The Lincoln City Library was Artena and her friends' refuge from boredom and the stifling air of many an afternoon. It proved a pleasant place to study and prepare in peace—apart from the monotonous presence of other lady missionaries when personalities began to wear thin.
Lincoln Star columnist Jim McKee provides an excellent overview of Lincoln's main library history, with a backstory of fire and destruction, a lack of funding, and an initial endowment by Andrew Carnegie ($79,000). Local citizens raised an additional $10,000, with Mrs. Williams Jennings Bryan (aka suffragette Mary Baird Bryan) leading the charge. After dozens of penny fundraisers, Lincoln's "Old Main" was erected at 14th and N in 1902, a convenient two to four block stroll for Artena during the early 1920s.
Lincoln's Old Main was the first of 68 Nebraska libraries endowed by Carnegie, built in the iconic classical style of the era. Artena mentions the building 24 times, and—given McKee's fine description—who can blame her?
"The gray brick, stone and terra cotta building featured a sun-lit lower level about five steps down and a main floor about seven steps above street level. The central area inside the west-facing main entrance was a check-out desk surrounded by Tennessee marble with a frieze of American authors looking down. Arms extended from the circular desk to reading rooms, reference room and stacks for 33,000 volumes."—Jim McKee, Lincoln's two or five or eight Carnegie libraries, Lincoln Journal Star, Dec. 1, 2013
But the grand, soothing entry and atrium are lost to history. Old Main was razed in 1960 and replaced with the Bennett Martin Branch, courtesy of $300,000 from a Mr. and Mrs. Bennett Martin.
Artena's library card remains intact. It remains safely tucked between the pages of her black, textured diary. It was folded and hidden in a tiny, ink-blotted envelope that still has un-used glue on the flap. The yellowed scraps of paper offer many clues. The March 24, 1924 permit indicates an address of 1645 N Street, which has greatly aided identification of neighborhood landmarks from the diary. The back of the envelope has handwritten numbers for "Oakly" and "Bessie" in the old telephone exchange format. Artena frequently visits a Mr. and Mrs. Oakley in her diary—I wonder, if we could call B4415, who would answer?
I love that Artena capitulated after a full year in Lincoln and signed up at the library. But permit 72052 indicates she checked out and returned books only six times. Her library card was stamped between March and April, 1924—her last two months of missionary work. I wonder what she read?
Reference Desk...
You will find a full Lincoln Library history and timeline at LincolnLibraries.org, including this brief and informative overview.
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