The Library at Troy State Teachers College Before 1937

The downsizing of my book collection has accelerated in recent months, and here's another departing tome that's coughed up something interesting. 

The book this time is Edward M. Shackelford's The First Fifty Years of the State Teachers College at Troy, Alabama, 1887 to 1937. The volume is a detailed history of that institution up to the year of publication. What caught my attention is the extensive material in the book on the college library. Have worked in Alabama libraries for many years, I'm naturally interested in their history and have posted a number of pieces related to the topic. Some of them--but not all--can be found at Alabama Library History: A List. I really need to update that list...but I digress. I've also attempted a very incomplete chronology of state libraries up to about 1920.

Shackelford wrote this history from experience. He taught at the college for 12 years [1887-1899] and served as President for 37 [1899-1937]. At the time of publication he had been named President Emeritus in 1937. Shackelford Hall,  named in his honor, was built in 1930; it's now a coed dorm. 

As you can tell from the table of contents below, this book covers a lot of topics in the history of what is now Troy University prior to 1937. Two chapters cover the library. In the first one the author gives an overview based on a report written by Charlotte Smith, librarian at the time of publication. Then her report appears in full in the Appendix. 

When Shackelford became President in 1899, the library had some 5000 volumes. By the time this history was written, there were some 16,000 books, 1000 government reports and about 150 magazine subscriptions. The library had been located in several different places, and the current one is shown in the first two photos below. One large room on the second floor of Graves Hall provided a reading and collection area, supplemented by workrooms.

The longer chapter by Charlotte Smith adds many details, including the names of  librarians and the various sources of books in the early days. In 1909 an agreement among the Carnegie Foundation, the city of Troy and the college led to the construction of a Carnegie Library to be used by both townspeople and college students. Two librarians spent the summer of that year cataloging the 5000 books before the facility opened. Unfortunately, this relationship between the city and college only lasted a decade, as Smith details. 

Shackelford's book is a a rich history of Troy in its first half century. In addition to the narrative, he  has included such important lists as faculty by department, school physicians and nurses, librarians, etc. The book includes numerous photographs. 

This card of the Troy library is postmarked February 26, 1911. This Carnegie library served both the city of Troy and the college until 1930, when the college moved to a new location. 

Alabama Library Association in 1904

I began working at Auburn University's Draughon Library in 1973; in 2015, I retired as librarian for the UAB Department of Anesthesiology. In between those places I worked at Tuscaloosa Public Library. Thus, if my math is correct, I worked for 42 years in libraries in Alabama, academic, public, and medical. So I thought for my 801st blog post I'd discuss this little publication, the Proceedings of the First Meeting of the Alabama Library Association, an account of the gathering held in Montgomery on November 14, 1904. 

I've written some other pieces on library history in the state. The topics include Carnegie libraries, the state's first library, libraries in Alabama in 1851, unusual libraries in Birmingham, bookmobiles and traveling libraries, and medical libraries. I'm also working on "Alabama Libraries Before 1920: A Chronology in Progress" found here. 

Papers presented at the meeting are included in this book, but as can be seen in the contents below most address general library topics with little or no Alabama content. The one exception is Thomas Owen's "Public and School Libraries in Alabama" which is an attempt to list those libraries in the state operating at that time. 

Perhaps the most useful material here is the listing of officers and charter members. This provides a snapshot of the library community in Alabama in 1904, both actual librarians and the friends of libraries. One of the latter was Russell Cunningham, M.D., then Lieutenant Governor of the state. Others included John Abercrombie, President of the University of Alabama, and novelist Frances Nimmo Greene, who at that time was principal of Capitol Hill School in Montgomery. Thomas Owen was founder and director of the state archives, the first such organization in the U.S. His wife is listed as Mrs. Thomas Owen. She was Marie Bankhead Owen, a member of the prominent political Bankhead family and aunt to actress Tallulah. She would become director of the archives for 35 years after her husband died in 1920.  

