Today’s mystery is a photo of an older home in Gwinnett. Who can remember where this house was located, and tell more about it? Send your ideas to ebrack2@gmail.com, including your hometown.
The previous mystery was easily identified as the former library in Duluth, on Park Lane by several people. This included Kay Montgomery, Duluth; Jay Altman, Columbia, S.C.; Cindy Evans, Duluth; Jim Feeley, Peachtree Corners; Michael Blackwood, Duluth; Pat Bruschini, Peachtree Corners; Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill; George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex.
Today this building is occupied by Gwinnett County government with offices for a solid waste call center team along with members of the elections team.
Kay Montgomery tells us that a previous library was located on West Main Street in Duluth. “My great-aunt, Frances Parsons, was the librarian.”
George Graf remembers his school and township public library as “being extremely quiet places overseen by a librarian dictator wearing dark framed glasses with a strap around her neck allowing the glasses to hang down when she was giving you the business. If you were caught talking or making too much noise, you got a glare from the dictator with a big ‘Shussh.’ A second misstep got you a stern request to leave the library. These were quiet places where people came to read, do research or check in/out books.
“Rarely did I ever see small children in the library. Parents would check out children’s books and take them home to read to the kids outside of the library confines. If you talked at all in the library it was through hushed whispers. The only sounds I ever heard were pages turning or sometimes the clickety clack of a typewriter by the library staff. You didn’t ask for a book at the desk, but rather went to the card catalog to look up its location. Late returns got you a disdainful look from the staff followed by a monetary fine that you had to settle immediately.
“These days libraries are fun places with children’s chatter, computers and smartphones beeping, video shows and special guests giving presentations. A welcoming place from the days back in my youth. Our library has boxes for donating food items and is decorated with children’s artwork items. You can even speak normally making requests or talking to the staff about their take on the latest books or videos. It’s a much better environment for learning and enjoyment over my early experiences in the tightly controlled library confines.”
- SHARE A MYSTERY PHOTO: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: ebrack2@gmail.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
Follow Us