This picture shows Salem's Carnegie Library as it looked very soon after it was opened in July of 1905 -- perhaps in the winter of that year or early 1906, judging from the leafless trees. For more on the library's history, see the "Red-Back" Library card. A biographer of Andrew Carnegie says the steel magnate built 2,811 free libraries -- 1,946 in the United States, 660 in Britain and Ireland, 156 in Canada, and a handful around the rest of the world. The Indiana State Library keeps track of those within the states borders, and a Library Development Office (?) chart reports that Salem's is one of about 100 Carnegie libraries in the Hoosier state still in the service of their original purpose. This card is clearly part of the "Souvenir Postal Card" series, but its back shows a variation: The wording has been changed to "Souvenir Poste Card," something that may have been done in imitation (either conscious or unconscious) of European postcards of the time, which spelled it this way. In any case, the inclusion of the Carnegie Library, which was begun in 1904 and completed in July of 1905, in the series indicates that the group of cards, the first known set of Salem postcards, was first offered for sale in late 1905 or 1906. (11/4/01) Home | The 1900s | Next card