Flora Belle Ludington: A Biography and Bibliography

BY MARGARET L. JOHNSON

FLORA BELLE LUDINGTON was born in Miss Johnson is Librarian of Smith Col­ Huron County, Michigan, but moved with lege, Northampton, Massachusetts. Miss her family to Wenatchee, Washington, in Ludington is a contributor to and a former time to begin her library career at the age member of the Editorial Board of College and Research Libraries. ln preparing the of fourteen as a volunteer in the newly bibliography for this paper, Miss Johnson established Carnegie public library. She wishes to acknowledge the assistance of was an assistant in the library of the Uni­ Nancy Devine, Reference Librarian, Mount versity of Washington in Seattle, where Holyoke College. she took the AB degree in librarianship, in 1920. Later studies brought her an MA degree in history from , and library in Bombay, India, from 1944 to a BLS degree from New York State Li­ 1946, while on war leave from Mount brary School, both conferred in 1925. Af­ Holyoke. In 1947 she attended the meet­ ter one year as an assistant in the circula­ ings of the International Federation of tion department of .the University of Library Associations in Oslo, Norway. Washington library ( 1920-21) Miss Lud­ Miss Ludington served for several months ington was appointed reference librarian in 1948 as visiting expert on information at Mills College. She was later named as­ libraries in Japan for the Supreme Com­ sistant professor of bibliography and then mand for Allied Powers and was awarded associate librarian. In 1936 she was ap­ the Certificate of Achievement of the Civil pointed librarian of the Mount Holyoke Information and Education Section. She College library, the position she has since has been a member of the USIA's Ad­ held until her retirement in June 1964. visory Committee on International Cul­ She has been a visiting professor of li­ tural Relations since 1957. As chairman brary science during summer sessions at of a committee working with the ALA the University of Texas ( 1930), San Jose and the Ford Foundation to establish a () State Teachers College library school at the University of An­ ( 1931), and at the Columbia University kara in Turkey, she visited libraries there school of library service ( 1936, 1938, and in Lebanon in 1957. In 1959 she 1939, 1941, 1942, and 1943). studied library development in Africa un­ The years at Mount Holyoke have in­ der a Rockefeller Foundation grant. cluded varied services to the library pro­ Always interested in the development fession and to the larger community of of international cultural relations, Miss the world. Her two-year chairmanship of Ludington is equally distinguished for her the Special Committee on International services to the library profession in this Cultural Relations during the second country. A long-time member of the World War led to her personal participa­ American Library Association, she was tion in the overseas program as first di­ twice chairman of the Board on Interna­ rector of the information tional Relations ( 1942-44), working on

