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The Donnell Library Center was a branch of the New York Public Library at 20 West 53rd Street just across the street from the Museum of Modern Art. It closed on August 30, 2008. The library was famous for housing the collection of the original Winnie the Pooh dolls behind bulletproof glass in a display in the Children’s Reading Room. The branch also had the largest New York Public Library circulating collection of materials in languages other than English.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nypl.org/branch/central/dlc/ )〕 It also featured the largest collection in the library system of magazines, hardcover, paperback and recorded books for seventh through twelfth grades in the balcony Nathan Straus Young Adult Center. The auditorium in the basement offered concerts and other cultural events. The library opened in 1955 and cost $2.5 million, including the books. It is named for Ezekial J. Donnell (1822-1896), a cotton merchant who was an early library patron. Its exterior like other Rockefeller Buildings consists of Indiana Limestone. It was designed by Edgar I. Williams and Aymar Embury II. The formal name carved in the limestone above the entrance was "The Donnell Free Circulation Library and Reading Room." == Winnie the Pooh == In the 1940s Pooh author A. A. Milne donated the dolls to the American publisher E. P. Dutton. The dolls were then donated to the library in 1988. In 1998 British Member of Parliament Gwyneth Dunwoody urged that the dolls be returned to the British Parliament after saying she “detected sadness” in the inanimate objects. The Americans then became obstinate, with Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani coming to their defense. The mayor, after the visiting the library, and holding the bear with a group of children proclaimed in a "leaked" conversation that the bear told him "I want everyone in Britain and America to know that we're very, very happy here in New York City" and that it had also lauded the city's drop in crime and thought New York "capital of the world." Other politicians were to join the fray with Congressman Nita M. Lowey proclaiming "The Brits have their head in a honey jar if they think they are taking Pooh out of New York City." Mike McCurry, spokesman for Bill Clinton proclaimed "As the President indicated to some of us, the notion that the United States would lose Winnie is utterly unbearable." According to the New York Public Library's web site, the dolls "have recently moved from their previous home in the Central Children's Room to grand new quarters in the History and Social Science Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street and will be on display in the Children’s Room beginning in early 2009."〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nypl.org/branch/central/dlc/dch/pooh/ ) 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Donnell Library Center」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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