A preliminary announcement with a tentative program was issued prior to this meeting. That publication also contained the announcement of a second meeting to be held in Mobile in 1905 and included a tentative program. That program indicates more papers with Alabama material would be presented. 

In his "Prefatory Note" Owen acknowledges "the work of the meeting was not in any way notable", due to the fact that library development in the state was only beginning. He felt the papers would especially aid "the village librarian, the struggling teacher, and the poorly equipped library assistant" rather than the state's professionals, which were few at the time. Presumably he would be pleased to see the development of both libraries and librarians in Alabama over the past 100 years. 

In 1962 Jean Le Furgey Hoffman completed a dissertation at Florida State University, "The Alabama Library Association, 1904-1939: A History of Its Organization, Growth and Contribution to Library Development." That dissertation can be downloaded as a PDF here. The Alabama Library Association's web site provides information on current activities. 

I've written about a 1922 silent film based on one of Greene's novels here.

The meeting was held at the new Carnegie Library in Montgomery at the corner of Adams and Perry Street. 

Alabama Photo of the Day: Public Library in Livingston

I've done several posts on this blog related to the history of libraries in the state. You can find a listing of many here. At one time I did some work on a chronology of Alabama library development. So naturally on one of my recent wanderings through Alabama Mosaic this photograph from early in the 20th century caught my eye.

Between 1900 and 1919 money from industrialist Andrew Carnegie built 19 libraries in Alabama. This effort was a small part of the more than 2500 he funded from 1883 and 1929. Most were located in Europe and the U.S., but others were constructed in Australia and other places. 

This small public library in Livingston in west Alabama was not a Carnegie project, but one of many others nationwide that opened during that "Carnegie period". In her 2006 article "Bricks, books, and metaphor: the place of first libraries in Alabama communities", Annabel Stephens included information about this library:

 

Source: Stephens, Annabel K. Bricks, books, and metaphor: the place of first libraries in Alabama communities. Southeastern Librarian 2006 spring; 54(1): 28-35

The ladies of the Primrose Club were lucky to have use of this former office. building. Initial public libraries in other communities in the state were opened in places ranging from hotels to houses to an old pump house. See Stephens article for more details. 

The other photo shows the Livingston public library today. The facility is named for Ruby Pickens Tartt [1880-1974] one of Alabama's greatest folklorists and a Livingston native. 

I wonder what happened to the original building? 

The library ca. 1910

Source: Alabama Mosaic

Source: Ruby Pickens Tartt Public Library, Livingston

Carnegie Libraries in Alabama

Between 1900 and 1916 grants for "Carnegie" libraries were awarded to 19 locations in Alabama. Let's investigate.

In 1880 businessman Andrew Carnegie began a philanthropic enterprise unlike few others in history--he gave cities money to build libraries. Lots of cities. Around the world. The first grants were given in his native Scotland and then his adopted home, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That first one in Scotland opened in 1883 and the final one in 1929; in those decades more than 2500 libraries were built. Most were in the U.S. and Europe, but a few were in places like Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Fiji. Some 1681 of those libraries opened in the United States, a large percentage of the nation's libraries of 3500 by 1919. A study in 1992 found that 1554 of the original buildings in the U.S. still existed and over 900 were still being used as libraries. 

The following images of Alabama's Carnegie libraries are in alphabetical order by city. All photos, postcards, etc. are via Alabama Mosaic unless otherwise noted. Some of these photographs [and others on the Alabama Mosaic site] have specific dates in November and December 1910. However, no photographer or source is given. Perhaps the Carnegie Institute had someone in the state documenting these structures. As noted below, only two of the original Carnegie libraries in Alabama still operate as libraries. 

Two Alabama Carnegie libraries are not pictured. The Avondale library in Birmingham opened in 1908 and operated as a library until 1961. The one at Talladega College burned in 1963. 

You can read some of my other posts on aspects of Alabama library history here.

