Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is September 26 to October 3 this year. Banned Books Week began in 1982 to promote intellectual freedom and to make the public aware that access to books and other materials was being challenged on a regular basis especially in libraries. The American Library Association is one of the sponsors of Banned Books Week. The envelope above is a First Day Cover for the America's Libraries postage stamp which was issued at the American Library Association annual conference in Philadelphia on July 13, 1982. Someone created a unique cover by pasting a newspaper article about book banning attempts on the envelope. The article begins, "There is a new 'hit list' sweeping the country. Unlike gangland murders, though this hit list does not involve people, but ideas. With increasing frequency, books and magazines of all kinds have become the target of self-appointed censors of both the left and right."

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