Featured Web pages on the Library History Buff Web site:

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 - February 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. 

The American Library in Paris is the largest English language lending library on the European continent. It is part of the legacy of the Library War Service of the American Library Association in World War I. It was founded in 1920 making this year its 90th anniversary. There is a good history of the library on its website. Part of that history is illustrated by the envelope/cover shown above. It was mailed on march 29, 1940 to Dorothy M. Reeder, director of the library 1936-1941. The envelope was mailed only a short time before the German occupation of France which began in May,1940. As recounted in the website history of the library, Reeder and her staff provided heroic service after the German occupation by operating an underground book lending service for Jewish members of the library who were barred from libraries by the Germans. One staff member of the library was actually shot by the Gestapo in a surprise inspection of the library. Mary Niles Maack has written an excellent article about the American Library in Paris during the period 1939-1945 which contains more information about Reeder's service at the library. The American Library Association Archives includes correspondence from ALA's Executive Secretary Carl Milam relating to the American Library in Paris including letters to Reeder. The envelope above was mailed by air mail via transatlantic clipper and was franked with two 30 cent airmail stamps which were needed for a double weight letter. It was mailed from the United States Chapters Center of the American Library in Paris in New York.

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.

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