Librarianship in Gilded Age America

The gilded age was a formative period in the development and extension of American libraries. Between 1868 and 1901, the field of librarianship saw many notable changes, including the founding of the American Library Association, the introduction of the Dewey decimal classification system, and the establishment of the pioneer library school at Columbia University, among other key developments. This book brings together the writings of foundational figures in Gilded Age librarianship, including Charles Ammi Cutter, Melvil Dewey, Andrew Carnegie and Richard Rogers Bowker. Featuring seminal works of library scholarship alongside previously unpublished letters and reprints of long forgotten journal articles, the book places each selection in chronological order and includes an introductory narrative for each entry.

The late Leonard Schlup was a history instructor and reference librarian at Mesa Community College in Arizona.
Stephen H. Paschen is retired from Kent State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives, Kent, Ohio.

Edited by Leonard Schlup and Stephen H. Paschen
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 350
Bibliographic Info: 8 photos, appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4191-4
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5483-9
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

1868

Harvard College Library

CHARLES AMMI CUTTER      7

1876

American Library Journal

MELVIL DEWEY      17

Interlibrary Loans

SAMUEL SWETT GREEN      22

Publishers’ Slips for Librarians

CHARLES A. NELSON      23

The Work of Librarians

JOHN FISKE      25

1877

The American Library Association

MELVIL DEWEY      38

The Profession

MELVIL DEWEY      41

1880

Communication

MELVIL DEWEY      43

1882

Classification

JOSEPHUS N. LARNED      46

The Progress of Library Architecture

WILLIAM FREDERICK POOLE      52

Selecting and Training Library Assistants

JAMES L. WHITNEY      57

1883

Report on the Reading of the Young

MARY ABBIE BEAN      61

The Work of the Nineteenth-Century

Librarian for the Librarian of the

Twentieth Century

RICHARD ROGERS BOWKER      73

1884

The Free Public Library in the United

States: Evolution and Function

MOSES COIT TYLER      78

The Young Writer’s Use of a Library

WILLIAM E. FOSTER      88

1887

Report of Librarian of the Enoch Pratt

Free Library to the Board of Trustees

LEWIS H. STEINER      93

Report of the State Librarian to the New

Hampshire Legislature

WILLIAM H. KIMBALL      95

1888

Melvil Dewey to Whitelaw Reid

MELVIL DEWEY      98

1889

Library Philanthropy

ANDREW CARNEGIE      105

Are Public Libraries Public Blessings?

JAMES M. HUBBARD      107

1890

Theodore Roosevelt to George H. Putnam

THEODORE ROOSEVELT      113

Being a Librarian

ERNEST C. RICHARDSON      114

Library Work

WILLIAM FREDERICK POOLE      117

Mary Abbie Bean to Charles Evans

MARY ABBIE BEAN      118

The Duties of Trustees and Their Relations

to Librarians

SAMUEL SWETT GREEN      120

The Function of Libraries and Schools in

Education

WILLIAM T. HARRIS      124

Promoting the Free Library Movement

GROVER CLEVELAND      131

1891

Uniformity Versus Individuality in the

Arrangement and Administration of

Public Libraries

LEWIS H. STEINER      135

University Libraries: An Address at the

Opening of the Sage Library of Cornell

University

DAVID COIT GILMAN      140

1892

Presidential Address

WILLIAM ISAAC FLETCHER      151

The Salaries of Women Librarians

MARY SALOME CUTLER      158

The Library of the United States

AINSWORTH RAND SPOFFORD      160

1893

Shelving Pamphlets in Libraries

WILLARD AUSTEN      169

The Future of Local Libraries

JUSTIN WINSOR      172

Books and Readers in Public Libraries

CALEB B. TILLINGHAST      175

School Libraries

HORACE E. SCUDDER      181

1894

Bookbindings of the Present

BRANDER MATTHEWS      186

1896

Hear the Other Side

JOHN COTTON DANA      193

The New Building for the Library of

Congress

BERNARD R. GREEN      199

Public Documents

FRANCIS A. CRANDALL      208

1897

The Public and Its Public Library

JOHN COTTON DANA      216

Address of the President

WILLIAM HOWARD BRETT      224

The Care of Special Collections

WILBERFORCE EAMES      230

The Care of Manuscripts

HERBERT FRIEDENWALD      235

College Libraries in the United States

ASHTON R. WILLARD      240

The Moral and Literary Responsibility of

Librarians in Selecting Books for a

Public Library

RICHARD JONES      242

1898

Free Public Libraries and the Community

HERBERT PUTNAM      251

Special Training for College Librarians

GEORGE T. LITTLE      259

1899

Ainsworth Rand Spofford to William

McKinley

AINSWORTH RAND SPOFFORD      262

viii Table of Contents

Herbert Putnam to John Addison

Porter

HERBERT PUTNAM      264

The Bookbinding of American

Publishers

ELLEN D. BISCOE      265

Letter of Resignation

MELVIL DEWEY      268

1900

The Library of Congress

HERBERT PUTNAM      270

Azariah Smith Root to Askel G. S.

Josephson

AZARIAH SMITH ROOT      273

Ten Years of American Library Progress:

Address of the President

REUBEN GOLD THWAITES      275

Summer Vacation Cards

SAM WALTER FOSS      284

The Qualifications of a Librarian

AINSWORTH RAND SPOFFORD      286

1901

Open Shelves and Public Morals

ISABEL ELY LORD      302

Collection Development and the Best

Books

CHARLES AMMI CUTTER      308

Herbert Putnam to Theodore Roosevelt

HERBERT PUTNAM      311

Timeline: 1860–1902      315

Appendix A: Presidents of the American Library Association, 1876–1902      331

Appendix B: Locations and Attendance of the American Library Association Conference, 1876–1902      332

For Further Reading      333

Index      337

“outstanding…excellent”—The Australian Library Journal.