The forgotten bookmarks in the books of a library at the heart of an exhibition
[ad_1]
An American librarian fell in love with the little scraps of paper found in borrowed books. Family photos, shopping list or children’s drawings tell the story of the inhabitantsfrom the town of Oakland.
Family photos, concert tickets, poems and shopping lists… An American librarian has for years collected makeshift bookmarks forgotten in borrowed books, a kaleidoscope of unknown lives now on display to the general public. This set “tells the story of the people here, of our city in a different, unexpected and library-related way”, enthuses Sharon McKellar, behind the exhibition in her public establishment in Oakland, near San Francisco, California.
For years, she has kept all the objects found in the books she collects warm. “I wanted to share something that was really interesting to me and that I think might pique the curiosity of others,” she explains. Between bookmarks made by children and photos taken at Christmas, there are letters written but never finished, words of love, postcards of thanks – “I have received your check”, can we read on the back of an illustration ofAlice in Wonderland .
So many fragments of the lives of anonymous borrowers. Some of the letters or cards, sent or not, “seem really personal”, reports to AFP Sharon McKellar, head of collections for teenagers. “There are words and cards that seem unfinished – and I really want to know the rest”, laughs the librarian.
Little words, photos, lists…
About ten years ago, Sharon McKellar began her collection, then launched a blog on the subject before the public library, equipped with a new website, offered her a chance to display her collection. She then made categories: small words, art, photos, cards and letters, bookmarks, lists, DIY objects, made by children…
An imperfect classification: where then to put an interview conducted by a grandson with his grandmother, asking her how she emigrated from Vietnam decades earlier? Where to fit, too, this roast beef recipe on which is noted “Behave better!” just before the ingredient list? Letters of self-reflection, verses charged with emotion… “It really feels like inner thoughts,” notes Sharon McKellar, as “if they try to talk to themselves, during a difficult moment, to remotivate themselves”.
The librarian has dedicated part of the exhibit to makeshift bookmarks – a list at Prevert where readers will recognize themselves: a concert ticket, a sticker of theEuro football 2012, a phone card, a receipt for the purchase of wiper blades, a boarding pass retrieved at the airport. Sharon McKellar’s favorite remains an annotated version: “So I just wanted to say that I think it’s crazy, whatever Newt is doing, he’s either super adorable or so hot!!!”
[ad_2]
Source link
