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:
Catalogue Cards of Harvard College Library
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 - January 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.
This cover was sent to Miss Alma Jonson at
the
Library of Hawaii on January 28, 1935 by
Harold Gatty
(1903-1957),
the aviation navigator who was called "the
prince of navigators" by Charles Lindbergh.
In 1931, Gatty was
the navigator for Wiley Post on their
record breaking flight around the world.
Although he was Australian, Gatty worked for
a time for the U.S. Army Air Corps. This cover was
mailed from Rockwell Field, Coronado,
California where the U.S. Army Air Corps was
located. Alma Jonson who was a librarian at
the Library of Hawaii did research for Gatty
over a period of years. Some of the research
was conducted by Jonson as an employee of
the Library of Hawaii and some was done for
pay outside of her work. Although this
particular cover did not have an enclosure,
I came across a letter from Gatty to Jonson
offered for sale on the Internet. That
letter was dated January 27, 1935 and may
have been sent in the cover that I have. The
letter reads in part: "The information you
sent definitely proved U. S. occupation of
21 years, which will go a long way to
establishing U.S. jurisdiction. It is very
important that nothing get out about these
islands at this time. The Navy and State
Department state that occupation at the
present time will make the establishment
more certain so we are making a move to send
an expedition down there to establish
occupancy. I am very interested in the
information regarding the other islands
which you sent me and I appreciate it very
much. I would like to get copies of any
information pertaining to Midway, Wake,
Johnston, Palmyra, Fanning, Jarvis, Howland
and Baker...". One can surmise from
this letter that the U.S. Army Air Corps is
interested in establishing air bases on
islands in the Pacific. I have two other
covers sent from Gatty to Jonson at the
Library of Hawaii and I have a letter sent
by Jonson to Gatty in 1938. From that letter
it is clear that Jonson is performing
research on the side for Gatty. In the
letter Jonson refers to the purchase of
covers for Gatty which indicates that Gatty
may have been a collector of philatelic
covers.
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: 01-01-10
© 2005-2010 Larry T. Nix