Robert Dawson’s 2012 book The Public Library is a 189-page tribute to our public institutions of knowledge, illustrated with exacting photographs and informed by keen essays.
Dawson calls the book a “snapshot of America,” a culmination of inspiring moments in his career.
First, Ansel Adams gave him a portfolio review at his Carmel home, telling a young Dawson that he was as proud of his own environmental work as his photography. Then, a 1976 photography book called Court House showed him that public buildings could reflect the state of the nation. Finally, after embarking on environmental photography projects, he concluded that libraries constitute another public space.
“Using photography to address social issues was deeply ingrained into who I was,” Dawson says.
He worked toward his libraries project a little at a time for years, during which he got married, became a father, worked as a university teacher, and did other projects. From beginning to end, it took 18 years. Toward the end, his son was old enough to embark on summer road trips with him, racking up more than 11,000 miles to document libraries in 48 states.
On page 48 sits the Queens Library bookmobile, a faded yellow bus parked in the washed-out winter landscape of post-Hurricane Sandy in Queens, New York.
On page 20, Dawson writes that the tiny Hartland Four Corners library in Vermont – photographed in 1994 but now closed – sold its entire collection of 70 boxes of books to a used-book dealer for $125. On the page opposite that, big and in color, is Seattle’s Central Library, an 11-story, gleaming, angular, glass-and-steel citadel that opened in 2004.
The photos are architectural portraits. Amy Tan, Bill Moyers, Philip Levine, Barbara Kingsolver and others contributed 16 essays for free, for love of libraries.
Another photo shows us a letter by E.B. White, co-author of The Elements of Style, addressed to the children of the public library in Troy, Michigan:
“Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had… Books are people.”
Dawson describes The Public Library as an “all-consuming project.” For his efforts, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Library of Congress bought the entire project, including 681 prints.
But maybe the most valuable reward is the one he tries to share.
“As a culture, we have more in common with each other than we think,” he says. “We’re alike.”
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