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.
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).
Looking for a great gift for a library lover? I recommend Part of Our Lives - A People's History of the Public Library by Wayne A. Wiegand which was published recently by Oxford University Press. Well researched and documented by Wiegand, America's foremost library historian, it will appeal to the general reader as well as the serious student of library history. As one who is particularly interested in public libraries and their history, I found it to be especially enjoyable. I was also fortunate to hear two presentations by Wiegand on his new book, and both were well received by the audiences. Wiegand is currently on a 30 plus city book tour to promote the book, and I hope you also have the opportunity to hear him.
In 1904 (Oct. 17-22) the American Library Association held its annual conference in conjunction with the World’s Fair (Louisiana Purchase Exposition) in St. Louis, MO. George Eberhart, Senior Editor of American Libraries’ AL Direct, wrote a wonderful article about the 1904 St. Louis conference for the CentenniAL Blog which celebrated the centennial of American Libraries. Most of the attendees of the conference stayed at the Inside Inn which was the only hotel located inside the fair grounds. I was recently able to obtain a postcard of the Inside Inn (shown above), a postcard which I have coveted for some time. The postcard is special because it is a "hold to light" card. When you hold it up to a light the windows of the hotel glow. The postcard was actually mailed from the Exposition Station of the Post Office during the fair. I previously wrote about the Inside Inn in a blog post on July 7, 2011. Rates for staying at the Inside Inn started at $1.50 per day European plan and $3.00 per day American plan including admission to the fair. According to Eberhart, there were 26 former and future ALA presidents in attendance at the conference including Melvil Dewey, Herbert Putnam, and Gratia A. Countryman. The conference meetings took place at the fair’s Hall of Congresses, a building which exists today as Ridgley Hall of Washington University. Ridgley Hall housed the University Library until the 1960s (see postcard below).
Library week in New York began not as a public celebration of libraries but as a week long retreat and conference for librarians. The week was sponsored by the New York Library Association which was founded in 1890 with the encouragement of Melvil Dewey. Initially the weeklong conference was held annually at Dewey’s Lake Placid Club in the Adirondacks. I have in my collection of postal librariana an envelope and a brochure announcing Library Week for 1902 which was held on September 20-29 of that year (113 years ago this week). They were mailed to Miss Mary Medlicott, Reference Librarian for the Springfield (MA) City Library. The content of the small brochure indicates that: “The meeting is planned to give opportunity not only for help and encouragement in library work, but for renewal of health and strength.” It further states: “The Association specially wishes to gather all New York library folk at this meeting, but all persons interested in library work, whether as trustees, librarians or assistants, whether inside or outside New York, are cordially welcome during Library Week to share its work and pleasure.” After Melvil Dewey and the Lake Placid Club fell out of favor for practices of discrimination, the week was held elsewhere. I have written previously about New York Library Week in another blog post.
This blog post, like many on this blog, began with my acquisition of an artifact related to the history of a library. In this case the library is Boston’s Congregational Library or more specifically the Congregational Library and Archives of the American Congregational Association. The artifact is a stampless folded letter that is an announcement of a meeting of the Congregational Library Association mailed on April 16, 1853. The original name of the American Congregational Association was the Congregational Library Association. What makes this example of postal librariana special is that it was mailed before the official founding of the Congregational Library Association/American Congregational Association on May 25, 1853. The association was founded “for the purpose of establishing and perpetuating a library of religious history and literature of New England, and for the erection of a suitable building for the accommodation of the same, and for the use of charitable societies.” The founders of the association felt that such a library should be created to preserve the original Puritan literature. The announcement in the letter indicates that the discussion at the meeting will be about the section of the library related to Ecclesiastical History. The other two sections of the library were Biblical Literature and Systematic Theology. More about the Congregational Library can be found on the library’s website and on Wikipedia.
