From November 2022 through February 2023, we invited you to "picture a library" with us by doing one of the following with a written entry about your submission:
- Take a photo of a library you see or visit on your upcoming travels.
- Find a photo of a library you love and share it with us.
- Draw your own library!
All submissions were entered in a drawing and the winner was randomly selected. Congratulations to Monica Cardestam! She wins a bundle of book themed gifts including a Date Due slip tote bag, "I'd Rather Be Reading" notecards and envelopes, ShakeSpearmints, and the books "The Literary Pocket Puzzle Book" and "Remarkable Books." Monica shared the following about her illustration:
I like my drawing of the Lake Forest Library because it represents my city's library. "It is a beloved informational and cultural resource with outstanding art and architectural elements" as stated in the Lake Forest Library capital improvement project. My drawing pays homage to a Lake Forest city icon.
Thank you to everyone who submitted a library picture! We hope you enjoy Monica's illustration and the other entries below.
What do you like about your library picture?
I discovered this library by accident. It was last year and my husband and I and our two daughters were in London for their first trip abroad. On this particular day we were exploring the Victoria and Albert Museum. Just up a large staircase there was a short, dead end hallway just to the left. All other visitors were going right, but I went left to see what was through some glass double doors. And this is what I saw as I snapped a picture through the closed doors. It’s the National Art Library, and although no one was allowed in (or maybe because no one was allowed in) it felt like a hidden discovery.
What do you like about your library picture?
Since I work at the Lake Forest Library which is a beautiful library built and given as a gift to the City of Lake Forest, by Laura Shedd and Helen Shedd Reed Keith, daughters of former Marshall Field store president John G. Shedd, I was intrigued to go to The Morgan Library & Museum in NYC after reading The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray which is a fictionalized telling of the lifework of Belle da Costa Greene, the personal librarian to J.P. Morgan, as well as the first director of the Morgan Library and Museum. Belle da Costa Green was an American librarian best known for managing and developing the personal library of J. P. Morgan. After Morgan's death in 1913, Greene continued as librarian for his son, Jack Morgan, and in 1924 was named the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library. Despite being born to Black parents, Greene spent her professional career passing for white.
In 1924, eleven years after Pierpont Morgan's death, his son, J.P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), known as Jack, realized that the library had become too important to remain in private hands. In what constituted one of the most momentous cultural gifts in U.S. history, he fulfilled his father's dream of making the library and its treasures available to scholars and the public alike by transforming it into a public institution. The Morgan Library and Museum is majestic in appearance yet intimate in scale, the structure was to reflect the nature and stature of its holdings. The result was an Italian Renaissance-style palazzo with three magnificent rooms epitomizing America's Age of Elegance.
What do you like about your library picture?
The picture was taken between this past Thanksgiving and Christmas and shows some of the Christmas cheer in the children's section. This library is located in Brazil, Indiana.