Meekins is celebrating a “birthday” too this year. We are 125! While not quite the 250 years of our town—it is still a fine old age. We had some fun looking back to see how far we have come!
Our 1896 historic building (dedicated in February 1897) is made new by the modern addition in 2003. Now, in 2022, the Meekins is connected virtually to the whole wide world. The kinds of things you can get at the library—for free—has boomed. Yet some things remain constant—there have always been library lovers of all ages!
So have some fun looking at what we found in the library!
In Meekins’ 125-year history the “tools” we have used for library work have changed dramatically—from the pen and ink used to write out the first library catalogue cards, to the FOX typewriter that created the first typed catalogue cards—to the whole card catalogue itself!
Do you remember check-out card and date due stamps?
See them all here!
You never know what you will find tucked into a corner or unearthed from the back of the cabinet. Well, in our explorations, we found all sorts of things—vintage books (of course), puzzles, hardware from our original windows, doorknobs from doors that are now passageways, the aforementioned office equipment, odd office supplies, a rotary telephone, a “perpetual calendar” that was not a phone, a button hook, a wizard wand from one of our Harry Potter extravaganzas, bingo chips used to “count” library visitors in the pre-digital counter days, mugs and a picture mouse pad from previous Meekins anniversaries—and a squeaky frog toy.
Enjoy the variety and fun of our serendipitously found quirky objects. Daria D’Arienzo, Meekins Archivist. #throwbackthursday; #tbt
Posted to Facebook 6/23/2022
