This page is slightly less scanty now.
Actually, now it's verging
on division time. Recently, I've picked up a lot of NYPL cards
(and other New York library postcards) cheaply.
The New York City linen card at left was printed by the Manhattan Post Card Publishing Company, and also features the Empire State Building.
Unlike many states, there is no large website that lists all the New York libraries. New York appears to differ from many states in that its library districts correlate with its school districts.
1902 Carnegie grant. Now known as the Broome County Public Library, and is still in use.
(L)Monochromatic, mailed in 1905.
(R)Unusually, this card was printed in Great Britain. Mailed 1910.
Card mailed in 1907.
1901 Carnegie grant.
On this card, the Neoclassical building covered with ivy is the library.
The light colored building is the Masonic Temple.
The library does not seem to be in as bucolic a setting today.
Founded 1896 and moved into this Carnegie building in 1903, according to the library's exuberant web site. Not listed as a Carnegie building in Bobinski.
The full history page adds such wonderful tidbits as the original price of the lot ($900) and the 1951 replacement of 'antiquated' library furnishings during the first major renovation.
I believe that this is the Chautauqua County Dunkirk,
both from on-line clues and from the message on the card (L). This library was well-established before the 1904 Carnegie
grant.
I do not know its current function.
(L) The card was printed in Germany for S.H. Knox & Co.,
and mailed in 1909.
(R) Never-mailed Albertype card, made in Brooklyn.
For now, I'm taking the word of the Rubin Bros. that this is a Carnegie Library. However, Steele Memorial Library appears to be the current Elmira facility. The 1923 - 1979 library would have been built too recently to be a Carnegie building. More information is clearly needed.
Two views of a fascinating Beaux Arts building. The arch reads Gloversville Free
Library; immediately above the door reads 'Carnegie.'
(L) Valentine & Sons' Publishing post card, mailed 1913.
(R) Unattributed German card with unevenly divded back, mailed in 1908.
1904 Carnegie facility, designed by Albert Randolph Ross. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The library was in grave financial trouble in the mid-2000s, was chartered by the New York Board of Regents, and changed to being the Gloversville Public library.
1902 Carnegie facility, renovated in 1995.
Arty monochrome view by the Rochester News Company.
Bobinski's Carnegie Libraries lists Kingston as recipient of a 1902 grant.
Bobinski's Carnegie Libraries lists Mt. Vernon as recipient of a 1901 grant.
Built from a 1905 grant. Now known as the Patchogue-Medford Library. I don't know if the building is still in use.
Unusual card with a red border more typical of scenic view cards.
Founded in 1895. Built from a 1903 grant, in 1905. The original library is still in use.
Lovely Rotograph card printed in Germany.
Card also features the Port Jervis Elks Club.
1901 grant. The Free Public Library is still in use, serving the residents of the Port Jervis School District. It is part of the Ramapo Catskill Library System.
This card is in quite poor condition, but there's just something about being able to work 'Schenectady' into a paragraph.
1903 Carnegie facility, also aided by a grant from General Electric. Replaced ca. 1969: the library now heads the Mohawk Valley Library Association.
The building is now a dormitory for Union College. I find that a rather amusing reuse.
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| Early chrome card, imported by C.E. Wheelock of Peoria. |
German card, from H.C. Leighton. | From the 'Syracuse series.' |
This Beaux Arts building served as the Syracuse Public Library, 1905-1976.
Today it has been superceded by the
Onondaga
County Public Library.
The Carnegie building's fate is unknown to me.
Syracuse University also has a Carnegie library, serving as the Science and Technology Library.
Including all the boroughs. Queens and Brooklyn have their own systems.
Did you know the Brooklyn Public Library is not part of the NYPL? BPL predates Brooklyn's incorporation as a borough.
I'm not certain that this building, at 73rd Street and 2nd Avenue in Bay Ridge, is not a Carnegie Building. Carnegie grants dated from 1901 to 1923, according to the BPL history page. The card was mailed in 1906.
I don't think the pictured building is still in use, nor do I know what has become of it.
Two trees grow in Brooklyn.
Ah, the new library. 'Tis a bit, ah, dramatic.
(But very cool, in a 1958 sort of way.)
Plastichrome card for the Manhattan Post Card Company.
So, take a look inside.
Is it a little dark and lonely in here, or is it me? Ah, postcard
noir. Tres chic. I understand.
Gottscho photos, Artvue cards.
Windows. My rods and cones have reverted to the function nature intended.
(L) Mandatory garb for adult patrons: white shirts. Preferably starched.
(R) Childrens' Room. White shirts optional.
Both cards are a Plastichrome product.
Originally, New York's equivalent to Chicago's Newberry Library.
Precursor to the
NYPL system, which originally
housed America's first Gutenberg Bible.
Since 1920, the site of the
Frick Collection & Frick Art Reference Library.
Although the city received a large, 19th century Carnegie grant, the main building is not a Carnegie building.it was built on the site of the Croton Reservoir, 1902-1911. Several of my postcards were mailed well before the building was opened to the public.
