As we come to the end of this special anniversary year at Calgary Public Library, we take a final look back at 1912.

In this optimistic time, George V was King and Sir Robert Borden was prime minister; Alberta’s premier was Arthur Lewis Watkins Sifton and Calgary’s Mayor was John William Mitchell. The Calgary Herald of December 24 had an article on the good hearted Calgarians who donated hampers to poor families with the Santa Clause Fund, traditions which still survive today.

We talked in the first blog post of our centennial year about just some of the popular authors from 1912, the year Calgary celebrated the opening of the first public library in Alberta. Here are some books published in 1912 that are still part of our collections: Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage,the Tom Swift series by Victor Appleton, Greyfriars Bobby by Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock and Flint and Feather by E. Pauline Johnson. Add some of these books to your reading list, along with some new releases and enjoy the pleasure of reading then and now.

My new year’s resolution is to take more time to learn and reminisce about Calgary’s amazing history and the role that the Library has had in creating generations of readers here. I will take the time to visit the amazing Memorial Park Library and think about the many generations of Calgarians who walked through these doors and have such wonderful memories and hope that you will join me. If you are unable to come in person, download Zane Grey to your e-reader from our website!

Enjoy our ever evolving library services to Calgarians, then and now.

Riders of the Purple Sage	The Lost World	Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town