Claybourn Library
Just off the entry hall, there is a room that holds our home's center of gravity.
This is the Claybourn library.
It began, like most worthwhile things, with accumulation and intent. Two readers married, each with their own shelves, habits, and reluctance to let books go. Making space for them was not quick work. The room required custom shelves—built to fit, with crown molding hand-cut to match trim no longer in production. It was the sort of task that only makes sense if the books matter.
They do.
Our home library occupies what might otherwise have been a modest living room. Instead, its walls carry roughly 1,700 volumes—lined edge to edge, floor to ceiling. But rather than arrange them for display, they have been arranged for use.
Guests step in and ask the same question: Have you really read all these? The answer, save for a handful of reference works, is yes. Each book has passed through a pair of hands, often more than once.
The effect is immediate. The noise of the rest of the house falls away. There is a warm and calm stillness here.
The collection reflects a life lived across several callings. One section is devoted to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, unsurprising given my work in that field. Volumes I have written and edited sit among those I have studied.
Elsewhere, you'll find history in its many forms: local, national, ancient. Philosophy and religion. Law, culture, travel. Music, art, and sports. Fiction and the classics. And of course there is a section set aside for children’s books and seasonal reading. No single category dominates for long. The shelves move, as interests do.
The library does not stand apart from the rest of the house. It opens toward the dining room, where two sofas invite people to sit, talk, and linger. The room offers a clear view into the front yard. It is a place to read, but also to gather.
Every home has a room that explains the rest. This one records what has been read, kept, and what has mattered to us enough not to discard. Click here to read a feature about our library in Evansville Living.
