The Library History Buff

Promoting the appreciation, enjoyment, and preservation of library history

The Library History Buff Home Page

A library history buff, also sometimes referred to as a library history nut, is an individual with a passion for library history and its artifacts. Larry T. Nix is the library history buff who created and maintains this Web site.

This site is divided into three broad categories. The "Library History" category includes Web pages with information about library history. The "Librariana" category includes Web pages with information about the collecting of library memorabilia and artifacts. The "Postal Librariana" category includes Web pages with information about the collecting of postal artifacts related to libraries.

Also check out the Library History Buff Blog.

Featured Library History and Librariana Sites on the Web:

The Legacy of Public Libraries in North Carolina (Digital Collection of the NC State Library)
http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/dimp/digital/publiclibraries/index.html

Library Postcard Blog of Mark Jackson
http://librarypostcards.blogspot.com/

The Wisconsin Library Heritage Center
http://heritage.wisconsinlibraries.org/

Libraries Today - Canadian Library History
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~lbruce/

The Library Postcard site of Judy Aulik
http://home.comcast.net/~jaulik/index.html

Featured Web pages on the Library History Buff Web site:

Circulating Library Trade Cards

Carnegie 175th Anniversary Tribute

Carnegie Libraries on Stamps

Chicago's Public Library

U.S. Libraries on Stamps

Philatelic Libraries

American Library Association History

Library Service to the Blind Using the Mail

A Place Called Library

The Rudolph Continuous Indexer

Tribute to the Bookmobile

Support a postage stamp honoring an American librarian and/or America's librarians. Don't you get just a little bit upset that not a single American librarian has been judged worthy of being honored on a United States postage stamp?

Support a postage stamp honoring America's public libraries.

Library Cover Story - July 2010
"Cover" is a philatelic term for an envelope, postal card, or similar postal artifact that has been sent through the mail (or is intended to be sent through the mail). Philatelist often say every cover has a story. I collect covers related to libraries, and I have found that these covers often have interesting stories that relate both to library history and postal history.

At the urgings of Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford all of the functions of copyright for the United States were centralized in the Library of Congress in 1870. This more or less guaranteed that the Library of Congress would become the largest library in the world. With this responsibility came an unbelievable amount of mail for the Library. Millions and millions of pieces of mail. Perhaps no postal item received by the Library was quite as spectacular as the envelope featured here which was designed and mailed by Hal Forrest (1895-1959), creator of the Tailspin Tommy comic strip. The comic strip was started in 1928 and ended in 1942. The letter was mailed as best as I can tell in 1932 and Forrest was almost certainly seeking copyright (or at least information about copyright) for some of his material. The most interesting discussion of Hal Forrest and Tailspin Tommy on the web is on the Collect Air website. A gallery of some his work is located HERE. This cover story appeared as a post to the Library History Buff Blog on June 29, 2010.

Archive - Library Cover Stories for 2010

Archive - Library Cover Stories for 2009

Archive - Library Cover Stories for 2008

Archive - Library Cover Stories for 2007

The Librarians' Index to the Internet (LII) has indexed this site. To see the entry click here.

Statistics and fun facts for The Library History Buff Web site.

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