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Americana 1920 Libraries - Denver Public Library

The Denver Public Library is the

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants. There are five fundamen ...

system of the City and County of

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The system includes the Denver Central Library, located in the Golden Triangle district of Downtown Denver, as well as 25 branch locations and two

bookmobiles A bookmobile or mobile library is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookm ...

. The library's collection totals more than 2 million items, including books, reference materials, movies, music, and photographs. Of that total, more than 347,000 items are in specific collections including the Western History and Genealogy Department, Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, and Reference Department holdings.

History

The Library's humble beginnings started in 1859 as an outdoor facility built from a carpenter's bench under a tree. It was founded by Arthur Pierce, one of the pioneers during the gold rush era. The library later evolved from the 1878 donation of books to the city's board of education, which were then maintained in a wing of East Denver High School.

John Cotton Dana John Cotton Dana (born August 19, 1856, in Woodstock, Vermont – died July 21, 1929, in Newark, New Jersey) was an American library and museum director who sought to make these cultural institutions relevant to the daily lives of citizens. As ...

was named chief librarian and the "Denver Public Library" was officially established in 1889. The library moved into its own building in 1910, a

Greek revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

design funded by philanthropist

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans in ...

that was located in

Civic Center Park The Denver Civic Center is a civic center area that includes two parks surrounded by government and cultural buildings and spaces. Civic Center is located in central Denver, Colorado, on the south side of Downtown Denver. Much of the area is a his ...

downtown. (The 1910 building was repurposed to serve the Board of Water Commissioners for many years, and survives as McNichols Civic Center Building, in the Civic Center Historic District (Denver, Colorado).) Between 1913 and 1920, Carnegie also underwrote construction of the library's first eight branches. Previously the city relied on traveling trunks of books.

Central Library

In the 1950s the city commissioned the architectural firm

Fisher & Fisher Fisher & Fisher was an architectural firm based in Denver, Colorado named for partners William Ellsworth Fisher (1871–1937) and Arthur Addison Fisher (1878–1965). The firm was founded in 1892 by William Ellsworth Fisher as William Fisher, ...

and designer

Burnham Hoyt Burnham Hoyt (February 3, 1887 – April 3, 1960) was a prominent mid-20th-century architect born in Denver, Colorado. Early years Born in North Denver, Burnham Hoyt was the son of Lydia Tompkins Hoyt and Wallace Hoyt, a carriage designer who ...

to build a new Central Library to be located on Broadway and West 14th Avenue.Burnham Hoyt: Architect of the North Wing of the Central Library
/ref> The property had previously been an auto dealership for the

Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...

, Model A, and Model B before being condemned by the City in 1953. The Fisher/Hoyt Central Library in the city's Golden Triangle opened in 1956 and was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1990. As part of the dedication of the new library when it opened, Yale Library loaned a collection of books that included the 1455 Gutenberg Bible and 1640 Bay Psalm Book that are both rare and valuable artifacts. Throughout the 1950s and 1970s, Denver experienced an explosion of growth and quickly required more branches to be open to serve the new neighborhoods that branched out to the southeast and southwest. Among these branches were four Ross branches, funded with a $100,000 donation from Frederick Ross who was a Denver Real Estate Investor and the Library Commissioner. In the 1990s Denver voters approved a $91.6 million bond issue to add onto the Fisher/Hoyt building; the new structure, designed by the 2012 Driehaus Prize winner

Michael Graves Michael Graves (July 9, 1934 – March 12, 2015) was an American architect, designer, and educator, as well as principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Gr ...

and the Denver firm of Klipp Colussy Jenks DuBois, opened in 1995. The seven-story exterior is finished with limestone and pre-cast concrete with copper accents throughout. Murals are painted inside by the artist Edward Ruscha and fossils are embedded in its floor within the Schlessman Hall. There is also an art gallery within the Level Five Gates Western History Ready Room.

