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20 Nostalgic Images of Circulating Libraries

These days, we can order almost any book in the world straight to our doorstep or simply download them to devices like kindle. This would definitely come in handy in quarantine. But it wasn’t always so. Just a few decades ago, people who lived in villages or remote areas without a library depended on bookmobiles. The mission of these circulating libraries was to make the printed word accessible to everyone. 

One of the earliest recorded bookmobiles was the Perambulating Library in Warrington, England 1859. It was a horse-drawn cart and lent about 12,000 books during its first year of service. Bookmobiles did not appear in the US until the early 1900s. Eventually, they were motorized and reached the height of their popularity in the mid-20th century, when they became an everyday part of American life. 
Take a look at these 20 nostalgic images of circulating libraries, that will send you back to a time when the world operated much differently. 

1. Bookmobile, 1925

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

2. A Horse-drawn Cart In Washington In The 1900s. It Was One Of The First American Bookmobiles, Built In 1905, But Was Hit And Destroyed By A Train In 1910

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

3. A Bookmobile In Indonesia, Early 20th Century

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

4. Book Caravan In Iowa, C.1927

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

 

5. A Mobile Library In Kurdistan, Iran, 1970

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles
 

6. An Impatient Line For A Dutch Bookmobile

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles
Image Source: Bibliobussen / Flickr

7. The Book Caravan, One Of The First Traveling Bookshops, 1920

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles
 

8. Greensboro, North Carolina, 1936

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

Image Source: Crossett Library / Flickr

9. Patrons Visiting The Bookmobile

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

10. Chris Junapa Standing In The Bookmobile, 1980

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

11. Bookmobile, 1924

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles
 
Related Article: Profound Historic Photos

12. One Of The Library Bookmobiles, C. 1948

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

13. The First Bookmobile Of The Public Library Of Cincinnati, 1927

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

14. Three Of The Bookmobile Staff, C.1930

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

15. Bookmobile At Anne Arundel County Fair, 1973

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

16. Patrons Visiting The Bookmobile

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

17. Summer Rural Service, 1936

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

18. Utah State Library Bookmobile On The Road Circa 1970

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

19. A Very Fine Bookmobile Owned By The New Castle County Free Library

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles

20. Bookmobile 

20 Historical Images of Bookmobiles
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