SEPTEMBER 1964 375 postwar rehabilitation of European li­ University of Washington school of librar­ braries and closer cooperation with li­ ianship selected her as the Distinguished braries in Latin America. As president Alumna of 1964. of the American Library Association ·in To those who have been fortunate in 1953-54, she worked with the establish­ working with Flora Belle Ludington in ment of the National Book Committee, the Connecticut Valley, this brief sum­ organized by a group of citizens "to mary of her professional contributions promote wider and wiser distribution of and achievements provides little more books and to preserve the freedom to than the bare biographical skeleton of a read." She also served ( 1959) on the truly great professional. The flesh and National Book Committee's Awards Ad­ spirit are found in qualities difficult to de­ visory Committee, under whose annual fine without seeming fulsome and perhaps program the book industry's prizes are even a bit emotional. As the HILC librar­ given to American writers for the most ians were appointed, she welcomed each distinguished books published in the with warmth and genuine acceptance as United States the previous year. colleagues in the profession to which she As librarian of Mount Holyoke Col­ had made full commitment. Her splendid lege, Miss Ludington was instrumental in judgment and her wise and patient coun­ establishing ( 19 51 ) the Hampshire Inter­ sel are complemented by imagination, en­ Library Center, a cooperative center for thusiasm, and humor, which made the co­ scholarly materials maintained by Am­ operative venture of HILC, as she often herst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith colleges said, "one of the most exciting experi­ and the University of Massachusetts, and ences" in a librarian's career. has since served on its executive commit- The true professional should have . tee. She has also served on the board of breadth of interests, but at the same time directors of the Association of College a clear vision of the central purposes of and Research Libraries, the Library the profession to which he has committed Council of Massachusetts, and the execu­ himself. Flora Belle Ludington never loses tive committee of the Mount Holyoke sight of the first responsibility of the li­ Institute of the United Nations. brarian-to bring together books and In 19 53 Mills College granted Miss people, and, she would add, "books that Ludington an honorary LLD degree, and will inspire the mind, that will throw in 1957 she received from the American fresh lights on current problems ... books Library Association one of the most dis­ on a variety of subjects, not necessarily tinguished awards in librarianship-the new books . . . good books." She also is Joseph W. Lippincott Award for "high an articulate librarian, ample evidence of achievement." Praising her for her "crea­ which is provided in the bibliography of tive contributions to the advancement of her writings which follows. Her reading the library profession," the citation added: as well as her writings encompasses many "As former president of the American diverse fields, and are worldwide in their Library Association and one of its most extent. She is a librarian, bookman, col­ respected advisors today, Miss Luding­ lector, and, perhaps of greater impor­ ton has demonstrated a level of public tance, an informed and active citizen of and private statesmanship which should the world. She once said of William E. be both a deep source of satisfaction to Henry, founder and dean of the school of her and a continuing challenge to ~ll librarianship at the University of Wash­ members of her profession." And in this ington: "It was to Dean Henry that we all year of her retirement, it seems most fit­ looked for his warm personality, his pro­ ting that the Alumnae Association of the fessional knowledge, his breadth of learn-

376 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES ing and his devotion to the profession. " 1 Ludington would ascribe these same qual­ Those who have worked with Flora Belle ities to her, and be grateful for the asso­

1 Dorothy Bevis, "Flora B. Ludington," Bulletin of ciation and the example she has set for Bibliography, XXI (January-April 1956), 193-95. excellence in the profession. • •

Published Works of Flora Belle Ludington

1925 , 1837-1937. Willis­ ton Memorial Library, Mount Holyoke Col­ The Newspapers of Oregon, 1846-1870. lege, May 7 to May 31, 1937. [South Had­ Eugene [Oregon]. 34p. Master's Thesis, Mills College. ley, Mass.J 43p. 1928 1938 "Standards Reached by the Smaller College Qvintvs H orativs Flaccvs; Editions in the Libraries of the Pacific Coast," California United States and Canada, as They Appear News Notes, XXIII, 4-6. in the Union Catalog of the Library of Con­ gress. Ed. by Anna C. Brinton and Flora B. 1929 Ludington. [Oakland]: Mills College, Calif. 240p. "College Librarians of the Middle West," 1939 summary of a paper read at Midwinter Meeting of ALA. Libraries, XXXIV, 417. "Should A.L.A. Council Organization Be More Democratic?" ALA Bulletin, XXXIII, 1934 173-75. Introduction to The San Francisco Fairy, A 1940 Tale of Early Times, published by C. P. "Evaluating the Adequacy of the Book Col­ Kimball, 1868. (Whimsical Reprints, no. 3.) lection," CRL, I, 305-13. Mills College, Calif.: Eucalyptus Press. ll. "A Glance at Salaries in College and Uni­ 3-4. versity Libraries," ALA Bulletin, XXXIV, "Preparing College Women for Leisure; In­ 113-14, 123-24. fluencing Outside Reading through Personal 1941 Contact." (Paper presented at College and University Library Section, California Li­ Review of The Classified List of Periodicals brary Association, April 11, 1933.) Library for College Libraries, and The Classified Journal, LIX, 56-58. List of Reference Books for College Li­ braries, CRL, II, 156-57. 1935 1942 "College Library Book Selection," Library Journal, LX, 8-12. "The New Code and the College Library," "The Teaching Function of the Junior Col­ CRL, III, 121-28. lege Library," ALA Bulletin, XXIX, 625- "Propaganda in Pamphlets," ALA Bulletin, 29. Also appeared in Junior College Jour­ XXXVI, 296. nal, VI, 69-73. 1943 1936 "Books and the Sword--Symbols of Our "Consideration of a College Library Book Time," ALA Bulletin, XXXVII, 147-52. List," ALA Bulletin, XXX, 156-60. "British Book Week," ibid., p.275. "Public Opinion and Postwar Planning: The 1937 Library's Part." (Paper read at New York An Exhibition of One Hundred American Institute on War and Postwar Issues, April First Editions Paralleling the History of 4, 1943.) Library Journal, LXVIII, 345-47.

