Libraries and the Reading Public in Twentieth-Century America

Preface

Preface Libraries and the Reading Public is a volume in the series “Print Culture History in Modern America,” a project of the Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture (CHPDC) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This series focuses particularly on the mediating roles print has played in American culture since 1876. Its scope encompasses studies of newspapers, books, periodicals, advertising, and ephemera. Special attention is given to groups whose gender, race, class, creed, occupation, ethnicity, and sexual orientation (among other factors) have historically placed them on the periphery of power but who have used print sources as one of the few means of expression available to them. Recent previous volumes include Science in Print: Essays on the History of Science and the Culture of Print (2012, edited by Rima D. Apple, Gregory J. Downey, and Stephen L. Vaughn), Education and the Culture of Print in Modern America (2010, edited by Adam R. Nelson and John L. Rudolph), and Religion and the Culture of Print in Modern America (2008, edited by Charles L. Cohen and Paul S. Boyer). Like other volumes in the series, Libraries and the Reading Public emerged from one of the CHPDC conferences, held biennially in Madison, Wisconsin. We would like to thank all those who took part in the 2010 conference, “Library History Seminar XII: Libraries in the History of Print Culture,” as either organizers or contributors. We especially thank the following for their sponsorship of the conference and for providing financial assistance toward the publication of this volume: the Anonymous Fund of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Brittingham Fund, Demco Corporation, the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association, the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Wisconsin Libraries, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Departments of English vii and the History of Science, the Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and the Wisconsin Print Culture Society. Thanks also go to Patrick B. Robbins for his careful indexing, the staff of the University of Wisconsin Press for their professionalism and expertise, and the two peer reviewers, whose knowledgeable and insightful comments did so much to improve the volume. viii Preface Libraries and the Reading Public in Twentieth-Century America ...