Denver Public Library
Encyclopedia
Public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...
of the city of Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Its administrative headquarters is on the 7th floor of the Central Library in Downtown Denver
Downtown Denver
Downtown Denver is the main financial, commercial, and entertainment district in Denver, Colorado. There is over of office space in downtown Denver, with 130,000 workers....
. , the library system had 2,519,977 items in its collection, and a library card base of 417,616 local residents. In addition to its Central facility, it has 23 branches and a bookmobile
Bookmobile
A bookmobile or mobile library is a large vehicle designed for use as a library. It is designed to hold books on shelves so that when the vehicle is parked the books can be accessed by readers. It usually has enough space for people to sit and read books inside. Mobile libraries are often used to...
program.
History
The library was established in June 1889 by City Librarian John Cotton DanaJohn Cotton Dana
John Cotton Dana was an American librarian and museum director whose main objective was to make the library relevant to the daily lives of the citizens and to promote the benefits of reading...
in a wing of Denver High School. In 1910 the library acquired a building of its own, called the Central Library, a Greek revival design funded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
that was located in Civic Center Park
Civic Center, Denver
Civic Center is a neighborhood and park in Denver, Colorado. The area is known as the center of the civic life in the city, with numerous institutions of arts, government, and culture as well as numerous festivals, parades, and protests throughout the year...
in downtown. Between 1913 and 1920, Carnegie also underwrote construction of the first eight branches of the city library. Previously the city relied on traveling trunks of books. In 1956 the city commissioned a new structure that was located on Broadway and 14th street and built by the firm of Fisher and Fisher/Burnham Hoyt. In 1990 75% of Denver voters approved a $91.6 million bond issue to add on to the Fisher and Fisher/Burnham Hoyt building. The 540000 square feet (50,167.6 m²) structure was designed by architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Michael Graves
Michael Graves
Michael Graves is an American architect. Identified as one of The New York Five, Graves has become a household name with his designs for domestic products sold at Target stores in the United States....
and the Denver firm of Klipp Colussy Jenks DuBois and is located adjacent to the Denver Art Museum
Denver Art Museum
The Denver Art Museum is an art museum in Denver, Colorado located in Denver's Civic Center.It is known for its collection of American Indian art,and has a comprehensive collection numbering more than 68,000 works from across the world....
.
Collections
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
collection, which began under the direction of City Librarian Malcom G. Wyer and includes 600,000 photographs, 3700 manuscript archives, 200,000 cataloged books, pamphlets, atlases, maps, and microfilm titles as well as a collection of Western fine art and prints. The Western History Department holds the Otto Perry
Otto Perry
Otto Perry was an American photographer and railfan specializing in railroad photos. Perry worked as a mailman in Denver, Colorado, where he met and became friends with Louis McClure, another noted photographer....
collection of railroad photographs, numbering 20,000 negatives from all parts of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
made available for viewing on the Internet.
The Genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
department includes 60,000 books, 75,000 pieces of microform, and hundreds of magazine and newsletter titles, charts, clippings, atlases and manuscripts.
The Western History and Genealogy departments merged in 1995 and are located on the fifth floor of the Michael Graves library building.
The Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library
Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library
The Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library is a branch of the Denver Public Library that serves Denver's Five Points neighborhood and is also a research library with collections focusing on the history of African Americans in Denver and the American West...
serves as an educational and cultural resource focusing on the history, literature, art, music, religion, and politics of African Americans in Colorado and throughout the Rocky Mountain West. The Library opened in 2003 and houses a full service branch library, research archives and the Western Legacies Museum, an exhibition space that spans more than 7000 square feet (650.3 m²) and includes an African American Leadership Gallery, a replica of the Office of Denver Mayor Wellington E. Webb, and rotating exhibits which highlight historical periods, notable individuals and local Denver history.
Library Branches
- Central Library
- Main Branch
- Burnham Hoyt Branch Library
- Children’s Library
- Western History & Genealogy Library
- Athmar Park Branch Library
- Ross-Barnum Branch Library
- Bear Valley Branch Library
- Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library
- Ross-Broadway Branch Library
- Byers Branch Library
- Ross-Cherry Creek Branch Library
- Decker Branch Library
- Eugene Field Branch Library
- Ford-Warren Branch Library
- Green Valley Ranch Branch Library
- Hadley Branch Library
- Hampden Branch Library
- Montbello Branch Library
- Park Hill Branch Library
- Pauline Robinson Branch Library
- Schlessman Family Branch Library
- Smiley Branch Library
- Ross-University Hills Branch Library
- Valdez-Perry Branch Library
- Virginia Village Branch Library
- Westwood Branch Library
- Woodbury Branch Library