Many of us have vivid recollections of childhood visits to a public library: the unmistakable musty scent, the excitement of checking out a stack of newly discovered books. Today, libraries in America also function as de facto community centres. And yet, across the country, cities large and small are closing public libraries or curtailing their hours of operation. Over the last eighteen years, photographer Robert Dawson has crisscrossed America documenting hundreds of these endangered institutions. The Public Library presents a wide selection of Dawson's photographs- from the majestic reading room at the New York Public Library to Allensworth, California's one-room Tulare County Free Library built by former slaves. Accompanying Dawson's revealing photographs are essays, letters and poetry by some of America's most celebrated writers. A foreword by Bill Moyers and an afterword by Ann Patchett bookend this important survey.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Princeton Architectural Press
ISBN-10
161689217x
ISBN-13
9781616892173
eBay Product ID (ePID)
195051986
Product Key Features
Format
Hardback
Language
English
Subject
Architecture
Dimensions
Height
229mm
Width
203mm
Additional Product Features
Place of Publication
New York
Photographer(s)
Robert Dawson
Date of Publication
08/04/2014
Genre
Architecture
Country of Publication
United States
Author Biography
Robert Dawson's photographs have been recognised by a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize. He is an instructor of photography at San Jose State University and Stanford University.