At the end of World War I, when entering combat in the United States, hundreds of libraries launched the American War Library Service, a major project to send books to the "Doughboys" (American soldiers) in the trenches - almost one and a half million books until the armistice.
American Library in Paris ( la Bibliothèque Américaine à Paris)
The American Library in Paris was founded in 1920 by the American Library Association with funds from these books and a currency that reflects the spirit in which it was created: Atrum post bellum, ex libris lux, after the shadow of war, light books. Its charter promised to provide readers in France, he was best among the literature and American culture as well as library science. It was soon established at 10 rue de l'Elysee, in the imposing hotel that had previously been the residence of the Apostolic Nuncio.
At first, the direction of the library was provided by a small group of American expatriates, including Charles Seeger, father of the young American poet Alan Seeger ("I have a rendezvous with death ...») died in the war and great-uncle of Folk singer Pete Seeger. Among the first directors of the Library included the expatriate American writer Edith Wharton. Among the first used in the Library, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein collaborated with the Library Journal Ex Libris, which is published today in a newsletter. Thornton Wilder and Archibald MacLeish borrowed books. Sylvia Beach offered books. Stephen Vincent Benét wrote "John Brown's Body" (in 1928) to the Library.
The continuing role as a bridge function that the library between the United States and France was obvious from the start. French President Raymond Poincare, as well as war heroes like Joffre, Foch and Lyautey, attended the official opening of the first presidents Bibliothèque.Une Board was Clara Longworth de Chambrun, sister of Nicholas Longworth, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States.
A range of talented American librarians succeeded in the difficult years of depression, while the first cycles of evenings with authors drew for conferences, leading figures of French literature such as André Gide, Andre Maurois, Princess Bonaparte and Colette. In 1936, financial problems eventually led the Library to new premises, streets of Tehran.
With the advent of World War II occupation of France and the increased threats vis-à-vis the French Jews, the Library Director, Dorothy Reeder, its staff and volunteers did a heroic providing underground and in disregard of the danger a loan service of books to Jewish members, banned from libraries. A staff member was shot by the Gestapo for not being fast enough hands in the air during a surprise inspection.
When Dorothy Reeder had to return to the United States for safety, the Comtesse de Chambrun took the opportunity to lead the Library. Paradox typical of the occupation, fortuitous marriage of his son with the daughter of the Prime Minister of the Vichy government, Pierre Laval, the Library secured a senior friend and almost exclusive right to stay open and its fund collections be largely exempt from censorship throughout the war. A French diplomat later said that the Library was occupied Paris in "a window to the free world."
The library was again successful in the postwar period, while the United States assumed a new role in the world, the expatriate community in Paris is regenerated and a new wave of American writers came in Paris - and the Library. Irwin Shaw, James Jones, Mary McCarthy, Art Buchwald, Richard Wright and Samuel Beckett were active members for a period of dizzying growth and expansion. In the early Cold War years, grants from the U.S. government allowed the creation of ten branches of the American Library in Paris and even the Latin Quarter. The Library moved to the Champs Elysees in 1952. This is the address that the Director Ian Forbes refused the visit of Roy Cohn and Joseph Schine, two subordinates notorious Senator Joseph McCarthy who ferreted across Europe in search of books to ban.
The Library was acquired from its current location two blocks from the Seine and two blocks from the Eiffel Tower in 1965 - leaving room on the Champs-Elysees to the famous public institutions, the Drugstore. Rue du Général Camou, the library contributed to the development of the fledgling library of the American College of Paris. Now part of the American University in Paris, the library is our neighbor and tenant. Branches ended their relationship with the American Library in Paris in the 90s, and three have survived through other partnerships.
Since the turn of the century, membership in the library grew to over 2,300 families and individuals, including third quarter of American and French. A rich evening program attracts hundreds of Parisians and visitors to hear authors and other personalities. More than 200 events a year for children, reading groups, writing workshops, movie nights, exhibitions and other events have made the American Library a prominent focus of the cultural life of the city.
The American Library in Paris is the largest lending library of books in English in continental Europe.
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