By DAVID C. MEARNS Dress Rehearsal

OR MORE THAN forty years The Secret England author that only the lecherous FBook of Edmund Lester Pearson has would be so reckless, so uncomplaining, been, for all I know, very secret indeed, so free of self-consciousness and embar­ but at the outset of subjecting you to rassment, so remote from decency and this ordeal I propose, for your discom­ refinement as to feel impelled to look fort, to exhume two passages from it. up kilts-~ve n (shall we say?) in an In the first, a character named Pratt index. (presumably Enoch Pratt) interrupts But for me the line has a deeper mean­ his dictation to exclaim to his secretary: ing: it is an acknowledgment of the pro­ fessional preoccupation with costume You wouldn't have me make a new and which is a trait, a guild-mark of librari­ original statement at a meeting of librari­ ans at every season and in every clime. ans, would you? That would never do! Part of them would denounce me as flip­ Yet here the women have all the better pant, and the rest-the library magazines, of it. Listen as they protest to William for instance-would refer condescendingly Allen Butler that they have Nothing to to what I said as "clever," which means Wear except Hawthorne's Birthmark "smart but shallow." The great art of a and Miss Millay's Few Figs from This­ library meeting speech ... is to utter as tles. With Walt Whitman they can Sing many solemn platitudes as possible with the Body Electric and disguise Cabell's a very solemn face. It is always sure to be Figures of Earth by calling on William called both "scholarly" and "sound." Miln to stuff them All in a Bustle. Mi­ lady has only to reach for one of Amy You may be sure that I will follow Mr. Lowell's Patterns to emerge as Gersh­ Pratt's excellent and immutable counsel. win's Rhapsody in Blue, with Herge­ The second extract is a single line, sheimer'_s Bright Shawl .across her shoul­ found among the k's in the index, read­ ders, her hair b~witching with Amelia ing: "Kilts, Not Worn by Bibliogra­ Barr's Bow of Yellow Ribbon and flash­ phers, 25." '1\Thy this entry was made I ing Vincent Sheean's Pieces of a Fan . .If cannot say with any assurance, but I can she finds her Leather-Stocking unbecom­ say quite positively that it leads to no­ i;ng she can do without it altogether and where; it is a snare, a delusion, a fraud, let W. D. Steele· cry out How Beautiful the veriest fake. No such reference ap­ with Shoes! Even millinery is provided. pears in the text. Of course, Mr. Pearson She takes Michael Atle_n's Green Hat, may have compiled the index before he trims it with Lawrence Stalling's Plum~s, wrote the book, and, thereby, have per­ and ties it on with one o_f Hurieker's' or mitted his fancy to wander a little aim­ Maugham's Painted Veils. lessly; but a more satisfactory explana­ The men, as I say, have .been less fa­ tion, it seems to me, would be a con­ vored. The Knickerbocker's History h~lVe viction on the part of that stern New not only been. completed; they have passed from fashion. Moreover, it is clumsy to mop an .anguished brow With Mr. Mearns is assistant librarian, nothing softer than Cooper's Autob-iog­ 4merican Collections, Library of Con­ raphy of a Pocket Handkerchief; Walter gress. Scott has ·supplied a single Redgauntlet; Thomas Hood has come up with noth­ broom. He did not a very genteel fig­ ing more substantial than a Song of the ure and knows it, whereas, had he worn Shirt, and so, choice must be made be­ a proper garment, he would . have been tween Buchan's Greenmantle and Mel­ as ready to receive company after his ville's White jacket. There is no variety dust-bath as before. in neckwear; Thomas Nelson Page once What should the library tunic be, and found an Old Gentleman with the Black how made? My idea is, there should be Stock, but Conan Doyle has had to re­ one for summer and one for winter use. The summer one might be of gray silk, linquish His Last Bow. The severest dis­ and the winter one of gray cassimere, comfort is caused by ·thrusting Gilbert light, fine. and probably lined. It should Parker's Seats of the Mighty into John be cut loose about the shoulders and with Hay's Little Breeches. Only the elect can loose sleeves; should have a neat, low­ get about Under the Red Robe, as tail­ standing , rounded at the corners, ored by Stanley Weyman. and fitted with a clasp emblematic of his Yes, librarians have clothes all about office, say, an open book, with light frogs them, yet, strangely, they have never pro­ down the front. It should be neatly gath­ duced a satisfactory working garb. This ered