Revisiting the Carnegie public library built form: the design and early history of three Illinois Carnegie library buildings

Black, Alistair and Prizeman, Oriel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4835-9824 2020. Revisiting the Carnegie public library built form: the design and early history of three Illinois Carnegie library buildings. Library and Information History 36 (2) , pp. 89-115. 10.3366/lih.2020.0019

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Abstract

Despite the challenges involved in re-cycling older library buildings, it is important not to underestimate the value of extant Carnegie libraries, which in many places are among the most celebrated and cherished structures in the community. Any tendency to underestimate the possibilities for extant Carnegie library buildings can be reduced by revisiting their original designs and challenging popular impressions that are based on unwarranted retrospective history. Case studies of three Illinois Carnegie libraries are presented: Decatur (opened 1903), Paxton (opened 1904), and Park Ridge (opened 1913). These case studies are followed by a positive interpretation of the built form of the three libraries studied, by drawing on recent accounts of the material culture of Carnegie public libraries in the decades immediately prior to the First World War, as well as by referring to contemporary policy on architectural control by Carnegie’soffice and critical reporting in the later stage of the Carnegie programme on its successes and failures.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Architecture
Subjects:	E History America > E11 America (General) F History United States, Canada, Latin America > F001 United States local history N Fine Arts > NA Architecture Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Z665 Library Science. Information Science Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Z719 Libraries (General)
Publisher:	Maney Publishing
ISSN:	1758-3489
Funders:	AHRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 May 2020
Date of Acceptance:	24 March 2020
Last Modified:	04 Dec 2024 00:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/131734

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