The Jefferson Market Library Archives
By Corinne Neary
LIBRARIANS AT JEFFERSON MARKET LIBRARY. Did you know they publish a quarterly zine? Photo credit: Bob Serating Photo. From the Jefferson Market Library archive.
Did you know that at Jefferson Market Library, we have a zine, and we publish new issues quarterly? If you didn’t know, and you’re asking yourself right now, “what the heck is a zine?” well, Merriam-Webster defines it as a “magazine, especially a noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter.” Our zine is completely made up of the work of our Village library users, along with some library features, highlighting items of special interest from our archive.
Last month, as the zine contributors were meeting and discussing what might be fun for our Fall issue, we came across books of reference queries from the 1970s. At that time, librarians would make a note of each reference question they were asked by patrons, either in person at the reference desk, or over the phone. Here are a few things that Greenwich Villagers were wondering about 50 years ago, in the Fall of 1974.
September 23, 1974
“Name of film star who was a lisping antique collector.”
September 25, 1974
“Qualifications to be a pope.”
October 15, 1974
“Pictures of people listening to a vintage radio, 1940s.”
October 17, 1974
“Who was Charles Morgan, after whom a sailing ship was named?”
October 28, 1974
“Where did John Pows live on Patchin Place?”
October 29, 1974
“How many people lived in Athens during its prime? How many free, and how many slaves?”
October 31, 1974
“When was George Sand in Majorca?”
November 8, 1974
“Description of behavior of someone suffering from amnesia (for an actor preparing for a role).”
November 13, 1974
“Roaches.”
If these queries have only whetted your appetite for vintage library chronicles, fear not! We’ll have some previously unseen 1970s reference questions in the Fall issue. And please join us at our Fall issue release party, Wednesday, October 23 at 4:30 p.m. in our third floor Mae West room. You can meet and mingle with the zine contributors, have some light refreshments, and see if you’d like to join us for our Winter issue.
The Proust Center
AT JEFFERSON MARKET LIBRARY
Volunteers will be reading aloud various letters to and from Marcel Proust, using “Marcel Proust: Selected Letters,” translated by Philip Kolb and Terence Kilmartin.
Marcel Proust Festival: Literary Conversations
Tuesdays, 6:00-7:30 p.m. at Jefferson Market Library
October 8
Selected Letters Volumes 1-3 (1880-1914)
November 12
Selected Letters Volumes 3-4 (1914-1922)
December 10
Proust’s dedication-letter of April 20, 1918 to Jacques Lacretelle (keys to the ‘little phrase’)
All programs are free and open to the public. Registration is required, as space is limited.
Register for October 8, 2024: nypl.org/events/programs/2024/10/08/marcel-proust-festival-literary-
conversation
