THE BACKSTORY: The NYPL used to answer everyone’s odd questions

Long before there was Google, there was the New York Public Library.

Since its founding in 1895, the institution has answered questions from curious patrons on a variety of life issues, from “What kind of apple did Eve eat?” to “How many neurotic people are there in the US?” to the wistful “In what occupations may one be barefooted?”

In the beginning, the questions were either mailed in or posed at the front desk; the staff librarians would write the question and an answer on an index card and file them away.

To keep pace with growing demand, the NYPL started the Telephone Reference Service in 1968, which morphed into “Ask NYPL” with email service added in 1996.

The index cards were discovered in a box in the NYPL a few years ago, inspiring awe, laughter and providing a snapshot of people’s interests.

“Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers: A Little Bit of Wisdom and Whimsy From the Files of the New York Public Library” illustrated by Barry Blitt (St. Martin’s Griffin) is a collection of some of the best (quirky, hilarious and strange) questions readers came up with, from “Do you have books about embalming?” (“We have several!” [Goes on to list a few titles]) to the urgent 1983 question “What do you feed salamanders?” “Large salamanders prefer fish, crayfish, aquatic insects, frogs.”

The 1979 query “Does anyone have a copyright on the Bible?” elicited the answer: “depends on which version you’re talking about.”

Then there’s the ominous “Is there a list of museums that might be interested in buying a shrunken head that has been in my family for years?”

Short answer: Nope. “We did not find a list of museums that currently collect shrunken heads.”