Membership Law Libraries Revisited

I was recently contacted by Mikhail Koulikov, Reference/Research Librarian at the New York Law Institute, in regard to a post I made last year about membership law libraries. Because of the acquisition of a couple of artifacts related to these kinds of libraries, I had already been planning another post about them. Mikhail informed me that there is still a viable role for legal libraries that are  supported largely by membership fees. He has made a case for their continuing role in an article entitled "The membership library answer to new law firm realities" in the Spring 2010 issue of PLL Perspectives, the newsletter of the American Association of Law Libraries' Private Law Libraries section. In addition to to the New York Law Institute Library, Mikhail notes two other examples of legal membership libraries, the Baltimore Bar Library and San Francisco's Mills Law Library. Previously noted were Boston's Social Law Library and Philadelphia's Jenkins Law Library which receive additional funding from the state. The two artifacts shown above are a 1884 envelope mailed by the New York Law Institute Library and an 1865 certificate for one share in the Social Law Library.  There were many of these libraries in the 19th century that haven't managed to survive. Laureen Adams and Regina Smith have written about the transition from membership law libraries to public law libraries in "The Evolution of Public Law Libraries".  Congratulations to those membership law libraries have found a way to remain relevant in the 21st century. 

Addison Van Name, Yale Librarian

Addison Van Name (1835-1922) was born 175 years ago today. Happy birthday Addison. Van Name served as Librarian of Yale University from 1865 to 1905, a forty year period. He built up the library's collection from 44,500 volumes to almost a half a million items.  He played a major role in the construction of two library buildings at Yale. Van Name also attended the meeting of librarians in Philadelphia in 1876 at which the American Library Association was founded. He played an active role in ALA and served on its Council for several years. Van Name is listed in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978). Yale University Library has little about its previous librarians or its heritage on its website which is regretful. There is a mention of the Chittenden Library (now Chittenden Hall) which Van Name helped design on the University's website but there is no indication of Van Name's role in building what was an extraordinary library at the time. An article appeared in Library Journal from the Yale Alumni Weekly about his death in 1922 which recounts his contribution to Yale University and its library. 

Texas State Library & Archives - the Good & the Bad

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission is celebrating the completion of a $20 million renovation of the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building today. Author and historian H. W. Brands will speak at the ceremony, which will take place on the front steps of the de Zavala building, at 1201 Brazos St., across from the east side of the State Capitol. The de Zavala building was dedicated as a national Literary Landmark last year. The State Library & Archives also celebrated its centennial in 2009. A short history of the State Library & Archives is located on its website. The Texas State Library and Archives, A History 1835-1962 by David B. Gracy II was published in June of this year by the University of Texas Press.

The current issue of Libraries & The Cultural Record includes an article by Pamela R. Bleisch entitiled "Spoilsmen and Daughters of the Republic: Political Interference in the Texas State Library during the Tenure of Elizabeth Howard West, 1911-1925". This is a compelling article which paints a picture of an extremely dedicated librarian who is dealt a terrible hand of cards. Paid almost nothing, West promoted county library service, library service to the blind, and accommodated use of the state library by African Americans. Almost destitute after paying for extensive travel with her own funds, West resigned when the Texas State Legislature funded a sinecure on the State Library staff for a daughter of Sam Houston. With little public complaint, West accepted a position as Librarian of Texas Tech University. For her article, Bleisch was awarded the Justin Winsor Prize for the best essay in library history in 2009-10 by the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association.

Soldiers' Free Library

A library story for Veterans Day. The Soldiers Free Library was founded on October 15, 1862 in Washington, D.C. by Elida Rumsey (1841-1919) and her future husband John Allen Fowle. The library opened with 1,500 books and 800 magazines. Both Rumsey and Fowle were actively involved in relief work for Union soldiers in the Washington, D.C. area. In addition to their relief work they were accomplished singers and regularly entertained the troops. Because of their popularity with the troops, they were allowed to be married in the Capitol in the Hall of the House of Representatives. The wedding took place on March 1, 1863 in front of an audience of 4,000. A new building for the Soldiers' Free Library was dedicated on the same day they were married. They spent their honeymoon raising money for the library. The library was continued to the end of the war after which the books were turned over to the Y.M.C.A. The envelope shown here has an embossed seal on the flap which says "Soldiers' Free Library - 1862 - Washington, D.C.". The U.S. Sanitary Commission shown in the return address location was a major relief organization that served Union soldiers during the Civil War.

Sources: "Elida Barkley Rumsey Fowle", Notable American Women, 1607-1950 (Harvard University Press, 1971), and The Washington Post, March 2, 1913.

