Louis Round Wilson. Librarian and Administrator 9780231885850

Citation preview

LOUIS ROUND

WILSON

Librarian and Administrator

NUMBER

FOURTEEN

Columbia University Studies in Library Service

LOUIS ROUND WILSON Librarian and Administrator by Maurice F. Tauber Foreword by Robert Maynard Hutchins

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW

YORK

AND

PRESS

LONDON:

1967

Maurice F. Tauber is Melvil Dewey Professor of Library Service at Columbia University

Copyright © 1967 Columbia University Library of Congress Catalog Card Number Printed in the United States of

Press 67-14603

America

Columbia University Studies in Library Service

BOARD

OF

JACK DALTON,

EDITORS

Chairman

To serve until June 30, 1967 JACK DALTON,

Dean, School of Library Service, Columbia University

EDWARD G. FREEHAFER,

Director, New York Public Library

F. TAUBER, Melvil Dewey Professor, School of Library Service, Columbia University

MAURICE

To serve until June 30, 1968 scorr JAMES

ADAMS,

j.

Deputy Director, National Library of Medicine

HESLIN,

Director, The New-York Historical Society

Professor of Library Service, School of Library Service, Columbia University

R A Y L. T R A U T M A N ,

To serve until June 30, 1969 Professor of English, School of Library Service, Columbia University

ALLEN T. H A Z E N ,

RICHARD H. LOGSDON, DOUGLAS

w.

BRYANT,

Director of Libraries, Columbia University University Librarian, Harvard University

To the Memory of Rose

Foreword

has admirably covered every aspect of Louis Wilson's career, and beyond extending my congratulations to the subject and the artist there is little for me to add. Perhaps I might emphasize one thing that Mr. Tauber mentions, and that is the judgment and good sense Mr. Wilson brought to matters that had nothing to do with libraries, library schools, or anything else that fell within his special training or responsibility. Mr. Wilson is a wise man. One of the most important institutions of the University of Chicago was the meeting of the deans and other administrative officers that took place every two weeks. Here every topic was discussed, often many times; for the understanding was that nothing would be recommended to the faculty or trustees that had not received the unanimous approval of the deans. Mr. Wilson was the dean of the smallest school on the campus, and one that, as Mr. Tauber shows, had led a precarious existence until Mr. Wilson arrived. But the size and previous weakness of his school were not reflected in Mr. Wilson's standing in the council of deans. He rapidly became MR. TAUBER

ix

Foreword one of its most influential members because of the clarity and precision with which he saw the world around him. I remember one incident with special gratitude. T h e North Central Association, of which the University of Chicago was a member, expressed something less than enthusiasm for the changes in organization, curriculum, credits, examinations, and degrees at the University of Chicago. I was infuriated. I proposed to the deans that the university, which had been a moving force in forming the association and was the most powerful institution in it, should resign from the organization. There were signs of more or less hesitant approval around the table when Mr. Wilson said, " M r . President, I think such an action would be unworthy of the University of Chicago." He proceeded to prove it. I am glad he did. This quality of judgment and good sense he brought to all the issues that were laid before him. I never saw him lose his balance or his direction. I know he played the same role with the same success at North Carolina. I am glad to record my satisfaction at having been able to sit for ten years at the feet of this wise man. ROBERT

Chicago, Illinois November 21, 1966

x

M.

HUTCHINS

Preface

L o u i s R O U N D W I L S O N has long been known as the dean of American university librarianship. He has held positions in only two universities—librarian and professor at North Carolina, and dean of the Graduate Library School at Chicago—but his influence extended to all universities, here and abroad. Dean Wilson was concerned with librarianship on all levels and in all types of institutions. Basically, he was an educator. He was, as Robert Burton House, former Chancellor of the University of North Carolina, once said, "one of the most constructive persons of his generation in the entire university world." T o Dean Wilson, librarianship was a way to help people at all levels in their quest for knowledge and enlightenment and, particularly in the South, for a better life. He recognized the high correlation between access to information and personal and social development, and its resulting effects on national progress. The child, the parent, the student, the researcher, the specialist, the businessman, the scientist, the technologist, the farmer, the laborer, and all others had something to gain from the books, periodicals, and other materials in libraries which were ready to serve all people in America. He was concerned,

xi

Preface

too, about the backward, the Southern Negroes, and the many racial groups which needed knowledge to help themselves develop the background necessary to expand their functions in society. The use of books and libraries was, to Wilson, as important as any activity in which man engages. T o know how to obtain data from books and other material collected by libraries was a mark of maturity and efficiency. Little wonder he wanted to begin with the small child, so that the love and use of books would become a lifelong habit. But, although Wilson was a librarian, he was also an educational statesman of high order, forever combining the functions of librarianship with the achievements of scholarship, to produce what we know as education. There were no frills in his make-up. In his dealings with others, and with himself, he was always honest. In a short biographical sketch by the writer in 1956, when Wilson retired after ten years of service as chairman of the Friends of the University of North Carolina Library, Chancellor House is quoted as saying, "Imaginative foresight and the ability to 'energize' others were the earmarks of his genius. He was involved in everything at the University that was important." In an article about him by Louis Graves in the Chapel Hill Weekly of September 24, 1954, he was referred to as "The University's Elder Statesman." In a sketch in Time magazine, July 20, 1959, when he retired from the university, it was noted that he was a "peppery gadfly." "Elder statesman" he may have been, but his outlook and views have always been young and vigorous. This book may be said to have had its inception in 1946, when Louis Round Wilson and I were at Columbia, South Carolina, studying the university's library system. When I broached the idea of my writing his biography, Wilson's rexii

Preface

sponse was affirmative. He felt that such a book might be useful to those interested in the problems to which he had devoted his life. The biography was not our first collaboration. In the 1930s we had assembled material on university libraries for courses at the University of Chicago Graduate Library School, and I had worked with him on The University Library (1945). We had, in addition to the South Carolina study, examined the library situation at Cornell University. Robert B. Downs was associated with us in this study. From these personal contacts and from working among his files, my impression of the manner of man he was made it seem natural for someone to want to set down his accomplishments as an unusual librarian and educator, as well as administrator. We corresponded frequently, but it was not until 1950, when I stopped off at Chapel Hill on a trip back from Florida, that we talked more seriously about the biography. By that time I had prepared an outline of his activities from his available writings and other material. He took the outline, expanded it, and then, to my great surprise, dictated additional matter on a tape recorder. I was then provided with a wealth of material as a result of a series of trips to Chapel Hill to examine his files and the records in the University of North Carolina Library; correspondence with former colleagues at Chicago and North Carolina; discussions with members of his family and former staff members and administrative officers at Chicago and North Carolina; talks with former students; and analyses of his complete writings, published and unpublished, memoranda, reports, letters, and notebooks. The author is indebted to all of the librarians and others who provided material for this volume. He is especially grateful to Robert B. Downs and Donald Coney, both former colleagues of Dean Wilson, the late Charles E. Rush, Carl M. xiii

Preface

White, Andrew H. Horn, and Jerrold Orne, librarians at North Carolina, for their cooperation in supplying information. Robert M. Hutchins, Douglas Waples, the late Pierce Butler, the late Carleton B. Joeckel, Leon Carnovsky, William M. Randall, Lowell A. Martin, Frances E. Henne, Eileen Thornton, Herman H. Fussier, Jesse H. Shera, Bernard Berelson, John M. Cory, the late Ralph A. Beals, and Ralph R. Shaw supplied information concerning Dr. Wilson's Chicago period. The various individuals who had been or who are members of the Chapel Hill community, including Charles M. Baker, Frank P. Graham, Albert Coates, Robert M. Lester, Robert Burton House, William C. Friday, the late John Sprunt Hill, Cornelia S. Love, Nan Strudwick, Gordon Blackwell, Olan V. Cook, Mrs. Edna Lane, Mary L. Thornton, the late Georgia Faison, and Susan G. Akers, as well as the late Howard W . Odum were helpful in discussions of the work of Dean Wilson. Members of the Wilson family, including Dean Wilson's daughters, his niece, Jane Wilson, and his brothers Robert and Edwin provided information at several points. Former Dean Lester Asheim, of the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago, and Anita Hostetter, formerly of the American Library Association, were of special assistance in providing materials concerning his work in respect to those organizations. J. Periam Danton, August F. Kuhlman, Richard H. Logsdon, Marion A. Milczewski, Edward A. Wight, Stephen A. McCarthy, Felix Reichmann, Guy R. Lyle, and Raynard C. Swank, were helpful in providing information concerning Dr. Wilson's deanship at Chicago and his work on library surveys. Tommie Dora Barker, Mary U. Rothrock, Helen M. Harris, and Mary Edna Anders were helpful in providing information on his work for libraries in the Southeast. Miss Anders merits particular gratitude for reading the manuscript and offering xiv