I recently acquired a letter on the stationery of the United States Hotel in Boston dated June 27, 1886 from George T. Cutler to his sister Mary Salome Cutler (later Mary Salome Cutler Fairchild). Salome, as she preferred to be called, was one of the outstanding American librarians of the 19th century. She was one of “40 leaders of the library movement” selected for a Library Hall of Fame by Library Journal in 1951 as part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the American Library Association. Salome Fairchild is also included in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978) which has a comprehensive biography by Budd L. Gambee. Fairchild was hired by Melvil Dewey in 1884 as a cataloger for the Columbia College Library, and she also served as an instructor in cataloging at the library school founded by Dewey at Columbia. She followed Dewey to the New York State Library when the library school was moved from Columbia to New York in 1889. Fairchild became vice-director of the library school in 1891, and served in that capacity until 1905. As vice-director Fairchild was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the library school and also maintained a heavy teaching load at the school. In his biography of Fairchild, Gambee writes: “The inspirational quality of her teaching was highly praised by her contemporaries. Her enthusiasm and her faith in the perfectibility of mankind sustained her missionary zeal for the library movement. Her specialties were cataloging book selection, and a seminar that combined library history with a study of contemporary libraries.” Fairchild was also in charge of the New York State Library for the Blind. In his biography about Dewey Irrepressible Reformer (ALA, 1996) Wayne A. Wiegand notes that Fairchild and Dewey had significant philosophical differences in regard to the their approach to library education. Dewey emphasized the practical aspect of instruction whereas Fairchild advocated for a more theoretical and cultural approach. Fairchild was an active member of ALA and served as vice-president in 1894-95 and 1900-1901. One of her major contributions to ALA was serving as chair of the committee which arranged the ALA exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 which included a model library. An annotated book selection list created for the exhibit was the first of several that became known as the A.L.A. Catalogs. The Wikipedia entry for Fairchild includes an interesting section on her 1904 study of “Women in American Libraries”. The 1886 letter to Cutler/Fairchild from her brother includes advice to her about her upcoming extended trip to the Mid-west and information about financing the trip. There is only one library reference in the letter. At the end her brother writes, “I got the bulletin from Library Bureau.” I’m happy to have this artifact with a connection to this great library lady.
This weekend I attended StampShow 2015 sponsored by the American Philatelic Society in Grand Rapids, MI. This is the largest annual stamp show in the nation. Over the years a small cadre of philatelic dealers have been thoughtful enough to save items related to my collecting interest of postal librariana until the next time they see me at a stamp show. Several of these dealers were at the Grand Rapids show. One dealer (thanks Doug) was holding an especially nice item for me. It is an envelope (shown above) mailed by Ainsworth Rand Spofford at the Library of Congress on March 13, 1862 to Washington, D.C. bookseller P.R. Fendall. At the time Spofford was Chief Assistant Librarian of Congress. He became Librarian of Congress in 1864 and served in that capacity until 1897. The envelope has an embossed Library of Congress return address and has a hand written notation indicating that it contained a letter from Spofford and that Fendall had sent the books which Spofford had requested. I have a large collection of postal items related to the Library of Congress and have a philatelic exhibit of these items. This envelope is special because it is the first one I have seen which includes a postage stamp and was mailed prior to 1870. Mail sent by the Library of Congress was limited before the library was authorized to handle the copyright function on behalf of the United States in 1870. For much of its early history the Library of Congress made use of the free franking privilege of members of congress for its outgoing mail. After 1877 the Library of Congress used a special category of stampless mail for government agencies referred to as “penalty mail” because of the statement on envelopes threatening a penalty for private use. I’m revamping my Library of Congress exhibit and this envelope will make a very nice addition.
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Haven’t done much blogging lately. Lots of travel this summer. On one of my trips I went through Superior, WI and was able to see both Carnegie library buildings. The old central library was abandoned in 1991 when it moved to new quarters, and is currently for sale. Superior was one of three communities in Wisconsin to receive a grant from Carnegie for a second branch library building. The branch library in Superior was converted to a private residence (also in 1991) and is still occupied by the owner. After my trip I found out about a recent article about the central library. The writer of the article managed to get inside of the library and posted a number of pictures. The library is for sale for $125,000 and would probably cost a few hundred thousand more to restore. The branch library is overgrown with vegetation and looks like it could use some TLC. I have more information about both of Superior’s Carnegie libraries on my Library History Buff website.
It might be said that the darkest day in the long history of the Library of Congress was August 24, 1814 when the British army burned the U.S. Capitol including the collection of the Library of Congress which was housed there. I have written previously about this occasion and the role played by Patrick Magruder, Librarian of Congress, during this event. I’ve recently added another artifact to my collection related to Magruder’s role in the destruction of the Library of Congress. It is the December 12, 1814 Report of the Committee “To whom was referred the communication of Patrick Magruder, Clerk of the House of Representatives, relative to the destruction of the library, &c.”. Magruder served in the dual capacity of Clerk of the House of Representatives and Librarian of Congress. The communication referred to was Magruder’s account of the actions of his office during the events leading up to destruction of the library and the records of the Clerk’s office. In the report, the committee expressed the opinion, “that due precaution and diligence were not exercised to prevent the destruction and loss which has been sustained.” At the time of the destruction, Magruder himself was absent “on account of indisposition”. In the report the committee seemed skeptical about his indisposition and indicated that it “ought to have been, serious and alarming to have justified his absence under the circumstances which then existed.” During the destruction of the Capitol the financial records of the Clerk were destroyed and the committee in reconstructing these came to the conclusion that a balance of $19,874 was unaccounted for and due the United States. Although Magruder managed to avoid being prosecuted for these missing funds, he resigned on January 28, 1815. The destruction of the Library of Congress led to the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s library to replace the destroyed collection.
