Biographies of American Library People

The Library History Buff

Promoting the appreciation, enjoyment, and preservation of library history

Disclaimer: The Web sites below vary widely in quality. The three volumes of the Dictionary of American Library Biography and other printed resources should be consulted for better documented and more thorough biographies. If you would like to suggest additional or alternative Web sites, please contact me at nix@libraryhistorybuff.org .

Compilations

Black Women Public Librarians (article by Cheryl Knott Malone)
http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/801/

Librarians Dedicated to Human Rights (article by Katharine J. Phenix and Kathleen de la Pena McCook in PDF format)

Librarians of Congress
(From Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress)
http://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/librs.html

Library Advocates of the 20th Century
http://www.ala.org/ala/alta/honorrollbanquet/honorees2000/Honorees2000.htm

Oklahoma Library Legends
http://www.library.okstate.edu/dean/jpaust/legends/

South Carolina History Project Biographies
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/sp/history/booklets.htm

Texas Library Champions
http://www.txla.org/html/pr/releases/champs.html

Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.org/hall-of-fame-wi.htm

World Libraries - The Pioneers
Biographical articles published in the magazine World Libraries
http://www.worlib.org/virtual/pioneers.shtml

The "Dead Germans Project" - Univ. of Tenn. at Knoxville
(Many links don't work, but a great idea in any case)
http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/germans.html

Librarian Trading Cards
http://librariantradingcards.blogspot.com/

Individuals

Sarah Byrd Askew (New Jersey library leader)
http://www.wpunj.edu/library/bio.shtml

Augusta Baker (1911-1998)
http://kids.nypl.org/parents/ocs_centennial_baker.cfm
http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/kidlit/baker.html

Sanford Berman (Legendary Cataloger)
http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr517/02-03-wt2/projects/berman/index.htm

Thomas Bray (Father of American Libraries?)
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/histories/biographies/bray/index.html

Andrew Carnegie (The Patron Saint of Libraries)
http://www.carnegie.org/sub/about/biography.html
http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com/

Virginia Carter Castleman (Drexel Library School Graduate 1899)
http://www.library.drexel.edu/archives/exhibits/castlemanexhibitbio.html

Charles Ammi Cutter (Library Systematizer Extraordinaire)
http://www.forbeslibrary.org/about/cacutter.shtml
http://www.geocities.com/curmudgeony_librarian/articles/cutter.html

John Cotton Dana (Library leader and promoter)
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/dana_lib/danabio.shtml
http://www.hwwilson.com/jcdawards/about_jcd.htm

Melvil Dewey (Father of American Librarianship)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvil_Dewey
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/biography/

Seymour Eaton (Founder of the Booklovers Library and the Tabard Inn Library)
http://www.lansdownecivic.com/Pages/hometown_stories/13_eaton.html

Benjamin Franklin (Friend of Libraries)
http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/index.htm
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.org/benfranklin.htm

Mary Elizabeth Frayzer (South Carolina public library pioneer)
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/histories/biographies/Frayser/index.html

Muriel Fuller (Wisconsin library leader)

Helen Haines (Queen of Bookworms)
http://www.sptimes.com/News/72599/Floridian/Queen_of_bookworms.shtml

Adelaide R. Hasse (First Supt. of Documents Librarian)
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/history/hasse.html

Lister Hill (Legislative Champion of the Library Services Act)
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=64768

Carl H. Milan (1884-1963) Secretary of the American Library Association
http://www.worlib.org/vol14no2/milam_v14n2.shtml

Angeline Vernon Milner (Illinois State University's First Librarian)
http://www.library.ilstu.edu/page/918

Nancy Pearl (Librarian Action Figure)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Pearl

Lawrence Clark Powell (Former UCLA University Librarian)
http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/lcpintro.htm
http://web.utk.edu/~wcorneli/490/German/index.html

Ainsworth Rand Spofford (Former Librarian of Congress)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainsworth_Rand_Spofford

Nettie Barcroft Taylor (Former Maryland State Librarian)
http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/taylor.html

Estellene P. Walker, 1913-1984 (Former South Carolina State Librarian)
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/histories/vts/epwbio.html

Justin Winsor (First President of the American Library Association)
http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Winsor

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