Academy Libraries

Among the earliest libraries in Wisconsin were the libraries of academies. Academies were basically private high schools and often preceded colleges or universities. Carroll College in Waukesha County was originally incorporated in 1841 as Prairieville Academy in the Town of Prairieville in Milwaukee County.

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Railroad car library

 

The Wisconsin Historical Society has many physical and digital resources of interest and value to the library history buff.  A fellow library history buff made me aware of an image (Image ID 4293) in the Historical Society’s digital collection that pictured a railroad car library. 

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ALA Madison Day 1901

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The 1901 Conference of the American Library Association took place in Waukesha. In the early Monday morning hours of July 8, 1901 the entire group of attendees went by train to Madison. As reported in the magazine Pulic Libraries,

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Wisconsin Rapids Public Library History

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This postcard shows the public library building for Grand Rapids (now Wisconsin Rapids). It was completed in 1892. The library shared the building with the city council and the fire department initially, but the library took over the entire building in 1900.

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Claude and Starck Libraries

Library history buffs and those interested in architecture won’t want to miss a program at the WLA Conference in Middleton on the Wisconsin Carnegie libraries designed by the architectural firm of Claude & Stark.  The program is entitled “The Shared Ideal: The Carnegie Libraries of Claude &

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