American libraries 1730-1950 / Kenneth Breisch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Breisch, Kenneth A., author.

Contributor:

Hayden, Carla Diane, 1952- writer of foreword.

Library of Congress, issuing body.

Series:

Norton/Library of Congress visual sourcebooks in architecture, design, and engineering.

Norton/Library of Congress visual sourcebooks in architecture, design, and engineering

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Library architecture--United States--History.

Library architecture.

Libraries--United States--History.

Libraries.

Library buildings--United States--History.

Library buildings.

Physical Description:

314 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. ; Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, [2017]

Summary:

An overview of our storehouses of knowledge, from the earliest library building (Philadelphia, 1745) to midcentury modern and beyond. Although new technologies appear poised to alter it, the library remains a powerful site for discovery, and its form is still determined by the geometry of the book and the architectural spaces devised to store and display it. American Libraries provides a history and panorama of these structures, inside and out, encompassing the small personal collection, the vast university library, and everything in between. Through 500 photographs and plans selected from the encyclopedic collections of the Library of Congress, Kenneth Breisch traces the development of libraries in the United States, from roots in such iconic examples as the British Library and Paris's Bibliothèque-Ste.-Geneviève to institutions imbued with their own, American mythology. Starting with the private collections of wealthy merchants and landowners during the eighteenth century, the book looks at the Library of Congress, large and small public libraries, and the Carnegie libraries, and it ends with a glimpse of modern masterworks.

Contents:

Foreword / by Carla D. Hayden

How to use this book

Introduction: The library in America

Private collections

Academic libraries

The Library of Congress

Large urban libraries

Small public libraries

The Carnegie era

Afterword: The library post-World War II

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-302) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Beardwood Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9780393731606

039373160X

OCLC:

1001314318