Live Long and Like It

Cleveland Public Library’s Live Long and Like It Library Club, a free educational club for people age 60 and older, held its first meeting on November 12, 1946. At the time, Cleveland Public Library was considered the first public library in the nation to offer a club specifically for older adults. Members attended talks on a wide range of subjects, including finance, international politics, nutrition, travel, music, gardening, mental health, community service, books, and more. Field trips and cultural outings were also a staple of the program.

The Live Long and Like It Library Club grew rapidly, with a few dozen people attending the first meeting in 1946 to 200 members meeting weekly by 1958 (with up to 1,000 members on the active list). The club continued to flourish throughout the decades until the program was transferred to the Older Adult Service and Information System (Oasis) on April 19, 1984.

In the slideshow below, browse through some of the vintage Live Long and Like It programs members received throughout the club’s several decades of operation:

[slideshow_deploy id=’13557′]