Preface many pertinent suggestions. This is also true of Jack Dalton, Carlyle J. Frarey, Allen T . Hazen, and Phyllis Dain, of the Columbia University School of Library Service, for their reading of the manuscript and for their counsel. It would not be possible to list all of Dean Wilson's former students and other colleagues who cooperated fully in answering letters or in volunteering anecdotes (which the author has used plentifully!) and pieces of information that might have eluded the writer. If the Dean is proud of the many men and women who have worked with him or who studied under him, they are in turn doubly proud of having had that honor. To Karl Brown, editor for a long period of the Library Journal, and in so many ways a contemporary of Dean Wilson, the author owes a special expression of thanks. Mr. Brown served as an objective editor of the original manuscript, and his suggestions for improving the biography have been gratefully incorporated in the final writing. Also, to Mrs. Marian Maury, editor at the Columbia University Press, the author is especially indebted for the expert advice that has improved the biography immeasurably. For general help I wish to thank Glorieux M. Rayburn, of the Columbia University Libraries. Finally, to Mrs. Irlene Roemer Stephens and Richard J. Hyman I am grateful for valuable assistance in preparation of the manuscript for publication. Theodore C. Hines aided in the proofreading and prepared the index. I am grateful for his suggestions. Also assisting in the proofreading were Nathalie C. Batts, Priscilla M. Mayden, S. R. Shapiro, and Harvey Simmonds. MAURICE F .

New York, N. Y. November, ip66

xv

TAUBER

Contents

Foreword

ix

Preface 1 2 3 4

xi

The Years of Growth

i

Teacher or Librarian?

20

A Library Matures

Putting the Library to 5

Committee

6

45 Work

Assignments

83

Campus Literary Activities 7

Two A North

8 9

10 11

Active

Alliances

The Call to Chicago

i 141

Europe Revisited

158

The Years of Fruition Wilson,

13

Wilson, the Educator

15

106

Carolinian Abroad

12 14

9

171

the Author

185 205

Library Surveyor

216

Educational Statesman Appendixes

236 245

Notes

273

Index

279

LOUIS ROUND

WILSON

Librarian and, Administrator

I

The Years of Growth

L o u i s R O U N D W I L S O N was born in Lenoir, North Carolina, on December 27, 1876, the hundredth year of American independence. That year Alexander Graham Bell exhibited his apparatus now called the telephone. The year was also an epoch-making one for librarianship. In the late summer Melvil Dewey and R. R. Bowker, with Charles A. Cutter and James L. Whitney as editorial staff, launched the Library Journal. And on October 4th, 103 librarians met in Philadelphia for the first conference of the American Library Association. Public Libraries in the United States (actually a survey of all kinds of libraries), issued by the United States Bureau of Education, included as a special part Charles A. Cutter's Rules for a Dictionary Catalog, destined to set the pattern for cataloging procedure in American libraries. In 1876 Johns Hopkins University opened the first genuine graduate school; its purposes and work undoubtedly later influenced Wilson in his concern for the functions and goals of a university and its library. Young Louis was the sixth and last child of Jethro Reuben and Louisa Jane Wilson. Both parents were descended from early settlers. The line of English ancestry of the Wilsons goes

1

The Years of

Growth

back to John Howland, who arrived on the Mayflower. Louisa's mother was descended from James McCants who emigrated from Ireland in the eighteenth century; her father's ancestors were English. Both families engaged in public life. Stephen Hopkins, on the boy's mother's side, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a paternal uncle, Joseph Wilson, was a noted local attorney. And both families were associated with education. Louis' maternal grandfather, George Hopkins Round, a graduate of the first class at Wesleyan University (1833), taught in and headed several schools. He was also a minister. Louis' mother attended a school of which her father was rector. "I entered . . . college as a freshman and graduated when I was fifteen years, in i860," she once wrote; "I was three years younger than any other member of the class of twelve girls." As children both Jethro and Louisa Jane lived through the perils and hardships of the Civil War. North Carolina furnished more manpower to the South than did any other state; Jethro wrote, "Almost every family lost from one to four sons in battle or by disease. Goods were out of the question. All clothing was made on looms at home. Household and kitchen supplies became very scarce." He made trips to Raleigh, Beaufort, and even to Danville, Virginia, to obtain supplies for members of the family and for friends, and to visit disabled soldiers. The town of Lenoir, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina, was a community of about 300 people in 1876. Its three churches—Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal—set the religious tone. In keeping with the time and with the customs of such a town, there were strong puritanical attitudes toward pastimes like dancing, card playing, roller skating, and merry-go-round riding. The Episcopalians, however, moderated the austerity not only of the Methodists, but also of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians; they did not 2

The Years of

Growth

look askance at dancers—the trouble was that there were not enough of them. Importation of musicians from Morganton, sixteen miles away, was necessary to fill the ranks, for "fiddlers" did not thrive in the atmosphere of Lenoir. A t that time Lenoir had the reputation of being "the center of higher culture and of more real mental activity than any other community of its size in North Carolina," according to Cornelia Phillips Spencer, a keen observer of late nineteenthcentury Southern life. Of a library there, whose status was apparently not always well defined, she wrote: Lenoir has also a public circulating library. T h e y call it the "Pioneer Library," as being the first one established in Western North Carolina. I was glad to note some sparring going on over that library. Sparring always indicates life and interest and even acrimonious sparring is better than indifference. . . . [In the local newspaper] I am pleased with the gentleman's position who desires the Pioneer Library shall contain no books by our enemies, persecutors and slanderers, but I am still more pleased with those gentlemen who rush to its defence, and point out that it contains none of that description. A Pioneer Library that should be confined to sectional literature would be doing only half its work, even if the literature were exceptionally brilliant, and of world-wide celebrity. It is the especial province of letters that they should liberalize, and expand, and soften. They lead us out of, and above, the regions of local prejudice, personal hatreds, sectional or national strifes. The light and sweetness they shed are but the reflection of the perfect day wherein we learn to love our enemies, and bless them that curse us, and pray for them that spitefully use us. 1 Young Louis read books in the Pioneer Library.

Who

knows whether the "freedom to read" that he found there may have played a part in making him one of America's great leaders in the promotion of free public library services as we know them today? Both the Wilson and the Round families were deeply religious. In notes of her early life, Louis' mother recalled the 3

The Years of Growth regular prayer and hymn meetings. She accompanied her father, a minister in the Methodist Church, on his visits to various country churches. When she was about fourteen, she heard the Reverend John W . North preach and was so moved (she wrote in her notes) that she asked to be received into the Church. Jethro, Louis' father, was of a Quaker family, but he too joined the Methodist Church. In 1847 he was received into full communion. He later wrote, " A t Center campground in October, 1848, I professed conversion, and now at fifty-nine years, I dare not say that I was deceived, though there were times in my early life when I did have doubts on the subject." Louis was twelve when he also joined the Methodist Church. His work for it, known to the people of the Southeast, has been remarkable and extensive. T h e house in Lenoir where the Wilsons lived was surrounded by some twelve acres which they cultivated. T h e y had a big barn, with stables f o r mules and cattle. T h e boys helped to cultivate the land, gather apples, look after the garden, feed the stock and pigs, gather the eggs, and do other everyday chores. Home life was on the quiet side, with the usual differences among the boys. Louis' father took seriously his responsibilities for running the house. He expected the boys to follow his example in strict principles of order and respect, but he was gentle and human and participated in the children's play. He liked to walk with them and talk about flowers and animals. He was also a reader of the Bible, and the boys and their sister were expected to read passages from it. Louis, who could scarcely read, found the going hard. A favorite source of inspiration for both the parents was Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Louis recalls that certain parts of the story terrified him, and he was often uncomfortable during his father's reading. He never forgot the vivid passages telling of Christian thrusting 4

