Unpacking the Bookstore

Blog

     A collection of student work that analyzes the cultural function(s) of the bookstore they researched.

Library Express: Turning the Page from Bookselling to Public Service 

Library Express: Turning the Page from Bookselling to Public Service  In Jorge Carrión’s “Bookshops,” Carrión suggests there exists a strong difference between the bookshop and the library. The bookshop is characterized as a temporary yet progressive seller of...

Harriett’s Bookshop: Literature is a Protest

Harriett’s Bookshop: Literature as a Protest  Harriett’s Bookshop: Literature as a Protest  Harriett’s Bookshop Entrance w/Jeannine Cook in front The Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia is full of contrast – numerous historic placards, endless rows of...

Black, Feminist, & Bookish: How a Brooklyn Bookshop Brews an Intersectional Community

Black, Feminist, & Bookish: How a Brooklyn Bookshop Brews an Intersectional Community By: Janelle Cass, Megan DeAngelo, Jennifer Martin, Ellie Pasquale, and Annie Villamarin Café Con Libros in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, catches the interest of the busy New York City...

Welcome Home: Molly’s Books & Records

Welcome Home: Molly’s Books & Records By Ella Baker, Natalie Chamberlain, Kendall Reif, Lexie Kauffman, and Liann Quinones Melendez In the heart of Philadelphia’s historic Italian Marketplace, Molly Russakoff invites wanderers into her home, Molly’s...

Midtown Scholar Bookstore: Unity Through Unanimity

Midtown Scholar Bookstore: Unity Through Unanimity Place and People: Present Midtown Scholar Bookstore, located in the bustling city center of Pennsylvania’s capital, has become a staple in the Harrisburg area since its doors opened in 2001. Tim Cresswell, in...

(Mon)Dragon, the Final Boss

Nestled in the heart of Central Pennsylvania, the borough of Lewisburg sits alongside the Susquehanna River. Incorporated in  1812, Lewisburg was born out of a river town and soon began to grow. With the canal being built along the banks of the river, and then the...

The Right Fit: Books-A-Million Thrives in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania

With the ever changing market of the capitalistic society we have today, it can sometimes be hard to appeal to the right crowd and to maintain that attraction as time goes on and trends change. Books-A-Million, however, seems to have found the ideal place, and the...

Bible Depot Helps Them That Help Themselves

With its vibrant blue exterior, Bible Depot catches the eye of passing visitors and locals alike. Well, the paint job isn’t the most eye-catching aspect of the outside of the store, not when ‘Bible Depot” is sprawled, with large white letters, across the side of the...

Collectors & Comics

You start strolling down the street and notice people walking, talking, and even some children playing. As you look around you notice the houses and buildings are Victorian-era styled with dormers, towers, and decorative railings. Lewisburg does not want to change for...

The Qualifications of “Classic” Literature in D.J. Ernst Used and Rare Books

In Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, nestled on North Market Street, sits a bookstore that’s been serving its community for 44 years. In its display windows, used books surround electric candles, inviting passersby to peer in and, just maybe, walk amongst the books that line...

Politics & Poker

Carla Cohen had a terrible poker face. When establishing the independent bookstore Politics & Prose, Cohen claimed that she did not want to...