2011-01-13 / Front Page

‘Carnegie’ Presentation By State Landmarks Director Highlights Annual OCHCC Meeting

Election Of Officers Is Held, With Vic Kinney Voted Board President
by Donna Hardy SEW Correspondent


Kent Abraham was the guest speaker during the annual meeting of the Owen County Heritage and Culture Center, which was held Monday in the basement of the old Carnegie building on Market Street in Spencer. (Photo by Donna Hardy) Kent Abraham was the guest speaker during the annual meeting of the Owen County Heritage and Culture Center, which was held Monday in the basement of the old Carnegie building on Market Street in Spencer. (Photo by Donna Hardy) Those attending the annual meeting of the Owen County Heritage and Culture Center on Monday evening learned a lot about the history of the building as guest speaker Kent Abraham gave an informative presentation on Carnegie libraries across the state of Indiana.

Abraham is the director of the Southeast Indiana Field Office for Indiana Landmarks and the Veraestau Historic Site in Aurora, Indiana.

The old Carnegie library located on Market Street in Spencer is one of 156 Carnegie buildings in Indiana, as Abraham explained. It is now the home of the Heritage and Culture Center.

At the start of the presentation, Abraham explained that Carnegie libraries were made possible through a deal made by Andrew Carnegie. He wanted to give grants to various communities, with those communities in turn coming up with the piece of land to construct the building along with proof that they would be able to sustain the maintenance of the building.


Vic Kinney was elected Monday night as the new president of the OCHCC Board of Directors. ( SEW File Photo) Vic Kinney was elected Monday night as the new president of the OCHCC Board of Directors. ( SEW File Photo) There were more than 1,000 grants given by Carnegie for libraries. Those grants came in at under $15,000 and were given to communities with populations of under 7,500, Abraham said.

The state of Indiana came in with the most Carnegie libraries with 156, while California received 121 grants and Illinois 205.

Abraham provided several reasons for the number of Carnegie buildings in Indiana. One reason is that during the time the Carnegie buildings were being constructed, the agricultural pattern had created more small towns, and it is in these small towns that Carnegie libraries are located.

Also, it helped that Indiana residents knew a good bargain when they saw it. Carnegie libraries were a good bargain.

The idea of a free library was also big in Indiana at the time. It was important to people that they have access to free books, and Carnegie libraries would help to bring this access to the people who wanted it.

Carnegie libraries were designed to be accommodating to those who used it, Abraham told the audience. The layout of the buildings was very efficient, providing space for a small staff, a great deal of room for those using the library, browsing shelves, and no large board rooms. They also began providing reading areas for children, making the library accessible for people of all ages.

There is a lot of information available regarding the Carnegie buildings for those who wish to learn more. Abraham provided a list of suggested books, including: Temples of Knowledge: Andrew Carnegie’s Gift to Indiana by Alan McPherson; Carnegie Libraries: Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development by George S. Bobinski; Free To All: Carnegie Libraries & American Culture 1890-1920 by Abigail A. Van Slyck; and Carnegie Libraries Across America: A Public Legacy by Theodore Jones.

In addition to the presentation from Abraham, the Owen County Heritage and Culture Center also held their business meeting. The secretary and treasurer reports were presented, providing information from the past year.

The meeting concluded with the election of officers. Officers were unanimously voted into their positions. Taking the spot as the new president of the organization is Vic Kinney. Madi Arnett is the new vice president. Julia Long remains in her post as secretary, and Al Tinsley will continue as treasurer.

Additional board members are Bonnie Tinsley, James Baughn, Winnie Baughn, Rob Babbs, Janet Wardlaw and Mary Ackerman.

The Owen County Heritage and Culture Center is currently preparing for the centennial celebration of the Carnegie building in Owen County. Kinney explained that they will be celebrating in different ways throughout 2011, with a big celebration in January 2012.

Any ideas for celebrating are welcome from the public. Anyone with ideas can contact Bonnie Tinsley at 829-2738.

Return to top

© 2009-2017 Spencer Evening World, Inc. | Privacy Policy
No commercial reproduction without written consent. 
Electronic reproduction of any kind forbidden without written consent.

Click here for digital edition
2011-01-13 digital edition

Poll

According to Rasmussen Reports, polarization among today’s voters is apparent when they are asked whether the U.S. Constitution should be changed or left alone, with support for the Constitution as is at its lowest level in a decade. How do you feel?
http://www.spencereveningworld.com/news/2011-01-13/Front_Page/Carnegie_Presentation_By_State_Landmarks_Director_.html
www.spencereveningworld.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2017-43
31674
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:LZGX44TOUQGZORDMWNIY6UNSYZXJ2XWE
<urn:uuid:bdd7a8f4-9acf-4f85-88e5-f0395fde3257>
2017-10-19T05:46:18Z
52.6.30.244
application/xhtml+xml
sha1:O7Y23KXJDBUGCJCWNB3BK5SXRHI7VQB5
<urn:uuid:eb973d86-3412-4a29-97a5-7621766a8fab>
http://www.spencereveningworld.com/news/2011-01-13/Front_Page/Carnegie_Presentation_By_State_Landmarks_Director_.html
response
<urn:uuid:113e6f4a-c180-4151-a6e6-8e4c23cdb473>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-111-221-182.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-43
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for October 2017
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf