1953, Library, Westport, Connecticut

[LIB11178] - The Westport Reading Room and Library Association is founded on February 4, 1886. It is located in a leased second floor room on the Hurlbutt block opposite what would later become the "old library building" on the Post Road East at Parker Harding Plaza. Total first year membership is 146 and first year circulation is 962 volumes. Membership costs $1.00 per year. Mrs. Frances A. Gray is the volunteer librarian and the Reading Room is open Monday through Saturday in the evening after supper. To stretch access to the small collection, borrowing is limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays. [Website]

Thompson Library, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine

[LIB11177] - In 1897 Dr. Elbridge A. Thompson purchased the land and started construction of the Thompson Free Library in memory of his wife Lucia Eddy Thompson.   Dr. Thompson was a surgeon for the Union Army for over three years, during the Civil War.  He came to Dover in 1866 and practiced medicine and surgery here for the next 37 years, until he retired in 1903.  On September 9, 1898 he presented the town of Dover with the key and the deed to the library.  Dr. Thompson also established a trust fund for the purchase of books and reading materials. [Website]

Leach Library, Wahpeton, North Dakota

[LIB11176] - In 1919 Mr. and Mrs. O. A. Leach offered the city of Wahpeton the sum of $25,000 as a donation for the construction of a building to be used as a public library if the city would purchase a suitable site for it. [Website]

Library, Windham, Connecticut

[LIB11175] - Located on the green in Windham Center CT, the Windham Free Library provides a place for book-lovers to gather, engage with their community, and relax in beautiful surroundings. [Website]

1912, Free Public Library, Somers, Connecticut

[LIB11174] - No longer used as a public library.

Library, Prospect, Connecticut

[LIB11173] - No longer used as a public library. [Website]

Thomaston Library, Thomaston, Connecticut

[LIB11172] - 1900-1901 - Randall T. Andrews, an incorporator of the Laura Andrews Free Library Association, offers a site on his property on Grand Street for "the erection of a building thereon for the purpose of a library." (Deed, May 20, 1901). Architects, Griggs and Hunt of Waterbury, Connecticut and New York City design a library building for a total cost of $6,571.00  [Website]

Library, Southington, Connecticut

[LIB11171] -   [Website]

1924, George Maxwell Memorial Library, Rockville, Connecticut

[LIB11170] -  The Latin inscription over the circulation desk, Ex hoc fonte illa quae summa haurimus, translates, "We draw the greatest things from this source.."  [Website]

Kent Memorial Library, Suffield, Connecticut

[LIB11169] -  Kent Memorial Library is fortunate to house a number of primary sources that give an intimate glimpse to the past.  The intent of this digital library is to digitize the material that is of interest and is still in good enough condition to handle safely.  The focus for the short term will be on diaries, daybooks, and account books.  [Website]

Plumb Library, Shelton, Connecticut

[LIB11168] In the winter of 1891, David Wells Plumb, a successful Shelton businessman, chaired a meeting of city residents who voted to establish a public library. The residents raised nearly $2,000 at that meeting, and in October 1892 they voted to appropriate a three-quarter-mill tax toward the library’s support. They also appointed six people as Library Directors, with Plumb serving as Library President. [Website]

1909, Taylor Library, Milford, Connecticut

[LIB11167] The Taylor Memorial Library building is now used as the home of the Milford Chamber of Commerce.

Circulating Library, Litchfield, Connecticut

[LIB11166] The Litchfield Library Association was founded in May of 1862 and in July of 1862 changed its name to the Wolcott Library in honor of a generous donation from J. Huntington Wolcott, grandson of Oliver Wolcott. The Wolcott Library was a reading room for members to browse newspapers, periodicals, books and reference materials. In June of 1870, the Litchfield Circulating Library was founded where members could borrow books to take home. In 1887, Mrs. Mary J. Buel became the first paid librarian. [Website]

Edsel Ford Memorial Library, Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut

