Civic Pride in a Lost America: Library Postcards
Carnegie Libraries of the Carolinas
I have very few of these postcards, hence a doubled-up page.
North Carolina
Charlotte
Stone & Barringer card, with caption 'Charlotte, N.C. The Industrial Centre of the New South. Carnegie Library.'
Early Rotograph card, mailed in 1905.
'Charlotte, N.C., View of the First Baptist Church and Carnegie Library'
1901 grant. Demolished, 1952.
The grant also funded a segregated library from 1905-1961. Things for the Library never went smoothly until the 1950s. According to the Library history page, the Great Depression hit hard, and worse yet, the NC Supreme Court declared its funding beyond the Carnegie mandate unconstitutional.
The Library was closed for an entire year.
In 1952, city and county voters realized that a new library was needed: likely, the church made expansion impossible.
Greensboro
1902 grant. Demolished, possibly in the 1960s. Surprisingly, the 1924 segregated Carnegie branch building survives, and is incorporated into the Bennett College campus
(L) 1916 Curt Teich 'C.T. American Art' card. Very jaunty.
(R) Banhum-Hume Book Co. card, mailed in 1916.
Hendersonville
1911 grant. Opened in 1914: a 1936 fire caused some issues. The tiny building was replaced in 1970.
The postcard has dual attribution: C.T. (Curt Teich) American Art Colored, and Southern Post Card Co.
Winston-Salem
(L) International brand Post Card, mailed in 1909.
(R) Card printed for S.H. Kress, mailed in 1915.
1903 grant. Replaced in 1954. As of 2012, serves as a Catholic chapel.
South Carolina
Carnegie Libraries Buildings in South Carolina gives the cogent explanation that, as South Carolinian library service shifted from city to county, Carnegie-funded buildings were simply too small to remain useful.
I suspect that this may also have been the case for North Carolina.
Anderson
1905 grant. Opened in 1908. Replaced in 1971, and remains open as an arts center.
The linen-finished card's caption is:
A view on East Main Street showing Carnegie Library, Anderson, S.C.
The original caption was obliterated by Asheville Post Card.
Camden
1914 grant: in use from 1916 to 1973. The building today serves as a museum.
(L) An attractive Albertype card.
(R) This is another Asheville Post Card linen-finished card, made right the first time.
Charleston Library Society
1914 grant. This isn't exactly a public library, but serves a purpose similar to that of Chicago's Newberry Library.
Unattributable postcard.
Marion
Spartanburg (Kennedy Library)
(L) Rare winter scene: I imagine that the Wisconsin firm E.C. Kropp was taken with the odd Southern scene.
(R) Curt Teich card, mailed in 1913
1903 grant: built in 1905. Replaced in 1961, and demolished.
The Kennedy donor was Mrs. Helen Fayssoux Kennedy, and the site was that of her late husband's office. Makes you wonder what happened to him.
The building's architecture was quite unusual, with Romanesque, Mission, and Italianate touches.
Sumter
Late 1915 Carnegie grant. Opened in 1917. Replaced in 1968. Fortunately, reused as the Sumter County Genealogical Society.
E.C. Kropp card.