SEPTEMBER 1964 377 1944 Peace Collection, a Memorial to Jane Ad­ dams, comp. by Ellen S. Brinton ret al. 1, "Discussion" rfollowing article, "The Emerg­ Bibliographical Society of America Papers, ing Program of Cultural Relations," by XLII, 161. Charles A. Thomson1, ALA Bulletin, XXX­ Review of Library Development Plan: Thir­ VIII, 78-79. ty-Year Programme for India, by S. R. Review of Fifty Years of Education for Li­ Ranganathan, Library Journal, LXXIII, 873- brarianship, papers presented for the cele­ 74. bration of the fiftieth anniversary of the 1950 University of Illinois library school, March 2, 1943, Library Journal, LXIX, 301-302. "Towards a Better College Library," Stechert-Hafner Book News, IV, 93-94. 1945 Review of Education for a New Japan, by "Rebuilding War-Wrecked Libraries," Amer­ Robert K. Hall, Far Eastern Quarterly, IX, ican Federationist, LII (March) 30. 409-10. Review of No Cause for Alarm; What Lies 1946 Behind England's Peaceful Revolution, by Virginia Cowles, Mount Holyoke Alumnae "India Needs Technical Libraries," Trend Quarterly, XXXIII, 154. (Bombay), II, 6. "Libraries for Children," ibid., pp. 14-15. 1951 Also appeared under the title, "Libraries for School," in Municipal Gazette; A Journal "Strengthening the Forces for Peace," Mas­ sachusetts Library Association Bulletin, XLI, for Civic and Municipal Affairs (Madras), 37-39. IX, 5. Review of Library Development Plan: Thir­ "Library Situation in India, 1946 . . . for ty-Year Programme for India, by S. R. The American Library Association." Wash­ Ranganathan, Library Quarterly, XXI, 223- ington: ALA International Relations Office. 24. 14 r 18 1 I. (mimeographed) . ("Confidential: 1952 Not for Publication.") Review of Poems from India, by Members "Hampshire Inter-Library Center," ALA of the Forces, chosen by R. N. Currey and Bulletin, XLVI, 10-12. Also appeared in R. V. Gibson, Illustrated Weekly of India, Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly, XXXV, March 3. 113-14. 1947 1953 "Discussion on The Indian Law of Copy­ "Book Preservation," ALA Bulletin, XLVII, right," in Indian Writers in Council; Pro­ 425-26. ceedings of the First All-India Writers' Con­ "Essentials of Cooperation," South Dakota ference (Jaipur, 1945). Bombay: Interna­ Library Bulletin, XXXIX, 66-71. tional Book House, 1947. Pp.146-47. "Interlibrary Cooperation," Public Libraries, "India," comp. by P. M. Joshi and Flora VII, 1-2. B. Ludington, The Booklist, XLIII, 125-27, "Memorial Tribute, July 29, 1953, to Bulin 144. Klyver Hobbie, 1896-1953," Massachusetts Review of National Library System-a Plan Library Association Bulletin, XLIII, 80-81. for India, by S. R. Ranganathan, Library "Taproot, Trunk and Branches. Inaugural Quarterly, XVII, 314-16. Address, Los Angeles, June 26, 1953," ALA Bulletin, XLVII, 345, 366-73. 1948 1954 Review of The Cultural Approach: Another Way in International Relations, by Ruth E. "The American Contribution to Foreign Li­ McMurry and Muna Lee, Library Quarter­ brary Establishment and Rehabilitation," ly, XVIII, 126-27. Library Quarterly, XXIV, 192-204. Also ap­ Review of Guide to the peared in Leon Carnovsky (ed.), lnterna-

