Treasures from the Worcester Room: A Bookmark to the Past

It’s certainly amazing what can be found inside a book.  You can find not only the knowledge and writing that they contain, but sometimes what readers will use as a bookmark.  While the library always has bookmarks available for readers, occasionally library users will use any number of papers or household objects as a bookmark.  Our librarians have found ticket stubs, take-out menus, and even cash between the pages of books.  It’s not every day though that we find a postcard from 1895, addressed to one of our Head Librarians.

Samuel Swett Green was the second Head Librarian of the Worcester Public Library and the nephew of Dr. John Green, whose donated personal collection served as the beginnings of the library back in 1859.  Samuel served as Head Librarian from 1867-1909 and is widely considered to be incredibly influential in the development of the modern public library.  Green was also one of the founders of the American Library Association.  This postcard was sent to him in 1895 from Berlin, Germany and appears to be regarding the invoice for a book.

The postcard was found inside a book from that era, and may very well have been placed there by Samuel Green himself in 1895.  If that is the case, it is good to know that one of the major contributors to public librarianship didn’t dog-ear his pages!