A Century of Librarianship: Linking People and Ideas

Gloria Meraz, TLA archivist

From typewriters to computers, card catalogs to OPACS, traveling book wagons to electronic documents, libraries in the Twentieth Century have experienced an extraordinary array of changes. Yet, despite the continual evolution in library services, one component is constant.

Librarians remain steadfastly the human interface between an institution and its public; between social ideals and individual needs. In the last 100 years, librarians moved beyond the walls established in the Nineteenth Century and took the library where it was neededhospitals, army camps, rural areas, developing urban communities, and schools. 

Whether on mounted horseback, canoes, wagons, bookmobiles, or through electronic systems, librarians have a long history of delivering service. The methods may have changed, but the essence of their mission remains the sameto link people and ideas.

This year's conference in Dallas presented an opportunity for reflecting on this connection and the dynamic changes in the library profession. The President's Party celebrated this rich history through images and narratives. Depicting these themes, the photographs included here come from the archives of key library institutions. These archival records provide an eloquent testament of the work and contributions of libraries and librarians throughout the Twentieth Century.


Segregated Branch, Tampa Public Library, c. 1925.
Photograph published in Library Journal. As reproduced in Paul Dickson's, The Library in America (New York: Facts on File, 1986)

Card Catalog, Library of Congress, c. 1900.

Original photograph: Library of Congress. As reproduced in Paul Dickson's, The Library in America (New York: Facts on File, 1986).

 

"Ford Coupe" Traveling Library, Fort Wayne Public Library, Indiana, c. 1928.

"The librarian who pilots the book bus and presides over its shelves must be extremely versatile. The work is usually entrusted to a young lady who combines general culture and special library training with a working knowledge of the machinery of the auto-mobileShe is often dressed in knicker-bockers for the library must often make its rounds in all extremes of weather."


Original Photograph: ALA Library. Original Text: From The New York Times Book Review, January 10, 1926, by Francis A. Collins. As reproduced in Paul Dickson's, The Library in America (New York: Facts on File, 1986).

 

Quonset Hut, Okinawa, c. 1948.
Original photograph: Defense Audiovisual Agency. As reproduced in Paul Dickson's, The Library in America (New York: Facts on File, 1986).

U.S. Army Hospital, Fort Dix, New Jersey, c. 1962.
Original photograph: Audiovisual Agency. As reproduced in Paul Dickson's, The Library in America (New York: Facts on File, 1986).

Pack Horse Librarians, Knott County, Kentucky, 1938.

Under the Work Progress Administration (1934-1943), librarians traveled to remote sections of a state to serve mountain communities with books. They would return to headquarters once a week to replenish their saddlebags.
Original photograph: National Archives. As reproduced in Paul Dickson's, The Library in America (New York: Facts on File, 1986).

 

March on Washington, District of Columbia, November 1969.

Photograph by John Berry, published in Library Journal. As reproduced in Paul Dickson's, The Library in America (New York: Facts on File, 1986).

 

Streaker, Unidentified Library, c. 1970s.

Photograph by Lloyd Moebius, published in Library Journal. As reproduced in Paul Dickson's, The Library in America (New York: Facts on File, 1986).

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Bookmobile, Bexar County Free Library, San Antonio, c. 1930s.
Photograph from the Texas Library Journal

 

 

Library-on-Wheels, Harris County, c. 1930s.
Original photograph from the Texas Library Journal.

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