German POW Camp Libraries in WWI

    I have a special interest in military libraries during wartime. Most of the items in my collection on this topic are about U.S. librarie...

John Cotton Dana's Tenure in Springfield, MA

    John Cotton Dana ((1856-1929) was one of our profession's greatest librarians and humorists (see previous blog post ). Dana began h...

Iowa's Masonic Library

Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization with a membership of approximately four million men including two million in the United S...

Collectors, Archives, and My Postal Librariana Collection

In a recent exchange of messages to ALA's Library History Round Table listserv about my blog post on Charlotte Templeton , the question...

A 1902 Letter and the Library Career of Charlotte Templeton (1877-1970)

As sometimes happens with my approach to library history, the recent acquisition of a piece of postal librariana led me on a chase for more ...

Library Journal Envelope Circa 1880s

The American Library Journal (later the Library Journal ), the first professional library magazine, began publication in 1876. It was one o...

Boston Athenaeum Staff 1897

My collection of postal librariana consists mostly of envelopes usually without the contents. It is much more interesting when I find the le...

Honolulu Library and Reading Room Association

My exhibit of postal librariana titled "America's Public Libraries and Their Forerunners 1731 to 1956" includes a section on m...

People in Libraries on Postage Stamps

I'm a collector of libraries and librarians on postage stamps which is sometimes called bibliophilately. Of the hundreds of thousands of...

Postal Recognition of IFLA Conferences

The World Library and Information Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) will take pla...

A Toot My Own Horn Opportunity

Me and my exhibit at the MN Stamp Expo Previously I posted information about my "America's Public Libraries and Their Forerunners ...

Szabo to ALA in 1915 - Where's my Booklist?

Ervin Szabo (1877-1918) was Hungary's most famous librarian. Hungary has issued two postage stamps in his honor and has named one of its...

Carnegie Approves Funding for Mount Vernon, NY

Andrew Carnegie made grants to 1412 communities in the U.S. to help fund the construction of 1679 public library buildings. Much of the pape...

The Fenton Metallic Mfg Company Fire of 1892

The Fenton Metallic Manufacturing Company of Jamestown, NY was one of the early manufacturers of steel stacks for libraries. On October 20, ...

The Envelopes of R. A. Brock of Virginia

Robert Alonzo Brock (1839-1914) served as the Corresponding Secretary and Librarian of the Virginia Historical Society from 1875 until 1892....

A Postcard for Memorial Day

Ninety-five years ago young men all across America were being mobilized to go to a far off war in Europe. The postcard above depicts some of...

Cincinnati's Mercantile Library

Cincinnati's Mercantile Library is one of an elite group of membership libraries that has survived into the 21st century. The library w...

Mail Art

It doesn't take much to send me off on a tangent. This time it was a small label (2 3/4" x 3 1/2") which requested information...

Postal Librariana Exhibits Win Awards

 My 10 frame public library exhibit  As I mentioned in a previous post I had three postal librariana exhibits on display at last week'...

Postal Librariana Exhibits in Denver

The Rocky Mountain Stamp Show will take place later in the week in Denver, CO, and I will have three exhibits of my postal librariana colle...