Reading Places: Literacy, Democracy, and the Public Library in Cold War America

Acknowledgments

ix Acknowledgments E this research was supported by a number of institutions. I am very grateful to the University of Iowa for two old Gold Fellowships and an Arts and humanities Initiative award; to the Wisconsin historical society for an Amy Louise hunter Fellowship; and to st. Catherine University, st. Paul, minnesota, for an Abigail Quigley mcCarthy Center for Women's studies Award for research and Creative Work, and a Faculty research and scholarship Award. some material has already appeared in print, and I thank the publishers for agreeing to my incorporating it into this larger work. Parts of Chapters 1 and 9 appeared in “Beyond market models and resistance : organizations as a middle Layer in the history of reading,” The Library Quarterly 79, no. 1 (2009): 73–93, and part of Chapter 3 in “Advocate for Access: Lutie stearns and the traveling Libraries of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission, 1895–1914,” Libraries and Culture 35, no. 3 (2000): 434–58. Parts of Chapters 5 and 6 appeared in “A ‘Bouncing Babe,’ a ‘Little Bastard’: Women, Print, and the doorKewaunee regional Library, 1950–1952,” in Women in Print: Essays on the Print Culture of American Women from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, edited by James P. danky and Wayne A. Wiegand (madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006). Part of Chapter 8 appeared in “Blood and thunder on the Bookmobile: American Public Libraries and the Construction of ‘the reader,’” in Institutions of Reading: The Social Life of Libraries in the United States, edited by thomas Augst and Kenneth Carpenter (Amherst: University of massachusetts Press, 2007), and parts of Chapters 1 and 8 in “reading versus the red Bull: Cultural Constructions of democracy and the Public Library in Cold War Wisconsin,”AmericanStudies42no.3(2001):87–103and“theWisconsin Idea in Action: reading, resistance, and the door-Kewaunee regional Library, 1950–52,” The Wisconsin Magazine of History 91, no. 4 (summer 2008): 29–39. thanks also go to audiences who listened to presentations and x Acknowledgments offered valuable comments and suggestions at meetings of the midAmerica American studies Association (mAAsA) in omaha (nebraska ), 1999, madison (Wisconsin), 2001, st. Louis (missouri), 2002, and Iowa City (Iowa), 2003; at meetings of the society for the history of Authorship, reading, and Publishing (shArP) in Vancouver, (B. C., Canada), 1998, mainz (Germany) 2000, Williamsburg (Virginia), 2001, and Claremont (California), 2003; and at new scholarship in Book history and Print Culture: An Interdisciplinary Conference, University of toronto, 2002, and the modern Languages Association, new York, 2002. many people have helped to produce this book. I owe especial thanks to the many residents of door and Kewaunee counties who shared their memories with me, including Al, Anita, Bob, Clarice, delores, doris, dorothy, eileen, emily, Gayle, Gerry, hazel, Janice, Kathy, Lucille, marlene, ruth, shirley, and sylvia, as well as Virginia Johnson of the Kewaunee County historical society, robert miller, and Lee traven. the assistance of local librarians was invaluable, and I particularly thank library directors (some now retired) rebecca n. Berger, marcia Carr, Barb Gigot, susan Grosshuesch, Kaye maher, and Ann schmitz, as well as the staffs of the public libraries of Algoma, Bailey’s harbor, Forestville, Kewaunee, sturgeon Bay, and Washington Island, especially Laura Kayacan, Alyce sutter, Linda Vogel, and Kathy White. special thanks are due to rebecca Berger for permission to use the cover photograph. the person I owe most to, Jane Livingston Greene, died in 2004. I very much regret that I did not finish this project in time for her to see its completion. Without Jane’s generous and forthright sharing of her recollections and insights it would not have been possible. several people took precious time from their own work to read and comment on earlier versions of the book: rima Apple, Jane Greer, Cheryl malone, erin A. smith, and Wayne Wiegand. I thank all of them, as well as thomas Augst and an anonymous reviewer for their invaluable suggestions. It was Wayne Wiegand who pointed out the existence of the door-Kewaunee regional Library circulation records. Andrew Wertheimer and sarah roberts helped unearth resources at the Wisconsin historical society. Particular thanks go to the staff of the Archives reference room there, and to students who worked on Acknowledgments xi the database and interview transcriptions, including stephanie Gowler, Amber Johnson, heather stecklein, and Christy Vos. I’m very grateful to martyn Lyons, who shared techniques for interviewing readers and passed on many helpful tips...