Postcard of the Carnegie library in Anniston from the 1920's. Operated as a library 1918-1965

This Carnegie library was on the Alabama Polytechnic Institute campus in Auburn. The photograph was taken in October 1910; the library had been dedicated on December 2 of the previous year. The building is now Auburn University's Martin Hall and houses offices.

Inside the library at API on October 19, 1910

Photograph of the Bessemer library, probably 1940's. Now the Chamber of Commerce offices.

Birmingham's West End library as it looked on December 17, 1910. Operated as a library until 1962.

Decatur's Carnegie library in October 1910; an interior shot is below. Operated as a library 1904-1976.

Ensley library photographed in 1910. Operated as a library 1906-1955

Eufaula library around 1910. This library and the one in Union Springs are the only two Carnegie structures in Alabama that are still operating as libraries. 

Interior of the Eufaula library around 1910

Postcard of the Carnegie library in Gadsden from the early 20th century. Operated as a library 1906-1955.

"The Huntsville Public Library was built in 1915 with a grant from the Carnegie Library building fund. This building served Huntsville until 1966 when the building was demolished for a parking garage. In 1915 the Huntsville population was 5,000 people. When the building was razed the population had grown to 100,000." [quote from Alabama Mosaic entry]

I remember going to this library as a boy; the children's section, known as the Longfellow Reading Room, was in the basement and can be seen below. No date is attached to this photo at the Alabama Mosaic site, but it would seem to predate my years there in the late 1950's-early 1960's. 

"Pictured in front of the bookmobile at the Huntsville Public Library when it was housed in the Carnegie building are board member Mrs. Claude Davis, council member James E. Davis, library director Elizabeth Parks Beamgaurd and County Commission Chairman Roy Stone."

Date unknown

I've done a post on bookmobiles in Alabama.

Circulation desk at the Carnegie library in Huntsville, date unknown

A gathering of presumably faculty and students outside the Carnegie library on the Alabama A&M campus near Huntsville, date unknown. 

Postcard of the Carnegie library at Judson College in Marion before 1920. Now Bean Hall, which houses the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame.

Postcard of the Montgomery library, early 20th century

Postcard of the Selma library, early 1920's 

"Mrs. Lou McElderry Jemison donated the land and $10,000 towards building Talladega's Public Library in 1906. Robert S. West was the contractor who built the library. It served as the main library until a new library was constructed directly behind this one in the 1970's. This example of a Jemison-Carnegie library is one of only four remaining Carnegie-affiliated buildings in Alabama. The building now serves as the home to the Heritage Hall Museum for local history and the arts."

Source: Wikipedia 

This card of the Troy library is postmarked February 26, 1911

The Tuskegee Institute library on November 29, 1910. The building operated as a library from 1901-1932, and now houses offices.

Inside the Carnegie library at Tuskegee Institute early 20th century

Union Springs Carnegie library around 2000. This library and the one in Eufaula are the only two Carnegie structures in Alabama still operating as libraries. 

In library school at UA I wrote a paper on the formation of this library; a major primary source was the local newspaper. My work is available here. 

An abstract:

Carnegie Comes to Union Springs. The Development of an Alabama Public Library. A Research Proposal

This proposal examines the formation of the Carnegie Library at Union Springs, Alabama, in the context of the rural society from which it grew. It is suggested that the availability of detailed research into the dynamics of this library's formation may help historians identify factors that support the advent of public libraries, regardless of their locations, and may assist the library profession to better articulate methods to help floundering public libraries. It is proposed that several independent variables be examined in varying depth, including: (1) the confluence of Carnegie's philanthropy with the local philanthropic impulse and civic pride; (2) local leadership from elected officials, library association members, and community leaders; (3) the presence of supporters of the local subscription library and their backgrounds; (4) the presence of enough wealth in the county to support Carnegie's matching funds requirement; (5) the backing of the local newspaper; (6) the influence of populism; and (7) the presence of general cultural factors--e.g., the public library movement throughout the southeast, the growth of public education, and the relative lack of racial and political turmoil. (22 references)