The Library Bureau was an American business founded by
Melville Dewey in 1876 to provide supplies and equipment to libraries. The Library Bureau quickly became a one-stop vendor for supplies and equipment a library might need. By 1900, its lengthy, well illustrated catalog was widely distributed.
History
After its 1876 start by Dewey the Library Bureau prospered as it supplied furniture, equipment, supplies, and services to many of the new
Carnegie Libraries being built during the late 1800s and early 1900s. It opened a number of large factories to provide furniture and supplies. It sold merchandise and services through a network of sales offices and distributors in the United States (46 in 1922), England (4), France (1), and Belgium.
In
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, its headquarters operated from offices located successively at
Hawley Street,
Franklin Street, and
Atlantic Avenue.
In the 1890s, the Library Bureau introduced vertical filing. It soon became a large supplier of filing equipment, supplies, and expertise to business and government. Library Bureau schools in major cities taught filing to clerical workers.
It opened a large factory in 1909 in a brick building at 224 Albany Street,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
; by 1925, there were 450 workers here. In 1918, the adjacent building, 230 Albany Street, became its headquarters. By 1922, the Library Bureau had factories in Cambridge,
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, and
Ilion, New York,.
[Library Bureau, "Steel card and filing cabinets]
cover page
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Between 1896 and 1899 Library Bureau collaborated with Herman Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company to distribute its punched cards processing machines.
Successors
In 1927, the Library Bureau was absorbed along with a number of suppliers of office supplies and equipment by the newly formed Remington Rand
Remington Rand, Inc. was an early American business machine manufacturer, originally a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers. Formed in 1927 following a merger, Remington ...
holding company. Remington Rand continued to use the brand name "Library Bureau" into the 1950s.
After Remington Rand and its successor companies had stopped using the Library Bureau brand name, they sold the name to a furniture company in Maryland.
See also
* L. B. Speedac, a visible file system commercialized by the Library Bureau
* Kardex Group, whose various predecessor companies were contemporaries in the industry of pre-computer card-based indexing and cataloguing systems
Notes
References
* Library Bureau, ''Classified Illustrated Catalog of the Library Department of the Library Bureau'', 189
full text
* —, ''The Story of Library Bureau'', 190
full text
* —, ''Filing as a Profession for Women'', 191
full text
* —, "Steel Card and Filing Cabinets, Library Bureau", 192
full text
a catalog of office supplies and equipment
* "Remington Rand", an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times, 21 June 1927, p. 23, announces the opening of a Los Angeles office and display room. The Remington Rand business services are listed as Kardex Rand, Remington, Dalton, Vaxter-Vawter, Powers Accounting, Library Bureau, and Safe-Cabinet.
External links
* Additional materials can be found at th
Open Library
and th
Digital Public Library of America
{{Authority control
1876 establishments in Massachusetts
Companies based in Boston
Companies established in 1876
Libraries in the United States