The New York Public Library is the largest marble structure in the United States; it is also one of the most famous landmarks of New York City. The history of New York Public Library can be dated back to the mid 19th century. During the second half of 19th century, New York City was emerging to become the most populous city around the world, creating a strong need for building a big public library that serves all of its citizens.
marble structure (New York Public Library Digital Gallery)
Public Library Now
When Governor Samuel J. Tilden died around 1886, he donated about $2.4 million to create a free public library and reading room in New York City. At that time, New York already had two important libraries, which are the Astor and Lenox libraries. However around 1892, both of the libraries experienced financial difficulties, they ended up combining together to form the New York Public Library. Dr. John Shaw Billings, who is the most famous librarian at that time, directed the project of building a new Public Library. It took about two years to prepare for this masterpiece of architecture; finally, the first cornerstone was laid in May 1902. On May 23, 1911 the library was opened to the public, attracted about 30,000 to 50,000 visitors.
Book Truck at 40th street during the Great Depression (New York Public Library Digital Gallery)
Besides being a famous landmark of the New York City, the New York Public Library also played an important role during both the Great Depression and the Great Recession. Throughout the Great Depression, the New York Public Library was able to maintain seven days of services, an accumulation of 82 hours per week. However, due to a budget cut on 1934, approximately ten branches of the New York Public Library were closed down from June to September of 1934. Some of the libraries continued to provide services to their customers by setting up book trucks around the city.
During the Great Recession, the New York Public Library was able to open at least six days per week in most of the branches. During the economic hard time, the library became a support for many people. According to Ann Thornton, director of New York Public Libraries, “attendance is up by 13% in the last year, and circulation has increased to 21.1 million in 2008, up from 17.2 million in 2007.” Many people take advantages of the programs that libraries offer to temporarily escape from the crisis; programs such as resume writing and skill training workshops. Records show that there is an increase in the amount of people who use the libraries’ job searching engine to look for a job.
The New York Public Library was famous for both of its architectural and historical values. It is the largest marble structure in United States, which has more than 100 years of history now. The New York Public Library also plays an important role during times of economic crisis, which is providing supports to many of its clients.
interior
Library view from Bryant Park
Reference:
“History of The New York Public Library.” Web. <http://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/history>.
Ann Thornton, “Open Doors, Open Minds: The New York Public Library During the Great Depression and Today’s Economic Crisis.” March 11, 2009. Web. <http://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/03/11/open-doors-open-minds-new-york-public-library-during-great-depression-and-today%E2%80%99s-ec>
You’ve done a nice job framing this around the Depression and Recession. Your post could be stronger, however, with more attention to prose issues, word choice, and context. For example, you’ve written much of this in the present tense, when in fact it should be in the past tense (you’re talking about the past). Also, there’s a little awkwardness in some of the prose. You should rephrase sentences such as “New York City was emerging to become the most populous city around the world, creating a strong need for building a big public library that serves all of its citizens” into something like “New York had the largest population of any city in the world by the late 19th century…” I didn’t finish the sentence because it raises some questions you haven’t answered. Why did a big city need a library? Who used it (poor people? job hunters? students?), and who was it built for? Why was it built? I don’t know that much about the history of libraries, but I do know that free public libraries weren’t all that common outside the U.S. at this time.
Hi Joanna! I enjoyed reading your post. The New York City Public Library is beautiful and I have always been fascinated by it’s architecture. I find it interesting that the library gained more popularity during the Great Recession and was able to stay open six days a week. From my experience, all the libraries around me started cutting back on hours and days once the economy started taking a downward spiral. However, this also makes sense because people want to save money on books and Internet.
I like the fact that you’ve consistently mentioned the library is the largest marble structure in the United States. Though, I would have like to have see an elaboration on the architectural style of the library, possibly explicating Greco-Roman inspiration drawn from architect. This seems to have been a massive undertaken, and I think the construction of the project seems to have gone unnoticed. A cultural reference to “Ghostbusters” would have been nice also. Otherwise Joanna, you’ve done it again!
Reading your post makes me wonder if the recession has affected in any way the number of people borrowing books instead of purchasing them (other than the increased participants who used the library’s various workshops and job search engines that you’ve already mentioned). And I also thought more visuals would be nice because the New York Public Library is really breathtaking!