LibGuides: MCBH Library Through the Years: 1950s, Blast from the Past

Through the lens: MCBH Library 1953

In 1952, the United States Marine Corps recommissioned the base Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Kaneohe. The library’s collection consisted of books, magazines, and newspapers. They also had a music room where patrons were able to listen to the library record collection on the in-library High Fidelity machine.

According to an article in the Windward Marines (1953), the library circulated 500 books a month with almost half of them being nonfiction. This was due to the fact that many of the Marines used the books for study and reference as they took correspondence courses with the Marine Corps Institute and the United States Armed Forces Institute.

Windward Marines article: Windward Marine. (1953, December 25). DVIDS. https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/16264

BOOK BROWSING- Corporal Gerald W. Ferrerro, Kauai, Hawaii, browses through the assortment of books and magazines on the handicraft rack of the station library at Marine Corps Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii,
Private First Class George E. Roy of Berlin, New Hampshire, fingers through the card file that lists the large selection of books in the library, while Private First Class Jack C. Crouch, right of Sugar Creek, Mo., reads a book he has picked from the book rack.

DEFENSE DEPT. PHOTO {MARINE CORPS) # A.101100
BY Sgt. John Kronenberger
CHECKING OUT A BOOK from the library at Marine Corps Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, is Corporal Gerald W. Ferrerro of Kauai, Hawaii, while Private First Class George E. Roy of Berlin, Mo., looks over the selection of handicraft books and magazines. The Marines at Kaneohe enjoy a large selection of reference, text and popular volumes of all types, the last category including mystery, adventure and historical volumes. The library is a function sponsored by the Station Special Services Office.

DEFENSE DEPT. PHOTO (MARINE CORPS)
# Al0l099 BY Sgt. John Kronenberger
Mrs. A. R. Kier, wife of Brigadier General Kier, Commanding General of the First Marine Brigade, looks over the listing of new books.

PHOTO BY Bruce Hamper
Mrs. H. S. Ward, assistant librarian, is the wife of First Lieutenant H. S. Ward, legal officer of the First Marine Brigade. Mrs. Ward and the book she is suggesting seem to charm Larry, the son of Colonel Foster C. La Hue.

PHOTO BY Bruce Hamper
Mickey and Phillip Bowen, sons of Act. M Sgt. Vernon I. Bowen, study and identify their seashell collection with the aid of books at the Station Library.

PHOTO BY Bruce Hamper
Major George W. Parker, Station S-2 Officer, browses through the Wall Street Journal. Reads all the books about finance.

PHOTO BY Bruce Hamper
Private First Class Roy A. Shaules is browsing among new non-fiction books. He chooses latest NATO Handbook, a book about the Churchill family, and a books about the arts of Japan.

PHOTO BY Bruce Hamper
Private First Class Charles E. Robbins checks on global facts in connection with a history course he is taking at the University of Hawaii.

PHOTO BY Bruce Hamper
Private First Class Robert Coleman and Fireman Apprentice Jerry E. Morris are preparing to listen to music records they are going to play on the High Fidelity machine in the Music Room.

PHOTO BY Bruce Hamper