The Years of

Growth

his sword into Apollyon and of Christian's desperate writhing within the grasp of Giant Despair. When Jethro became Superintendent of Public Instruction in Caldwell County, with one of his associates he built a structure long known as the Wilson Academy on a lot adjoining the Wilson home. When the grade school was established in Lenoir in the early 1900s, he became a member of the school board. He had also been on the board of trustees of Davenport College, a Methodist school in Lenoir. Louisa Jane's concern for her children's education was as deep as her husband's. Although money was scarce, she insisted that the children be educated. She even opposed the purchase of a farm four miles distant from Lenoir, on which the family would live, because the move would bar access to the schools of Lenoir, which were considerably better than those of other communities of its size in North Carolina. T h e first school Louis attended was a private one, the Rectory Studio, conducted by Miss Louisa Norwood. Originally it had been built b y the Reverend Johannes Adam Simon Oertel. Born in Furth, near Nuremberg, Bavaria, Reverend Oertel had tried to establish studios for teaching art in N e w Jersey and in Washington, D.C., while he was employed to do a number of paintings for the Capitol building. H e moved to Lenoir in 1869 and remained as teacher, painter, and rector of the Episcopal church until September, 1876. F o r a time, Louis also attended the free schools, which had terms of ten to twelve weeks, followed by classes at a subscription school, taught b y the same teacher. H e later attended Lenoir Academy, a private school conducted by E. L. Barnes. It was housed in the Wilson Academy. T h e slope on which the large frame building stood saw the beginnings of Louis' athletic skills. If the young Wilsons were taught to respect education, they were also taught to work f o r it. From June, 1891 to August, 5

The Years of

Growth

1894, Louis worked in the office of the Lenoir Topic as typesetter and printer's devil. For the first year his wages amounted to $109.20; he earned $2.10 per week. One of his duties was to collect the weekly charges for advertisements of local merchants. The boy placed his salary in his mother's bureau as part of the income of the family. By the second year he was given an increase of forty cents a week. The black-haired, hazel-eyed seventeen-year-old had impressed the editor, W . W . Scott, with his seriousness. As the third year of his employment began, he was promoted by Scott and placed in charge of all typesetting, printing, mailing, and job printing. In effect he was foreman. His wages were doubled, to $5.25 a week. He could add to his salary by devoting his own time to job printing, usually on Friday and Saturday, after the week's work was done. This meant a ten-hour day, beginning at seven in the morning. Thus Louis early became used to the long day's work that remained his program of activity. And although he was not in school during this period, he did spend some time during 1893-1894 in home study, reciting to J . D. Minnick of Davenport College. Louis later worked on the Topic at various times, and he learned more than the techniques of running a newspaper. One summer, while substituting as editor, Louis had an experience which called for his keen sense of tact. While he sat on a wheelbarrow in front of the post office waiting for the once-aday mail to be distributed, a farmer whom he had known all his life sat down beside him. The latter proceeded to tell him of an impasse he had reached with his new threshing machine, steam-driven instead of horse-drawn. The steam engine was upright, similar to the old-fashioned fire engines. T o cross from one farm to another he had had to ford a creek. The water, deeper than he anticipated, had poured into the lowslung fire-box and put out the fire. The steam died down, and 6

The Years of

Growth

the machine was stuck It took a team of mules and a blockand-tackle to pull it to the bank. Wilson found the story so amusing that he ran a brief item about it. Not long afterward, the farmer stalked into the office, remonstrating that the story had given the other farmers the impression that he could not fill his engagements, and threatening to "thrash" young Wilson for ruining his business. Wilson replied that he could hardly apologize in print without hurting the farmer's business still more but that if he would bring him a record of the number of bushels of wheat, oats, and rye he threshed in the succeeding five days, Wilson would run the story and give it a good display. The farmer acccpted the proposal. Wilson wrote up the report for the five days in the next issue of the Topic, thereby saving himself from a fight and becoming aware of the power of the press and the responsibility of editors. While working on the Topic he was janitor at the Methodist church as well. For two dollars a month he kept the building clean and rang the bell for church services. On Sunday he was especially busy. He was not only active in attending Sunday school, but he became its librarian, spending the greater part of an hour charging and discharging books. Altogether, his early experiences introduced him to printing, publishing, administration, handling books—and tact: all the components of his life's work. In September, 1894, Louis entered Davenport College, crowding into one year and the following summer such preparation as he could for college. In spite of its name, Davenport was not a modern college but more like a preparatory school. He began the study of Greek, read Cicero and Virgil, and prepared himself in ancient history and other subjects essential to college entrance. However, his work in Greek was not sufficiently extensive to enable him to enter without condition. His preparation in mathematics was also limited, so that in the fol-

The Years of Growth lowing summer he found it necessary to study with a tutor. Although filled with hard work, the year at Davenport had its pleasures. There were parties from time to time and meetings of a society for debate and composition reading. He sang in the choir and took part in the musical program of the school. He also engaged in as many athletic activities as he had time for, becoming skillful in town ball, which antedated baseball. When baseball came to Lenoir he quickly became expert at the game, pitching for the team and turning out to be an unusually good batter. A very good skater, he enjoyed the several weeks' skating season on nearby ponds. As the owner of one of the f e w sleds, he was understandably popular when snow came to the college hills. Louis went on the spring field trips of the botany class to nearby woods. From his father he had acquired a love of nature and flowers, and this love deepened with the years. The Wilson house at Chapel Hill has always had its flower gardenLouis had thought that he might go either to Guilford or Trinity (now Duke University). But the three years in the Topic office and the year at Davenport were lean rimes. His work as a janitor and job printer had helped, but, counting the interest from a building and loan account, he had managed to save only about $180. Both 1893 and 1894 had been depression years. Money was very scarce, and the cost of goods correspondingly low. In 1895 things were not yet in balance. There was not enough cash for college. Happily, his brother Edwin was to teach at the Haverford School and could loan him some money. That, most fortunately, would enable Louis to attend Haverford College. Edwin went further than the loan; he obtained a scholarship for Louis covering two-fifths of his board and tuition, and a student assistantship in the library paying fifty dollars a year. Besides, Haverford was an excellent college. A new chapter in Louis' development was beginning. In September, 1895, Louis entered Haverford and found the 8

The Years of

Growth

going rough. At that time, and until the end of World War I, colleges insisted on a basic classical education—Latin and Greek, mathematics and philosophy—for the "learned professions," especially teaching. In his first class in English literature, Louis was called on to identify Beowulf. "I was quite distressed," Wilson recalls. "My ignorance, as a freshman, of Beowulf was nothing short of abysmal and absolute, when Professor Francis B. Gummere, a noted English scholar of his day, asked me to place Beowulf in English literature; and my information on him or her or it was not increased as Professor Gummere began to recite from memory: Beowulf waes breme—blaed wide sprang— Scyldes eafera Scedelandum in—

and several more lines." Wilson was lost and bewildered, as he wondered what in the world Beowulf could have been! "Beowulf was brave or something, and his reputation was widely spread." Professor Gummere, realizing the situation, called on another student from a top-ranking Philadelphia private school who was better informed. There was a lively discussion from then on, and Louis became painfully aware of the shortcomings in his background for the course. T o the young man from Lenoir, it was a dismaying introduction to the oldest English epic. (So profoundly did the incident of Beowulf impress him, however, that he never forgot it. In fact, he became so interested in Anglo-Saxon and Middle English that later he majored in the field, concentrating on Chaucer.) He ran into somewhat similar trouble in Greek and Latin. He was almost unhorsed when Professor Seth K. Gifford assigned for the first recitation in Greek sixty lines for translation from Lysias' oration, "On the Olive Tree." Up to that time he had not even read the Anabasis, an introductory text in Greek. His first assignment in Latin almost equally appalled him, although he had developed a much more extensive vocabulary in that tongue. His starting knowledge of both Greek 9

The Years of

Growth

and Latin grammar was sound, as far as it went, but, as he later observed, "That was not too far." His knowledge was to increase by leaps and bounds. At this Quaker college, the New Testament in Greek was a required subject, with commentaries reflecting the results of archaeological excavations and of "higher criticism." He had gained some inkling of the latter from reading at home Lyman Abbott's Outlook. Additional lectures on the canon of the scriptures, which revealed that New Testament Greek words and constructions might be given different meanings, opened another field of speculation and led to the reconstruction of his fixed opinions. The end of the year found him studying chemistry and physics. He mastered English and Latin so well that he was awarded the Class of 1896 Latin prize to the sophomore who had made the greatest progress in two years' study of the subject. But Wilson was not entirely preoccupied with his school work. He made excursions to Valley Forge, Philadelphia, Cramp's Ship Yard, the N a v y Yard, and the city's museums and zoo. Occasionally, a Sunday afternoon call on North Carolina young ladies at Bryn Mawr filled out the program that contrasted sharply with that of the days in Lenoir. He spent the spring vacation in Philadelphia, devoting his time to sightseeing and, as his first theatrical experience, glimpsing from the peanut gallery Joe Jefferson in Rip Van Winkle. He joined the college glee club and sang with it one evening in n Philadelphia church. Athletics, though, were his forte. Although he was five feet nine, he weighed only 135 pounds. His brother, Robert, recalling those days, has said, "Louis was the runt of the family. All the others were six feet or more." Tennis was his best game, and he improved in it, much to his advantage later. Wilson particularly enjoyed his weekends during the first year at college. Most of the 110 students went to their homes 10

