Richard D. Baron ‘64 Gallery, Oberlin College
65 E. College St.
Suite 5 Oberlin, OH 44074
Toby’s Plaza, Case Western Reserve University
Uptown Pedestrian Trwy
Cleveland, OH 44106

Hours:
Mon–Sat: 10–6
The Cleveland Public Library was founded in 1869. It operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and the Ohio Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled. Designed in 1915 by the Cleveland architectural firm Walker and Weeks, construction of their classical Renaissance design began in 1923 under Linda Anne Eastman. Eastman (1867–1963) was the first woman to head a major U.S. city library system and was a pioneer in the modern library system. She opened bookshelves to patrons, replacing the New York Public Library system in which a librarian fetched the books.
The American Library, commissioned by FRONT, was created with the Cleveland Public Library’s librarians together with Yinka Shonibare’s London studio. The work consists of 6000 books, each bearing the name of a first or second generation immigrant to America whose life and work impacted our culture. A digital component, a proprietary website detailing the information on all the names, is available and invites visitors to participate by uploading their immigration stories.