This NYC Library Book Was Returned 72 Years Late — Here's Its Story
MIDTOWN, NY — A long-overdue library book checked out in 1952 was finally returned to the New York Public Library’s Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library in Midtown this month, making it 72 years late.
The book, “Stravinsky: An Autobiography” by music composer Igor Stravinsky, was checked out on April 4, 1952, in the Bronx by a young woman working towards a degree in music education from Hunter College, Billy Parrott, the director of the branch, told Patch.
The book was returned stained and well-loved by the original patron’s son on Dec. 11, who said his mother grew up in Harlem and then the Bronx, where she worked for a short time at a local library branch, Parrott said.
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The woman’s father, a Russian immigrant, ran a drugstore on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 129th Street in Manhattan, and was one of the first drugstores to sell beer, Parrott said.
The drugstore was right near the brownstone owned by the infamous hoarders Collyer brothers. The woman’s father befriended them since they had lots of pianos and she was interested in music, Parrott, who spoke to the library patron’s son, said.
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“Whenever we get overdue books like this, I’m always more interested in the story, and where the book has been,” Parrott said.
“Nowadays, when everything is done on the computer, it’s hard to see how many holds are on it, how many people read it, but here, there’s this immediate proof of readership — it brings back that library nostalgia.”
In 1952, overdue fees amounted to a penny a day until the total reached 25 cents, but a few years ago, the whole city’s library system got rid of late fees, so there was no charge to return the autobiography, Parrott, who has worked at the New York Public Library for more than 20 years, said.
“If someone gets a late fee, they might not come back, and ultimately, we want people to use our materials,” Parrott said. “And nothing says ‘This book was loved’ like its fully stamped due date card.”
“This book is a quirky little microcosm of New York at the time.”
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