Library History 2009

There were some library history highlights in 2009 and a few lowlights. If you have others to suggest, let me know. The Special Libraries As...

Rev. Wight and Wayland's Public Library

Reverend John Burt Wight played a major role in the passage of the 1851 Massachusetts Public Library Law and the legal establishment of the...

Holiday Books by Mail

The Parcel Post Loan Library distributed this booklet to customers prior to Christmas 1914. The Parcel Post Loan Library was a commercial en...

Azariah's Library

There's an eating place in the Academic Common's of Oberlin College in Ohio called Azariah's Cafe . The cafe is named for Azari...

3 Years of Library Cover Stories

This month completes three years of library cover stories on my Library History Buff website . "Cover" is a philatelic term for a...

Dewey and Lake Placid

Melvil Dewey was born on December 10, 1851 in Adams Center, New York. I thought I would acknowledge his birthday today with a post about Dew...

Community Advertising Envelopes

One way that communities in the first two decades of the 20th century sought to attract new businesses was through advertising on envelopes....

ALA Hospital Service WWI

During World War I the American Library Association (ALA), through it's War Library Service , provided books and magazines to soldiers ...

Presidential Libraries

Fundraising and planning for the George W. Bush Presidential Library which will be located on the campus of Southern Methodist University i...

Alice M. Hughes, Unknown Librarian

The postcard above is one of 25 postcards that are part of the Alice M. Hughes postcard collection which is now part of my library postcard ...

Everett to Panizzi in 1848

A seemingly innocuous letter mailed in 1848 from Edward Everett to A. Panizzi has provided me with an opportunity to do some entertaining hi...

Scott Adams, Health Sciences Librarian

November 20 is the centennial of the birth of Scott Adams (1909-1982), noted health sciences librarian, not the creator of the cartoon chara...

One Year Anniversary

Today is the one year anniversary of the first post to the Library History Buff Blog (LHBB). The LHBB is a companion to the Library History...

California's Free Public Library Law

This year is the centennial of the free public library law in California. The California law was based around the county unit of government....

Books for Sailors

Charles Seavey has an impressive website Books for Swabbies: Ship's Libraries in the "New" Steel Navy, 1880s - 1930s . As Seav...

Ypsilanti Ladies Library

Women's groups have been a major force in the establishment of public libraries and the forerunners of public libraries in the United S...

Abe Martin's Public Library

Abe Martin was a cartoon character created by Kin Hubbard . Cartoons featuring the homespun Abe Martin character and the cartoon's local...

Librarian Veterans

When Veterans Day comes around each year and America pays homage to those who serve and have served in the military, I often reflect on my o...

Working Men's Libraries

Forerunners and early competitors to America's free public libraries came in many varieties. The Working Men's Institute libraries ...

Pearson Library Humor Award

As previously reported , I will be receiving the Edmund Lester Pearson Library Humor Award for 2009. The news release announcing the award i...

Kentucky Library

The postcard above was mailed by a resident of Elizabethtown, Kentucky on November 1, 1958 (51 years ago today) to a friend in California. T...

Library Humor

I was recently informed by Norman D. Stevens , Director of the Molesworth Institute , that I would be the recipient of the 2009 Edmund Leste...

Carnegie Library Lists by State

I was recently surprised to find that a category entitled " Lists of Carnegie libraries in the United States by state " has been ...

Destruction of the Libraries of Louvain

The Library of the Catholic University of Louvain or Leuven in Belgium was destroyed in both World War I and World War II. The most notoriou...

Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame

Seven individuals were inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame by the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center at the the Wisconsin Libra...

American Library Association Archives

As previously noted, October is American Archives Month. Archives are an essential component of doing good library history research. We libr...

Tennessee Library Histories

The Tennessee Library Association has invited libraries around the state to submit articles about the history of their library to Tennessee ...

Google Books Project Discovers Rare Librarian's Almanack

A student library assistant working on the Google Books Project at Harvard University Libraries has discovered a rare pamphlet entitled The ...

Burnt Library of Algeria

On June 7, 1962, the Organisation de l'armee secrete (better known as the OAS), a militant underground organization opposed to Algerian ...

Klas A. Linderfelt, Tragic Librarian

In July, 1886, the American Library Association held its annual conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin . Klas A. Linderfelt, Librarian of the Mi...

World's Greatest Librariana Collectors Meet

Recently, the world's two greatest collectors of librariana met at the Bibliotheekmuseum (Library Museum) in Amsterdam. Hans Krol, fou...