Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 Empire of the Mind: Subscription Libraries, Literacy & Acculturation in the Colonies of the British Empire Sterling Joseph Coleman Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES EMPIRE OF THE MIND: SUBSCRIPTION LIBRARIES, LITERACY & ACCULTURATION IN THE COLONIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE By STERLING JOSEPH COLEMAN, JR. A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2008 Copyright © 2008 Sterling Joseph Coleman, Jr. All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the Dissertation of Sterling Joseph Coleman, Jr. defended on October 27, 2008. _____________________________ Charles Upchurch Professor Directing Dissertation _____________________________ Wayne Wiegand Outside Committee Member _____________________________ Peter Garretson Committee Member _____________________________ Jonathan Grant Committee Member _____________________________ Nathan Stoltzfus Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank his father, Sterling Joseph Coleman, Sr. for giving him the strength of character to see this project through, his mother, Rosie Coleman, for granting him the knowledge and wisdom necessary to assemble this dissertation and his sister, Rhonda Coleman, for her undying love and support over the years. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .............................................................................................................v List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................vii Abstract......................................................................................................................viii INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................1 1. SUBSCRIPTION LIBRARY DOMINANCE (1780s-1929).................................15 2. INSTITUTIONAL SHIFTS IN THE METROPOLIS (1914-1945)......................53 3. SUBSCRIPTION LIBRARY CO-OPATION (1929-1945) ..................................84 4. SUBSCRIPTION LIBRARY AUTONOMY (1945-1962) ...................................125 5. EDUCATION, NATIONALISTS AND LIBRARIANSHIP ................................165 CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................187 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................197 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .....................................................................................220 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Reading-Intensive Occupations by Population for Penang in 1921 ..............30 Table 2. Sample Collection Size and Content of the General Library of the Institute of Jamaica from 1900 to 1925 .......................................................................46 Table 3. Reading-Intensive Occupations by Race & Ethnicity for Penang in 1931....85 Table 4. Reading-Intensive Occupations by Race & Ethnicity for Jamaica in 1943...85 Table 5. Reading-Intensive Occupations by Race & Ethnicity for the Southern Provinces of Nigeria in 1931 .......................................................................................85 Table 6. Sample of Books Added to Penang Library Collection 1935 to 1939...........112 Table 7. Number of Volumes Issued by the Penang Library 1935 to 1939.................113 Table 8. Sample Collection Size and Content of the General Library of the Institute of Jamaica from 1930 to 1940 .......................................................................115 Table 9. Sample Collection Size and Content of the Lagos Library 1932 to 1934 .....117 Table 10. Reading-Intensive Occupations by Race & Ethnicity for Penang in 1947 .........................................................................................................................126 Table 11. Reading-Intensive Occupations by Race & Ethnicity for Lagos in 1950 .........................................................................................................................126 Table 12. Reading-Intensive Occupations by Race & Ethnicity for Jamaica in 1960 .........................................................................................................................126 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AG Action Group ALA American Library Association BITU Bustamante Industrial Trade Union CCNY Carnegie Corporation of New York CDA 1929 Colonial Development Act 1929 CDAC Colonial Development Advisory Committee CDWA 1940 Colonial Development and Welfare Act 1940 CDWA 1945 Colonial Development and Welfare Act 1945 CDWAC Colonial Development and Welfare Advisory Committee CDF Colonial Development Fund CPM Communist Party of Malaysia CUKT Carnegie United Kingdom Trust HMS His (or Her) Majesty’s Ship JLP Jamaica Labour Party KMM Kesatuan Melayu Muda (Young Malay Union) KMS Kesatuan Melayu Singapura (Singapore Malay Union) KORAG Koloniale Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft (The Reich Colonial Society) MCA Malaysian Chinese Association MIC Malayan Indian Congress MP Member of Parliament MPAJA Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army NCNC National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons NNDP Nigerians National Democratic Party NPC Northern People’s Congress NYM Nigerian Youth Movement OIC Office of International Information and Cultural Affairs OIE Office of International Information and Educational Exchange OSS Office of Strategic Services OWI Office of War Information PNP People’s National Party vi UMNO United Malays National Organization USIA United States Information Agency USIS United States Information Service vii ABSTRACT In his ground-breaking Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson declared that the census, map and museum shaped the manner in which the colony imagined its dominion, the nature of the colonized, the geography of the colony and the ancestral right of the colonizer to rule.1 The author’s analysis not only highlighted the impact of print- culture within a colonial setting but also created an opportunity to explore how other information gathering institutions may have contributed to the social and cultural development of both the metropolis and the colony. This dissertation is designed to build upon Anderson’s work through an analysis of the social and cultural roles subscription libraries played throughout the colonies of the British Empire.2 By analyzing British government documents, library annual reports and a variety of secondary sources, this study will assess the history, growth and development of subscription librarianship in the colonies of Jamaica, Malaysia and Nigeria as a microcosm for British-controlled areas of the Caribbean, Asia and Africa respectively. This dissertation will argue that colonial subscription library development was a key component of “Neo-Macaulayism” which advocated the cultural enfranchisement and intellectual development of the indigenous elite to maintain a fully functioning colonial government bureaucracy against the threats of disloyalty and illiteracy. 1 Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. (London: Verso, 1991), 163-164. 2For the purpose of this study, the term ‘subscription library’ will be defined as follows: A type of library that developed in Britain during the second half of the 18th century, whose members paid annual dues or a subscription fee in exchange for the privilege of using library materials and services. And for the purpose of this study, the term ‘public library’ will be defined as follows: A library or library system that provides unrestricted access to library resources and services free of charge to all the residents of a given community, district or geographic region, supported wholly or in part by public funds. Both definitions can be found in Joan M. Reitz, ODLIS: Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science, 2002. Online. Available from http://vax.wcsu.edu/library/odlis.html. Accessed May 3, 2008. viii INTRODUCTION In his ground-breaking Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson asserted, “the census, the map, and the museum…together they profoundly shaped the way in which the colonial state imagined its dominion—the nature of the human beings it ruled, the geography of its domain, and the legitimacy of its ancestry.”3 The author’s assessment of the role the census, the map and the museum played in colonialism not only highlighted the impact of print-culture within a colonial setting but also created an opportunity to explore how other information gathering institutions may have contributed to the social and cultural development of both the metropolis and the colony. This dissertation is designed to build upon Anderson’s work through an analysis of the social and cultural roles subscription libraries played throughout the colonies of the British Empire.4 Prior to the late-1930s, colonial subscription libraries helped shape the colonizers view of the colonized through the creation of access restrictions primarily based upon income with race and ethnicity acting as secondary and tertiary limitations. Subscription libraries such as the Penang Library in Malaysia established in 1819, the General Library