The Years of

Growth

in Philadelphia or nearby. About two dozen students were too far away from home or had too limited funds to get away regularly. Since there were no fraternities at Haverford, these students had the campus to themselves from Saturday noon until Monday morning. Four were from North Carolina. The weekends facilitated their getting together to keep abreast of home news, as well as to solidify their ranks as Democrats and representatives of the Solid South in Yankeeland. Also, Wilson had a key to the library and on frequent occasions took advantage of that key. He joined the Y.M.C.A., which was soon to play a part in his life. During his first year at Haverford he was introduced to a kind of religious service that was new to him. An inflexible rule required each student to attend the Quaker meeting on Thursday morning and the church of his choice on Sunday. Frequently, in the late afternoon, he would join a group of students for the mile walk to vespers or the organ recital at the Episcopal church in Bryn Mawr. He came to appreciate the difference between the simple, contemplative service of the Friends under the leadership of Rufus Jones and other noted speakers, and the ritualistic and musical programs of the highchurch Episcopalians. In going to Bryn Mawr on Sunday mornings he passed a Roman Catholic church, and for the first time in his life he became aware of that religion's actual existence. He couldn't recall ever having even seen a Catholic until then! The priests, the bells, and the processions particularly interested him, and he wondered what kind of an institution it could be. He remembered that the first time he attended the Presbyterian church in Lenoir, at about the age of six, the congregation stood during the opening prayer (the Methodists knelt) and Reverend Benjamin L. Beall, the minister, prayed to the Lord to restrain the Pope (then unknown to Louis) in the extension of his influence. On the way home he expressed surprise to his 11

The Years of

Growth

father that there were two devils who needed restraining, only to be told that "Brother" Beall was rather severe toward His Holiness! Louis' education in matters of religion and churches was further extended that spring when Dr. Lyman Abbott lectured at the college on how the books in the N e w Testament were selected and how the King James Version differed from the Douay. The final lesson in religious understanding that year came in the spring, when the silver jubilee of Archbishop Patrick John R y a n was celebrated at the Cathedral in Philadelphia. Cardinal James Gibbons, papal delegate, and some 500 priests from all over the nation gathered in a great ceremony. After the afternoon procession of thousands of children from the orphanages and the parochial schools of Philadelphia, Wilson remembered again that a dozen years before, the Reverend Mr. Beall had offered a prayer to the Lord to restrain the Pope in the extension of his influence. At this point in the development of his religious understanding, Louis recognized the severity of "Brother" Beall's attitude. The holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas in 1895 gave Louis an opportunity to catch his breath and to decide that the odds had not been too heavily against him during his freshman year. A t the end of the second quarter he not only passed all examinations, but raised his average grade ten points. His second year at Haverford brought new trials. As a sophomore he was confronted with analytical geometry, or conic sections. He passed the midyear examinations, but every recitation in mathematics was filled with apprehension because of his poor preparation while a freshman. However, as the year progressed, he devoted more time to study and his confidence grew. It was during Louis' undergraduate years that emphasis on the "classical" was changing to what we may call respect for the humanities. Classical languages as required subjects in the 12

The Years of

Growth

curriculum were waning, even in those years, but Louis became proficient in them. Also, he acquired sufficient mastery of English and German to teach either. Certain subjects were becoming more clearly defined; for instance, psychology had finally weaned itself from its mother, philosophy, although the heads of some philosophy departments looked down on the young upstart. There is no better example of "learning for action's sake" than young Wilson's study of economics and his identification of it with the world around him, first as a student in the North and later as a librarian and leader in the South. When he had stepped from the train into the mammoth—so it seemed to him—Philadelphia Broad Street Station on that September day in 1895 on his way to college, he realized at once that he was in a new and different economic setting. All around him were evidences of invention and industrialization that were lacking in the agricultural regions of the South. When he took up the study of economics in 1897, he concluded that the Northern benefits of high protective tariffs were what really mattered. Those were the Mark Hanna days of control of the government by industrialists. Boies Penrose was coming to power in the Senate. They were the years which were to witness the establishment of an economic order exactly opposite to that which the Populists in North Carolina had advocated following the Depression of 1893, and which William Jennings Bryan would later espouse. Young Wilson had heard the Democratic politicians and editor Scott discuss these matters heatedly in the office of the Lenoir Topic. For two years he had listened to Rufus Jones, the principal speaker at the Quaker meetings, discuss philosophical and religious developments. In the spring of 1898 he enrolled in a class in psychology, a subject in which Jones was equally well versed, and one entirely new and stimulating to Wilson. He vividly remembers one incident in Jones' discussion of

13

The Years of Growth habit f o r m a t i o n , p a r t i c u l a r l y o f c o n t r o l l i n g one's t e m p e r . Just b e f o r e class o n e d a y , a classmate f o r w h o m he had less than h i g h r e g a r d had taunted h i m a b o u t s o m e m a n n e r i s m f r o m his S o u t h e r n b a c k g r o u n d . I n an instant, W i l s o n s w u n g

at

him.

missed as the b o y d o d g e d , and s o l i d l y hit a n e w e l post o n the s t a i r w a y . H i s hand q u i c k l y d o u b l e d in size. W i l s o n recalls that J o n e s q u o t e d f r o m S c r i p t u r e in a discussion soon a f t e r the incident: " H e that r u l e t h his o w n spirit is g r e a t e r than he w h o taketh a c i t y . " G e n e r a l l y speaking, the achievements

of

Louis'

freshman

and s o p h o m o r e y e a r s w e r e t h o s e of e v e r y c o n s c i e n t i o u s u n d e r g r a d u a t e of his d a y o r o u r s — r o u n d i n g o u t the basic r e q u i r e ments. B u t in his j u n i o r y e a r , w h e n there w a s a c h o i c e of subjects, he t u r n e d f r o m the h o r r o r o f c a l c u l u s and selected w h a t w a s to h i m an u n k n o w n s c i e n c e — z o o l o g y . H e b e c a m e f a s c i nated b y t h e theories of L a m a r c k a n d D a r w i n ; here w a s a n e w a p p r o a c h to the t h o u g h t o f m e n as r e f l e c t e d in literature, hist o r y , and religion. H i s j u n i o r y e a r b r o u g h t h i m n e w organizational responsibilities. T h e j u n i o r class s e r v e d as adviser and p r o t e c t o r of the f r e s h m a n class. Its m e m b e r s also m o v e d f o r w a r d to the higher elected positions in student o r g a n i z a t i o n s ; W i l s o n m o v e d

up

the official ladder in the L i t e r a r y S o c i e t y and w a s sent b y the Y . M . C . A . to t h e S t u d e n t V o l u n t e e r C o n v e n t i o n at C l e v e l a n d in

1898.

