Blog

Elizabeth Martinez, ALA Executive Director

Posted on by Faith McConnon
Portrait of Elizabeth Martinez, 1995
Portrait of ALA Executive Director Elizabeth Martinez
Found in 12/1/4, Box 2, Folder: Martinez, Elizabeth, 1995-97

Who was one of the first Mexican American librarians in California? Who was one of the co-founders of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking? Who was the first Mexican American women to hold the office of ALA Executive Director? If you answered, “Elizabeth Martinez,” you’d be correct!

Elizabeth Martinez was born on April 14, 1943 in Pomona, California. Growing up in Orange County, she always wanted to promote cultural understanding no matter what field she worked in. Martinez didn’t originally focus on working in libraries, but they held a special place in her heart since she was a child, as she often went to her local public library. However, while pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies at UCLA, she took a course in children’s literature to fulfill a credit. This course opened her eyes to the world of librarianship and her goal was set. She then graduated from the University of Southern California with a Master’s in Library and Information Science in 1966, becoming one of California’s first Mexican American librarians.[1]

 

Continue reading “Elizabeth Martinez, ALA Executive Director” →

The McCormick Mansion

Posted on by Cara Bertram

Halloween is quickly approaching and during this spooky season, we at the ALA Archives have been meditating upon one of ALA’s old headquarters, the McCormick Mansion. In 1945, ALA purchased the Cyrus Hall McCormick Mansion at 50 E. Huron Street in Chicago to use as its new headquarters. However, by 1955, ALA was investigating other options and by 1960, ALA was ready to not only ready to move out of the mansion, but also tear it down.

Why would ALA want to move out of the McCormick Mansion so quickly and destroy it? Was it because the mansion was, well, a mansion and not a suitable office space? And they wanted to use the land to build a proper office building that would be their home for over 50 years? Or … was it because the mansion was haunted?

We have zero proof that the McCormick Mansion was haunted. No accounts of books suddenly being shelved out of order, cardigans being mysteriously moved, or card catalog drawers opening and shutting on their own. All we have are photographs of an eerie looking mansion filled with librarians and staff.

McCormick Mansion
The exterior of the McCormick Mansion. An inconvenient office space or a mansion overrun by ghosts?
McCormick Mansion Interior
The interior of the McCormick Mansion, complete with a grand staircase that ghosts would surely enjoy going up and down.
ALA Membership Services Staff
The ALA Membership Services staff at their office in the McCormick Mansion. Are they at ease or do they suspect that otherworldly spirits are nearby, disorganizing the bookcase behind them?
Wooden Gavel
A wooden gavel made from the remains of the McCormick Mansion. A simple staff award or an artifact of a haunted mansion?

We may never know the true reason why ALA tore down the McCormick Mansion, other than the abundance of reports, studies, plans, and even a film about needing a better office space, much of which we hold at the ALA Archives. However, there is a trace of the mansion that still remains. Forged from the staircase, is a gavel, now in the possession of the ALA Archives. Who knows what spirits may linger within the object? Or is it just a wooden gavel, one of many that ALA had made to give to staff as an award for their service? This and many other questions will go unanswered and probably unasked until next Halloween.

For a researched guide on ALA’s headquarters, without any wild speculation, please read our blog post, A Short History of ALA Headquarters.

100 Years of the Newbery: “Publicity of the Best Kind”

Posted on by Cara Bertram

Clara W. Hunt, chair of the Children’s Librarians Section, had noted that the Newbery Medal provided children’s literature with “publicity of the best kind.” But ALA did not always rely on the Newbery’s popularity to capture the public’s attention. Publicity around the Newbery Medal has drummed up excitement amongst librarians, readers, and the public for the past century. Often this has meant events, press releases, newsletters, radio programming, television broadcasts, and newspaper and magazine articles. Even the medal’s donor, Fredric Melcher, was part of the pageantry by holding press conferences at his New York office to announce the awardee of the Newbery Medal. However, some publicity ideas were more daring than press conferences and radio programs. The two stories of Rachel Field and Misty the Horse highlight a couple out of the box stunts. Continue reading “100 Years of the Newbery: “Publicity of the Best Kind”” →

100 Years of the Newbery: Letters from the Authors

Posted on by Cara Bertram
Letter from Meindert De Jong to Jane Darrah, January 14, 1955. Series 24/42/5.

For a century, the American Library Association has honored children’s authors with the John Newbery Medal. From the earliest years of the award, its prestige was not lost upon the authors who received it. Letters written by awardees to the Newbery Medal Committee chairs reveal their excitement upon receiving the news.

In 1934, author Cornelia Meigs was selected for the Newbery for her book Invincible Louisa. Meigs wrote to the selection committee chair, Siri Andrews, and was delighted to have her book honored, acknowledging that the Invincible Louisa was in good company:

Your letter, with its very delightful and astonishing news, has given me much pleasure. The Newbery Medal is an award for which everyone has the most profound respect, so that I am fully sensible of what good fortune it is to me to have it offered to Invincible Louisa. Some such extraordinarily fine books have been on your list in the past that it seems a very impressive thing have an invitation extended to join that distinguished company.(1)

Continue reading “100 Years of the Newbery: Letters from the Authors” →

100 Years of the Newbery: The First Medal

Posted on by Cara Bertram

The John Newbery Medal, established in 1921 for “the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children,” celebrated its 100th anniversary last year and the centennial of its first award ceremony is quickly approaching.

Frederic Melcher in 1926. Image ALA0004587.

