(Coat) Check Yo Privilege

Imagine walking into the New York Public Library in the 1940s. Where would you head first? The stacks of books, the renowned Rose Reading Room, the archives? What about the coat-check room? A silent survey of diversity, the coat check room must have embodied the democratic ideals of the entire institution. There, umbrellas and bowler hats sat next to shoe-shine boxes, neither taking precedence over the other. The library, the “great marble palace” was a home for everyone, not just the elite or the wealthy. Equal opportunity manifested itself behind a counter of checked belongings– checking a shoeshine box was like checking the oppressive forces of poverty or race at the door, checking a hat and umbrella like leaving behind socially constructed privileges that no longer apply under the library’s roof. The coat-check allowed citizens to leave their inequalities behind them in a secular setting, quite literally lifting restrictions from class or trade, leveling the playing field for acquiring knowledge. Instead of being shackled to a shoe shine box in one hand, the bootblack can reach for the same book as his higher class counterpart.