(He

caught

his

first

view

of N i a g a r a

Falls, as he

planned, o n his r e t u r n t r i p . ) H e w a s slated f o r the s o c i e t y ' s p r e s i d e n c y in the s p r i n g ; H a v e r f o r d seemed v e r y g o o d to him in e v e r y w a y . H o w e v e r , because of p r o l o n g e d

c o l d s he w a s

confronted

w i t h the c h o i c e o f assuming g r e a t e r health risks or l e a v i n g c o l lege. O n the a d v i c e of his p h y s i c i a n , he g a v e u p his scholarship and d e c i d e d to take his s e n i o r y e a r at the U n i v e r s i t y o f N o r t h C a r o l i n a , w h e r e the m i l d e r c l i m a t e w o u l d b e beneficial. W h e n he had m a d e his d e c i s i o n he w e n t to see President Isaac H

The Years of Growth Sharpless to explain, and to thank him for the scholarship which he would have to relinquish. He was taken aback when the president simply said, "Wilson, thee knows the college will run without thee!" Wilson was undecided whether Sharpless was peeved or if this was only his blunt Quaker way of indulging in no unnecessary expressions of regret. Objectively, the transfer did have its drawbacks. As he discovered later, it left him without the diploma or essential credentials of Haverford and gave him slight opportunity at North Carolina to establish the long-range relationships with representatives of the faculty and the administration that were necessary to effective placement in school positions. The decision, however, had to be reconsidered during the summer. The Topic, which had seen three or four editors in the past years, was at the point of changing both owner and editor. Wilson was thoroughly familiar with the technical and financial operations; he qualified as a Democrat, and he had given evidence of some ability as editor by filling that position during previous summer vacations while the officers attended press association conventions. Wilson was already in debt for $1,200. Both he and the family seriously considered his accepting the editorship open to him. But the determination to complete his college course prevailed; Louis made his preparations to carry on at Chapel Hill in September, 1898. The two schools presented a sharp physical contrast; Haverford was definitely "main line," while Chapel Hill, a village, was served by two passenger-freight trains daily. The university of North Carolina's buildings dated from 1795 to 1861, with the exception of Memorial Hall (1885) and Commons Hall, the dining room (1896). Dormitory rooms were bare and heated with open wood fireplaces. The classrooms were equally bleak, with squat soft-coal stoves. Running water and bathing facilities were limited to the basement under the library. Except for the splendid trees, the sweeping lawns, and

15

The Years of Growth the forest-clad hills that formed the skyline to the south and west, Chapel Hill was less spacious and attractive than the Quaker institution. Wilson was not particularly happy about some other conditions at the university. T h e student body was four times as large as that of Haverford but far less cosmopolitan and homogeneous, both socially and economically. Though even less prepared than Louis had been for college, the students were both hard-working and academically ambitious. T h e y strove f o r position and honors in their studies and literary societies. Many, with extremely limited funds, worked to meet the cost of room and board. T h e latter at the Commons Hall was $8.00 a month. A t Haverford there were no fraternities, no coeds, no dances. Hence, adjusting to campus life there was relatively simple. In contrast, the students at Chapel Hill were divided into " f r a t " and "non-frat" camps, with the non-frat group largely excluded f r o m social activities. A t Haverford, relations among the lower undergraduate classes were harmonious, even though there were harmless rules governing freshman conduct, solemnly read at assembly b y the upper class to the lower. A t Chapel Hill, the relationships frequently reached the point of serious friction, even terror. Hazing parties, in spite of officially threatened penalties if the perpetrators were caught, were organized occasionally to invade freshman rooms late at night. If Louis found the university's social atmosphere uncomfortable, he was not disappointed in its teaching performance. T h e faculty led competent students steadily forward in scholarly achievement, although student mortality, due primarily to poor preparation, was far in excess of that at Haverford. Wilson soon found himself carrying a full schedule, with Dr. Eben Alexander (who was to play a leading role in his career), in courses on Greek life and archaeology; Dr. Karl P. 16

The Years of

Growth

Harrington, on Latin elegiac poetry; and Dr. Thomas Hume, who impressed Wilson with his surpassing charm in reading Tennyson's Princess, the Idylls of the King, and Shakespeare. Wilson's work in psychology with Rufus Jones at Haverford made it possible for him to forego a course with Professor Horace Williams, who had a high regard for Jones. His Haverford course in physics, however, was not credited, since blunt Professor Joshua W . Gore did not consider it sufficiently complicated with problems to toughen Wilson's mental processes. A f t e r Christmas at home, his first in four years, and a spring busy with classwork, commencement on M a y 3 1 , 1 8 9 9 came all too soon. On the platform of Memorial Hall he received his diploma, a Bible, and the Hume Senior Essayist medal from the university—and a large magnolia bloom, nestled in fern, a floral tribute presented by one of the young ladies of the village. Throughout young Wilson's schooling it was assumed that he would become a teacher. Accordingly, June and July, 1899 found him preparing to take on an "assignment" in a private school in a predominantly Baptist (a missionary, not primitive or hard-shell) community in eastern North

Carolina:

Vine Hill Male Academy at Scotland Neck. He reported on August 10th to the headmaster, David M. Prince. A s Wilson later recalled, Prince greeted him and said, "It would be very helpful if you took a f e w weeks to recruit boarding students. You and I are the teachers in the school, and w e need to tell the parents what Vine Hill offers. A teacher can do this job best." Wilson did not relish "drumming" for students. H e started on his itinerary with a tobacco warehouseman who was touring the same section of the state to solicit patronage for his auction house. T h e y covered three counties. Wilson had never been through the North Carolina coastal plain, and he was impressed not only with the extensive cultivation of tobacco, »7

The Years of Growth cotton, and peanuts, but also with the prevalence of malaria. T h e net results of his labors were two students and a first-hand introduction to the attitudes and customs of the coastal people, something he had sensed on the campus at Chapel Hill but had never fully comprehended. H e was busy at Vine Hill Male Academy. Five full days of teaching subjects ranging from elementary arithmetic to Virgil, and supervision of a dormitory f o r boys, constituted his weekly program. All in all, his experience was not happy. A f t e r school had been in progress a couple of weeks a case of smallpox broke out in the village post office. T h e town was quarantined. Then measles and mumps came in the late winter and early spring. A t the end of the school year the young teacher had obtained considerable nursing practice, but his pay was based on tuition, and his cash income for the year was only $230. Wilson's second year of apprenticeship was spent at Catawba College, thirty miles from Lenoir. Conditions were much better, and the atmosphere considerably improved, for there was a faculty of five at Catawba rather than two as there was at Vine Hill. Again, he supervised a boys' dormitory, and he taught Latin, English, and a course in logic, required of all juniors. T h e salary was $500, and his room rent was free in return f o r supervision. Board cost only $5.50 a month, becausc of the industry of the splendid German farming community and the absence of markets f o r local produce. T o Wilson, rarely had good food been so abundant for so little money! Catawba was under the central control of the German Reformed Church, and although Wilson was a Methodist, one of his duties was to teach the student class at Sunday school. Being the youngest of the faculty, he also had to conduct devotional exercises at chapel each Friday morning. Another duty was to advise students in their preparation of debates and compositions. F o r this he drew upon his exper18

The Years of

Growth

ience as an assistant in the library at Haverford. He introduced tennis, thus preserving his skill; the students greatly enjoyed the game. His experience caring f o r ill students at Vine Hill proved useful to Catawba. Since there was no school infirmary or nurse, he undertook practical nursing of his wards. In the dead of winter, one of his pupils came down with double pneumonia, but recovered under Wilson's care. Louis was not certain just what he intended to do the following year. In the early spring, he was told b y the college administration that he had been reelected at the same salary, but that he would also receive board. This appeared to be an increase, and he was seriously thinking of the offer when he received a letter from Dr. Eben Alexander, then dean of the University of North Carolina, asking if he would be interested in taking the position of librarian there. T h e salary was to be $500 for the nine months. T h e real attraction was the chance to continue his program for a Master's degree. He had been pursuing his studies by correspondence while at Scotland Neck, at Lenoir during his vacation, and at Newton. Though his real interest in libraries was kindled at Haverford, his experience went back to charging and discharging books at the Methodist Sunday school in Lenoir. Could this boyhood episode have conditioned his career? A t any rate, Wilson decided to take the job at Chapel Hill.

2

Teacher or Librarian?

