A Brief History of Books on Wheels

A Brief History of Books on Wheels

Erica AckerbergReading in Manhattan 📚

Bookmobiles have their origins in the early 1900s, as horse-drawn traveling libraries, providing access to books.

A Brief History of Books on Wheels

Erica AckerbergReading in Manhattan 📚

By the 1920s, bookmobiles were motorized and served readers, young and old, in urban and rural areas throughout the United States.

A Brief History of Books on Wheels

Erica AckerbergReading in Manhattan 📚

The Plattsburgh, N.Y. library system ran two bookmobiles in 1988. Most of the 70 stops they made were 60 miles away from the nearest public library.

A Brief History of Books on Wheels

Erica AckerbergReading in Manhattan 📚

The author James Lee Burke recalled that “the arrival of the bookmobile on our dead-end street sent kids running down to the cul-de-sac to be first in line for Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.”

A Brief History of Books on Wheels

Erica AckerbergReading in Manhattan 📚

Joe Queenan had a similar experience: “There was a bookmobile that came around every week.... I would borrow as many books as permitted, devour them and come back next week for more.”

A Brief History of Books on Wheels

Erica AckerbergReading in Manhattan 📚

They served an important purpose. As Margaret Atwood once wrote, “the Bookmobile was the whole world parked on my gravel road.”