[LIB11165] The original building was a gift in memory of Edsel Bryant Ford given by his wife, Eleanor Clay Ford, and their three sons: Henry Ford II '36, Benson Ford '38, and William Clay Ford '43. Designed by Henry S. Waterbury of Delano and Aldrich, the Edsel Ford Memorial Library opened in 1952. A major expansion and renovation, increasing the size of the library six times, was completed in 1981 under the direction of architect Evans Woollen '45. The first floor of the library was renovated in 1999 to provide a teaching and reference center combining print, microform, and digital resources. [Website]

Library, Falls Village, Connecticut

[LIB11164] Since its founding in 1891, the David M. Hunt Library has amply fulfilled the vision set by its founders, Mr. Hunt’s sisters Wealthy Ann and Catherine E. Hunt. These earliest and key benefactors had a vision: “that it be a house of learning fitted to the wants of our youth and the high purpose of promoting the intelligence and welfare of this community.” [Website]

Library, Cornwall, Connecticut

[LIB11163] The Cornwall Library Association was organized in the study of the Rev. E.C. Sanford, October 2, 1869. Minutes of that meeting record the adoption of a constitution and twenty-two articles, establishing both the purpose for the library and the rules by which it would operate. [Website]

1907 Pequot Library, Southport, Connecticut

[LIB11162] - Pequot Library is listed in the The National Register of Historic Places. The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. [Website]

1909 White Memorial Free Library, Whitewater, Wisconsin

[LIB11161]

1912 Carnegie Library, San Antonio, Texas

[LIB11160]

1905 De Peyster Library, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

[LIB11159] - The Watts-de Peyster Library, built in 1897, faced College Avenue.

1897-1898 - First College library building constructed in Richardsonian Romanesque style at a cost of $16,055 plus $990 for a steam heating plant and $5,150 for steel book stacks; Named Watts-de Peyster Library after Frederick de Peyster and John Watts, father and maternal grandfather of donor, John Watts de Peyster (1821-1907); Library collections were formerly housed in the Literary Society buildings and in the college library, ground floor/Old Main; M. (Michael) O'Connor of Hudson, NY., Architect; George H. Oster of Lancaster, Builder. Original cornerstone laid May 1897 is located in lobby along with busts of John Watts and John Watts de Peyster. A sculpture of the donor's ancestor Abraham de Peyster was located in front of the building along College Avenue. It was moved to its present location along Buchanan Avenue in 1937. The building has been demolished.

Carnegie Free Public Library, Jacksonville, Illinois

[LIB11158] - In 1889 the Jacksonville City Council amended the city tax levy to include support of the free library and reading room. Charles W. Alexander served as the first librarian of the city-supported Jacksonville Public Library.

After being contacted in 1901 by Jacksonville lawyer Lawrence O. Vaught, Andrew Carnegie pledged $40,000 for the erection of a public library building in Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Public Library officially opened in its permanent home, the Carnegie building at 201 W. College Avenue, on February 23, 1903. [Website]

Library, Niagara Falls, New York

[LIB11157]

Library, Niagara Falls, New York

[LIB11156]

Old Library Restaurant, Olean, New York

[LIB11155]

Public Library, Buffalo, New York

[LIB11154] - Issued a leather postcard.  Leather postcards were a fad from about 1900 until 1909, when they were banned by the U.S. Postal Service because of the damage they inflicted on sorting machinery.

Carnegie Library, Akron, Ohio

[LIB11153]

Library Interior, St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis, Missouri

The largest and finest room in the library occupies the full length and width of the central pavilion and extends upward for two stories. The walls and floor are of polished Tennessee marble, the high arched windows are of translucent cathedral glass, and the ceiling of molded plaster is decorated with gold leaf, picked out in color. [from the back of the card]

[LIB11152]

Public Library, Martinez, California

On the National Register of Historic Places, the contemporary image is from Wikipedia, 2009.

[LIB11151]

1910, Library Interior, University of Illinois Urbana, Urbana, Illinois

[LIB11150]

Library Interior, Convento S. Dominico, Bologna, Italy

[LIB11149]

Memorial Library, Cherry Valley, New York

[LIB11148]

Library Interior, Bernadette Memorial Library, St. Peter, Minnesota

[LIB11147] A contemporary picture of the old library building, apparently in use as a real estate office.