T H E summer of 1901, Wilson was much occupied with preparation for the position of librarian at North Carolina; he was also taking correspondence courses toward his Master's. When he arrived on the campus he registered, too, for enough courses to fulfill the requirements for that degree. He received it the following June, and his thesis, "The Influence of L y l y and Green upon the Pastoral Comedy of Shakespeare," was published in the University Magazine for October, 1902. Since his studies were not too time consuming, the new librarian was mainly concerned with mastering the skills of running a library. His knowledge of procedures was limited to what he had learned at Haverford. Lending books, checking periodicals, posting references for debates, and handling books on reserve were routine, but ordering books, or classifying and cataloging them was a different matter. In 1901, at home, he had obtained copies of the Dewey abridged classification scheme, a book of rules and forms for cataloging, and examples of accession records and other forms. He also read carefully John Cotton Dana's Library Primer (1899) and Ainsworth Rand Spofford's A Book for All Readers (1900), the nearest approximations of that day to manuals on library practice. D U R I N G

20

Teacher or Librarian? Dana related the library to society. He discussed such topics as library legislation, the activities of the trained librarian, the library's building and equipment, procedures in selection and ordering books, reference collections, reference work, cataloging and classifying, the care of books, various operating routines. One subject that even then caught Wilson's fancy was the relationship of the library to schools, a subject, incidentally, in which Dana was a pioneer and leader throughout his lifetime. Spofford took another line of thought, providing extensive essays on many of the issues and activities covered by Dana, but he also developed such concepts as the art of reading, the history of libraries, copyright and libraries, poetry of the library, humor of the library, rare books, and bibliography. Both volumes proved invaluable, in many ways representing the two prototypes of librarian which have persisted to the present—Dana, the businessman and executive; Spofford, the bookman. Dana had established a reputation in the library world for his energy, inventive genius, and spectacular improvement of library service at the Newark, New Jersey, Public Library. Spofford, more scholarly in his approach, had become Librarian of Congress. Wilson had early decided that in order for a librarian to be successful, both managerial skills and knowledge of books were indispensable. Student that he was, Wilson sought additional help from the articles in the Library Journal. Through their writings, such leaders as Melvil Dewey, Charles A. Cutter, Arthur E. Bostwick, W. C. Lane, James I. Wyer, Jr., C. C. Soule, Nathan D. C. Hodges, Ernest C. Richardson, William D. Johnston, and Mary W. Plummer had much to teach this earnest student. With such aids in hand, he set about accessioning, classifying, and cataloging all the books in the library of the Wilson home. He set out for Chapel Hill on August 10, 1901, a month prior to the opening of the fall semester. He wanted to work 21

Teacher or Librarian? with W . S. Bernard, the librarian he was to succeed, and Katherine McCalL, a graduate of the N e w Y o r k State Library School at Albany, w h o had been employed f o r the summer to change the classification system from an alcove-shelf or fixed location to the modern "relative" arrangement of Dewey then being adopted by librarians throughout the nation. When he succeeded Bernard in September, he felt reasonably prepared to manage the library; there were only 38,593 volumes. However, there was a problem: the books in the two fields of major interest—English and economics—had been reclassified and rearranged on the shelves according to Dewey, but the markings on the catalog cards had not been changed. Finding the titles was so difficult that he simply roped off the two sections of books and serviced them himself until Bernard, who gave the library a f e w hours each week, completed the «cataloging. And otherwise the year was a busy one. T h e queries for the debates of the two literary societies (the Dialectic and the Philanthropic, both of which played their parts in the development of the library) had to be posted weekly. T h e book fund was unexpectedly increased b y a special gift for works in economics. Wilson, anticipating the growth in the number of titles placed on reserve for collateral reading in courses (a facility which in academic libraries requires a large room), made provision for this expanded special collection. During that year he obtained the first money he ever solicited, a fund f o r the university to establish two reading prizes open to students f o r consecutive reading during their sophomore and junior years—a plan used at Haverford. He helped prepare an exhibit of early North Caroliniana for display at the State Fair. T h e exhibit won a gold medal for the library. And young Wilson did all this with a staff consisting of Bernard and a student assistant from each of the two literary societies. Dr. Alexander, who acted as faculty supervisor and chairman of the 22

Teacher or

Librarian?

library committee, was helpful but not of much use in the dayby-day operation. However, his blessing was important. In December Wilson prepared his first annual report for President Francis P. Venable. The document was significant not only for the career of the new librarian and the fortunes of the university, but for university libraries in general. Although the axiom had undoubtedly been known, Wilson was among the first with the temerity to say that growth and support of the university library was a matter of primary significance if teaching and research were to have a sound foundation. Recognizing that the excellence of the library was not solely the responsibility of the librarian, Wilson urged all teaching departments to keep careful watch over new and standard publications in their respective fields and to assist the librarian in building the collections. H e pointed out the difficulty of operating the library without permanent assistants. He emphasized the importance of treating rare items with special care, and he was particularly concerned with building an extensive collection of North Caroliniana. H e found that the position of librarian had been delegated loosely. In the thirty months preceding his arrival, four others occupied the post: Ralph Graves, who had received his Master's degree and gone to N e w York to become a journalist; E. K. Graham, who had served a short while before being appointed an instructor of English; George McKie, who also went to an instructorship in English; and W . S. Bernard (now his part-time helper), who had become an instructor in Greek and a tutor in psychology. Wilson held that temporary librarians—even good men—could do nothing to develop the library systematically. H e observed: If the present system of low salary and frequent change continues, I am unable to see how a policy can be devised and carried out which will result in the steady upbuilding of the departmental divisions of the library in the most wise, and *3

Teacher or Librarian? for that reason the most economic, administration of library affairs. A s the University grows and becomes more efficient in its work, it can but ill afford to allow a part of its machinery so essential to its usefulness as the Library to suffer from a lack of most careful and continued over-sight. Obviously President Venable was impressed, for in his report of

1901-1902

he wrote, "the salary of the

Librarian

should be increased so as to obtain the services of a skilled officer. S c a r c e l y any instructor has the opportunity for more effective w o r k among the students."

1

A n d though

Wilson

w a s to learn that winning a battle isn't winning a w a r , he was pleased to see the library assigned a place in the university program and recognition of the need for a strong librarian. W i l s o n ' s concept at this time of the function of the university library had been developed from a careful analysis of academic behavior of faculty, students, scholars, and

research

workers. H e had become convinced that any instructional institution w a s only as good as its library, and that the top-level librarians of the country had conscientiously gathered and caref u l l y selected their extensive collections. H e knew that although many educators spoke of the library as the "heart of the university," there were many more w h o did not care too much about the "heart trouble" that frequently existed. T h e college library, as y o u n g Wilson conceived of it, was not just a repository f o r books and periodicals, but an effective recruiting agency f o r a progressive faculty w h o then utilized it also as an

effective

teaching

instrument.

Wilson

thought

of

the

whole, not the " w o r k h o r s e , " collection, and included the rare items w h i c h served a dynamic function in the library. F r o m 1901 to 1904 the new librarian's success was steady. His annual reports show his awareness of the essentials of his (and the State university's) program, and of

administrative

problems w h i c h w o u l d have to be solved to make the program even more successful. A m o n g these problems w e r e improving the collections, improving his organization (including person-

Teacher or Librarian? nel) so it could administer the collections, and campaigning for a new building. In February, 1903 illness struck, and Wilson had to be away from his desk until May. Library work piled up, but upon his return the feeling that he was well again gave him a vigor that showed itself in both his library administration and his research on his doctoral thesis, Chaucer's Relative

Constructions.

H e was the first student, after formal establishment of the Graduate School in 1903, to receive the doctorate. T e n doctorates had been awarded previously. In June, 1905, he was awarded his Ph.D. and elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. His thesis was published in 1906 as the first number of Studies in Philology,

and for it he was awarded the Early E n -

glish Text Society Prize. T h e thesis and its publication was later to stand him in very good stead. In June came the time for an important decision: Should he become a teacher or remain a librarian? H e was well equipped to teach in several fields. While he was administering the library, he was also translating Horace's Odes and Epodes

and

Epistles (not published), taking a course in Shakespeare, and reviewing thoroughly the first-year course in German, with emphasis on composition. Wilson, even at twenty-five, had long been accustomed to such multiple activities as a normal w a y of living. German seemed his most likely field for teaching. His interest in philology had led to his being named secretary of the Philological Club, and he had proved so successful as an assistant in teaching first-year German that he had an opportunity to continue as an assistant professor in the department. But to maintain his status he would have had to spend a year of study in Germany, and in that he was not particularly interested. His true love was English, but there were no openings in the English department. He did like library work. T h e new library building was to be opened in the fall of 1907, and librarianship 2

5

Teacher or Librarian? appeared to be at least an equally rewarding field of servicc. He decided to continue as librarian. He could not have known how fortunate the choice would be—for him, the university, and the profession.

