2005 Literary Landmarks
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84 South Street, Medford, Mass. Family home of poet, author, editor, and translator John Ciardi (1916-1986). Partner: The Friends of the Medford Public Library. Dedicated Oct. 29, 2005.
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Bland Cemetery, Jordan Point, Va. Bland Cemetery is the burial site of Revolutionary patriot and pamphleteer Richard Bland (1710-1776) who, as a political pamphleteer, constitutional historian, scholar, attorney, and public servant, championed public rights and represented Virginia in the First and Second Continental Congresses and in all five of Virginia’s Revolutionary Conventions. Partner: Friends of Richard Bland College Library at Richard Bland College of the College of William and Mary. Dedicated Oct. 23, 2005.
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McAlester, Okla. The birthplace of John Berryman (on Oct. 25, 1914), poet and biographer, honored with the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and Bollingen Prize. Partner: Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma, (FOLIO). Dedicated Oct. 21, 2005.
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William Carlos Williams Home, Rutherford, N.J. This was the lifelong home of William Carlos Williams, writer, physician, friend, and neighbor. Partner: Rutherford Free Public Library. Dedicated Sept. 17, 2005.
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Dorothy Parker Birthplace, West End, N.J. Site of the summer cottage of Dorothy Parker, short story writer, critic, and poet, member of the Algonquin Round Table, and champion for social justice. Parker was born in West End on Aug. 22, 1893. Partners: The Dorothy Parker Society and Long Branch Historical Association. Dedicated Aug. 22, 2005.
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Pearl S. Buck Birthplace, Hillsboro, W.V. Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) was the only American woman to win both the Pulitzer Prize (
The Good Earth, 1932) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1938). Buck wrote more than 100 books and hundreds of short stories and magazine articles. Her books have been translated into 69 languages. Dedicated June 25, 2005.
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Union Stockyard Gate, Chicago, Ill. This site commemorates the centennial of the novel
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. The book exposed the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry and is said to have influenced President Theodore Roosevelt in passing the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. The novel chronicles Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant, in his quest for the American dream in the filthy Chicago stockyards. Partners: Illinois Center for the Book, the Lithuanian American Council, the Food and Drug Administration, Union Food and Commercial Workers, and the Weidman Family. Dedicated June 23, 2005.
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Evergreen Cemetery, St. Augustine, Fla. Evergreen Cemetery is the burial site of Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886). The Caldecott Medal, commissioned in 1938, was named in honor of English illustrator, artist, and sculptor Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the “most distinguished” American picture book for children published during the preceding year. Partners: Friends of the Library of St. Johns County, Inc. and Randolph Caldecott Society of America. Dedicated March 20, 2005.
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891 Post Street, San Francisco, Calif. 891 Post Street was the home of Dashiell Hammett and Sam Spade. Dashiell Hammett (1896-1961) lived in this building from 1926 until 1929, when he wrote his first three novels:
Red Harvest (1929),
The Dain Curse (1929), and
The Maltese Falcon (1930). Sam Spade’s apartment in
The Maltese Falcon is modeled on Hammett’s, which was on the northwest corner of the fourth floor. Partner: The San Francisco Chronicle. Dedicated March 19, 2005.
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The William Johnson House, Natchez, Miss. William Johnson (1809-1851) was a free African American businessman and diarist. His diary, covering the period from 1835-1851 and published in 1951, contains an extensive description of everyday pre-Civil War life; it is a valuable contribution to the literature of the antebellum South. Partners: United States Park Service, Friends of the Judge George W. Armstrong Library, and Friends of Mississippi Libraries. Dedicated Feb. 26, 2005.
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Boston Public Garden, Boston Mass. Here is where Robert McCloskey set his 1942 Caldecott Medal book
Make Way for Ducklings. The classic children’s book characters Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and their brood resided in the garden pond. While there, they discovered the wonders of Boston and the kindness of the city’s residents. Partners: Citywide Friends of the Boston Public Library, Books for Kids Foundation, and Historic Neighborhoods Foundation. Dedicated Jan. 16, 2005.