Libraries are places where we connect people to information that may be useful or interesting to them. Looking at some history, and connecting it to the materials we may have in our libraries, can be a good way to convince patrons to use and enjoy all the things we provide!
This week we are looking at October 21. Of course a lot of things have happened on this date – news and the big stories are the unusual things that are going on around us. One interesting thing that has happened today in 1959: the The Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in Manhattan.
“Committed to innovation, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation collects, preserves, and interprets modern and contemporary art, and explores ideas across cultures through dynamic curatorial and educational initiatives and collaborations. With its constellation of architecturally and culturally distinct museums, exhibitions, publications, and digital platforms, the foundation engages both local and global audiences.”
Bring this historical fact to your library! You can do this with a variety of program and display ideas. We will help you to get started with a few ideas: bring out some books on creating art or biographies of artists, use graph paper and draw some plans for a building you would love to visit, use crafting supplies or other items and build a building as unstable as possible but still standing, with either paint/markers/crayons or digital tools paint some pictures and hang them on the walls, look at different styles of art that go into a museum – what kinds of things would you put into your own museum?, write a story about stepping inside a painting and the adventures you could have, record a video of an interesting building or interesting architectural pieces.
Here are a few books you might add to your collection or share with your patrons – or just enjoy yourself!
- 50 Lessons to Learn from Frank Lloyd Wright, by Aaron Betsky and Gideon Fink Shapiro
- Frank Lloyd Wright Paper Models: 14 Kirigami Buildings to Cut and Fold (paper folding, origami), by Marc Hagan-Guirey
- Architecture for Kids: Skill-Building Activities for Future Architects, by Mark Moreno and Siena Moreno
- Loving Frank: A Novel, by Nancy Horan
- The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design, by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt
- A Field Guide to American Houses (Revised): The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture, by Virginia Savage McAlester
- Architecture for Teens: A Beginner’s Book for Aspiring Architects, by Danielle Willkens
- Museums as Agents of Change (American Alliance of Museums), by Mike Murawski
- The Souvenir Museum: Stories, by Elizabeth McCracken