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:
Carnegie 175th Anniversary Tribute
American Library Association History
Library Service to the Blind Using the Mail
The Rudolph Continuous Indexer
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.
Statistics and fun facts for The Library History Buff Web site.
This site created and maintained
by
Larry T. Nix
Send comments or questions to
nix@libraryhistorybuff.org
Last updated: 02-01-2010
© 2005-2010 Larry T. Nix