Bernadette A. Lear
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Bernadette A. Lear
@balibra76.bsky.social
110 followers 120 following 170 posts
Librarian in PA, USA. Wide interests, esp. books, coins, American Indian culture/lit, children's/YA lit, history, music, travel, Lego, cats.
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49!
October 22, 2025 at 1:03 PM
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My reads for September. #books
Spines of 4 books: Milk! by Mark Kurlansky, The Four Paths of Assertiveness by Scott Cooper and Naoki Yoshinaga, The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, and The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride.
October 6, 2025 at 10:21 AM
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Fall photo!
September 8, 2025 at 12:02 PM
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#Children's #Literature on postage stamps! Squeeeee! #childlit #kids #books #goodnightmoon
August 13, 2025 at 1:39 PM
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What I look like these days: Summer 2025
Portrait of Bernadette A. Lear
July 11, 2025 at 11:40 AM
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June reads: 20 Answers: Mary by Tim Staples; Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge; The Book at War by Andrew Pettegree; In Silence or Indifference by Wayne Wiegand; and Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry.
Book covers of 20 Answers: Mary by Tim Staples; Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge; The Book at War by Andrew Pettegree; In Silence or Indifference by Wayne Wiegand; and Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry.
July 4, 2025 at 12:55 PM
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My next #LEGO build: 31215, #VanGogh 's #Sunflowers. More than 30 bags of parts! 🤓 🌻
July 2, 2025 at 12:32 AM
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Today Mike and I mashed together Rev War (for him) and #bookhistory (for me) around #Concord #Massachusetts. So, besides sites on Battle Road, we toured Louisa May #Alcott 's Orchard House, saw a repro of H. D. #Thoreau 's house.on #Walden Pond, and the 1870s interior of Concord Free Library.
Exterior of Orchard House. This is where Louisa May Alcott had the family experiences that she wrote about in Little Women. Statue of Henry David Thoreau outside a recreation of his cabin. Inside Thoreau's cabin. Note the 3 chairs: one for solitude, two for friendship, and three for society. Interior of the Concord Free Library. This portion was built in the 1870s.
June 23, 2025 at 9:56 PM
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A fun #bookhistory takeaway from today's visit to #Salem: Nathaniel #Hawthorne's House of Seven Gables was once so popular that it appeared in a #WonderWoman #comics issue. 7 Gables #Museum curators show WW the secret staircase so she can get a jump on some Nazis!
June 21, 2025 at 9:57 PM
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More fun from the Connecticut State #Library -- vintage card catalogs and vertical files!
Library Bureau card catalogs from the 1910s. OMG! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 Closeup of the card catalogs. These are half-sized drawers I've never seen before! The newspaper room had an awesome collection of vertical file cabinets. To the typical librarian, they might seem like an eyesore, but here we've got vintage examples from Art Metal, Cole, Remington Rand, and other library suppliers. One of my lifegoals is to own a periodical stand like this, but an older model.
June 18, 2025 at 2:10 AM
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Visited the #Connecticut State #Library today. A great place for a #libraryhistory nerd. Cool 1910s design!
Beaux-arts style exterior of the library, which shares space with the Supreme Court. Interior of the library. Most of the architectural elements that look like wood are actual painted metal, to protect against fire. Although the chairs are made of oak, the desk and reading light are mostly metal. A weighted door that slides closed if there is a fire.
June 18, 2025 at 1:44 AM
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Proud of #Harrisburg #Pennsylvania 's turnout for #NoKings. So cool to see thousands streaming across the City Island Bridge to Riverfront Park!
June 14, 2025 at 11:56 PM
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Our first #blueberries of 2025. About 2 cups. If we can keep the birds away, we will have our best harvest ever! I am so #grateful for our #garden and all the rain we've had.
A large bowl of blueberries
June 11, 2025 at 11:53 AM
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Starting to work on signage for the #NoKings rally in #Harrisburg. " #Congress : I found your backbone. Message me!"
Political poster decorated with skeletons. It reads, "Congress: I found your backbone. Message me!"
June 11, 2025 at 11:51 AM
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It's so quiet on campus that the #deer from the nearby woods are getting bold.
Closeup photo of a deer standing on a campus lawn.
June 4, 2025 at 8:31 PM
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Nearly a year ago, we began taking care of a #feral #cat who showed up in our backyard. We call him Daniel Ranger Pine. Got a nice shot of him today.
An orange and white cat
May 26, 2025 at 11:23 PM
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Always fun to uncover a blast from the past in the #library. Anyone remember this? #childrensliterature #childlit #1980s
A 1983 book cover showing Slim Goodbody, a man wearing a leotard with human body organs printed on it.
May 15, 2025 at 1:27 PM
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April reads. The best was Kindred by Octavia Butler. #fiction #books
4 book covers, showing what I read in April: The Journey by James Norbury; Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; Kindred by Octavia Butler; and Raise the Titanic by Clive Cussler.
May 6, 2025 at 2:42 AM
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Adventure in #DIY : repainting an old radiator. The situation went from awful to great to "oh shit, nooooo!" to OK within the same hour. So it goes!
May 4, 2025 at 7:10 PM
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Today we repaired some of our #1920s windows which have ropes and weights to make them easier to open. I don't enjoy the dirty labor of #DIY much, but it's cool to encounter old technology. The #Stanley corporate marks on the pulleys tell us they were made in 1922-1935.
Mike and I repairing a 1920s window. We are holding the window's ropes so that the weights don't pull the ropes into the wall. A window pulley with Stanley corporate markings. The style dates from the 1920s-1930s. Two window weights behind a plaster-and-lath wall The weights' ropes had broken after 100 years of use, so our window was hard to open. Now, with new ropes, the weights work perfectly!
April 19, 2025 at 11:12 PM
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Just finished one of my signs for Saturday. #50501 #handsoff
A poster depicting Donald Trump and Elon Musk as pigs. The caption reads "Get the Snouts out of the Trough!"
April 4, 2025 at 1:50 AM
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March reads! The Last Day of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.
April 2, 2025 at 2:17 AM
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Cool to see a live conversation between #YA #author A. S. King and Chris Gibson of #Harrisburg #Fringe at Hershey Public #Library. Their talk encompassed #surrealism, #punk music, and giving kids space to grow.
March 30, 2025 at 12:45 AM
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Very blessed to have @katemessner.com speaking about "Magical Mentors" and "The Superpower of Curiosity" at Penn State Harrisburg! Thank you to @barnesandnoble.com for supporting this event!
Group photo of Penn State Harrisburg faculty and Kate Messner Kate Messner lecturing at Penn State Harrisburg about "Magical Mentors"
March 18, 2025 at 1:04 AM
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February reads
Book covers of Jennifer Finney Boylan's She Not There and Michael Waldman's The Fight to Vote
March 2, 2025 at 1:09 AM