purple motes

Washington DC had higher receipts per employee working in rental (circulating) libraries than did any state, according to statistics of rental libraries included in the Census of Business, 1935.  The Census greatly under-reported rental libraries, but the data may have been roughly representative of rental libraries’ businesses.  The data thus suggest that DC had relatively successful rental libraries.

The Fiction Lover’s Library was an independent rental library incorporated in DC in 1923.  Joseph J. Steuer was the corporation’s resident agent.  His father, Max David Steuer, was a Transylvanian Jewish immigrant who came to America at age 13 by traveling in the steerage of a ship.  Max worked in cigar-making on piece-work basis, as a clerk in a cigar shop, and also as a tailor.  Joseph Steuer thus grew up in family circumstances of manual labor and a difficult struggle for survival.  He probably did not have a literary background or much education.[1]

The Fiction Lover’s Library had considerable initial capital.  It’s capital stock at incorporation was $10,000.  That’s equivalent to about eight times the average annual earnings of employees in 1923. The corporate  “subscribers” were Augustine Palmisano, Jr., George Alfin Eppley, and Leo A. Hogan, all of the City of Baltimore. [2]  These persons, rather than Steuer, probably were the sources of the initial capital.

The Fiction Lover’s Library continued operation until at least 1960.  An obituary for Ruth Pearson Walsmith described her as librarian accountant who worked at the Fiction Lover’s Library in Washington, DC, from 1930 to 1960.[3]  Hence the Fiction Lover’s Library was a sizeable business for at least three decades.

Joseph Steuer’s knowledge of the rental library business helped his family in business.  According to a Steuer geneology, Joseph “helped brothers Archie, and Henry, with Lending Libraries in Georgia, Alabama and Pennsylvania. … His brother Kermit also worked for him at one time.”  Aaron Steuer, who was Joseph’s brother and may have been “Archie”, operated the Dixie Lending Library in Atlanta, Georgia.  According to the Steuer geneology, “His business failed with advent of Pocket books. The family moved to New York, then to Washington, DC.” Pocket Books began producing mass-market, pocket-sized paperbacks in 1939.  Aaron Steuer may have come to Washington to work under Joseph Steuer at the Fiction Lover’s Library, which did not fail with the advent of Pocket Books.

Boyd’s Directory of DC for 1935 and 1940 listed libraries. The Fiction Lover’s Library was not included either year.  The directory undoubtedly was not complete.  Thus the absence of Fiction Lover’s Library is difficult to interpret.

Hecht’s Circulating Library (F and 7th, NW) was listed in Boyd’s Directory both in 1935 and 1940.  Having a rental library in a department store such as Hechts was quite common at this time.  Bamberger’s in Newark had a rental library in 1931.  More unusual is that Bamberger’s also contained within its store an outlet for the Newark Public Library.[4] The rental library probably focused on fiction of low literary quality, while public libraries were concerned to promote reading of serious non-fiction.

Boyd’s Directory for 1935 included Womrath’s Library (1319 F, NW) and Womrath Arth R Inc (3107 14’th NW).  Arthur R. Womrath was a rental library pioneer.  Womrath established a circulating library in Pottsville, Pennsylvania in 1896.  By 1930, Womrath was operating had 72 rental library branches in 14 cities, plus 1,500 outlets in drugstores, gift shops, and small bookstores.[5]  Hence finding a Womrath rental library in DC isn’t surprising.

Other libraries listed in Boyd’s Directory were probably small rental libraries.  In 1935 these were Pierce, Geo M (1110 F, NW R26), and Suman, Maud (1711 H, NW). In 1940, the directory included Carroll Circulating Library (1319 F, NW R201); Hillyer, Mae S Mrs (4845 Mass. Ave., NW); Pierce, Virginia M Mrs (1110 F, NW, R26); Ward, Anne L Mrs  (2605 Conn. Ave., NW); and Warner, Anna P (1147 Conn. Ave. NW). The shift from Pierce, Geo (1935) to Pierce, Virginia (1940) may be an instance of a widow taking over her deceased husband’s business.

Update:  In an email to me, Michael Steuer (son of Nathaniel Steuer, another library owner and another of Joseph Steuer’s brothers) noted:

the types of books that I remember my Father having were of Western stories, crime and mystery. As far as demographics, he had more business in white collar areas, especially where there were a lot of apartments. One of his best locations was McGillavery’s Drug Store on Charles Street, around Biddle. I don’t recall him mentioning the public libraries as competitors. However his books were available to the public before the public library received them.

He also noted that his Uncle Joe [Joseph Steuer] had a commercial library in the Palais Royale, a department store located on the northeast corner of G St. and 11’th St. in downtown Washington, DC.  Built in 1892, it was the first building built specifically to be a department store.  Abram Lisner, a prominent Washingtonian, was its owner.  The Palais Royale was sold to the department store chain Woodward and Lothrop in 1946.

Notes:

[1] Fiction Lover’s Library record of incorporation, liber 1, folio 191, DC Archive; Steuer family geneology.

[2] Record of incorporation.

[3] Obiturary, The Washington Post, June 16, 1990, pg. G6.

[4] “Libraries in Stores,” New York Times, Dec. 17, 1931, p. 22.

[5] Philip B. Eppard, “The Rental Library in Twentieth-Century America,” Journal of Library History 21 (1) 1986, p. 242-3.  In 1947, Womrath Bookshops & Libraries, Inc. sold its bookshops to individual franchisers and concentrated on its rental library business.  See “Womrath’s Sells Bookshops,” New York Times, Dec. 2, 1947, p. 51.