T H E

N E W

LIBRARIAN

If Louis had become a teacher, as he and his family thought him destined to be, the obstacles he encountered during his early academic years would have been unremarkable. Many young people went through similar experiences at the time. But Louis' situation was unusual because, having succeeded in his preparation f o r one activity—teaching—he went on to choose another—librarianship. With the choice of his profession settled, the work of Louis' early years began to bear fruit—and not entirely on the Chapel Hill campus. T o w a r d the end of the spring term in 1904 he received a letter asking if he would be interested in the position of librarian at the University of Georgia. A f t e r serious consideration of a firm offer, Wilson refused. He had discussed the matter with President Venable (who gave him a small increase in salary), f o r he particularly did not want to interrupt work for his doctorate, still a year away. Then, there was the future library building, one of his immediate objects. In his report f o r 1904-1905, Wilson had envisaged the need f o r physical expansion. H e called attention to the congestion in the present building, the lack of space for readers and books, and the hazardous, non-fireproof nature of the structure. T h e new librarian, fortunately for North Carolina, had seen other structures which had been planned for library work, and he was determined to arouse the president to Chapel Hill's great need. H e had undoubtedly been influenced by the general principles of library planning projected by C. C. Soule and 26

Teacher or Librarian? quoted by Dana in his Library Primer. Wilson wanted to try them out. Finally, the teacher would not be denied. He had quietly made preparations, and in the summer of 1904 he offered a course in library science. It was the first offering in library administration in any Southern educational institution, antedating by one year the establishment of the School of Library Science by the Carnegie Library of Atlanta. His carefully prepared lectures were fully illustrated with library forms (especially for small libraries). He covered selection and ordering of books, their accessioning, classification and cataloging, and circulation. At one time he thought seriously of developing the outlines into a textbook, since they provided more detail than did Dana's Library Primer; he never got around to it. In 1907 he was appointed associate professor of library administration. Faculty status gained him the coveted opportunity of association with other faculty members in committee work, which proved an advantage to President Venable as well. A department of library science was also established in the university, and the summer course was now offered formally for those students who were to become assistants in the library and for such others as might appropriately be admitted. By this stratagem, he assured himself of a number of competent student assistants to help the assistant librarian and himself. Later, additional courses were added, both for the summer and for the regular academic period. Young Wilson, however, was not exclusively absorbed in library projects. He had been introduced to Penelope Wright in 1901 when she appeared as soloist with the Methodist choir in Lenoir. They met again when Penelope was preparing to teach piano at Davenport College, and Louis was learning what he could from books to become librarian at the University of North Carolina. After he arrived at Chapel Hill they corresponded regularly, and in the fall of 1906 he saw her again at a 27

Teacher or Librarian? house party in Lenoir. On June 10, 1909, when Louis was 32, they were married. Like the Wilsons, the Wright family, although stemming from prerevolutdonary days, had to reestablish itself in the postCivil W a r years of poverty. And like the Wilsons, the Wrights—five boys and four girls—had chosen education as the means of overcoming the devastation left by the war. All had received good schooling. Penelope, for example, spent several years at Gunston Hall, in Washington, and later attended the Emerson School of Oratory in Boston. A f t e r a stay at Chapel Hill and visits to Lenoir and Waynesville, Louis and Penelope set up housekeeping in the old Mangum (now Betty Smith) house. There, on April 1 1 , 1910, their first daughter, Elizabeth, was born. In April, 1910, Eben Alexander, who had supervised the library, died. Professors Graham, Bernard, and Wilson, as an informal committee, set about providing a memorial to him. T h e money they raised provided not only for a portrait of the man who had devoted his years and talents to the university, but a fund of $1,500, the income from which was to purchase books for the department of Greek. Mrs. Alexander gave her husband's fine collection of classical works to the library. Dr. Alexander became interested in Wilson as a student as soon as the latter arrived from Haverford. He had extended the invitation to Wilson to become librarian, and had worked closely with him after he accepted the position. Many of the qualities ascribed to his mentor have been characteristic of Wilson himself. Wilson was genuinely fond of the man, after having studied with him as an undergraduate and working with him in the library for nine years. He summarized him as the "finest type of classical scholar," in a brief paper, in 1954, on the program of T h e College of Arts and Sciences, of which Dr. Alexander had become dean in 1901. When Wilson was assigned complete responsibility for the 28

Teacher or Librarian? direction of the library, shaping its policies became his chief concern. In 1910 he attended courses in librarianship at Columbia University. He looked forward to working in a large library and becoming familiar with the reference tools, journals, and other resources essential to thoroughgoing university work, and to meeting librarians who were administering more complex organizations than the one at Chapel Hill. H e enrolled in two courses in library procedures and took advantage of every opportunity to visit libraries, bookstores, and museums in the city; and he spent two days at the N e w Y o r k State Library in Albany, which at that time through its collections and its library school provided leadership in the field of American librarianship. In September, 1910, the Wilsons moved to the Wheeler house, built b y t w o Yankees who knew of many devices, then unfamiliar to most Southerners, to make houses livable and efficient. Profiting from this experience, they began to draw plans for their future home at 607 East Rosemary Street, which they occupied in October, 1 9 1 1 . Building the new house took up the whole summer, principally because there were no framing materials. Local mills had no stock; their owners were busy in the fields and would not begin to saw again until all crops were "laid b y . " Wilson, always disturbed b y apparently unnecessary delays, turned to his brother-in-law, W . I. Wright, in far-off Sampson County, who ran a saw mill and had an excellent stock. W i t h no hesitancy he had the lumber hauled sue miles to the railroad and shipped to Chapel Hill. In due time the new home was completed, at a cost inconceivably low in terms of the inflationary prices of today. T h e builder, S. L . Herndon, was constantly amazed that the architect's specifications called f o r "newfangled gadgets" such as bookcases f o r the study, built-in closets and flour and meal bins, cupboards of all kinds, and other labor-saving devices. One day when the librarian pointed

19

Teacher or Librarian? out the absence of a built-in chest called f o r in the plans, Herndon complained, "I've built a lot of houses in my time, but this is the first time I've built a house within a house." Nineteen-thirteen was both happy and sad for the Wilsons in their new home. In February their second daughter, Penelope, was born. The following month two-year-old Louis, Jr. died of pneumonia. Although grief-stricken, the parents met the situation with fortitude and faith. Little Penelope occupied much of their time. Louise, their next child, was born seven years later, on April 16, 1920. The new library building which Wilson had proposed in his 1904-1905 report had not taken long in becoming a reality. The old library had been housed since 1851 in what is now the Playmakers Building. Heavy wooden stacks, dividing the room into alcoves, filled the floor space. The side walls were lined with shelves to a height of about fourteen feet, the top shelves being reached by two movable step ladders on each side of the wide hall. Minimal space was available for study tables. Wilson worked vigorously for a new building. With the library committee, he helped develop plans; and President Venable obtained a gift from Andrew Carnegie of $55,000 for a building. T o secure the funds, the university had to agree to put up a like amount (obtained from friends and alumni), the income from which was earmarked for books and periodicals. Some time later Wilson was very grateful that there was such an agreement. He has thus succinctly told the story of the new and the old libraries: Plans for the building, to be located at the northwest corner of the campus, were developed in 1906-07, and it was completed and occupied in September, 1907. It contained reading and periodical rooms at the front on either side of a large lobby with rooms on the right and to the left of the stack in the rear center for administrative offices and bound periodicals, respectively. The second floor was devoted to 3°

Teacher or Librarian? seminars, offices, and reading rooms for the North Carolina and Mitchell Scientific Sociecy Collections and a central gallery for portraits, statues, and exhibition cases. Before the building was vacated in 1929, the cost of additional stack and equipment raised the total to $73,796.29 and $7,500 or more had been spent on departmental library equipment. After the Library had moved to its new home on the South Campus, the stack room of the Carnegie building was extended west as an auditorium, and the building was converted into Hill Music Hall, the home of the Department of Music. With Person Hall Art Gallery and the present Ackland Gallery, it is to form the nucleus of a Fine Arts Center at the northwest corner of the Campus.2 Wilson's thinking about the architecture of college libraries was undoubtedly influenced b y his visits to a number of campuses in the Northeast. H e was familiar not only with Haverf o r d but with B r y n M a w r , the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Columbia, and Harvard. T h a t there was no real need f o r another new building until the late 1920s is testimony to the sound planning that had gone into the 1907 library. W i t h the new building a reality, Wilson began to think about books. Income f r o m fees and the endowment, amount-, ing to f r o m $5,000 to $6,000 annually, made possible the systematic addition of both books and periodicals. T h e endowment included the Armfield Fund of $4,000 f o r the purchase of materials in the field of English language, and the M a y Fund of $500 f o r works in a modern language. T h e income from the latter was spent alternately b y the departments of German and Romance languages. A third fund, the G r o o m e Fund, given b y M a r y Groome M c N i n c h , f r o m which the income was derived f o r only a short period, was established f o r Southern poetry. Other funds were established in such areas as chemistry, physics and electrical engineering, international peace, art and architecture, Confederate history, and law. Altogether, $55,000 w a s secured as endowment f o r the library, an amount equaling the Carnegie building fund. 3i