over the chest, with a wide band is not to say that they haven't tried; of around the waist with a cla~p similar to course they have. Why, as long ago as the one at the throat, only larger, and 1890, one of them named H. J. Dennis close buttoned at the waist. The skirts wrote a discursive letter on the subject should hang fully to the knee-it would to the Library Bureau, the following por­ be better to hang a little below. Pockets tions of which were published in the at right and left of breast and skirts with October number of The Library ] our­ over skirt pockets. The cassimere nat: one could be made the same, except it might be lined. I have a suggestion to make. The cat­ Now, there is a garment, as I can see alogue sent gives a long list of very useful it in my fancy, that would be comfortable aids . . . to the librarian, but does not and becoming, and make the librarian a mention one that I daily need, viz., a li­ properly dressed man in all the depart­ brary coat, or toga, or tunic, or gown, or ments of his work, and when at night robe. We all know that he is well dressed he exchanged his robe on the peg for his whose garb is adapted to his work, whether "Prince Albert," to go upon the street, he is about to make a balloon ascension he would not have the appearance of just or go down into the bottom of the deep returning from a house cleaning. I have in a diving-bell. Now, the work of a li­ never been able to describe this garment brarian is a good deal mixed, and, hence, so that a could make it, and yet it a proper garment for him requires some seems to me that a tailor of some taste thought. He starts. in the morning rather could easily do it. I believe librarians gen­ neatly clad in a business suit, and at his erally would want these garments if they desk and in his general work is all au could get them-at least I should be ready fait, but soon the "antiquarian" comes in to take two of them. You might add this and wants some dust-covered folio ex­ garment to your list of library conveni­ humed from the sands of Egypt on Shelf ences, and it seems to me that it would not 13. The librarian climbs the ladder and be the one least appreciated by the craft. finds the volume, venerable with the dust Let your artist devise the style of the gar­ of ages, and on climbing down with the ment, and an artistic tailor furnish rules principal part of the dust belonging to the for taking the proper measure in each volume removed to his own person, he is case, and it seems to me that the orders confronted by a troop of visitors to the would begin to come in. By getting the capitol, and must be introduced all around proper goods in quantities to afford you before he can seek the relief of the dust- wholesale prices, and by having many gar-

262 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES ments made by one firm, you could supply our world is constituted, most activities them cheaper than they could be obtained are on the whole "run" by men, and, con­ elsewhere, to say nothing of their being sequently, those which are not are at some more neatly and tastefully made. Why disadvantage. There are several fine and should not the librarian have a uniform, capable women in library work to serve as or at least a garment that is at once com­ the exception to prove this rule, but -in fortable and adapted to his work? general, if librarianship is to take its just place as a profession, if the librarian is to Whether the Dennis smock ever gained claim equality of status with other chief common acceptance or attained a gen­ officers, and if he is to represent the needs eral vogue, I do not know, but I do of the service to committees and councils know that when Herbert Putnam, a few which are predominantly male, the senior years later, became librarian of the Bos­ executive and administrative library posts ton Public he was photographed in an should be held by men. Clearly, we cannot outfit curiously combining the features have men in charge unless we have men of a Salvation Army uniform with the in all the subordinate grades preparing themselves to fill the higher posts of the regalia of a bellhop at the Waldorf, and future. with the initials B. P. L. embroidered Secondly, many of the contacts and on the collar in solid gold. Mr. Putnam many of the duties are such that a man is does not appear to have persisted in more appropriate than a woman. wearing this costume; perhaps he found Thirdly, as society is at present consti­ it too often mistaken for a lackey's liv­ tuted, it is the man's function, as a rule, ery rather than for the finery of a field