Carnegie Libraries on Postage Stamps

January 11th, 2010

I've been a bibliophilatelist, collector of postage stamps featuring libraries and librarians, since 1995. During that period I have only been able to identify five postage stamps issued by a government postal authority that feature libraries which received grants from Andrew Carnegie. These are featured on a page on my Library History Buff website. I have previously contacted the United States Postal Service in regard to issuing postage stamps commemorating America's Carnegie libraries and/or public libraries in general. Although the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee has a policy which precludes honoring individual public libraries, I feel that it is entirely appropriate to honor America's Carnegie libraries and/or public libraries collectively. There are several commercial companies that are now able to create valid customized postage stamps featuring images of libraries. This would be a good route for communities to commemorate their own Carnegie library building during the 175th anniversary year of Carnegie's birth. The postage stamp above features the Victoria Public Library in Victoria, British Columbia which was built in 1904. Canada commemorated the library on a postage stamp issued on February 29, 1996. To see United States postage stamps that have a library connection click HERE.

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Andrew Carnegie 175 in 2010

January 11th, 2010

This year is the 175th anniversary of the birth of Andrew Carnegie. He was born on November 25, 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland. This anniversary provides an opportunity for the nation and especially communities that received library building grants from Carnegie to celebrate his library legacy. I put together a small 175th anniversary tribute on my Library History Buff website using images of some of the items in my librariana collection. I also have a page on my website with links to some of the web resources related to Carnegie's library legacy. I will be making a number of posts featuring Carnegie this year. The cartoon above is from Harper's Weekly April 11, 1903. It was accompanied by this poem:

"We men are only lusty boys,

Though snowy be our locks,

So Skibo's master still enjoys

To sit and play with blocks."

Skibo Castle was Carnegie's home in Scotland which he purchased after accumulating one of the largest personal fortunes in history.

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Mary Frances Isom and Portland’s Public Library

January 7th, 2010

I recently became aware of an article about Mary Frances Isom written by Penny Hummel which is on the website of the Multnomah County Library (Portland, Oregon) website. I highly recommend the article and commend the Multnomah County Library for acknowledging an important part of its heritage on the library's website. Isom was head librarian of the Library Association of Portland, a predecessor of the Multnomah County Library, from 1902 to 1920. Although, the Library Association of Portland began as a subscription library in 1864, it became Oregon's first tax-supported free public library in 1902 when Isom became head librarian. Among Isom's many accomplishments was a new central library building completed in 1913 with the assistance of a grant from Andrew Carnegie. Isom was instrumental in the passage of a state law creating the Oregon Library Commission (predecessor to the Oregon State Library) which was influenced by the Wisconsin Free Library Commission. Isom served on the new commission and recruited Cornelia Marvin, a staff member of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission, to serve as the Secretary of the Oregon Library Commission. Both Isom and Marvin are among America's great early librarians. The postcard above shows the 1893 building of the Library Association of Portland which was replaced by the Carnegie building.

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Armed Services Editions in WWII

January 6th, 2010

John Jamieson in his book Books For The Army: The Army Library Service In The Second World War (Columbia University Press, 1950) says this about the Armed Services Editions: "The outstanding achievement in the history of the wartime activities of the Army Library Service was the production and distribution of the paperbound books known as Armed Services Editions. It was the best organized and most efficiently operated of all the activities in which the Army Library Service had a part, and with the possible exception of the overseas distribution of magazines, it directly affected the largest number of soldiers. Indeed, for the bulk of our troops overseas, Armed Services Editions were the only books that were widely and easily accessible." The Armed Services Editions project was a cooperative effort involving army and navy agencies, publishers, printers, and a variety of other entities. The project was coordinated by the Council on Books in Wartime. According to Jamieson, between the fall of 1943 and the fall of 1947, 1,322 titles were printed and a total of 122,951,031 volumes were delivered to the army and navy overseas. On February 17, 1983, the Library of Congress celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the Armed Services Editions. One result of that celebration was the publication of the book Books In Action: The Armed Services Editions, edited by John Y. Cole (Library of Congress, 1984). The Library of Congress has placed the contents of that book online. Between April 20 and September 10, 1996, the University of Virginia which has a large collection of the Armed Forces Editions put on an exhibit about the books. A virtual representation of that exhibit entitled "Books Go To War" is located here. The online publication edited by Cole includes a complete list of the books in the Armed Forces Editions. The Library of Congress has a complete set of the Armed Services Editions and the University of Alabama Library also has a set. The Princeton University Library also has a large collection of the books and the archival files of the Council on Books in Wartime are located in the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Prinecton. The book shown above is from my personal collection.

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Mudie’s Select Library

January 5th, 2010

Mudie's Select Library was a for-profit lending library established by Charles Edward Mudie (1818-1890) in London, England in 1842. Initially, for one guinea a year an individual could borrow unlimited books from the library one at a time. Mudie's Select Library and similar for-profit libraries were referred to as "circulating libraries". David Kaser's A Book For A Sixpence: The Circulating Library in America (Beta Phi Mu, 1980) discusses this library format in the United States. In his book Kaser indicates that Mudie's library was probably the largest such library ever established and at one point contained over seven million volumes. The economic model for distributing books to the public created by Mudie had an enormous impact on publishing in England in the 19th century. That impact is described here by George P. Landow of Brown University. Guinevere L. Griest's Mudie's Circulating Library and the Victorian Novel (Indiana Univ. Press, 1970) has a more comprehensive discussion of that impact. In 1864 Mudie's Select Library was converted into a limited company which sold shares. The share shown above was issued on October 26, 1864. Seymour Eaton's Booklovers Library, a similar enterprise in the United States, which was established at the beginning of the 20th century was probably greatly influenced by Mudie's library.