1944 Library, Jackson, Tennessee

Andrew Carnegie contributed $30,000 for the construction of the Jackson Free Public Library which opened on March 3, 1903. The original Free Public Library building has been fully restored and is available for events of all kinds. Now named the Carnegie Center for Arts and History, it is operated by the Jackson Recreation and Parks Department. Even though it is no longer used as a library, it is a significant part of library history. The Carnegie Center is located just two blocks west of the present library. A building designed by the late W.C. Harris has been the site of the library since September 15, 1968. [http://www.jmcl.tn.org/history.htm]

[LIB803] Click on the image to order a reproduction of this postcard!

1943 Lawson McGhee Library, Knoxville, Tennessee

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1918 Cossitt Library, Memphis, TN

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Crisman Memorial Library, Nashville, TN

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"David Lipscomb College, named in honor of B.A. Crisman of Chattanooga, and his brother, the late Oscar Crisman, formerly of Chattanooga, who made substantial contributions to this building. The quiet reading rooms provide excellent places fro Lipscomb students to study." [from the back of the card]

Cossitt Library, Front Street, Memphis, TN

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"Cossitt Library is a city-financed public library that is open every day and is available to all residents of Memphis." [From the back of the card]

Cossitt Branch Library began its existence in 1888 as the Cossitt-Goodwyn Institute, the first public library in the fledgling city of Memphis. Located on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, the Cossitt Branch serves a growing population in the midst of a downtown renaissance. The original sandstone structure was constructed in 1893, and the current building was added in 1959. [Thanks to www.memphislibrary.org]

Mayne Williams Public Library, Johnson City, TN

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Mayne Williams Public Library; now Munsey Methodist Church property.

The library was named for Samuel Cole Williams and his wife, Mary Mayne.

1960s Lawson McGhee Library, KNOXVILLE TN

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The Public Library System we know today can be said to date from the opening of Lawson McGhee Library on October 28, 1886.

The first Lawson McGhee Library was a subscription library. At least four earlier public libraries had been created in Knoxville between 1804 and 1873, with the last of these library associations, known as the "Public Library of Knoxville," having been founded in 1873. Its assets were merged into those of Lawson McGhee Library in 1885 prior to the Library opening. Although the founding date for the Knox County Public Library System could arguably be 1873, one unbroken element of the continuity, the name Lawson McGhee Library, can be clearly dated to 1886.

[Source: http://knoxrooms.sirsi.net/rooms/portal/page/21462_About_the_Library]