Library Science

Abstract Anne Carroll Moore was an important pioneer of children’s librarianship. A graduate of Pratt Institute, she developed the children’s room at the Pratt Institute Library and later set up services for the children’s rooms of the main library and branches of the New York Public Library. Moore introduced numerous innovations into library services for children, including exhibits, special events, and storytelling, and she emphasized the love of reading for its own sake. She also regularly...

Abstract Edward F. Stevens was Librarian of the Pratt Institute Free Library and director of the Library School. He was influential not only in librarianship but also in typography and graphic arts, served as president or vice president for various professional organizations, and wrote articles and pamphlets about librarianship, Pratt Institute, and book arts. The collection consists of biographical information, business correspondence, mainly of business letters to Frederic Bayley Pratt, and include...

Abstract Josephine Adams Rathbone was one of the pioneers of American library science education and spent her career as instructor, vice-director, and director of the Library School at Pratt Institute. She was also heavily involved with professional organizations such as the Association of American Library Schools, the American Library Association, the New York Library Association, and the New York Library Club. Her papers consist of professional and personal correspondence, published and unpublished...

Abstract

Julia Pettee was a student of the Pratt Institute Library School from 1894-1895. From 1909 to 1939, she was the Chief Cataloger in the Union Theological Seminary Library where she devised a unique classification system for theological works. Her papers date primarily from 1895 to 1905 and include incoming and outgoing correspondence, writings by and about Pettee, class notes, and ephemera related to her time as a library student.

Abstract Mary Wright Plummer (1856-1916) stands as an important figure in early American librarianship, both because of the way she helped shape the profession and because she held positions of leadership and authority at a time when it was unusual for women to do so. A graduate of Columbia’s library school, she headed Pratt Institute’s library and became director of the library school. She was also a writer and a poet, and was active in a number of professional organizations such as the American...

Abstract

The Records of the School of Information and Library Science documents the history of America’s oldest library school in continuous operation beginning with its founding in 1890. Through correspondence, curriculum materials, student work, and other documents, this collection provides an account of the library school’s activities up to the 21st century, especially in its first 50 years.