WI Inducts 5 into Library Hall of Fame

I was pleased to be present when five individuals were inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame during the Awards and Honors Banquet of the Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) on Thursday evening, November 4, 2010 at the Association’s annual conference in Wisconsin Dells. Former State Senator and Assistant State Superintendent of Public Instruction Calvin (Cal) Potter of Sheboygan Falls was the only living person inducted into the Hall of Fame. Potter was selected for his consistent and effective legislative support for Wisconsin libraries of all types during his 23 year career as a member of the State legislature and for his leadership during his almost five years of service as Assistant State Superintendent, Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning, Department of Public Instruction (Wisconsin's state library agency).

Among the posthumous inductees was Julia Wright Merrill (1881-1961) (See photo). Merrill was a national leader in the extension of public library service. Early in her career she worked for the Wisconsin Free Library Commission. Her national prominence was derived from her work at the American Library Association from 1925 to 1946. At ALA she served in a variety of capacities, and was the first Executive Secretary of the Public Library Association of ALA. Merrill, a native of Ohio, was previously inducted into the Ohio Library Hall of Fame. Other posthumous inductees were Wayne Bassett (1915-1988), H. Vail Deale (1915-2004), and Leah Gruber (1906-1996).

The Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame is a project of the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center which is a program of the Wisconsin Library Association Foundation.

The Library History Buff's Top 10 Library History Websites

There are a number of top 10 library related lists around. George Eberhart even has a book about them - The Librarian's Book of Lists. I was pleased to be selected as one of the 10 Librarian Blogs to Read in 2010 by LISNEWS. So I thought I would do my bit to promote more good library history websites by identifying what I consider to be the top 10 library history websites. I would be happy to get your nominations for additional sites - just use the "comments" feature below.

The Library History Buff website
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/
What can I say. I have to toot my own horn. A comprehensive library history website with special emphasis on United States library history and library memorabilia (librariana). If you Google "library history", it comes up second out of over 600,000 hits.

The Wisconsin Library Heritage Center
http://heritage.wisconsinlibraries.org/
A virtual library heritage center, the only one (virtual or otherwise) in the nation. It also includes the only active library hall of fame in the nation. A model for other states. Did I mention that I was the Chair of the Steering Committee for the Center?

Libraries Today - Canadian Library History
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~lbruce/
This comprehensive Canadian library history website was created in 1996 and is maintained by Lorne Bruce. It greatly influenced the development of my own library history websites.

South Carolina Library History Project
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/histories/
A great site by the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science to showcase the library history of a state.

The Legacy of Public Libraries in North Carolina
http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/dimp/digital/publiclibraries/index.html
A digital project of the North Carolina State Library focusing on public libraries. A model for other states.

The Library Postcard site of Judy Aulik
http://home.comcast.net/~jaulik/index.html
Started by Judy Aulik in 2003 (about the same time as my first website), this constantly expanding site is a great effort by an individual to introduce the world to library postcards.

Archives of the American Library Association
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/archives/ala/
A good start with the potential to do great things. More digitization of those wonderful archives please.

Libraries & the Cultural Record (Journal) http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~lcr/index.php
The "Archive" tab leads you to lots of interesting stuff about library history.

Glenn A. Walsh’s Carnegie Library History Site
http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com/
Links to everything you ever wanted to know about Carnegie libraries.

Carnegie Libraries in Iowa Project (CLIP)
http://clip.grad.uiowa.edu/
An excellent project of the University of Iowa's School of Library and Information Science. Another great model.

For other library history links go to:
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/historylinks.htm
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/historylinks-world.htm

War Library Bulletin & Books By Mail

Another gift from a Library History Buff blog reader was two issues of the War Library Bulletin of the Library War Service of the American Library Association. Thanks Nancy. The issue featured in this post was Volume I, No. 9, for May, 1919.  The back cover of this issue reprints an advertisement for the Library War Service books-by-mail program that was contained in the Stars and Stripes magazine for May 2, 1919. A note at the bottom of the page indicates that the free mailing service that was in the advertisement was organized in October, 1918, and that one day's mail has brought as many as 2,000 requests for non-fiction to the Paris Headquarters of the Library War Service. General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) in Europe had approved the postage free mailing of books through the Army Postal System to make this service possible. The mailing of books by libraries to patrons in the United States had been feasible since 1914 when the Post Office Department first allowed books to be mailed at the parcel post rate. A number of state library agencies implemented such a service. Burton E. Stevenson, ALA's European Representative, was undoubtedly aware of this development in the U.S. when he proposed the service to Pershing.

