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MBLC Celebrates 125 Years

1966

Centura 400 Library Furniture...for those who believe in the economy of quality

Advertisement for "dimensional planning service" - a 3-dimensional aid to designing a new library layout, 19661


In 1966: "From hemlines to buildings -- it's the new look that counts. Yes, even library buildings have a new look these days and if you don't believe it join with your fellow librarians in the Bay State on February 10 at the Sheraton Plaza when the Massachusetts Library Association presents for its midwinter meeting a symposium on the New Look in Library Buildings."2

TODAY: The MBLC library building specialists made a presentation on Flexibility in Library Design at the MLA Annual Conference in May 2015.3

What else happened in 1966?

  • Indira Gandhi was elected Prime Minister of India4
  • The Trips Festival at Longshorman's Hall in San Francisco was a three-day event that brought together the nascent hippie movement for the first time.5
  • Comic book heroes Batman and Robin debuted on the campy primetime TV with Batman, starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. The first episode featured Frank Gorshin as the “The Riddler”6  and for better or for worse introduced the “Batusi,” a takeoff on the Watusi.7 The Batmobile, created for the television show, was so popular that three fiberglass replicas were made and were displayed at car shows, dragstrips and other locations.8

     

    1960s batmobile

  • In October, Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton founded the Black Panther Party.9
  • On November 8, former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke became the first African American elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction.10

References:
1. The Bay State Librarian, April 1966.
2. Division of Library Extension newsletter, January 1966.
3. www.masslib.org [link].
4. britannica.com [link].
5. thetripsfestival.com [link].
6. www.imdb.com [link].
7. www.batusi.com [link].
8. www.1966batmobile.com [link].
9. www.marxists.org [link].
10.www.bostonglobe.com [link].