The Library History Buff

Promoting the appreciation, enjoyment, and preservation of library history

American Library History On the Web

Here are some sites I've come across in my pursuit of library history. No claim is made at being comprehensive.  Suggest additions by contacting me at nix@libraryhistorybuff.org.

See Also: World Library History On the Web

General History Sites (non-library)

Library of Congress - American Memory Digital Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/amhome.html

Making of America (MOA) Digital Library of Primary Sources
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moagrp/index.html

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/

New Deal Network (Search for "library")
http://newdeal.feri.org/index.htm

American Historic Documents (Compiled by WI State Law Library)
http://wsll.state.wi.us/lawhistory.html

Repositories of Primary Sources (Compiled by Terry Abraham)
http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html

Best of History Web Sites
http://www.besthistorysites.net/

Digital Book Index

Digital Book Index About Page
http://www.digitalbookindex.org/about.htm

Digital Book Index Main Page
http://www.digitalbookindex.com/search001a.htm

Digital Book Index
Libraries, Librarianship, Electronic Librarianship
http://www.digitalbookindex.com/_search/search010librarieslibrarianshipa.asp

Digital Book Index
US History: Libraries in the 19th Century
http://www.digitalbookindex.com/_search/search010histuslibraries19a.asp
 

General Library History Sites (In no particular order)

Google Books Library History Resources
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&uid=11940108753511190334

The American Library Association: A Selective Illustrated History
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/ala-history.htm

Library History Round Table of the American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/lhrt/index.cfm

Archives of the American Library Association
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/archives/ala/

Libraries & the Cultural Record (Journal) Home
http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~lcr/index.php

Libraries & the Cultural Record (Journal) Bookplate Archive
http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~lcr/archive/bookplates.php

The Davies Project at Princeton University
Database of American Libraries before 1876
http://www.princeton.edu/~davpro/

The Special Libraries Association Centennial and History
http://www.sla.org/centennial/
http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/AssnProfile/History/index.cfm

The First 100 Years (of the American Libraries magazine) PDF format
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/resources/slctdarticles/0607_feature_timelin.pdf

The Academic Library in the American University
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/UWLDR.AcadLib

Links to Carnegie Library Sites (compiled by the Library History Buff)
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.org/carnegie-libraries.htm

School Libraries - History
http://www.sldirectory.com/libsf/resf/libraryhistory.html

Membership Libraries
http://www.redwoodlibrary.org/memlib.htm

Presidential Libraries
http://www.archives.gov/presidential_libraries/index.html

Milestones of Academic Library History
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/crlnews/2000/jan/over100years.cfm

Timeline in Library Development for African Americans
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/resources/slctdarticles/aframtimeline.cfm

A Chronology of Events in Black Librarianship
http://www.nathanielturner.com/blacklibrarians.htm

American Federal Libraries/Information Centers Chronology
http://www.loc.gov/flicc/bicen/chron2.pdf

Army Libraries Through the Years
http://www.army.mil/CMH-pg/photos/Libraries/libraries.htm

Books for Swabbies: Ship's Libraries in the "New" Steel Navy, 1880s-1930s
Charles A. Seavey
http://www.desertsailor.info/libs/Swabbies/Index.php

American Public Libraries in the Great Depression
Charles A. Seavey
http://www.desertsailor.info/libs/Depression/Index.php

Images from the Library Report of 1876 (Charles A. Seavey)
http://www.desertsailor.info/libs/1876_report/index.php

Reader services in libraries : a day in honor of Margaret E. Monroe
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.BollReader

Sixty Years of the Association of Research Libraries
http://www.arl.org/arl/plus.ca.html

Confessions of a Library Historian (Haynes McMullen)
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v48_n3/mcmullen.html

Biographies of American Library People
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.org/librarybiographies-us.htm

Web Sites of Library Historians and History Buffs
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.org/libraryhistorians-links.htm

The American Library Association and Access to Libraries and Information
Rocks in the Whirlpool - Paper by Kathleen de la Peña McCook for ALA
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/missionhistory/keyactionareas/equityaction/rockswhirlpool.cfm

Books Go to War: The Armed Services Editions in World War Two
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/ase/

McCarthyism and Libraries (Stephen Francoeur thesis)
http://francoeur.pbwiki.com/FrontPage

Brief History of Library Instruction In the United States (Michael Lorenzen)
http://www.libraryinstruction.com/lihistory.html

Federal Library Depository Program
http://www.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/history/index.html

Brief History of Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR)
http://www.rda-jsc.org/history.html

National Library Week
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/libraryweek.htm

A Bibliographical Guide To A Chronological Record of Statistics of National Scope on Libraries In The United States by Robert V. Williams
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/BOB/LibraryStatistics/LibraryStatisticsGuide.html

Woodworking and Libraries - Raymond McInnis Woodworking History Site
http://www.woodworkinghistory.com/appendix_5.htm
http://www.woodworkinghistory.com/appendix_15.htm

Library History by State
[Note:  Ideally, every library that maintains a Web site should have at least a brief history of the library on that site.  That is far from the case.  Even some very large libraries do not have the history of their library on their Web site. The examples below provide a variety of models for doing this. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have developed more comprehensive lists of sites for their states. I encourage other states to develop a similar lists.]