The photograph on the cover of this issue of the War Library Bulletin shows soldiers using the Chaumont, France Library War Service Regional Library on a March evening. The caption below indicates that more than one hundred men are crowded into the library - "the average attendance between the hours of six and seven of any evening".

ALA WWI Bookmark

One of the benefits of maintaining a blog and a website which feature librariana is that people sometime contact you to find a home for some piece or pieces of librariana that they have collected or retained over the years. Such is the case with the American Library Association Library War Service bookmark featured in this post. Thank you Carol. I was doubly pleased to receive this bookmark since it pertains to both my interest in ALA's role in World War I and my collection of library bookmarks.  The ALA bookmark is basically a plea for books or money to assist ALA in its Library War Service along with a list on the back of the bookmark of all the activities being undertaken by the Library War Service. Two activities related to my postal interests are listed. As indicated on the bookmark, the Library War Service "Distributes the Magazines Given by the Public through the Post-Office Department. More than 5,000,000 copies of periodicals have been placed in the hands of our forces."  Postmaster General Burleson established a program that allowed the public to put a one cent stamp on a magazine and place it in a mailbox. The magazines were then delivered to one of the service organizations including ALA that served the troops. ALA camp libraries were sometimes overwhelmed with the number of magazines they received, and unfortunately many of the magazines were of little interest to the troops. Also on the bookmark is the following: "Has Sent More than a Million Books Overseas and Must Send Millions More. By General Pershing's order books are carried free of postage in the Army Post-Office System of the A.E.F." This last development allowed the Library War Service to implement a books-by-mail program in France and Germany (more on this in a future post).

Tormentor of Massachusetts

George H. Moore (1823-1892), the first paid librarian of the New York Historical Society (1849-1876) and later librarian of the Lenox Library in New York City (1877-1892), was also a noted historian in a "new school" of historical study which sought to approach history in a much more non-partisan and objective fashion than had previously occurred. In particular, Moore, in his 1866 book Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts, challenged the prevailing view that Massachusetts had historically opposed slavery. Moore's efforts in revealing "Massachusetts' hypocrisy on the slavery question" resulted in his being referred to as the "tormentor of Massachusetts".  Moore's philosophy of historical analysis is dealt with extensively in the book Slavery, Race, and American History: Historical Conflict, Trends, and Method 1866-1953 (M.E. Sharpe ,1999 ) by John David Smith. As is often the case, I was exposed to this knowledge about an early librarian through my research related to a postal artifact. In this instance the postal artifact was another stampless, folded letter (shown above).  This one was sent to George H. Houghton by George H. Moore in August of 1842.  An unusual aspect of this letter is that it has the "free frank" of a member of Congress. Although the signature used for the free frank is difficult to discern, I'm pretty sure it is for John Randall Reding of New Hampshire who served in Congress from 1841 to 1845.  Moore's home state was New Hampshire.  As he writes this letter, Moore is in Washington, D.C. doing research at the Library of Congress. Houghton and Moore were friends and recent graduates of the University of the City of New York.  Both would be returning for graduate work in the fall. Moore makes reference in his letter to his work at the Library [at the New York Historical Society] where he worked while in school and he wonders if he will be able to "study law" and continue to work at the library at the same time.  George H. Houghton is an interesting figure in his own right and becomes a prominent minister in New York City at "The Little Church Around the Corner". Houghton's church received this designation when an Episcopal priest refused to conduct the funeral service for the comic actor George Holland and suggested they try "the little church around the corner" where Houghton was the minister.

America's Philatelic Libraries

As I noted in a previous post, libraries devoted to philately, the collecting and study of postage stamps and postal history, constitute a very small group of libraries in the United States. This is also a very diverse group of libraries ranging from small volunteer run libraries to extensive libraries affiliated with larger organizations and institutions. I've been collecting postal items related to these libraries for many years and have a philatelic exhibit devoted to them. In August of 2009 I became a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Philatelic Research Library (APRL) in Bellefonte, PA which has led to an even greater interest and involvement with America's philatelic libraries. I write a column for Philatelic Literature Review, the official journal of the APRL, on philatelic library news. The APRL has recently launched a blog which we are calling Philatelic Literature & Research. I'm one of the co-bloggers for the new blog, along with APRL Director of Information Services/Librarian Tara Murray and David Straight, Contributing Editor of Philatelic Literature Review. The blog will, among other things, provide a vehicle for highlighting the resources and activities of philatelic libraries not only in the United States but around the world.

Today, the Postal History Foundation of Tucson, Arizona and its Slusser Memorial Philatelic Library will be celebrating their 50th anniversary. It is an example of the growing excellence of a philatelic library which started out as purely volunteer effort but now has a trained librarian. I maintain a web page with links to philatelic libraries.