Old People Question

[barkley]

I was told that is what the library was for.

I think our closest library was a 20 minute drive and had to go downtown

the only 2 libraries near us growing up were both about 45 minutes drive away so there was no going to library. our only resource for library books was the every 2 week visiting bookmobile and they did not contain encyclopdias. i did not encounter a school with a library until high school.

 

[Dan Murphy]

By the time I was 10 years old I’d already graduated to full access of the local library’s adult section.

You didn't live in Florida, right?

 

[The Mayor]

Never had them because we lived about 50 yards from our library and back in the good old days you were allowed to check them out.

 

[RedAngie]

We did not have a set at home when growing up. We had the local library, could ride my bike to it. Or one of the regional libraries in the city (Chicago) for tougher, more involved assignments. And then the downtown library, take the bus and subway, or the train. Lots of writing and taking notes.

Who remembers Microsoft's Encarta in the 1990's and early 2000's? I bought that and the updates each year. Thought it was amazing. And then, came the Internet.

I lived about six blocks from a branch library growing up In Philadelphia and went there often starting about 4th grade.

I only went to the main library downtown two or three times.

Encarta was the encyclopedia my daughters used in the early days of home computers.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I remember we had the World Book + the children's edition they mad (the name escapes me, another sign of getting old I suppose)

 

[jo-jo]

Since this thread had me thinking about it, they were these, the Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia of Science. We bought them at the grocery store actually. Anyway, they had stuff about computers and space travel, and I, like many 80's kids, was super into that stuff!

View attachment 889940

We have those too.

This is what our kids had. In my day, we had go to the library and spend money to make copies. Those 10 cents a copy adds up. Slight side track, when I was a teen, erasable ink was right up there with space travel. The days of hand writing a whole page over was done.

 

[AppleDumpling]

My family had World Book encyclopedias that I used for school reports all the time. Original set was from the 60’s and we got the annual year book supplements for many years. We also got a new World Almanac every year that we used to look up facts, long before the internet.

 

[ncc1701]

We didn't have a set. But I remember reading them in my school library.

 

[SteveMouse]

We had World Book and the updates. When I was a freshman in high school, a set of the big Encyclopedia Britannica appeared. It was a little old, but fine for history. My school library left a lot to be desired. The county library system was pretty good. We lived a 15 minute bike ride from the main library.

 

[Debbie Jean]

Growing up in the 50’s, I went to the library every week with my father who was a voracious reader. We had an encyclopedia at home, purchased from the grocery store which made it affordable… bought it a volume at a time.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

We didn't have them at home, but the school classroom had a set, and the public library had a few sets.

 

[BayouQueen]

We did have them. First the Funk & Wagnalls, purchased one by one at the grocery store, But that didn't satisfy my mom's craving. Eventually she bought the Britannica ones from a salesman.
It was really sad seeing the whole lot go into a dumpster after she died. But they were so outdated and dusty, what could be done?

 

[pinkxray]

We had the dark blue ones (maybe world bank?). I loved using them for history papers. I also loved the library and using the card catalog to check out the rows of encyclopedias. I know my parents took them off the bookcase shelves at some point, but I’m sure they are hanging around the house somewhere

 

[Cadiewampus]

Did your family have a set of encyclopedias for your school research projects and homework? The google of the era.

View attachment 889823

I don’t remember which brand we had, but it wasn’t World Book or Britanica. Maybe they were Funk & Wagnalls.

We got them at the supermarket. I’m not sure if there were 26 volumes or not. X, Y, and Z were probably combined. Q was with P. I do remember two volumes for S, like Sa-Sm and Sn-Sz.

Each week a different volume would be featured at a cheap price, like 99 cents, while the others were perhaps $3.95.

The set we had were boring and dry, with very few B&W photos and illustrations. I liked World Book at the library which had plenty of photos.

I’m not sure when my parents got rid of them. Probably after I graduated college. I didn’t take them with me when I moved out.

yep we had them though I do not remember what brand either.

 

[antmaril]

We had the set from the supermarket. I hadn’t thought about this is a LONG time. Made me smile.

 

[Disneefun]

We have those too.

Slight side track, when I was a teen, erasable ink was right up there with space travel. The days of hand writing a whole page over was done.

Unless you were a lefty, and then they just made more of a mess! Ink smudged all over the page, and on the side of your hand. (Ask me how I know.) For a lefty, the greatest invention was the spiral bound notebook that had the pages facing the opposite way so we didn't have to rest our hands on the spiral!

 

[lovesmurfs]

We had a 1960s set of World Book encyclopedias and a couple of the annual updates. I did love to go through them. I think my mother bought them from a door-to-door salesman.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

Answer: NO
My dad was an American History teacher. If he didn't have the answer, I was expected to find it at the library!

 

[Babs Johnson]

Did those have black covers with like a cicular image? That strikes me as something I remember too. I will tell you, we weren't that well off or anything, but books were always an easy sell to my authority figures. Reading just about anything was always encouraged, and I am thankful for that!

No, each Time-Life science book my father had was a different color cover. And the front image took up most of the cover, no circular image. Perhaps you’re thinking of a different series of books.

 

[RedAngie]

Growing up in the 50’s, I went to the library every week with my father who was a voracious reader. We had an encyclopedia at home, purchased from the grocery store which made it affordable… bought it a volume at a time.
View attachment 890005

I’m 99.9% sure those are the encyclopedias my parents purchased at the A&P.

I vaguely remember that one of the featured weekly volumes was out of stock, so my parents had to pay full price when it came back in. No price rain checks in those days.