An impressive display of hats on parade in the ladies' reading room, Maryhill District Library, 1907. It was the policy to provide a separate reading room for ladies at the time, with men given the use of the general reading room.
A free public library had been in existence in Maryhill since 1823, when it was founded by a group of papermakers from Dawsholm Paper Mill. It was financed by charges for lectures and by donations from the local gentry.
A new library in Wyndford Street (now Maryhill Road) was opened in 1905. It is one of the twelve libraries constructed with Andrew Carnegie's gift of £100,000 to the city of Glasgow in 1901. It is also one of the seven of these buildings designed by the architect James R Rhind. Soon after its opening, City Librarian Francis Barrett reported, "that the reading rooms, ... have been fully occupied, and that the juvenile reading rooms are being largely taken advantage of."
Reference: D-LB
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
Dawsholm Paper Mill, hats, libraries, Maryhill District Library, papermakers, philanthropists, reading rooms, women