378 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES tiona! Aspects of Librarianship [Chicago1: 1958 University of Chic;ago Press. Pp. 112-24. Books and Libraries: Tools of the Academic "Common Voice," ALA Bulletin, XLVIII, 79. World. rChicago: ALA1, 14p. Also ap­ peared in John D. Marshall (comp.), Of, "Halsey William Wilson," ibid., p. 323. "Individual Librarian and the ALA," Okla­ By, and For Librarians, Hamden, Conn.: homa Librarian, I, 3-4. Shoe String Press, 1960. Pp. 104-15. "Membership in ALA Is Affirmation of 1959 Confidence in Its Purposes," Library News Bulletin (Washington State Library), XXI, "The Increased Cost of Books," Library 11. Journal, LXXXIV, 151. "Our Common Interests and Purposes," "The School's Contribution to Librarian­ PNLA Quarterly rPacific Northwest Library ship," in New York State Library School Association1, XVIII, 80-83. Association, New York State Library School "Report rof the President1 to Council, June Register, 1887-1926, pp. xv-xvi. 25, 1954, Minneapolis," ALA Bulletin, XLVIII, 439-41. 1960 1955 "The Fiske Report: Its Implications for "Association Responsibilities for Publish­ Book Selection," Bay State Librarian, L, 1-6. ing," Library Trends, III, 258-68. Condensed version appeared as "Fiske Re­ Foreword to Books, Autographs, Drawings, port and Book Selection," Ontario Library Paintings, Illuminated and Other Manu­ Review, XIV, 233-35. scripts, etc. Collected by The Late Henry S. "Suggested Readings ron Africa1," compiled Borneman ... Public Auction .Sale, No­ by Flora B. Ludington and Donald L. Wied­ vember 1 and 2. New York: Parke-Bernet ner, Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly, Galleries, Inc. Pp. rvii-viii1• Special Supplement, Summer 1960, p.88. "Kiitiiphanecilik Boliimii" (University of Review of A Southeastern Supplement to the Ankara Institute of Librarianship), Library Union List of Serials, ed. by Edward G. Journal, LXXX, 122-23. Roberts, Library Quarterly, XXX, 107-08. "Report on Radio Free Europe," Wilson Li­ brary Bulletin, XXIX, 523. 1961 Review of The Function of the Library in Review of The Reader's Advisor and Book­ the Modern College, ed. by Herman H. man's Manual, 9th ed. rev. and enlarged Fussier, Library Journal, LXXX, 855-57. by Hester R. Hoffman, Library Journal, 1956 LXXXVI, 222-23. "Cooperative Planning to Meet the Needs 1962 of Increased Enrollments," Current Issues in Higher Education, 1956, 322-23. · "The Librarian's Reading; Personal and Pro­ " 'Outside Look' ·at the AAUP (American fessional," Illinois Libraries, XLIV, 354-58. Association of University Presses)," Pub­ Review of Fifth Annual Report for the lisher's Weekly, CLXIX, 2735-42. Period Ending June 30, 1961, Council on Library Resources,. CRL, XXIII, 268-69. 1957 1964 "Lessons of the United States Steel Founda­ tion Grant for Library Programs," Asso­ "The Library" [History of Mount Holyoke ciation of American Colleges Bulletin, College Library1, Mount Holyoke Alumnae XLIII, 356-62. Quarterly, XLVII, 170-7 4. rRemarks on Reorganization of A.L.A. 1 Li­ Review of The Place of a Research Library brary Journal, LXXXII, 629. in a Liberal Arts College; Proceedings of a Review of Training of Specialists in Inter­ Symposium Held at , Feb­ national Relations, by C. Dale Fuller, CRL, ruary 21-22, 1963, CRL, XXV, 230-31. XVIII, 512-13. •• SEPTEMBER 1964 379