Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American Libraries
TV News
Understanding 9/11tv Trenton Free Public Library CSPAN May 21, 2017 10:02am-10:09am EDT
10:02 am
from one side of the river usually to another. but when he designed the brooklyn bridge, he made it a work of art cause he knew these were going to be americans monuments in the future. >> book tv is in trenton new jersey to learn more about its literary culture. up next is the trenton free public library, one of the oldest public libraries in the state. >>
10:03 am
>> and, actually, that is how we were able to maintain some of the volumes today, because in, during the battle of trenton with the british and the hessians, they actually burnt the original library. and the only way that we were able to have any of the collection was that individuals had paid their subscription fee and actually had books at home. so a few years after the battle there was a plea to those individuals that was published in the newspaper, please, bring those volumes back. and the library can boast that we have two copies today -- they're not in the best of
10:04 am
shape, but we own them, and we're still searching our archives to see if there are any more that exist be here. this is our room where our archivist, laura pole, works x. she has pulled out for me two of the original collection, the two that we can actually locate, that were miraculously saved because they missed the fire of 1776 when the hessianses and the british came through during the battle of trenton k can they burnt down the originally library. these two were actually in the homes of trenton residents, and after the newspaper had put out a request for individuals who had think of the original collection to return, they were able to salvage at least these two. we know that there are rumored to be numerous other copies of the original from ben franklin, from his donation. however, the library is going
10:05 am
through an inventory, and we hope to be able to find as many of them as possible. this building was rebuilt in june of 1900, is when the groundbreaking began. and we didn't officially open until june 9, 1902. in 1976 the new adecision was built, and -- addition was better -- was built. this beautiful marble staircase begins, of course, in our atrium, and it leads into our reading room which is located on our mezzanine level. this room used to be used for research when it was first erected this 1915. the previous director following her research and looking at various pictures decided that she wanted to convert it into a beautiful reading room where our
10:06 am
patrons would be able to come and enjoy the room. what's really exciting is on the balcony level there are some aerials where they actually look out as the if they were windows on to that organization of the city. is so those aerials that you see if those were windows, that's what you would see back in 1915. the previous director, kimberly matthews, researched very, very long is and hard to find out the colors that would have been placed in the room back in 1915 which is how she decided on these particular colors. the most exciting thing about this is we were placed on the ballot by referendum vote by the then-mayor, mayor briggs, who placed us in the if position to where -- in the position to where we would never fall under the hands of the public again fearing we would never be able to exist. so by referendum vote, we are
10:07 am
secured as a free public library. it didn't rely on whether or not someone had the money to subscribe or anything like that. we operate out of a budget that is appropriated to us by the city of trenton, but we are secure in that we will always be a free public library. libraries are an amazing institution within our country. free public libraries, even greater. we have the ability to offer individuals things that they cannot afford or have access to. what's amazing is here in the free public library everyone is equal. it doesn't matter if you're the richest person or if you have personally not a penny to your name. but what's amazing is when you come through the door of a public library, you are equal, and everyone has access to everything. >> we're outside the trenton city museum where c san is --
10:08 am
c-span is learning more about the city's literary scene. up next, we speak with robert mcgreevey on "borderline citizens." >> older industries tended to focus on nation-centered accounts, to is we tended to frame immigration history in terms of the run rooted -- uprooted, the transplanted. and these ideas assumed that migrants crossed a clear boundary, crossing from their home country to the united states. and what i show in my book is that this border was very much constructed between the u.s. and puerto rico and that puerto rican migration is fundamentally shaped by u.s. colonial policy on the island. in the war of 1898, the u.s. invades puerto rico and philippines, and after the war
55 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
CSPAN2
Television Archive 
Television Archive News Search Service 
Uploaded by TV Archive on
