Rooms of their own: the library's children's services

The children's rooms. South Bend's public library began as a reading room on Michigan Street in 1873, under the South Bend Library and Reading Room Association, and its children's history is fixed here at the size the library's own history page supports: when the Tutt Branch opened in 1928, named for former Head Librarian Victoria M. Tutt, its quarters were planned with separate children's and adult rooms, a branch library built from the start with a room of the children's own. The system the Tutt branch joined grew into the St. Joseph County Public Library, renamed in 1990, with a new Main Library dedicated in 1992 at 304 S. Main St.

The Story Lady. What the photographic record does hold is vivid: the state library's digital collections preserve South Bend's Katherine Croxall, identified in the catalog as "The Story Lady," reading to a circle of children, and, at the Virginia M. Tutt branch, children registering for the summer reading program, Gloria Meszaros among them, and head librarian Roger B. Francis showing a film to the children who had finished it. The catalog leaves the photographs undated, and they print here as an undated record, which is what they are. The living form of the same service stands in the renovated Main Library, reopened November 14, 2021, after renovation: an interactive children's area where the old children's reading train gave way to a pretend cafe, reported that month by Adams High School's student newspaper.

Sources

1. St. Joseph County Public Library, "History of SJCPL" (sjcpl.org): 1873 Michigan Street reading room; Tutt Branch 1928, named for Victoria M. Tutt, separate children's and adult rooms; system renamed 1990; Main Library dedicated 1992, 304 S. Main St.
2. Indiana Memory / Indiana University digital collections, photograph captions as cataloged (undated): Katherine Croxall, "The Story Lady," reading to children; summer reading registration at the Virginia M. Tutt branch, Gloria Meszaros pictured; Roger B. Francis film showing for summer reading finishers.
3. Adams High School, The Tower, November 19, 2021: renovated Main Library reopened November 14, 2021; interactive children's area; reading train replaced by a pretend cafe.