Alabama

Alabama Libraries Prior To World War I: A Chronology in Progress
http://sites.google.com/site/alachron/

Birmingham Public Library History
http://www.bplonline.org/about/history/   

Talladega College’s Savory Library
http://www.talladega.edu/index/library

Fairhope Public Library
http://www.fairhopelibrary.org/history.htm

California

Bancroft Library, Univ. of California - Berkeley
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/bancroft/
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/info/lectures.html#library

Carnegie Libraries of California
http://www.carnegie-libraries.org/

Mechanics' Institute Library, San Francisco
http://www.milibrary.org/about-the-library/history?showall=1

San Francisco Public Library
http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/news/125/timeline.htm
http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/news/125/scrapbook/intro.htm

Connecticut

Connecticut State Library
http://www.cslib.org/cslpre1909.htm

Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT
http://www.perrotlibrary.org/kidshistory1.htm

Colorado

History of Colorado Libraries
http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/History/index.htm

Manitou Springs Public Library
http://manitousprings.colibraries.org/about-us/library-history.html

Delaware

Delaware Public Libraries Centennial Brochure
http://www.state.lib.de.us/Administration/Centennial/

District of Columbia

Library of Congress (History of LOC by John W. Cole )
http://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/

Smithsonian Institution Libraries
http://www.sil.si.edu/Galaxy.cfm?id=2.223

Florida

Jacksonville Public Library
http://jpl.coj.net/lib/history.html

Georgia

Georgia Library History Project
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/histories/Georgia/index.htm

Hawaii

Hawaii State Library
http://hspls.org/hp/hslhistory.html

Idaho

Idaho Commission for Libraries
http://libraries.idaho.gov/page/history

Illinois

Chicago Public Library, Chicago, Illinois
http://www.chipublib.org/aboutcpl/history/index.php

Edwardsville Public Library
http://www.edwardsvillelibrary.org/history/

Galena Public Library
http://www.galenahistorymuseum.org/publiclibraryhistory.htm

Highland Park Public Library
http://www.hplibrary.org/library/history.html

The Illinois State Library
http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/1999/il9903131.html

Milner Library, Illinois State University
http://www.library.ilstu.edu/page/1073

Wilmette Public Library
http://history.wilmettelibrary.info/results.asp?q=&grd=440&ro=("WilPL")&sort=groupid_440+asc&p=1

Indiana

Purdue University Libraries
http://www.lib.purdue.edu/spcol/?page=library

Iowa

Carnegie Libraries in Iowa Project
http://clip.grad.uiowa.edu/

Kansas

Carnegie Library Legacy in Kansas
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/carnegie/intro.html

Maryland

Enoch Pratt Free Library
http://www.prattlibrary.org/about/index.aspx?id=1604#beginnings

Washington County Free Library / Western Maryland Regional Library (Hagerstown)
The First Bookmobile in America
http://www.whilbr.org/bookmobile/index.aspx

Massachusetts

Amherst College Library
https://www.amherst.edu/library/about/history

Avon Public Library
http://www.avonpubliclibrary.org/History.htm

Boston Athenaeum
http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/38

Boston Public Library
http://www.bpl.org/general/history.htm

Report of the Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston 1852
http://www.scls.lib.wi.us/mcm/history/report_of_trustees.html

Andover-Harvard Theological Library (Harvard University)
http://www.hds.harvard.edu/library/about/history/

New Hampshire

New Hampshire State Library
http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/about/

Princeton University Library
http://libweb2.princeton.edu/rbsc2/libraryhistory/main.html

North Carolina

The Legacy of Public Libraries in North Carolina (Digital Collection of the NC State Library)
http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/dimp/digital/publiclibraries/index.html

Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
http://www.cmstory.org/exhibit/plcmc/default.htm

Rowan Public Library (Salisbury, NC)
History

Ohio

Cleveland's Carnegie Libraries
http://www.cpl.org/?q=node/2388

Open Shelves and Open Minds, book on the history of the  Cleveland Public Library
http://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p128201coll0&CISOPTR=339&CISOSHOW=4

Cleveland Public Library's library image collection
http://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm4/browse.php
http://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2Fp4014coll13

Cuyahoga County Public Library
http://www.cuyahogalibrary.org/aboutlibrary/history/HISTORY.htm

Ohio State Library
http://www.library.ohio.gov/marketing/Newsletters/TheNews/2009/August

Oberlin College Library
http://www.oberlin.edu/library/special/oberlin/deweycatalog/

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Public Libraries
http://199.164.253.25/centennial/time.html

Vanderbilt University Libraries
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/access/libraryhistory.shtml