Civic Pride in a Lost America: Library Postcards
Carnegie Libraries of Oklahoma
(including the Indian Territories)
Ardmore
1903 grant, from Territorial times. Replaced, 1963. Astonishingly, among its library years of service, the second storey was removed. Despite this, it's on the NRHP. Today, the Pansy Garden Club owns the library building.
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Hopson & Day printed this somewhat indistinct postcard for O'Meara Photo Co. The pen date is July 28th, 1906.
Bartlesville
1908 grant. (The Library's new history page gives the grant date as 1912.) Demolished in 1990.
Check out their history page. The Library had a surprisingly contentious past.
(L) E.C. Kropp card, never postally used. I believe those are canna lilies out front.
(R) Unattributed card, salvaged from a scrapbook.
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Chickasha
During Territorial years received a 1903 grant. Demolished in 1963. No history on the library site.
(L) This resembles the card seen on the Oklahoma State site. It's one of the nicer E.C. Kropp postcards, showing an attractive Neoclassical building with outscale windows.
(R) This card was produced for S.H. Kress, and might have been printed by Curt Teich.
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El Reno
(L) Curt Teich 'C.T. American Art' card dates from the 1910s.
(R) Card by W.M. Stolz contains the typo 'El Peno.'
Founded in 1897 as a Library during Oklahoma Territory years. Upgraded via a 1903 Carnegie grant. Architect: S. Wemyss Smith. Built by A.C. Kraipke, who, by the pictures on the Oklahoma's Carnegie Library site, selected some really poor quality bricks.
A 1964 addition helped it stay in use.
Enid
(L) E.C. Kropp post card postdates 1907.
(R) Slightly newer 'C.T. American Art' Curt Teich card.
Built 1904: razed.
Frederick
September, 1914 grant.
This is one of the few Oklahoma Carnegie buildings still in use as a library.
Auburn Post Card, mailed in 1930.
Guthrie
(L) This is a charming card from the Raphael Tuck and Sons' 'Our Belles' series. F.B. Little and Co. were the publishers in Guthrie, Oklahoma. The style of this card emphasizes that Guthrie's Carnegie Library was built before statehood.
Second public library in the Indian Territory (1901): oldest Carnegie building remaining in Oklahoma. In use until 1972.
Saved by philanthropist Fred Pfeiffer, who built the Oklahoma Territorial Museum next door so that the Carnegie building might be saved.
(L) E.C. Kropp card, never mailed.
(R) Captioned as: Carnegie Library and Inauguration of Gov. Frantz.
Per the Museum's history page, this event occurred in 1906, the year before statehood. It generated a fantastic postcard, however.
Hobart
1911 grant.
This is another of the few Oklahoma Carnegie buildings still in use as a library.
William McCanse was the original architect, according to the September, 2004 issue of Trustee Talk. It was expanded in 1987, primarily for accessibility.
Post Office Book Store postcard, never mailed.
Lawton
(L) One of the prettier E.C. Kropp cards.
(R) Linen finish card printed for the Sooner News Agency.
Built in 1916, and on the National Register of Historic Places, this building no longer functions as a library. It has unusual architecture that somehow looks distinctly Western.
McAlester
1906 grant. Dedicated in 1914.
Replaced in 1970, and demolished in 1974, ostensibly due to issues with flooding.
The card was made for S.H. Kress. Note the silly open car added in front of the building, barely on the street.
Muskogee
1910 grant. Per the postcard, built in 1913. Since 1972, this building no longer functions as a library. It is used as office space today.
1943 linen finish Curt Teich card, mailed in 1946.
Oklahoma City
Late 1899 grant. Demolished 1951.
Embossed card,
publisher unknown.
H.H. Clarke card.
E.C. Kropp card with interesting details.
Perry
Card mailed in 1915, but has an entire back.
1909 grant: still in use. Its architecture is a slight modification of the standard Type A plan.
Sapulpa
Now the Bartlett-Carnegie Library. I assume Bartlett funded the huge addition. Its Carnegie funding was granted in 1916.
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The C.T. American Art (Curt Teich) card dates to 1921, and was never mailed.
Shawnee
These images could not have been treated more differently.
(L) Curt Teich postcard, from 1909 or 1910.
(R) Curt Teich postcard, from 1919.
1904 grant. Replaced.
Tulsa
Wagoner
1911 grant. The 1912 building was condemned in 2018: I do not know if it has been demolished yet. I do know that 660 sq. ft. is insufficient for library service. I don't know what style this brick building was called. There are neo-Georgian traces.
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The postcard is a less common Curt Teich marque: 'C.T. Photo-Cote,' and was published in 1951.
Woodward
1915 grant.
Built in 1917: replaced in 1988. Still standing. Its Google Street View shows a neighboring playground and an illegible logo on the Carnegie building's front door.
Photo postcard, never mailed.
A good source for Oklahoma/Indian Territory Carnegie library history was Oklahoma Carnegie Libraries by Booker and Finchum.