The Wisconsin Library Heritage Center Steering Committee is accepting nominations for individuals to be inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame in 2010. Nominations must be submitted by August 9, 2010. Procedures and a nomination form are located HERE. Both the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center and the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame are programs of the Wisconsin Library Association Foundation. Induction into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame is granted to individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to the statewide improvement of library service in Wisconsin over a sustained period of time. Individuals who have worked in and/or advocated for Wisconsin libraries will be considered. Both living and deceased individuals will be considered. Final selection of inductees into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame will be made by the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center Steering Committee. Nominations should be submitted to Larry T. Nix (Chair of the WLHC Steering Committee) as email attachments at nix@libraryhistorybuff.org by August 9. For additonal information please feel free to contact Larry T. Nix.
Wadsworth Library and a Dog Named Smokey Peterson
This is a follow-up post to a post on the Milwaukee Soldiers Home Library (Wadsworth Library) that I made on January 4th of this year. As a result of that post, Patricia Lynch informed me that the Wadsworth Library built in 1891 continues to serve patients of the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. She also noted that during an annual event called Reclaiming Our Heritage at the VA Medical Center the Wadsworth Library is open to the general public and is filled with displays on the history of the library and other exhibits. Reclaiming Our Heritage occurs on the weekend after Memorial Day and this year my wife and I took advantage of this opportunity to visit the library. The pictures above are a result of our visit. I was particularly intrigued by a photo of a dog on a display bulletin board with the caption “Smokey Peterson, The Wadsworth Library Mascot and 3rd Overdue Book Collector. Retired 1990.” It would be great to find out more about the canine overdue book collectors.
Marketing Library History in Sheboygan
For me attending a conference of the Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries (WAPL), a division of the Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) is like walking into a bar called Cheers. There are lots of longtime friends and “everybody knows your name”. These days my name is mostly associated with library history, and that was why I was in Sheboygan, Wisconsin on Thursday and Friday of this week. At a conference with the theme “Anchoring the Past, Setting Sail for the Future”, I was there to help anchor the past with a program which I called “Turning Your Library’s History into a Public Relations Asset”. The conference was held at the Blue Harbor Resort, the anchor to a major harbor development, right on beautiful Lake Michigan. Dick Nelson, the conference program chair, had to twist my arm a little to get me to do the program. Not that I would actually pass up on an opportunity to promote library history, but when competing with five other programs in the same time slot I wasn’t optimistic about the size of the audience I would be talking to. With past programs about library history I have sometimes ended up talking to a very small choir of like minded individuals. In this instance, that turned out not to be the case. The size of my audience was a respectable percentage of the 300 plus conference attendees.
In any case to hedge my bets and to ensure that the preparation for my presentation was not wasted, I had taken this opportunity to enhance the website of the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center (WLHC) by creating three new web pages. One of my responsibilities as Chair of the Steering Committee for the WLHC is maintaining the website. This also enabled me to avoid using technology onsite in my presentation (something I hate), and enabled the audience to avoid taking copious notes on my words of wisdom. This approach also allows those of you reading this post to benefit from the presentation without being there. Since a library has to have researched and compiled some form of a library history in order to turn it into a public relations asset, the first web page supporting my presentation deals with Researching and Writing a Library History. I want to acknowledge ALA’s Library History Round Table, Bernadette Lear, and other members of the WLHC Steering Committee for much of the content on this web page. The second web page is about the core message of the program “Marketing Library History”, and the final web page is focused on “Celebrating Anniversaries”.
Attending the WAPL Conference was a great opportunity to talk to old and new friends. The reception on Thursday night at the Mead Public Library was a wonderful event. The library’s outstanding facility includes many interesting spaces and artifacts. Among them is a portrait of Andrew Carnegie from their old Carnegie facility (shown on the postcard above). I’m hoping to take advantage of some of their display cases for an exhibit later in the year. While in Sheboygan I also picked up a vintage public library book box which WAPL Conference Chair David Weinhold had assisted me in obtaining via Craigslist. On the way home I swung up to Menasha to pick up a library history exhibit featuring the Tabard Inn Library, the Booklovers Library, and Wisconsin Library Memorabilia. All in all a great couple of days for a library history buff.
Eau Claire’s Early Public Library Buildings
The public library in Eau Claire (now named the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library) has benefited from the generosity of several benefactors over the years. An online history of the early years of the public library can be found HERE. In 1894 the library was given rent free space in the new Ingram Building by lumberman Orin H. Ingram. The Ingram Building is shown in the first postcard above. In 1902 a grant of $40,000 was obtained from Andrew Carnegie for a new library building and the grand opening of the building was held on April 21, 1904, just over 106 years ago. A copy of the letter requesting the grant from Andrew Carnegie is located HERE. The second postcard shows the exterior of the Carnegie building and the third postcard shows the interior.
Historical Society Library Renovation Complete
I first reported on the plans for renovating the Wisconsin Historical Society’s headquarters building which includes the library in a post on May 10, 2009 in connection with Historic Preservation Month. I’m extremely happy to report the renovation is complete and that public tours will take place tomorrow (Friday) from 1 to 4 and on Saturday from 10 to 4. A story about the “Awe-inspiring Reading Room Restoration” appears in today’s Wisconsin State Journal. As I indicated in my previous post I believe the building is second only to the State Capitol in its historic importance to the state. I also noted that when the American Library Association met in Waukesha in 1901, conference attendees came to Madison to visit the newly completed building and, “There was but one opinion of the entire party in regard to the beauty and arrangement of the building, and that was satisfactory to the highest degree.” On the envelope above mailed in February, 1899, the year before the building opened, Harry Johnson makes known that he is the general contractor for the new building. The postcard shows the reading room before it received a less than perfect restoration in 1955.
A Tale of Two Libraries Exhibit in Menasha
Located near the fireplace on the main floor of the Menasha Public Library is an extraordinary antique bookcase. The unusual revolving bookcase was part of the Tabard Inn Library, an early 20th century commercial lending library that spanned the nation. The Tabard Inn Library was a subsidiary of an even larger enterprise called the Booklovers Library. Both libraries were founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Seymour Eaton, a Canadian born writer, educator, and entrepreneur. During the month of April there will be a special display at the Menasha Public Library related to the Tabard Inn Library bookcase and Eaton’s two libraries. The display will be located on the Art Wall near the fireplace and in the display case adjacent to the circulation desk of the library. The exhibit consists of a variety of printed ephemera and artifacts for the two libraries collected that I have collected over the years. In addition to the items related to the Tabard Inn Library and the Booklovers Library there will be selected items from the Wisconsin Library Memorabilia exhibit which has been displayed at a number of Wisconsin libraries.
Happy Birthday WLHC
Today marks the second anniversary of the founding of the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center (WLHC). The WLHC is a program of the Wisconsin Library Association Foundation (WLAF). The WLHC was established on March 19, 2008 by action of the WLAF Board based on a report [heritage-center-report-3-19-08.pdf] submitted by the WLHC Steering Committee. This action led to the creation of this website and the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame. The WLHC Steering Committee is looking forward to another successful year.
Pass it On: Wisconsin’s Library Heritage
The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) of the American Library Association (ALA) is sponsoring the first Preservation Week May 9-15, 2010. The theme for the ALCTS Preservation Week is “Pass it On”. It is a great theme and can also be considered a plea from the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center Steering Committee as it relates to Wisconsin’s library heritage. Our library heritage consists of archives, artifacts, architecture, and the memory of those librarians and library supporters who have handed down the legacy that is today’s Wisconsin library community. There are lots of ideas on the Preservation Week website that can be used to highlight and promote your library’s heritage. Why not undertake some of them this year.
Wisconsin’s Early Seminary Libraries
Two of Wisconsin’s oldest libraries are connected to seminaries that date back to the 1840s. The Nashotah House Library is part of the Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary that was founded in 1842. It is pictured in the first postcard shown above. It is located in Nashotah, Wisconsin which is off of I-94 25 miles west of Milwaukee. The Salzmann Library is affiliated with the St. Francis de Sales Seminary, a Catholic seminary, located in St. Francis, Wisconsin which was founded in 1845. The Salzmann Library, shown in the second postcard, serves a larger community which include anyone who works or volunteers at the parishes, schools, and ministries in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
Angie Cox’s Library
In 2010 the Angie W. Cox Public Library in Pardeeville will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the gift of books from Angie W. Cox that eventually evolved into the public library that exists today. The history of the library is chronicled by Thomas A. Reinbeck and Steve Thompson on the library’s website. Angie Williams Cox (1870-1955) played a continuing role through financial contributions to the development of the library that bears her name. A major milestone in the library’s history was its legal establishment as a corporation (but not as a public library) in 1925. The Articles of Organization for the library were signed by the library board on October 24, 1925 and the State of Wisconsin granted it corporation status on November 5, 1925. A major controversy developed over a provision in the Articles of Organization that prohibited Catholics from serving on the library board. The controversy led to a legal battle over the support of the library by the City of Pardeeville. The legal issue was finally resolved by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1929. It determined that the provision prohibiting Catholics on the library board did not prevent support by the City as long as the library was open to all members of the public. In 1985 when Columbia County became a member of the South Central Library System, the Division for Library Services required that the Pardeeville library be established as a public library under Wisconsin Statutes in order to become a member of the library system. It complied with this requirement. The building shown in the postcard above was dedicated on August 26, 1934. It was the result of a major remodeling of an existing building which was accomplished with contributions from Angie Cox. The library continues to occupy this building today.