We were lucky to have Thomas Hynes, author of Wild City, on our July 21st Door to Door episode. If you haven't had the time to view it, please take some time to watch the video here. We loved chatting about Wild City, an illustrated guide to 40 of the most well-known, surprising, notorious, mythical, and sublime non-human citizens of New York City. There is so much to explore in this book: illustrations, fun facts, and an appreciation of all the wildlife that calls New York City home. Today, we welcome Tom to the blog for a guest post.
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I spent a lot of time in New York City libraries while writing my book, Wild City. But if I’m being totally honest, it had probably been years since I had stepped foot inside a library. I supported them in the abstract. Who wouldn’t? Libraries are the mark of a great society, a brick and mortar place where anyone can learn anything, an institution not driven by profit or sales, but rather purely for the benefit and education of humanity.
But even though I wax poetic about libraries, I rarely ever went inside one. I overlooked them. All that changed when I started working on my book. Writing was a relatively new occupation for me. It didn’t exactly come with an office. I needed a reliable place to work and a trusted source for research. I needed a library.
My first stop was the crown jewel of the New York Public Library system, the main branch on 42nd Street. I would walk upstairs to the iconic and beautiful Rose Reading Room and stare at the beautiful ceiling. Then a half hour would pass and I’d realize I’d been admiring the room the whole time and not getting much else done. For the sake of my attention span and productivity, I needed something slightly less distracting.
So I went downtown to the Jefferson Market Library. For those who don’t know this branch, it looks like a fairytale castle was dropped on to 6th Avenue. There’s even a turret and a winding spiral staircase. It’s technically a former women’s prison among other things. But today it’s a library, and it’s definitely the most beautiful and interesting building for blocks. And anyone can walk right in and learn about whatever they like. That’s the beauty of libraries.
Closer to home, I spent time working and writing at the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library. Their second floor space was featured in the TV show, Mozart in the Jungle, and the film, Blackkklansman, among other productions. The Othmer Library isn’t part of any municipal system, but it’s still free to enter, provided you sign in, check your bags, and promise to follow their rules. For example, they ask guests to not use any pens. Though, not to worry, the friendly librarians are happy to provide pencils as well as anything else you might need from their impressive archives.
Libraries provided me with the space and the research materials I needed to write my book, just as they provide similar opportunities to millions of others. As the country grapples with rising unemployment and tough budgetary decisions, it’s more important than ever to support these institutions.
My book in a lot of ways is about the wonderful things we tend to overlook in our lives. Incidentally, writing it gave me a new-found appreciation for the overlooked institution in my own life: libraries.
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Thank you, Tom! You can get a copy of Wild City now. Learn some fun facts and see a few illustrations from the book here.
-Lainey
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