48 Years After An 8th Grader Borrowed This Bob Dylan Album From The Library, He Returned It
Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Howard Simon was in the 8th grade when he took out a Bob Dylan “Self Portrait” album from the University Heights Library.
Howard forgot to return the album back to the library after he borrowed it in 1973, but it always remained in his possession.
Over the years, Howard moved from University Heights to Chicago. Then he moved to Santa Fe, Los Angeles, and Berkeley.
Next, he made it back to Chicago, then returned to Berkeley, before moving again to Chicago.
Finally, his last two stops were Sacramento and San Francisco, where he currently lives. The entire time, that Bob Dylan album made those moves with him.
University Heights Library; pictured above is Sara Phillips, the manager of the University Heights Libraries, along with the long-overdue album Howard borrowed in 1973
At some point, Howard realized the album was in his collection, so he decided to send it back to the library after 48 years of having it in his possession.
“Sara Phillips, manager of the University Heights branch of Heights Libraries, was having a routine day when an oddly shaped package arrived in the mail,” Heights Libraries explained in an Instagram post.
Sara said, “I got a package in the mail from San Francisco that was record-shaped and – lo and behold! – it contained a record from our collection that was due back in June 1973.”
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Howard had also added a few additional gifts to the package with the record he returned.
“As a recent retiree, I am taking the opportunity to turn my attention to some of the many vignettes of life that by dint of career and family have been neglected these many years,” Howard wrote in his letter to the library that he included with the record.
“In that context, I am returning with this letter an overdue item (by my count, approximately 17,480 days overdue as of this writing) that I borrowed from the library in the spring of 1973 when I was 14 and in 8th grade at Wiley. So it’s quite late, and I’m quite sorry!”
The letter was not the only thing Howard sent along; he also included a check for $175 and one of his very own albums called “Western Reserve.”
Facebook; pictured above is the humorous letter Howard wrote and sent along with the album he returned to the library
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