In the 1920s, was smoking indoors allowed at the NYPL?

November 22, 2011 5:54 AM

Was smoking indoors at the New York Public Library (the main branch) ever permitted? I'm specifically interested in what the rules were during the 1920s. It seems like it would have been a terrible idea to allow it, but given the prevalence of smoking during that period, I'm curious as to if it was actually banned or not. I have been googling, but haven't been able to find anything helpful.
posted by Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo to society & culture (4 answers total)

You might be better off asking the nypl librarians on this than metafilter; if the library had by laws, they'll have access to them.
posted by Diablevert at 6:09 AM on November 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Apparently a New Yorker writer led a campaign to allow smoking in the NYPL in the 1920's. Because it was not allowed at the time.
posted by mskyle at 6:17 AM on November 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh, and as far as "ever permitted" goes, they did have a smoking room starting in 1954 (from the same source linked above).
posted by mskyle at 6:31 AM on November 22, 2011

Rules for the public may have been different than rules for staff, if that matters. I could smoke in the staff area of the public library (not NYCPL) where I worked as late as 1998. The public areas were non-smoking.
posted by QIbHom at 8:54 AM on November 22, 2011