Carnegie Libraries

Most people know that Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish businessman who made it big in steel in Pennsylvania in the 1800's.  He is less known for the many libraries that owe him their existence.

Carnegie loved reading and wanted to enable industrious people who wanted to learn.  He gave grants to cities and towns all over the world to build libraries.  The towns would have to raise whatever other money was needed to build and maintain the libraries, but he gave generous grants towards the building.  Various architects were employed for the buildings.

What does this have to do with the 60's, one might ask.  When I was growing up in the 60's, my favorite place was our city library.  It was a Carnegie library built just after the turn of the 20th century.  It was a wonderful, magical place, full of nooks and crannies and some dark corners that really made my young imagination take flight. 

The whole building was heated with radiators.  If you've ever been in a building with the old-fashioned radiators, you know the peculiar sound they make as the water goes through them.  Along with the heat, the fluorescent lights hummed overhead.  As libraries are wont to be, everything else was silent. 

During that time smoking was still allowed in public places.  As our family would make its way back to the rear of the building to the children's section we would have to go through all the other sections first.  There was a large main room where men would always sit, reading newspapers and smoking cigarettes, pipes, and cigars.  They often wore suits and had hats on.  Contrary to what people may think today, the sights and smells and sounds at our library were calming and very relaxing. 

As I said, the children's section was in the back.  It was a room all to itself--now I look back and realize that this was probably well thought out to keep the noises children make separate from the adults.  I can remember when I was getting fairly old in my childhood, mom saying to my dad that she thought I was ready to read more adult books.  I was devastated!  I thought that meant that I could no longer even step foot in the children's section!  And it all came to nothing, because I was still allowed to choose my books from the children's section, just as always.  But if I found a book I wanted to read in the adult section, and it was appropriate, I was allowed to check it out.  Ah, the best of both worlds!

Our library had several different rooms.  I'm not sure I had the pleasure of being in all of them.  There were short sets of stairs going to odd areas--some up, some down.  That was part of the mystery of it. 

One of the most fun things about our library was the Book Mobile.  This was a panel truck or trailer that had a miniature library in it.  It would go to schools in the area, and on the day it was at your school each class had some time to go in and choose books, just as if they were at the big library.  Of course, each school had a library of its own, but when the Book Mobile came it was a special day! 

Inside a Book Mobile

Olympia Public Library

 Our library is now being used for a different purpose, and a modern one was built in a nearby location years ago.  But it is just a building full of books, nothing more. Some other Carnegie libraries nearby are still libraries.  They are still full of imagination and mystery.  I have enjoyed using a few of Carnegie's great libraries, and am including pictures of a couple of their exteriors.  Buildings today are much more streamlined.  They are no-nonsense, frill-less boxes, made for a purpose and nothing more.  The Carnegie libraries were built to be centerpieces of their towns, a feast for the eyes.

Centralia Library

Do you have a Carnegie library where you live?  If you do, and can possibly go to look at it, enjoy the detailing in the architecture and style.  Feel the imagination and the history of past generations who borrowed books there.  You will be richer for it.