부산대학교 도서관

Separate rooms in the home dedicated to the keeping and using of books have been features of upper- and middle-class American life over the last two centuries. This paper investigates the origins, growth, and recent decline of the American residential library. It focuses on the physical aspects of books and their presence in the home, drawing not on the professional literature of librarianship, but rather upon popular architecture and domestic magazines over the years. Reasons for the decline of residential libraries in recent years are suggested in the concluding remarks.