Credit: Brent Moore, CC BY-NC 2.0
I’m a writer and retired professor, and the Warder Park location of JTPL was where my little sister and I got our first-ever library cards when we were very young (1967, I think). I’m pretty sure it’s where our father got his first card too, decades earlier.
I was quite impressed with the domed building, as I recall, and it was always a treat to go to the library. I have a fond memory of dressing up and attending some kind of winter evening event in the basement… maybe something to do with the Indiana University extension there before it became Indiana University Southeast?
Anyway, our parents raised us to love reading, books, and libraries, and I raised my own child to do the same. When I had my son, JTPL (at its current location) was where we went to get him his first library card. I homeschooled him, and each week we treated ourselves to something we called Mind Feast Fridays, which involved a trip to the library to load up on any/all the books we wanted. His absolute favorite section was the children’s history section — especially military history — but he also loved a lot of children’s books on diseases and on dangerous creatures and on mythology and sci-fi. Oh, and that’s also where he fell in love with Victory at Sea, the old black and white documentary videos about WWII.
Thank you all so much for providing lovely experiences and memories. I’m very thankful that Mr. Carnegie chose to spend part of his fortune on something that is so good for communities all across the country.
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