Public Library, Indianapolis, Indiana, circa 1938

About this postcard

A corner view of the Indianapolis Public Library, a Classical Revival building with a long colonnade of unfluted columns along its facade and a tall, mostly blank end wall facing the street. Steps, a lamp post, and beds of red flowers lead toward the entrance. The printed caption notes that the central library and 21 branches made 675,000 volumes available across Indianapolis, which it calls one of the foremost cities in book circulation and registered borrowers. The Carnegie-funded central library opened in 1917 on St. Clair Street, designed by Paul Philippe Cret, and anchored the city's library system for decades.