Librarian of the small lending library at the Casa Grande Valley Farms. Pinal County, Arizona.
Photo by Lee Russell, April-May 1940.
nypl:
NYPL’s Hunts Point Library received a surprise visit today from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor! Justice Sotomayor was visiting her hometown and decided to pay a visit to her old library stomping grounds in the Bronx. The staff from the Library, along with one of our patrons, were pleased to welcome her back to the branch!
Clayton Library’s goal: preserving African American history. The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum in the decommissioned Culver City courthouse has gone from being one woman’s personal mission to something of a miracle.
The first miracle is its 2 million items — second only to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York. Those items include 25,000 magazines, 20,000 books, 17,000 photographs, 1,000 pieces of sheet music, 700 films and 300 movie posters.
The second miracle: the library’s first annual budget of $500,000, paid staff of four, about 40 volunteers and, last month, more than 500 visitors.
But numbers don’t tell the entire story. Sandra Lindsey, a volunteer who discovered the library while working on her master’s in history at Cal State L.A., says: “Don’t come through the door if you don’t want to be hooked.”
Photo: Mayme Clayton talks about black history at the library-research center she founded in her garage. Clayton died in 2006. Credit: Los Angeles Times
First Lady Abigail Powers Fillmore began teaching at a country school house in Cayuga County, NY when she was 16 years old. In the winter of 1818 a self taught teenager named Millard Fillmore enrolled her class. They were engaged a year later, although the wedding was delayed until 1826. For three years of their courtship, they were 150 miles apart as Millard trained to be a lawyer. As Millard explained, she was “eight years my sweetheart, twenty seven years my wife.”
Abigail taught for two years after their wedding, making her the first First Lady to hold a job after marriage. She retired from teaching after the birth of her first child Millard Powers Fillmore.
Abigail was a proponent of libraries and founded the first public library in Sempronius, New York. As First Lady, she worked to create a permanent library in the White House. Prior to the Fillmore administration, US presidents had brought their own books to the White House, retrieving them once they left office. Through her husband, Abigail obtained a special appropriation from Congress to create a small library on the second floor of the White House which still exists today.
![Eva Morrison Abdou, Nova Scotia born Boston hospital librarian and long distance swimmer.
Eva attempted to swim the English Channel three times and although she never succeeded, she was a very determined swimmer:
On Aug. 23, 1935, in one of the worst storms of the season, Mrs. [Eva Abdou] tried to make the swim from England to France. A man accompanying her gave up after only four miles. After 16 hours, with the French coast in sight, Mrs. Abdou was forced to abandon the swim because of the rough seas.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lokfolbFJs1qi1raio1_500.jpg)
Women collecting books at the Chicago Public Library for US soldiers, 1917.
Chicago Daily News photograph
Ella Higginson (1861-1940) combined a career as a writer with community activism. She was a successful writer, publishing poetry, novels and short stories. Her 1902 collection of poetry, When the Birds Go North Again, was praised by the New York Times for its “depth and delicacy of feelings.” In 1931, Ella became Poet Laureate of Washington State.
While pursuing her writing career, Ella helped found the first library in Bellingham, Washington in 1891. In 1912, she served as campaign manager for Frances C. Axtell, the first woman elected to Washington State’s House of Representatives. A member of numerous local organizations, Ella promoted the arts, education, and women’s rights in Washington State.
Mary Emma Allison with her three children in 1954
A minister’s wife and school librarian, Mary Emma Allison was interested in how American children could help needy children abroad. In 1949, she noticed a children’s costume parade in Philadelphia encouraging people to donate to UNICEF. Inspired, Mary Emma wrote a piece for her husband’s Presbyterian magazine suggesting children collect funds for UNICEF while they trick or treated. Her 1950 article recommended milk cartons like those pictured above be used.
In 1950, Trick or Treat for UNICEF raised $17 in Philadelphia. Over the last 61 years, it has raised over $160 million in the US alone. Donations can also be made online in the US and Canada.
Over the course of 45 years, Culver City, California librarian Mayme Agnew Clayton (August 4, 1923 – October 13, 2006) collected more than 30,000 rare and out-of-print books. She used her own resources and she worked alone. The collection is considered one of the most important for African-American materials and consists of 3.5 million items on the topic of African-American culture. It is the largest privately-held collection of African American historical materials in the world.
Ms. Clayton, you might be my new hero.
(via libraryjournal)
Prior to Alma Jean Vincent’s employment in a large Midwestern aircraft plant, she managed the junior book section of a suburban library. She had also been an assistant buyer of sportswear, but this lack of industrial experience seems to have been no handicap for her present job of visual gauge operator, inspecting airplane motor parts. With only six months of war work behind her, she’s more than meeting plant requirements for speed and precision.
