Ohio is traditionally considered to have the best public library service among the states. They certainly started off with a boatload of Carnegie grant money.
Note that the Dayton card (left) shows two Carnegie branch buildings plus its signature Romanesque main library.
1912 grant, building finished 1913. Currently used as book storage, which seems a little odd.
This is a genuine Blue-Sky card by Curt Teich. The Ripley card below is a pallid imitation, a poseur of a post card.
1903 grant. Soon to be expanded.
Not much of a card, I confess, but the message on the back is really something:
This is Mon night and I am as blue as indigo if I had a certain man here (L----) I would biff him one.---
If the Lord ever gets me out of Zanesville I will promise him never to come back anymore.
Aman.
Hattie
At one point, this building served both Oberlin College and the Oberlin residents.
The college applied for the 1907 grant. First came a 1939 expansion,
then the college (Spears) library moved on in 1974. The public library moved on in
1988.
Currently in use by the college's geology department.
(L) This card was sent to Helen Barstow, a librarian at
Grand Rapids Public Library, in 1911. Occasionally the cryptic messages on these
postcards are wonderful.
(R) Card mailed 1912. Publisher: A.G. Comings and Sons, Oberlin,
O.
(L) Leiter Post Card. Notice the suspended clock. This clearly resembles a college reading
room. The form of the windows indicates that the room was indeed in the Carnegie building.
(R) Card, from the National Post Card Company, mailed 1939. There is a distinct difference in the layout between the photos.
The windows
at the right of the card are more Gothic. I think they moved either the statue, or the tables and
card catalogs.
Carnegie Library and U.S. Post Office, Pomeroy, Ohio
'Showing the Ohio Hills in the Background.' Whatever, Curt Teich.
1912 grant. Building replaced in 1989, and library is now the Meigs County Library.
From the more recent card:
Located at 1220 Gallia Street. Henry A. Lorberg induced Andrew Carnegie to donate $50,000 and this structure built of native stone was completed in 1903. The 'Ohio Room' is devoted exclusively to Ohio and Northwest Territory history. Museum section displays Indian Relics from local mounds.
The E.C. Kropp card expounds:
'Tremper Mound,' three miles from city, is the source of numerous Indian Relics displayed at the Public Library. Portsmouth is the Gateway to Shawnee Forest and Roosevelt Game Preserve. 'Ohio's Little Smokies,' a scenic wonderland of many hills skirted by picturesque drives from valley to peak.
Hey, I'm not making this stuff up, and the writers capitalize like German speakers.
Concise
history on the library's website.
Prairie-style library built by
Wausau, WI architects and,
believe it or not, featuring
Rookwood glazed tiles (also seen on the Avondale branch Carnegie Library). How cool is that!
Who says Carnegie Libraries all look alike?
Another card from the Helen Barstow collection:
To warn you I come back empty-handed.
E M Heikin
Late 1899 grant.
1899 grant, back when you could get away with a clock tower, and all those other fripperies. Opened 1902. In 1936, became the flagship for countywide service. With the assistance of a handful of branches, the Carnegie building is still in service.
This is an I. Robbins and Son card, showing Holy Name Church in the background.
Pleasant Prairie architecture that is not improved by the ham-fisted retouchers on this Kinley Dept. Store postcard.
Although the community still maintains a distinct library, apparently it is no longer in the Carnegie building.
Late 1906 grant.
Somewhat of an eclectic building with mixed brick, vaguely Gothic windows, odd ornamentation at the roof line, and a tile roof. Photo appears to show construction.
Poor quality C.C. Cottrell 'Excelsior' card printed on very thin stock. Mailed in 1912.
When is a Carnegie building not a Carnegie Library?
Apparently this 1905 library building received Carnegie funding after a fire.
Commercialchrome card showing 9 people posing in front.
Staff?
1902 grant. Renovated, 1936. Damaged in the 1974
tornado, vacated in 1978. Damage shown
on an Ohio Memory
scrapbook page.
NB: If you are ever in a library, and staff tells you to take cover because of a tornado warning, do so.
You do not
want to be among falling bookshelves and flying glass.
Curt Teich card apparently predates the renovation. Over the door reads 'Free to the People.'
Apparently unfazed by
Hattie's opinion.
Late 1905 grant.
© 2003 - 9 Judy Aulik
Split from
Other Ohio Libraries:
05 February 2008.
Split from A - C and
D - M on 03 June 2009.
Updated 22 July 2009.
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