In 1921, Frederic Melcher, a publisher, bookseller, and chairman of the Children’s Book Week Committee, proposed the idea of a medal to be awarded in recognition of children’s literature and for it to be named after John Newbery, an 18th century British bookseller and children’s books publisher. With a growing audience for children’s books, more librarians being trained in children services, and the emergence of children’s book departments in publishing companies, the time seemed right for such an award and the idea gained traction.(1) Melcher paid to have the medal struck, while the Children’s Librarians Section (predecessor to the Association for Library Service to Children) organized the selection of the first winner through a vote of children’s librarians from across the country. Continue reading “100 Years of the Newbery: The First Medal” →

The LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund

Posted on by Faith McConnon
A poster of the Library Bill of Rights as amended by the ALA Council in 1967.
Library Bill of Rights, 1967 (Record Series 1/1/17). Copyright of this image is held by the American Library Association.

Censorship is the act of preventing or obstructing another’s ability to express their thoughts through media, actions, and speech. American citizens are taught from an early age that the United States government will protect its people from censorship, as seen in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. However, this document was originally created to protect citizens from government censorship, not necessarily censorship coming from other citizens (5). Because of this, newer state legislation and court opinions either increase or decrease the ability to censor others in non-federal situations, and both public and private organizations get involved. One of the United States’ most iconic institutions, the public library, is a contested site in the discussion of censorship.

When the American Librarian Association Council accepted the Library Bill of Rights as a governing document in 1939, they also took a stand against censorship:

“Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.” (4)

Continue reading “The LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund” →

Oral Histories at the ALA Archives

Posted on by Cara Bertram
File from the ALSC Oral History Project.

Alongside written records, photographs, and publications, the American Library Association Archives also holds over 150 interviews of individual librarians and library workers. These oral histories and interviews provide a vital resource of librarian recollections that may not be otherwise found in administrative records, photographs, and correspondence. These stories told by librarians and library workers provide context to their lives and career, how their experiences and education shaped their librarianship, and how certain events shaped their personal and professional lives.

While the ALA Archives does not currently have its own active oral history program, the Archives collects and supports projects that capture the voices of librarians and library workers as part of its mission to preserve the history of librarianship. Here is a small selection the oral history projects and interviews that the Archives holds: Continue reading “Oral Histories at the ALA Archives” →

A Short History of ALA Headquarters

Posted on by Cara Bertram
ALA Headquarters office in the Chicago Public Library, 1918.

Last summer, the American Library Association moved from its long-lived location at 50 E. Huron Street in Chicago to its new location off Michigan Ave. This office were the longest held headquarters that ALA had, it was by no means the first nor was Chicago ALA’s original location. ALA’s history is filled with debates about locations and new homes.

According to Virgil F. Massman, the Association had several temporary homes in its early years, with the saying being that the Association was in Melvil Dewey’s desk drawer or wherever the ALA Secretary hung up their hat. In reality, ALA established headquarter offices at 32 Hawley Street in Boston in 1879, which were maintained by Melvil Dewey. (1) Continue reading “A Short History of ALA Headquarters” →

Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship

Posted on by Cara Bertram

Blog post by Lauren Quinlan

Librarianship is a field that has long been dominated by women. According to a fact sheet published by the Department for Professional Employees, women compromise 81% of enrollment in graduate library science programs, 82.8% of all librarians, and 75.9% of all library workers [8]. However, this dominance in terms of numbers has historically not translated to true equity in other dimensions.

Conference attendees at the COSWL exhibit tables at the 1980 Annual Conference in New York (Record Series 81/2/10, Box 4)

According to a 1967 study of academic librarians, median salary differences between male and female librarians tend to widen as experience in the field increases – even when levels of education between the two groups are equal [4]. This study emerged at a time when roughly four out of five librarians in the United States were female, and the discipline of librarianship was gaining legitimacy, with some concerned that “librarianship cannot upgrade itself without upgrading opportunities for women… Nor should it expect to gain the public esteem that it seeks by tactically endorsing inequality of opportunity, and furthering, by its own inaction, the all-too-familiar image of librarianship as a passive, unchallenging, and low-paid profession” [4]. Continue reading “Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship” →

Spooky Stacks: Viewing Haunted Libraries of the Midwest through Library Postcards

Posted on by Lauren Quinlan

According to a scientific survey by Chapman University, a little more than half of all Americans believe that places can be haunted by spirits, with three in four believing in some kind of paranormal phenomenon [9]. The history of ghosts in America is a storied one and can generally be charted as first being thought of as “agents of God, then the devil, and now are seen as entertainment, to a large extent”, according to Tamara Hunt, a History professor at University of Southern Indiana and collector of ghost stories. Generally speaking, the way ghosts are seen in culture and society reflect the temperature of the era. Those in the 18th century viewed ghosts as the spirits of the dead who had unfinished business on Earth. Later on, ghosts helped people deal with the rapid changes of the 19th century, and when seances and Ouija boards rose in popularity, so did the belief that people could communicate with any spirit – not just a loved one. Throughout all time, ghosts provided a link between the present and the past, and the living and the dead – a connection that brings comfort and peace of mind during turbulent times. Some of the most haunted libraries in the Midwest can be viewed – from a safe distance – through the American Library Association Archives’ extensive postcard collection. More information about haunted libraries throughout the United States can be found through the Haunted Libraries LibGuide, courtesy of the University of Illinois Library. Continue reading “Spooky Stacks: Viewing Haunted Libraries of the Midwest through Library Postcards” →