Comments on: The Olivia Raney library, Raleigh’s first

By: John West

John West — Sun, 17 May 2009 10:42:48 +0000

just stopped by to say i really liked your family tree site – you’ve put some work into it!
I’m still tracing my family back if anyone has info of any Winn family members from High Wycombe get in touch!

By: Raleigh Boy

Raleigh Boy — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:39:20 +0000

Kate, I love your articles that ‘dig’ into the more obscure aspects of Raleigh’s history. Like John, I too have childhood memories of the old Olivia Raney. Mom used to take my brother and me there to the children’s section on weekends. It was located in the space formerly occupied by the corner storefront. I was heartbroken when this beautiful Italian Renaissance palazzo was demolished in 1965. John, I don’t remember the library being in temporary quarters in the basement of the Revenue Building, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t so. Incidently, back in the ’60s the annual Christmas parade was held at night. My Dad always staked out the corner in front of the Olivia Raney for my brothers and me while Mom went Christmas shopping. I loved the high-stepping of some of the high school bands as they rounded that corner.

By: John Dancy-Jones

John Dancy-Jones — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:02:53 +0000

This is a wonderful history of a storied institution that has played a large part in Raleigh history. I’ve been putting off commenting because I wanted to research some items (which I haven’t), to wit: am I mis-remembering a temporary stay fior this library in the basement of the Revenue Building at Salisbury and Hillsborough? Whether that was the location or not, I have such fond memories of having my Dad, a downtown restauranter, arranging for me to have special privileges to check out the “grown-up books,” and spending large portions of my summer working my way down the long shelves (this would have been early sixties). The library in the Kress building was a mainstay for the studious of us at Enloe in the lat sixties: evenings down in the basement reference room were like a big study hall, as we gathered the information the hard way (hard to imagine now). Also, I so miss the North Carolina collection which was housed at the Fayetteville Street library, and thought part of it went to the Harrison Library on New Bern Avenue. My Dad, at 83, loves the Poole Road facility and went there regularly for a while researching Morrisville history. He is very concerned that old microfiche which held images of raleigh’s oldest newspapers are no longer available, and may have been destroyed. The Wake Library system over-all is a bit infamous for favoring popular public services over archival responsibilities, and I was genuinely mortified at the purge a few years ago, when it seemed like all books not checked out in 2 years were tossed into discard boxes for the Library sale. But I really admire and use the Cameron Village location, and I’m grateful for all the friendly support anf tireless efforts of our county librarians. Thank you, Kate, for an excellent addition to your magnificent series on Raleigh history.