Archive for the ‘Feeds’ category

Summer 2010: What are you reading?

June 10th, 2010

I happened to catch an encore airing of Philsophy Talk’s annual Summer Reading Episode a few weeks ago which gave me some fresh recommendations, such as The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, which I am definitely planning on checking out soon.

One thing one of the featured guests said was that he considers books like friends, and you can be reading multiple books at any given time, and can pick which book you want to “hang out with” while you’re at the beach, and which book you want to “have a deep philosophical conversation with” when you’re feeling serious, just as we choose to hang out with different friends and acquaintances depending on the event or our mood.

With that in mind, allow me to share my current social circle…

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

This is the mature established writer friend who I’ve been seeing and on and off for nearly a year now. She kind of drones on and on but she inspires, giving me perseverance and igniting my imagination at the thought of past art movements, the fragile and temperamental nature of artists’ friendships, and bad-ass stories of driving through the French country side, picking up displaced WWI soldiers and taking them back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valencia by Michelle Tea

This is my young crazy sceney lesbian friend who’s a live wire of love, lust, and experimentation. She simultaneously fascinates me and makes me happy to have a steady job and no drinking problem, but once I start hanging out with her, it’s really hard to stop!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams

This is my middle age friend who has really good ideas, but her extreme world view and wacky wording makes it a little difficult to get what she’s saying. It seems like she’s speaking about things that have accumulated here on planet Earth, but she could possibly be talking symbolically and creating some great sub-structure behind her seeming narrative. I like hanging out with her in principle, but my mind kind of starts drifting when she starts talking…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky

This is my dearest friend. He helps me understand why the world is so messed up and why so many people live in poverty. He is really easy to understand and his intensity and intelligence is astonishing (maybe makes me a little jealous). It takes a lot of energy to hang out but I am sure we will be life-long friends because he’s one of the people who continually inspire me to live a humanitarian and environmentally responsible life, no matter how inconvenient or expensive.

So, who are you hanging out with this summer? And who do you want to meet?


No comments »

Posted in Feeds

B. F. Stevens & Brown, American Library & Literary Agents

June 8th, 2010





























































B. F. (Benjamin Franklin) Stevens (1833-1902) and his older brother Henry Stevens (1819-1886) of Barnet, Vermont both left the United States and created careers as book dealers in England where they were of great service to to both American and English libraries. I have written previously about Henry on this blog, and I have created a web page on my Library History Buff website that includes ephemera related to B.F. Stevens and his company B. F. Stevens & Brown. Noted librarian and bibliophile Lawrence Clark Powell has written an interesting small book about the B. F. Stevens & Brown firm called simply ...AND BROWN (Privately Printed, London, 1959). The book is "A Chronicle of B. F. Stevens & Brown, Ltd., Library and Fine Arts Agents of London, with emphasis on the years since 1902". The envelope and contents featured in this blog were mailed to the Librarian of the Franklin Topographical Society in Boston in 1903. Powell's book about the Stevens & Brown firm is a reminder of the very important role played by library agents and vendors in the development of libraries throughout much of their history. A quote in ...AND BROWN illustrates the the dedication of B. F. Stevens to the task of aiding libraries. As reported by Powell, Stevens wrote the following in a letter to his father concerning a trip back to the United States to find books for the British Museum: "I can probably find the books in Philadelphia and New York, but I may have to go to Harrisburg again. Hunting up these books is like a jackass following a peck of oats." The book Memoir of Benjamin Franklin Stevens by G. Manville Fenn (Printed at the Chiswick Press for Private Distribution, 1903) contains an excellent account of the life of B. F. Stevens. My copy of the book contains the insert "With the compliments of Henry J. Brown". This was the original Brown of B. F. Stevens & Brown.

