LHRT NEWS AND NOTES

Hello Blog Readers,

Here at the blog, we recently became aware of an exciting book project and asked the author for some comments to share with the library history community. Please see the following summary by Dr. Mark Carl Rom (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Tuxxu8YAAAAJ&hl=en) about his new book project (and request for readers) that will likely be of great interest to library historians. He has also graciously shared a sample history about Virginia libraries, the draft Preface, and Chapter 1, just to give us a broad overview of the project (these are attached to the post below). In addition, please be sure to check out his project web site at www.americaslibraries.com

We look forward to following this story at LHRT News & Notes!

Thanks,

Brett

Editor, LHRT News & Notes

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I’m writing the book America’s Public Libraries: Finding the Women Who Make Them which seeks to tell the stories of women who have created, directed, restored and otherwise served public libraries in their communities. My research has included visiting some 400 Carnegie libraries, and many others, as I traveled through the 48 lower states for seven months in 2023. My focus is primarily but not exclusively on Carnegie libraries. Some of these women have had their stories told; others have toiled in obscurity. I have relied heavily on the Carnegie archives and other archival sources.

I am seeking readers for parts of the manuscript and would love to hear your views. It would also be great if you had stories about librarians you would like to share. Guidance is most welcome, as I am neither a librarian nor a historian (I am a retired professor who has written other books.) You can send your comments to me at mark.carl.rom@gmail.com. My website, where I posted daily reports from my travels, is americaslibraries.com. Thanks.

–Mark Rom