In the days before library computers, you found the books you wanted in the card catalogue. Generations of Williamsburg residents young and old pulled open a drawer in the tower cabinet filled with handwritten or typewritten 3 x 5-inch cards held in place with a metal rod pushed through the hole in the bottom center of the card. That rod saved the cards from spilling all over the place if you happened to pull the drawer all the way out of the cabinet. No one wanted to refile hundreds of cards!
You could find a book by looking for the author, the title or even the subject matter. then hunt on the shelves in the stacks. The card catalogue has been replaced by a machine–the OPAC (online public access catalogue). Today physical catalogues have been repurposed to hold seed “libraries”, keep recipe cards, organize craft supplies and more. Meekins still has its original oak card catalogue case—where you can open a draw and find the card for Mary Blake’s book, “On the Wing: Rambling Notes of a Trip to the Pacific” from 1883! Daria D’Arienzo, Meekins Archivist. #throwbackthursday; #tbt.
Posted to Facebook 6/1/2023