No comments »

Posted in Feeds

Another Carnegie for Sale – Rockport, MA

June 6th, 2010
The libraries that Andrew Carnegie helped fund are more visible on the web these days. For the most part that's a good thing. I'm certainly pleased that there seems to be more interest in preserving these historic structures. Library historian Charley Seavey (aka Desert Sailor) after reading one of my recent posts on a Carnegie library wrote to tell me about a Carnegie in his hometown of Rockport, Massachusetts that had been turned into a private residence. This led me to an excellent website created by Corinne H. Smith on New England Carnegie Libraries. Corinne's webpage on the Rockport Carnegie contained the information that this Carnegie building converted to a residence was for sale by Weichert Realtors and that the listing is located HERE. When Corinne published her webpage the asking price was $2,950,000. Now it is available for the bargain basement price of $2,495,000. So if you ever wanted to live in a Carnegie library, now is your chance. I am aware that at least two other Carnegies are private residences. The Sterling, Colorado Carnegie (formerly a bed and breakfast) that I wrote about in this post is now a private residence, and the former East End Branch of the Superior Public Library is a private residence.

Paul Nelson, a fellow Wisconsin retired librarian and avid blogger, has been keeping me up-to-date on some other recent Carnegie library news including the news that the Kingston, New York Carnegie library building is on the brink of being repurposed and restored.

I maintain a selective list of Carnegie Library links on the Library History Buff website. Search "Carnegie libraries" on this blog to see other Carnegie library stories.

No comments »

Posted in Feeds

Hard Times at the Charlotte Public Library

June 4th, 2010

The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County as reported in the news is facing hard times as are many of our nation's libraries. A review of the history of the public library in Charlotte indicates that the library has faced and overcome hard times in the past. In 1930 during the great depression, the library's budget was cut from $66,000 to $20,000 and 17 library employees were laid off. The Carnegie library building (shown in the first postcard above) through lack of maintenance had deteriorated to the point that it "was in the worst condition of any building in the City". But that wasn't the worst of the hard times, because of a legal technicality the library was forced to go to a referendum for its operating budget in 1939 and the referendum failed. As a result, "On the evening of June 30, 1939, the doors of the Charlotte Public Library were locked. The staff went home, and for the first time in almost fifty years the city was without a library." On May 25, 1940 after almost a year without public library service, a second referendum was held. This time the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of adequate funding for the library. From that low point the library developed into one of the outstanding public libraries in the nation. Unfortunately, it is a hard and bitter pill to take that even the best public library service is not immune from the often unfair budget decisions made in a tough economy. I had the good fortune to work at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County on two occasions during my library career, and I wish them the best of luck in overcoming this round of adversity. The second postcard shows the building that replaced the Carnegie on the same site. That building was where I worked most of the time when I was in Charlotte. It has also been replaced by an even more elaborate facility.

No comments »

Posted in Feeds

The Lusitania and Books for the Library of Congress

June 3rd, 2010




























On May 7, 1915 the British steamship Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-Boat off the coast of Ireland on its return trip from the United States. The ship sank in minutes and 1,201 passengers and crew lost their lives. The sinking of the unarmed ship helped turn world opinion against Germany in the early stages of World War I, and was a factor in eventually bringing the United States into the conflict. On June 13, 1914, less than a year before its sinking, the Lusitania carried a shipment of new and secondhand books from the London book dealer Edward G. Allen & Sons destined for the Library of Congress. This consular certificate and invoice provide a record of that shipment. The Library of Congress had a long history of acquiring publications through London book dealers, and it is very likely that the Lusitania which made regular round trips to the U.S. had carried previous shipments of books for the Library of Congress. The total bill for this shipment was 45 pounds, 7 shillings, and 5 pence. Some of the titles included were: Handbook of Jamaica 1914, Statesman's Year Book (11 copies), Bibliography of Irish Philology, Franco-German War Indemnity, and Short History of Feudalism in Scotland. The $2.50 American Consular Fee Stamp on the document should be of interest to revenue stamp collectors.

No comments »

Posted in Feeds