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| Notice the horse-drawn vehicles. There's a tiny vendor's cart near the corner of the building. | The vendor has an umbrella in this picture. Notice the women strolling in the middle of the street. | Notice the buildings in the background. This is a rather arty rendition. | Trolleys and a car, plus a horse-drawn wagon. 1910 copyright. |
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| Wild assortment of transport on a Detroit Publishing 'Phostint' card. | 'Public library located on 5th Avenue and 42nd Street. Covers two entire city blocks, is built entirely of marble and cost nine million dollars. Opened for public use May 23, 1911, and contains over two million volumes and is said to be the most complete library in the country.' | 'New York's Principal PUBLIC LIBRARY, located at Fifth Avenue and Forty-first Street, is the fourth largest library in existence, housing more than two and one-half millions of books and pamphlets. Carrere & Hastings designed the beautiful structure, which cost $9,000,000 to build. President William Howard Taft dedicated it in 1911.' | Skyscrapers make their appearance on a linen finish card. |
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| Real Photo Post Card showing traffic and the Empire State Building. | 'Bryant Park, Public library and 42nd Street, New York Bryant Park runs from Public Library along 42nd Street to Sixth Avenue. 42nd Street is one of the busiest cross streets of the city. Grand Central Depot, Commodore Hotel and many skyscrapers are located on this thoroughfare.' |
'New York Public Library The magnificent building of the library of New York is located at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. It was built in 1911 at a cost of $9,000,000 and contains spacious reading rooms, exhibition rooms and art galleries. Its book collections are priceless.' |
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| Monochrome view of the childrens' room. Not very inviting looking, but I bet it was easy to clean and sanitize. |
The 1893 building has been remodeled and serves as the Stevens Community Memorial Library.
Wow. Simply wow.
This is the first Romanesque library building I've seen that looks as if it had had librarians in on the design. Unfortunately, there appears to no longer be a public library in this town, going by the Libweb list.
This is a Valentine & Sons card, mailed in 1912.
The Wood Library today appears to be in an older, smaller building. It is neither about Wood nor in a wood building.
Bears a solid resemblance to Highland Park,
Illinois' Carnegie Library.
The Library's web
site describes it as 'Neo-Elizabethan.' It was built in 1912, with Aymar Embury serving as its
architect.
The 'Eagle Quality' card was mailed in 1937.
In my collection, certainly the card from the library with the oddest name . It was mailed in 1924 but appears to be about a dozen years older. It was published by A.M. Pierson of Binghamton, N.Y.
Not listed in Bobinski's Carnegie Libraries (1969).
The building is still in use, and the library is part of the Southern Tier Library System.
(L) Forbidding card by Leighton & Valentine.
(R) Card by J. Ruben of Newburgh. The retoucher enhanced the dome's resemblance
to a muskmelon.
The library is quite clearly still in use.
Building designed by Orson Squire Fowler.
The library took over the house in 1935. New York and New England seem to have a lot of libraries utilizing former mansions.
I believe this to be the original building, John B. Jervis' home,
which was converted to a public
library
in 1895, and upsized in 1925.
Yes, I'm aware that no-one upsized anything in 1925.
It was enlarged yet again in 1961, 1972, and 1988.
Built in 1909, and still in use after a 1936 addition.
Replaced.
Tomlin Art Card.
Library still in use.
Very detailed library history.
My favorite line:
1895 -- A handwritten card catalog is started. It takes three years to complete and totals 58,000 cards.
I thought typing catalog cards was laborious!
Here is another aluminum postcard. (The other--of Hallowell, ME-- is in the New England pages, and is in much better condition.)
However, I found a wonderful virtual tour of this 1899 structure. What really wows me is this is the same gentleman who served as mayor of Chicago, and for whom Ogden Avenue (US 34) is named. From postmaster of a Catskills village to the top position in the Second City: simply amazing. And on his 1877 death, he left funds for his hometown to have a new library building.
Library's file of the dedication booklet.
Grecian-style library finished in 1901 and evidently still in use.
(L) Curt Teich American Art Colored Card mailed in 1926.
(R) Valentine and Sons' card printed in Great Britain. Never mailed, but probably older than that
on the left.
Literally, I can find no information about a current public library in West Point. The current military library is not this building.
So, enjoy the picture.
The card is by the Valentine and Sons' Publishing Co., and was printed in the U.S.
Without slope to its roof, just how many books were lost due to leaks?
Contains the notes:
From Curteich--'Gift of Miss Hannah W. Patterson, containing
44,000 Volumes in memory of her parents.'
From the purchaser--'Arrow under window at far right points to
basement entrance to Girl Scout Little House.'
Neither appears on Bobinski's list of Carnegie libraries.
Alfred |
Newark |
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To the best of my knowledge, the majority of these cards has reached the public domain by virtue of the postcards' age. I claim full copyright on the text, which may be used in citation only. Also, I claim copyright on the scans.
If you have evidence that any of the non-Carnegie cards are really of Carnegie libraries, please e-mail me at (first name)(at)roadmaps (dot) org.
© 2007 - 8 Judy Aulik
| Uploaded 11 March 2007.
Updated 04 July 2008 with a bunch of Brooklyn Library cards. Go down east to New England libraries. Return to home page. |