Librariana

Collecting Library Artifacts and Memorabilia

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Card Catalog Cabinets

Card catalogs are definitely an endangered species. The members of the Librariana Listserv came up with a number of uses for old card catalog cabinets.

As a storage device for:

Odds and ends
Cassette tapes
Bills and letters
Checks, check stubs, deposit slips
Bookmarks
Pin back buttons
Postcards
Pencils and pens
Playing cards
Kitchen tools
Envelopes
Sports cards
Barbie dolls
GI Joe dolls
Hot Wheels
Sewing supplies
Knitting supplies
Craft supplies
Nuts and bolts
Hand held weights
And hundreds of other small items

Card catalog cabinets can also be used as a piece of furniture.  These uses include:

Accent piece (nice just to look at)
TV stand
Stereo stand
End table
Night table
Wine rack (after conversion)
To display small potted plants in open drawers
A kitchen pantry for storage of canned goods, jello packages and other pantry items

American Libraries' 101-Uses-For-a-Dead-Catalog Contest

In March, 1982, the editors of American Libraries challenged readers to come up with clever uses for card catalogs that had been replaced by automated catalogs.  Some 200 suggestions were received.  A group of 22 winners was revealed in the November, 1982 issue of the magazine.

Winner of the Most Mercifully Brief Verse Category was Marcia Myers:

A dead card catalog for CC
Would make a handy pantry,
You can be like Chef Boyardee
Simply by using a library CC
To file food and recipes A to Z.
Then sesame seeds, Jello, beets, and soups
galore
Would supersede Othello, Keats, and Daniel
Gore

The April, 2002 issue of American Libraries included a picture and brief sidebar about the use of an old card catalog by an elementary school library as a focal point in the children's room.  The drawers were opened and stuffed literary characters including Pooh, Clifford, and Wild Thing were placed in them. The Cat in the Hat sits on top of the catalog. Page 22.

I have two card catalogs.  I use them primarily to store a variety of my librariana collectibles including envelopes, postcards, bookmarks, buttons, and smaller items.  My wife uses part of one catalog to store her fly typing supplies.

      

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Last updated: 02-22-05

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