Public Library, Julian, California

[LIB11146] Part of the San Diego Library System.

Millions of Books in Chicago's Great Public Library!

[LIB11145]

1911, Stewart Library, Corinna, Maine

[LIB11144] Still in use as a public library.

The Stewart Free Library (1898), a gift to the town by Corinna-born Minneapolis millionaire Levi M. Stewart, was designed by Minneapolis architect William Harrison Grimshaw. The library is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and contains well-preserved historic interiors as well as a majestic facade with clocktower. It resembles a mid-western county courthouse more than a typical small-town Maine library. The Corinna Union Academy educated students in the town from 1851 to 1968. [Wikipedia] Read more at the library website.

1907, Carnegie Library, Chanute, Kansas

[LIB11143]

Hardin County Carnegie Library, Kenton, Ohio

[LIB11142] Built in 1905. [Wikipedia]

1908 Carnegie Public Library, Lewiston, Idaho

[LIB11141] Built in 1901 and closed in 1999, this structure is located on a hill overlooking the town of Lewiston in Pioneer Park.

1912 Public Library, Blue Earth, Minnesota

[LIB11140] The Memorial Library, built by William Ellery Channing Ross and dedicated in 1904 to the memory of his wife Etta Chadbourn Ross, served as the cultural center of Blue Earth for many years. 2004 marked the 100th anniversary of the Library in Blue Earth. [Website]

1908 Public Library Interior, Pomona, California

[LIB11139]

1908 Carnegie Public Library, Columbus, Indiana

[LIB11138] The building has been demolished.

Camp Library, Camp Devens, Massachusetts

[LIB11137] Fort Devens is a reservist United States military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It was named after jurist and Civil War general Charles Devens.

Public Library, Owatonna, Minnesota

[LIB11136] The banner inscription over Owatonna Public Library's Elm Avenue door dates back to 1900 when the Library was built. [Website]

Carnegie Public Library, Colton, California

[LIB11135]
The Carnegie building is the only example of public architecture of its period remaining in Colton. The temple style Classical Revival building, with pediment and columns, is sited in a parklike setting near other civic buildings in a generally commercial area.Its two fireplaces and skylight above central rotunda are indicative of its early period; guidelines issued soon after its construction encouraged more austere buildings.


The fast growing railroad town of Colton had not established a public library prior to its 1906 application for Carnegie funding, although it had been advocated by the Colton Women's Club as early as 1902. When $10,000 was approved, the City Council promptly appointed a library board of trustees. The building, one of eight Carnegies designed by architect Franklin P. Burnham and built by Kaiser and Loomis, served as both library and community center. After a new library was constructed in 1982, the Carnegie was carefully restored for its present function as a museum. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. [Website]

Carnegie Public Library, Hollister, California

[LIB11134] The low, one story Hollister Carnegie building, Classical in style, is constructed of concrete scored to resemble granite block. This contributes a sense of stability in an area where earthquakes are not rare. Set far back from the street and at some distance from adjacent buildings, its site on Fifth Street between San Benito and Monterey streets is part of downtown Hollister's designated National Historic District. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.  [Website]

Currently the building is operated as the City Hall.

Carnegie Public Library, Abilene, Kansas

[LIB11133] In 1904 the women circulated a petition to vote on a tax levy of one mill to support the library.  The question was favorably voted upon in the city election of 1905.  Soon after this action a board of trustees for the Abilene Public Library was formed and Mayor H.L. Humphrey wrote to Andrew Carnegie asking for a grant to erect a public library for Abilene.

There was great difficulty in securing a location after the Carnegie grant of $10,000 was obtained.  At the time, the location decided upon was an eyesore to the whole town, covered with rubbish, an unsightly livery barn, four or five rickety buildings used for blacksmith shops and second hand stores.  The property was condemned for park purposes and therefore cleared to build the library.  Andrew Carnegie agreed to increase his grant to $12,500 if the library board would agree to levy annually not less than 10 percent of his gift. [Website]

1913 Library Hall, Pleasantville, New York

[LIB11132]