There weren’t many places to go. Not if you wanted to catch up on what Picasso and Matisse were up to or go deep into art history. In 1931, when this photo was taken of Mia’s library, there wasn’t any cyberspace and there weren’t any encyclopedias floating around in it. There were only books, and you had to go to them.
The Mia library had plenty of them, along with periodicals that likely couldn’t be found anywhere else in Minnesota. Maybe not between here and California. And even then, what were they reading in Los Angeles? Photoplay? One of Mia’s most charming calls for help, when it was pulling itself together ahead of its 1915 opening, was a request for supporters to buy magazine subscriptions for the museum, so copies could be provided in the library. “Here then,” Mia announced, “is an opportunity for those who desire to express their interest yet do not wish to make as large a contribution as is involved in the purchase of a work of art.” Magazines like The Gazette des Beaux Arts, L’Art et les Artistes, Les Art, L’Arte—you get le idea.
In 1955, the Mia library modernized, with the help of the Friends of the Institute. Gone were the dark wood desks and the stacks. The room, shown at right, was clean and bright and streamlined—like the Jet Age itself—the books no longer seeming to tumble onto readers but tucked out of sight. There if you needed them.