to support a wife and family. Consequent­ marshal. ly, unless there is any reason why a par­ Our English confreres have always ticular means of earning a livelihood had an instinct for correct appearance. should be delegated to women, there are This is borne out by a reference in Alex­ potent reasons why it should be given to ander John Philip's The New Assistant; men. or} The junior's Vade Mecum where, on Fourthly, a majority of women marry page 17, is the admonition: "Keep a and then leave work. Thus, if we were to staff our libraries entirely with women, good look out for dingy backs ... or we should lose much that is valuable; the dirty edges: they are all worth further accumulation of experience would be less, examination in the never-ending cam­ as experience would continually be drain­ paign to keep . . . clean and fresh and ing away. Neither could we count on the bright." But, alas, our British colleagues same amount of initial interest and en­ take a dim view of women in librarian­ thusiasm, for though many women un­ ship. Not so long ago I chanced on the doubtedly give of their best whatever the following strictures which appear in Li­ prospect of matrimony, it would not be onel McColvin's Library Staffs} pub­ reasonable to expect that in the aggregate lished in 1939: a group of women would have the same incentive as a group of men whose whole Women are quite capable of undertak­ future depended on their efforts. ing many, if not indeed all, types of li­ These arguments do not allow us to ex­ brary work; for some, such as work with clude all women from librarianship, but children, they are much more suitable they make it clear that if women are ad­ than men. mitted, their presence must not be preju­ There are, however, good reasons why dicial to the interests of men (and indi­ librarianship should not become entir:ely rectly of the women those men may want or predominantly a "woman's profession." to support as wives). We must consider this matter frankly and trust that no offence is given where none Now .methinks these alarums of is intended. Firstly, it is a fact that as Westminster's City Librar-ian are un-

]ULY 1957 263 chivalrous, ungallant, and unavailing, 1. It was an extra expense. but they are, I suspect, nothing new. 2. It was unbecoming. This frightened prejudice among the 3. It was a uniform. British has been going on for a long However, these objections were easily time. Otherwise, how can one explain removed when I proved: the Worthing Staff Library Overall, I. That the initial expense need be only which must be seen to be believed? The a few shillings. atrocious habit appears to have been the 2. That one can be artistically as well work of that traducer of womankind, as suitably dressed. Marion Frost, who was herself a woman 3. That a uniform is not synonymous presumably and a librarian presumptu­ with servility. It was pointed out that the third objec­ ous. tion was on a par with the action of the An illustrated article in praise of the misguided domestic who removes her cap vile creation besmirched the pages of and apron when cleaning the doorstep in The Library World for November, 1908; the deluded hope that she may be taken in it, the unfeeling Miss Frost wrote: for the daughter of the house. There is Woman's place in the work of the world little reason in either procedure, and as little effect. We are earning our living, has been much discussed, but few will and why should we be ashamed to "dress deny that she is eminently suited to Pub­ the part"? In addition to these negative lic Library work. It is a profession which points, the positive advantages were felt requires tact, good temper, neatness, and to be very great. There was the great con­ care for detail. These are woman's strong venience of being able to wear the "over­ points in business life. all" over any kind of dress, and, when The woman librarian is, however, often ' taken off, an assistant could be dressed lacking in that sense of fitness in dress ready to pay calls, golf, cycle, or whatever which is essential in a position where neat­ she might wish to do. And again, that if ness and smartness are necessary. The need something of the kind be not soon adopt­ for a professional dress for the woman li­ ed, chief librarians will insist that their brarian has been long felt by all who come staff wear black. in contact with her. At her ~est , even The staff difficulties being thus over­ when "well-dressed" in the ordinary sense, come, the dress itself was considered. The she appears inappropriate behind the design was the first consideration. We