When I worked at Sheldon Jackson College, one day over the inner-office e-mail the college librarian advertised that she want to get rid of some surplus furniture. One thing she had for sale was an old card catalog. I knew it would be a couple of years before we would have the house ready for such a piece of furniture but I figured it was unique enough that it was worth storing in our storage locker. Yesterday I finally got around to converting the drawers so they could be used for something beside the Dewey Decimal System.
60 drawer card catalog
I pulled out the inner guts that use to hold cards and put 1/8" thick plywood in the bottoms. Yes it did feel a little sacrilege to pull out the guts and remove all the indexing, but I took comfort in knowing that the computer has replaced this piece of furniture. (However, with the closing of the school the library closed too. )
When I purchased the card catalog I figured it would be a good storage system for Connie's sewing stuff. So this is what I had in mind all along.....
But Connie also figured it would be a good place to put little toys for the grandsons to find. If nothing else it could make a good memory game!
4 comments:
Marcel,
Both you and Connie's ideas were great. She can keep her sewing supplies in one part of it and put some little toys for the kids in another part. What a great idea! I am always looking for ways to organize my home but I doubt I will find a card catalog. They are a thing of the past.
Blessings,
Mary
Mary,
I was so delighted to get the card catalog I almost felt guilty.
You are right card catalogs are a thing of the past. However, I still remember how excited I was the very first time I saw one. And when I started to understand the power of the Dewey Decimal System I was even more excited. I went to grade school in a very small town, so small we did not have a library. Our source of books was the bi-weekly Book Mobile that was in an old converted school bus. The Book Mobile was much too small for all the books and a card catalog. So, I’m guessing it wasn’t until 4th or 5th grade when we took a field trip to a real library that I actually saw the mysterious card catalog.
I clearly remember learning the Dewey Decimal system in Middle School and then the mysterious drawers with all the little cards revealed the power they held. I soon found they held the information within to direct me to the right spot to find just the right book. To me it was the ticket to anywhere in the world; all hidden in the magic drawers.
So this wonderful piece of furniture is special to me if for no other reason then the memories. I felt fortunate to be able to purchase this old relic from the past.
Thanks for visiting.
I'm really glad you're the one who got the catalog and put it to such good use! Cheers, Dee
I love this post. I have wanted to acquire a card catalog for some time to use as a functional accent piece and to store my extensive collection of baseball cards. I have to believe that there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of obsolete card catalogs gathering dust somewhere but I have yet to be able to find one for myself.
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