Collections

The Denver Public Library has a large Western History collection, which began under the direction of City Librarian Malcom G. Wyer and includes 600,000 photographs, 3,700 manuscript archives, 200,000 cataloged books, pamphlets, atlases, maps, and microfilm titles as well as a collection of Western fine art and prints. The quality of its collection of oil paintings rivals that of the Denver Art Museum next door. The library's collection includes western landscape paintings by

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not ...

Frederic Remington Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 – December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in the genre of Western American Art. His works are known for depicting the Western United Sta ...

Charles Marion Russell Charles Marion Russell (March 19, 1864 – October 24, 1926), also known as C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and "Kid" Russell, was an American artist of the American Old West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, an ...

Thomas Moran Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...

and Otto Kuhler, as well as a portrait of Colorado historian and

Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 1 ...

writer Caroline Bancroft. The Western History Department holds the Otto Perry collection of

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

photographs, numbering 20,000 negatives from all parts of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

made available for viewing on the Internet. The Western History and Genealogy departments merged in 1995 and are located on the fifth floor. The

Genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

department includes 60,000 books, 75,000 pieces of microform, and hundreds of magazine and newsletter titles, charts, clippings, atlases and manuscripts. From 1995 until 2015, The Western History Department worked on digitizing over 100,000 of its images to make them available online. The Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library serves as an educational and cultural resource focusing on the history, literature, art, music, religion, and politics of African Americans in Colorado and throughout the Rocky Mountain West. The Library opened in 2003 and houses a full service branch library, research archives and the Western Legacies Museum, an exhibition space that spans more than and includes an African American Leadership Gallery, a replica of the Office of Denver Mayor Wellington E. Webb, and rotating exhibits which highlight historical periods, notable individuals and local Denver history.

Current Services

Computers and Technology

All locations offer patrons access to public computers with Internet service, Microsoft Office 2013, copying, printing, and scanning. Wireless Internet (WiFi) is also available to all visitors.

Library of Things

The Denver Public Library offers library card holders access to equipment and experiences to check out. Current items include bicycle repair kits, State Park Pass, Chromebooks, draft check meter, GoPro camera, museum and cultural passes, power check meter, Speck indoor air quality meter, video projector, and WiFi hotspot.

Makerspaces

The Denver Public Library system provides access to makerspaces, called ideaLABs, at various locations.

Museum Passes, Cultural Tours and Ticket Vouchers

Denver Public Library offers library card holders free passes to participating local museums and cultural institutions. Institutions include the Butterfly Pavilion, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Behind the Scenes Tours, Denver Firefighters Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver Trolley, Denver Zoo, History Colorado Center, Molly Brown House Museum, and Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Card holders can also enter drawings to win vouchers to plays and concerts held at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company and Colorado Symphony.

Branch libraries

*Central LibraryDenver Public Library Locations & Hours
retrieved: 2022 November 16 **Children's Library **Western History & Genealogy Library *Athmar Park Branch Library *Ross-Barnum Branch Library *Bear Valley Branch Library *Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library *Bob Ragland Branch Library, named after Bob Ragland *Ross-Broadway Branch Library *Ross-Cherry Creek Branch Library *Decker Branch Library *Eugene Field Branch Library *Ford-Warren Branch Library *Green Valley Ranch Branch Library *Hadley Branch Library *Hampden Branch Library *John "Thunderbird Man" Emhoolah, Jr. Branch Library, named after John Emhoolah Jr. *Montbello Branch Library *Park Hill Branch Library *Pauline Robinson Branch Library *Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales Branch Library *Sam Gary Branch Library *Schlessman Family Branch Library *Smiley Branch Library *Ross-University Hills Branch Library *Valdez-Perry Branch Library *Virginia Village Branch Library *Westwood Branch Library *Woodbury Branch Library Former branch libraries include the Dickinson Branch Library, a Carnegie library listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Culture of Denver Education in Denver Tourist attractions in Denver National Register of Historic Places in Denver Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Carnegie libraries in Colorado Public libraries in Colorado International style architecture in Colorado Postmodern architecture in Colorado Greek Revival architecture in Colorado 1889 establishments in Colorado Organizations established in 1889 Library buildings completed in 1910 Library buildings completed in 1955 Library buildings completed in 1995 Michael Graves buildings