counter of a library, but at her worst she wanted something that was easily put on is unspeakable. Open-work blouses, trail­ and taken off; that did not look like a ing skirts, and imitation jewelry are ap­ cooking apron on the one hand, or an ill­ pallingly unsuitable. fitting dress on the other. After a number Efforts to alter this state of things have of experiments, the design shown in the meant continuous pressure, even to re­ accompanying photograph was adopted. It p_ress the more glaring errors of dress. The has received the approval of various librar­ policy of "-pricks" which this necessi­ ians, and has proved very satisfactory. tates is most distasteful to any librarian, There should be little difficulty in adopt­ particularly if the chief be a man. ing the idea in any library. A complete reform is the only solution A girl starting on her business career of the difficulty. 1\~ay I give a short account easily assimilates ideas, and will quickly of the attempt made in Worthing to deal · adopt a uniform costume when shown the with this problem, and the results ob­ desirability of a neat and workmanlike tained? I suggested to my staff the desir­ attire, and when given ideas of what to ability of wearing an overall, or some kind wear and when to wear it.. Half the diffi­ of uniform-dress. culties are overcome when you can prove There were of course, objections, the to her that she will not be tied to any par­ r chief being: ticular style of dress, may corne to the li-

264 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES brary dressed as she pleases, but that, Cleveland Public Library promulgated when on duty, she must look official. these regulations governing attire: Tastes are so dissimilar · that it is ad­ visable to choose a dark colour for the Dress: Simple waists, with or overall. Ours is made of dark green alpaca underslips of sheer materials. Sleeves be­ -a material which shows neither dust nor low the elbows always. Neck never lower than "Dutch neck." If without collar, "V" dirt-enlivened with a buff-coloured silk necks or other low cuts should never be braid. It is made in one and fastens down worn without a guimpe or dickey. If they the front from the neck to twelve inches come appreciably below the lower collar below the waist. It has a fixed belt. If line, collars and ruchings should always made at home the cost is five shillings be fresh and clean. Half-worn finery never eleven pence. Of course, a cheaper mate­ has any place as part of a working outfit. rial can be used, but it is doubtful if it is Skirts not too tight; if slit, the underskirt economy. Brown holland would be a good should be sufficiently long and appropri­ substitute, but would require constant ate. Well-made tailored suits are always washing. suitable and serviceable. Becoming selec­ tion and the harmony of colors are neces­ Ladies and gentlemen, in your inter­ sary to tasteful dress. es t I have carefully studied that "accom­ Hair: Should be arranged becomingly panying photograph." In my unprac­ and simply, without hair ornaments or ticed opinion the model is an abomina­ conspicuous bows. tion, resembling a voluminous "Peter Cosmetics and perfumes have no con­ Thompson" cum rickrack, topped with nection with business attire. a whale-boned collar. It should have ] ewelry: Very little should be worn, brought the most exquisite contumely, and only such as is in keeping with a work­ ing costume, never anything showy or excoriation and contempt upon Marion elaborate. Frost. It should have been consigned Footwear: Neat, comfortable, service­ forthwith to a waxen figure of horrors at able shoes, high or low. Conspicuous ho­ Madame Tussaud's. But it remained for siery and dress slippers with French heels one of those jealous males to lead the are in bad taste for working garb. chorus of derision. This was W. George Hats: Should not exceed "locker space" Chambers, of Plumstead, who wrote a in size. letter to the editor, published in the very next issue of The Library World, in Those were the conditions generally which he said: prevailing when I entered the trade five years later. Most of the women had Surely attempts of this kind to bring achieved miracles of drabness and had woman assistants down to the level of the appearance of being, as the saying domestic servants and shop girls are bound goes, "settled." The full skirts of some to recoil upon those who make them. In had leaded ; these automatically these freedom-loving days, people are be­ dusted the lower shelves; over them, ing allowed more and more liberty in many tied sturdy aprons but wore