I LLINO I S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007. 129o1 no196~-197 CoP.2 Women's Work Vision and Change in Librarianship Papers in Honor of the Centennial of the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science by Laurel A. Grotzinger James V. Carmichael, Jr. 1 Mary Niles Maack With an Introduction by Joanne E. Passet * 1994 The Board of Trustees of The University of Illinois Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free paper ISSN 0276 1769 OCCASIONAL PAPERS deal with any aspect of librarianship and consist of papers that are too long or too detailed for publication in a periodical or that are of specialized or temporary interest. Manuscripts for inclusion in this series are invited and should be sent to: OCCASIONAL PAPERS, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The Publications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 501 E. Daniel Street, Champaign, Illinois 61820. Papers in this series are issued irregularly, and no more often than monthly. Individual copies may be ordered; back issues are available. Please check with the publisher. All orders must be accompanied by payment. Standing orders may also be established. Send orders to: OCCASIONAL PAPERS, The Publications Office, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 501 E. Daniel Street, Champaign, Illinois 61820. Telephone 217-333-1359. Make checks payable to University of Illinois. Visa and Mastercard acccepted. Laurel Preece, Managing Editor PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE Leigh Estabrook, F. Wilfrid Lancaster, Betsy Hearne Marcella Genz, Robert Wedgeworth Introduction ............. ....................... .... 3 Joanne E. Passet Invisible, Indestructible Network: Women and the Diffusion of Libarianship at the Turn of the Century Laurel A. Grotzinger Abstract............................................. 7 A Question of Achievement ............................... 8 A Network Classification................................. 9 The Emergence of Women ............................... 10 Dewey and the New York State Library School (NYSLS) Women................................... 10 Founding Mothers: Women in Early Library Schools ..... 12 Colleagues and Protegoes: Sharp's Amazing Influence.......... 14 A Personal Gatekeeper ............................... 14 Booth, Mann, and Warren...... ................... 16 Kroeger, Mudge, and Winchell ........................ 18 Fairchild, Akers, and MacPherson ....................... 19 Ahern and Pierce ................................... 20 Sears, Tyler, and Howe .............. ............ 22 The Network Triumphant ............................... 23 Notes.. .......................................... 24 References ................................. ......... .25 Southerners in the North and Northerners in the South: The Impact of the Library School of the University of Illinois on Southern Librarianship James V. Carmichael, Jr. Abstract ...................... .... ................ 27 Introduction ......................................... 28 Purposes of the Study...................... ............ 31 Southern Library Background ............................ 32 The Sample ................... ....*35 ................. Deficiencies of Library Education in the South Prior to 1930 ............................................ 41 The Illinois "Southern" Network ......................... 43 Regional Factors ...................................... 50 Recommendations ................................... 50 Southern Conditions ................................. 57 Heat as Metaphor .................. ....... ... ..... 59 "Politics" and Support for Southern Libraries .............. 63 Professional Politics and Southern Library Education......... 66 Gender ........................................... 72 Conclusions ................... ... ......... * * * * 78 Acknowledgments ................... .. ... * ***** ** * 83 Appendix A ............................... * ... * 84 Appendix B ................. ............. .. ....... 86 Appendix C ................... ....... ....... 87 Appendix D .... ................... ........ .. * 88 Notes ................................ .............* 89 References ................... ..... ............. 91 Women as Visionaries, Mentors, and Agents of Change Mary Niles Maack Abstract ...................................... ...... 105 Introduction......................................... 105 Missionaries and Mentors............................... 107 Transitional Years .................................... 108 Masculinization of the Professoriate ................. ...... 110 Mentoring of Women Faculty Today ....................... 112 Career Strategies and Attitudes toward Mentoring ............. 115 Power, Change, and Women's Values....................... 119 The Ethic of Care and the Maternal Metaphor ............... 123 Toward a "New" Feminism in Librarianship ................ 126 Notes .............................................. 127 References ..................................... ..... 128 Contributors .............................. .......... 131 Women's Work L-R: Maude (Straight) Carmen, Katherine Sharp, Margaret Mann, Adele (Coker) Reed Scott. University Archives, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Record Series 39/2/20. Introduction Joanne E. Passet As chair of the Library History Round Table in 1992-93, I had the distinct pleasure of planning two programs for the 1993 annual American Library Association (ALA) meeting, held in New Orleans. One of my first thoughts, in this era of library school closings and mergers, was that we should celebrate the centennial of the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science. As a historian of women, I also recognized that we could not honor the spirit of the University of Illinois Library School without recognizing the contri- butions of the first generation of library women. Although Melvil Dewey initiated professional education for librarians in 1887, a multifaceted circle of his female students arid colleagues enabled it to spread through- out the nation. From 1887, these women dominated library education and the placement of both female and male librarians. This circle in- cluded such exemplars as Katharine L. Sharp, Margaret Mann, and Harriet Howe. As they shared their vision of the library's role in society with countless students, these women formed an indestructible network that in turn enabled hundreds of library women to achieve success- in terms of their careers and in the system of libraries and services they established. In 1893, Reverend Frank W. Gunsaulus, president of Chicago's Armour Institute, asked Melvil Dewey to recommend a man to start a library and library school at his institution. Dewey's oft-quoted response-"The best man in America is a woman, and she is in the next room"-referred to none other than Katharine L. Sharp. One of Dewey's disciples, Sharp was dedicated to the profession, her colleagues, and her students. She left an indelible impression on librarianship that exists to this day. Indeed, many shared her vision, but Sharp exemplifies the library spirit inculcated in hundreds of women and men who attended the nation's library schools during this formative era. Their collective influence on the nation's library development stands as her legacy today. When Sharp opened a library school at Chicago's Armour Institute in 1893, she established the fourth such school in the nation, the first Joanne E. Passet in the Midwest. She quickly extended the course of study and in 1897 moved it to the University of Illinois. Sharp, who considered the library as second only to the church in its ability to do good, worked to instill high ideals in her students and to develop standards for an emerging profession. Recruiting a staff who shared her vision, Sharp led her colleagues as they nurtured generations of students and socialized them into the profession. Subsequently, these graduates became part of an impenetrable professional and social web that spread throughout the nation. Several themes recur in the three essays included here. First and foremost, these essays challenge the image of women librarians as passive and subservient. The leaders described here transcended feminine stereotypes as they took books to the people in the North, South, East, and West. Although some historians have depicted early librarians as women who focused on trivial technical details, it is clear that they tolerated the mechanical routine because they regarded it as the means to a more significant end. Second, these authors reexamine the feminine ethic of caring. As exemplified in the lives of these women, readers will find a basis for revaluing and reclaiming their past in this female-intensive profession. Finally, these essays document the power of a pervasive women's network that was generational as well as hierarchical and social. It filled several functions, among them mentoring. As the pioneering female library educators extended their own spheres of influence, they allowed students to glimpse the possibilities beyond their own horizons. Nonetheless, they operated within the limitations of time, place, and gender. It is useful to approach these essays in a chronological fashion. The phrase "invisible, indestructible network" in Laurel A. Grotzinger's paper, "Invisible, Indestructible Network: Women and the Diffusion