Theta sorority was founded in 1913 at Howard University and has a long history of public service as it relates to the African American community. In 1937 it initiated the  National Library Project which had the goal of providing library service to African Americans in the rural South.  In doing some background research on the postcard I came across a history of the West Georgia Regional Library titled Yonder She Comes! A Once Told Li'bry Tale by Edith Foster (Gateway Printing Co., 1985) which has been placed online in pdf format. Edith Foster was the original director of the West Georgia Regional Library and served in that capacity from 1944 to 1976. Chapter 8 of the book tells about Foster's efforts to establish the King Street Branch Library and the bookmobile service to serve the African American community at a time when the South was still segregated. For two years Foster drove the Delta Sigma Theta bookmobile herself and set up service points for African Americans in all counties. Foster recounts that in order to be prepared to respond to the question "Are you mixing the books?" each book for the King Street Branch was marked with a triangle symbol. The King Street Branch Library ceased operation in 1967 with the completion of the Neva Lomason Memorial Library in Carrollton which served the entire community.  

Best Bookmobile Websites

Happy National Bookmobile Day! For this occasion I've selected some bookmobile websites for your enjoyment. The image above is of the cover of a large brochure put out by the Gerstenslager company in the 1970s. According to the inside copy, "This book has been written and printed with one basic purpose...to help the professional librarian and library board member plan and develop a highly effective bookmobile...one that completely fills the need, both of basics of body style, size and book-carrying capacity." I picked it up at an ALA conference.

The American Library Association's National Bookmobile Day webpage

American Libraries Magazine's Pinterest Bookmobiles Image Collection

The Library History Buff's Tribute to Bookmobiles

Bookmobiles: A History

Wisconsin Library Heritage Center Bookmobile Page

Bookmobiles Parnassus on Wheels (Flickr Group)

The First Bookmobile, WHILBR webpage

Bookmobiles on Postage Stamps

Google Bookmobile Image Search

Another Piece of Bookmobileana

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.

Gerstenslager Bookmobile Postcard Ads

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.

Bookmobileana

National Bookmobile Day is next Wednesday, April 13, so I thought I would take this opportunity to highlight some bookmobileana. The item shown above is a paper cutout assembled as a bookmobile.  It was given out to children by the Winding Rivers Library System in La Crosse, Wisconsin several years ago. I have a "Tribute to the Bookmobile" on my Library History Buff website which features several of the items in my collection of bookmobileana.  I especially like the 1952 Maryland State Library brochure.  I collect postcards that picture bookmobiles and one of my favorites  shows people using a bookmobile that is part of a county library service demonstration in Kentucky. ALA's 1937 publication on "Book Automobiles" is a valued part of my library history book collection. Also of note is my comprehensive collection of bookmobiles on postage stamps. It would be nice to add this historic book wagon which is for sale on eBay to my collection, but it is a little out of my price range.

Book Wagon For Sale on eBay

As a proponent of a library history museum, my adrenalin got going pretty good when I came across an historic book wagon for sale on eBay. The seller is offering it for a "Buy it now" price of $15,000, but is willing to consider a lesser offer. If I only had a spare $15,000 and space to store it.  According to the seller on eBay, the book wagon dates to the 1920s and was on display in Vancouver, British Columbia for the 1986 World Expo. Mary L. Titcomb, the Librarian of the Washington County Free Library, sent out the first book wagon in the United States in Hagerstown, Maryland in April, 1905. Titcomb designed the book wagon which had space for 200 books on the outside of the wagon and storage space for more books on the inside. I have a "Tribute to the Bookmobile" on the Library History Buff website.

Addendum: On January 16 the book wagon was relisted for a period of up to 29 days, so you may still have time to purchase this great item and preserve a piece of library history.

Maryland Bookmobiles 1952

This clever brochure in the shape of a bookmobile promotes bookmobile service in Maryland in 1952. Maryland was the birthplace of mobile library service in America. I have a tribute to the bookmobile located on my Library History Buff website.

Book Automobiles

On April 14, the American Library Association (ALA) will celebrate the first National Bookmobile Day. I recently acquired the 1937 ALA publication Book Automobiles, Library Equipment Studies: Number One. It was prepared by the ALA County and Regional Libraries Section Book Automobile Committee. The introduction reads: "The steady and growing demand for exact specifications and pictures of book automobiles from city and county librarians who are considering this method of book service and who wish to profit by the experience of others, has led to this first effort to compile information on the subject and to present it in convenient form." The publication includes information and pictures of: small book automobiles with outside shelving; large book automobiles with outside shelving; large book automobiles with inside and outside shelving; book trailers; simpler forms of service; and delivery trucks. The picture above shows the large book automobile with outside shelving used by the Davidson County Library in Lexington, NC. A caption for the pictures notes that the shelving for the book automobile is four shelves high and that the lower part of the back door is let down and used as a table for charging books. A high stool for the library worker was carried inside the book automobile. "Simpler forms of service" included adapting passenger cars for this purpose. The Vanderburg County Library in Indiana adapted a Ford roadster by adding a box at the back with two enclosed shelves holding about 150 books.