their the matter of dress, and even the immacu­ reticules on the outside. Those of you late frock coat and silk hat of the male, who saw Helen Hayes play a she-libra­ which not long ago was considered obliga­ rian in Happy Birthday will remember tory upon members of the Stock Exchange, is gradually giving way to the desire of that her dress was described as "meager" the individual for more perfect freedom. and that it was said of her that "the one note of vanity in her entire make-up" Gradually the anti-feminine crusade was her shoes. Anita Loos .may be older crossed the waters and penetrated to than she allows. these States. In 1913, the trustees of the The men, in those far-off days, were

.JULY 1957 265 ·even more subdued, what with their Subject: Attire for members of the staff black- coats and paper cuffs. There who serve the public. were exceptions, of course, and among Your attention is called to the need for them, Appleton P. C. Griffin, Chief As­ each staff member who serves the public sistant Librarian of Congress, who was to present a neat appearance. Individuals invariably swathed in a cutaway and who fail to maintain presentable appear­ ance shall be warned. carried a swagger stick on his walks Effective immediately, members of the from his office to the catalog. But when staff in all reading rooms and other areas he was succeeded by Fred Ashley, tradi­ of public service shall be directed that 1) tion was reasserted. short sleeve sport shirts without ties are I give these personal reminiscences not permitted, 2) if galluses are worn, or only to explain the pleasure I have ex­ shirts of transparent material, a coat is perienced in witnessing the Revolution. required, 3) in hot weather the minimum I hope it is here to stay, but I have dim requirement is a clean long sleeve, white misgivings. Why should not women li­ shirt with a tie. brarians, with their hard-won victory, That is the proposed edict; its sinister continue to be glamorous and lovely and implications are not, I trust, lost on any attractive? And why should not men li­ one of you. At first glance, it appears to brarians occasionally resemble other have been perpetrated by a woman, but men? I, for one, pray that they may. But when one considers the raiment de­ the forces of opposition are strong and scribed, one is driven to the realization powerful. They are allied with those that these articles are no longer exclu­ peasants who suppose that readers come sively identifiable with the male. to look at books rather than at librari­ Women, too, are now wearing Polyne­ ans. They forget that under the most sian bodices and are enjoying the bene­ salutary circumstances librarians are fits of decolletage. They, too, are some­ sometimes obliged to gaze on one ail­ times seen in short sleeves, but who other. This creates an efficiency factor; would be so foolish as to maintain that an element of cooperation. a reader's concentration on his work is I do not, I cannot forget that there less likely to be distracted, diverted, con­ have always been those who insist that founded by a lady's lovely fore-arm than librarians should be indistinguishable by a gentleman's hirsute tattoo. Non­ from their charges; that they should be sense, say I, and I implore you to agree. bound rather than clothed. But these But permit me, brothers and sisters, to ·outrageous critics do not realize how repeat the third injunction: "In hot disturbing crushed morocco can be when weather the minimum requirement is a gathered about the epidermis, or how clean long sleeve, white shirt with a tie." cloying is ruby buckram, or in what ec­ It isn't going barefooted that arouses my centric formats some librarians are made. angry objection. It is being denied the But, alas, I can no longer be sanguine sacred, the guaranteed privileges of about the situation, no longer phleg­ pants. Without them, aren't we going to matic, no longer complacent. The seem even more ridiculous? Won't the ADMINISTRATORS, having settled all the sacrifice make us diffident and a little other problems of their so-called science, shy? In all solemnity, I cry out to you are beginning to think about costume that we must uphold our trousers-up­ once again. hold them if need be- to the very end. Not so long ago, in an eastern institu­ And so, my hearties, gird up your loins. ·tion, the following draft of an order re­ The battle is joined. Let us chant to­ ceived limited circulation; it I reproduce gether that line from Pope: "Who pants verbatim: for glory finds but short repose."

266 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES