The Carnegie Visual Arts Center in Decatur, Alabama, springs from the original Carnegie Library built in Decatur in 1904. Andrew Carnegie built over 2800 free libraries in the English-speaking world. Decatur's Library had its origins in 1895 when citizens in the towns of Decatur and New Decatur began the drive to build a community lending library.
The leaders of the library drive applied to the Carnegie foundation for the money to build the library. Like every deal that Andrew Carnegie made, the Carnegie Libraries came with strings attached. The Carnegie Foundation would usually donate enough money to fund the building, about $2 per citizen for the building. However, to receive the money, the community had to agree to fund the library at the rate of 10% of the building cost per year for upkeep, utilities, and books. An agreement was reached and the doors opened in the fall of 1904.
The Carnegie Library served Decatur for about 70 years. A modern library was built near city hall during the 70's. The Carnegie then housed the Red Cross, after which it became an annex building for First Baptist Church.
I became involved with photographing the building in fall of 2001. The Decatur Arts Council had decided to convert the old building into an arts center. The renovation project was just beginning and Kim Mitchell, project coordinator, allowed me access to |
the building to photograph on a trip through Decatur. I spent a couple of days rediscovering the old library, without the books and chairs of my memories. Karal Ann Marling best sums up my feelings about the library. She wrote in the preface of Carnegie Libraries Across America: A Public Legacy:
"If you remember toiling -awestruck- up marble staircases in search of facts for a junior high geography report; if you have driven past perfect, preserved-in-amber temples in towns too small for a stoplight and Walmart; if you have ever sat through Story Hour in a Children's Reading Room perched on a teeny weenie little chair that transported you to pirate dens and Indian camps and all the treasures of fairydom...."
You have then experienced a Carnegie Library.
I wanted to photograph in this building because of my own memories. It was a gift of time to listen quietly to the ghosts as they stirred to life in this building, and watch the shadows falling gracefully across the floor. I hope the images stir memories of your own.
The images in the Form and Structure Exhibition include the Carnegie Library of Decatur, Tillman Crane/STRUCTURE, and other projects. The formal opening is Saturday, April 3, 2004. Carnegie Center for the Visual Arts is open Tuesdays through Sundays. Call 256.341.0562 for more information.
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