Welcome to the What Middletown Read Blog. It provides a forum connected to the What Middletown Read Database, an online resource that reproduces in searchable digital form the circulation records of the Muncie (Indiana) Public Library between 1891 and 1902. We call it “Middletown” because Muncie was the subject of Robert and Helen Lynd’s famous sociological study of that name. The database includes more than 11,000 books, over 4,000 active borrowers, and nearly 175,000 circulation transactions. It can be searched in a variety of ways. To learn more or to try out the database, go to www.bsu.edu/libraries/wmr.
From time to time we’ll post interesting findings drawn from the database, discussions of book and library history, and comments from users. To reach us, email wmr@bsu.edu.