Teacher or Librarian? T h e administration of book funds, and of the collections they were presumed to build at the turn of the century, had not changed much over the years. From 1901 to 1906, the annual funds f o r books and periodicals remained stationary at about $1,200, but Wilson was formulating a policy of development. He was concerned about the systematic cataloging and classifying of the collections, which were going too slowly even with Mr. Bernard's help. He therefore sought the continuation of the financial assistance of the university and of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Literary Societies, initiated b y Mr. Bernard, to push this program along. H e was also concerned about other ways of building the collections. One step was to secure clear title to 15,000 volumes which then belonged to the societies and could be removed from the library on six months' notice. (There is really nothing in today's academic setup that compares to those literary and debating societies of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.) Wilson expedited the building of collections by having the University set up a budget for the library and assume full responsibility f o r administering the library as every other department of the university was administered. In 1906 a formal agreement to this effect was entered into b y the societies, the library, and the university, the latter agreeing to devote all income from library fees and endowments to the purchase of books and periodicals, as well as to pay the cost of administering the library. This agreement placed the responsibility for financing the operation squarely upon the shoulders of the university administration, where Wilson firmly believed it belonged (though this responsibility seemed to have a w a y of slipping o f f ) , and he thus laid the foundation for the steady growth of the book collections during the following quarter of a century. Departmental funds of the early 1900s were now increased 32

Teacher or Librarian? from $30 to as much as $300, or more for certain departments. This comparative affluence allowed Wilson to cultivate two areas which, to him, were essential to a good collection. He could now place subscriptions for such journals as Anglia, Beiblatt TUT Anglia, and Englische Sttidien, and acquire runs of periodicals and publications of learned societies (prices for such material did not become astronomical, if indeed they were obtainable, until after World War II). These publications were the badge of scholarship. Wilson proceeded to equip three seminar rooms for the classical department, the Romance language department, and the departments of English and German. Critical writings, journals and proceedings of learned societies, and definitive editions of authors were made available in these rooms; the opportunity for research was greatly increased. The year 19091910 was auspicious for another of Wilson's objectives, the procuring of definitive editions: Balzac, Brunetiere, Buffon, Burns, Carlyle, Cicero, De Musset, Dumas, Emerson, Goethe, Gower, Hawthorne, Herder, Herodotus, Livy, Macaulay, Plato, Pliny, Pope, Rabelais, Sainte-Beuve, Shakespeare, Schlegel, Tennyson, Thucydides, and Wordsworth were acquired. To these collections he added foreign and domestic reference sources: encyclopedias, yearbooks, dictionaries, and bibliographical compilations. Indeed, he did everything within his power to make the rooms attractive for study and writing. It may appear that Wilson was over-emphasizing literature and philology. As a matter of fact, he was trained in philology, but the examples given are meant to show the positive direction he took in developing the collections in this area; he was "library minded" rather than "departmental minded." This was the view he stressed early in his career: the university librarian must be aware of the needs of all departments. The collections in all fields were systematically developed; and the 33

Teacher or Librarian? other humanistic disciplines, as well as the social sciences, physical and biological sciences, and technology, were given constant attention. If book funds and collections were a problem, personnel and salaries were also. From the beginning he had a problem concerning his salary. In the spring of 1908 he asked Dr. Alexander to recommend an increase f o r him. Although he had the status of associate professor, he was earning only $100 a month. Dr. Alexander demurred, suggesting that he take his request directly to President Venable. Venable listened as Wilson stated his plea, but replied that he saw no reason w h y Wilson should compare his work with that of faculty members, since he had no direct influence on students. Wilson was stunned. He realized that here was a basic issue —the place and work of the librarian in the university. He reminded Venable that he had been occupied in the almost impossible task of reclassifying and recataloging the collection of 45,000 volumes, and that the very reorganization of the collections was directly related to helping students and members of the faculty in their work. "But not in the sense of a faculty member," observed the president. For the first time Wilson was confronted with a point of view he was to meet frequently in his career as a librarian—the failure of college and university presidents to understand the place of the library in higher education, and the role and work of the librarian in that field. As Wilson later recalled the occasion, he spelled out his position. "I regard it as part of the educational program of the university to work with the students in supplying them with the materials they need in the library," he said. " T h e student prizes for reading, which I have provided for several years, did much 34

Teacher or Librarian? to improve the reading programs and develop the reading interests of students. Although I am not a member of the Faculty Debate Committee, I post all the queries f o r debate, select the readings, and work constantly behind the scenes with the students in the preparation of their work. " F o r several years I have sought and secured funds f r o m the societies to assist in the recataloging of the library. T w o years ago I received f o r the university the conveyance of title to the 15,000 volumes they owned and their relinquishment of the two-dollar annual library fee f o r all society members which had previously been returned to them f o r the use of their collections. T h e students have thought well of this action." Venable replied that he took this as part of Wilson's work, viewing his role as different from that of a faculty member, who has close contact with the students. It was a bad day f o r young Wilson, but its lesson was not entirely lost. Wilson may not have succeeded in impressing Venable with the value of his function as librarian, but he learned by what yardstick the president measured the worth of instructors and officers in the university. That summer he participated in a tennis tournament on the campus, and chose Venable's son, Manning, as his partner. T h e game was hotly contested, and Wilson and Manning reached the finals. T h e y did not win, but at several points a well-placed ball would have made the difference. It had been an exhausting match, and the presidential household and immediate friends had given them vigorous support. T h e Venables, highly pleased with the showing made b y their son, praised Wilson f o r his fine playing. T o Wilson, the event had a practical implication. H e decided that he had now established a close relation with the students! In September he again went to see President Venable to renew his request for an increase in salary. This time the president did not seem surprised. H e asked 35

Teacher or Librarian? Wilson how much he thought he should have. In those days increases were very small, usually less than ten percent, and infrequent. Wilson, uncertain when he would get another, decided to go the limit. He replied that twenty-five percent would be satisfactory. There was no argument, and a few days later, after the September meeting of the executive committee of the board of trustees, Wilson was informed that the increase had been granted. Knowledge of the president's yardstick of "student relations" had paid off handsomely! In the library he early grasped the idea that student assistants could perform many of the routine operations and duties. He selected his aides carefully, and he had an eye for quality. Prominent among those he chose were W . P. Stacy, later to be chief justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina; Luther H. Hodges, who became governor of North Carolina; and Robert B. Downs, now dean of library administration at the University of Illinois. But student help needed supervision, and Wilson could not be everywhere. During this early period a professional assistant was usually hired to do a particular task, by temporary appointment. Thus, Miss Katherine McCall was hired to initiate the reclassification; she was a graduate of the New York State Library School, a chief source of supply for this specialty. Most of the librarians during Wilson's early life were scholars-turned-librarians, people of some ability, the products of their college training. W h e n Wilson was an assistant in the Haverford Library, the need of further study at a library school, especially for executive positions as we conceive them today, had not been thought of. Even though Melvil Dewey and his library schools, first at Columbia University and later at the New York State Library School at Albany, had been

36

Teacher or Librarian? operating since 1887, the aim had been largely to teach expertise in library procedures, especially in cataloging. But Dewey required the matriculants to have a B.A., backed b y good grades, from a good college or university, thus establishing a tradition for which the profession can be thankful. Wilson appreciated Dewey's standards, and from the very first built his personnel organization with the products of Albany and other library schools. He soon began adding refinements to the training the young graduates had received. Almost at once he expanded the versatility of the profession. When Wilson determined to add a member permanently to the staff in 1907, he selected someone nearer home. He appointed as assistant librarian Nan (Ann) Strudwick, who had just graduated from the library school at Atlanta. Miss Strudwick was much impressed with the young head librarian but disturbed over the assignment he gave her—that of handling the foreign language materials. She warned Wilson that she was not as strong in foreign languages as she probably should be to catalog and otherwise handle the materials, but Wilson answered that he thought they would get along without difficulty. Her proficiency developed, as he had indicated it would. But the new assistant librarian was not without personal problems. She was the first woman to work in the library. It was somewhat of a trial for her, as the students and faculty were not anxious to have a woman there. One student even wrote in the college paper that the appointment represented an intrusion. But Wilson foresaw the development of libraries, including the one at Chapel Hill, as something so extensive that the services of able women would be required. The growth of library schools, such as those at Atlanta and Albany, with many women enrolled, was important to the library movement of the country. Wilson's appointment of Miss Strudwick was 37

Teacher or Librarian? another example of his vision. T h e results were so satisfactory that he later appointed a graduate of Radcliffe and Albany, Cornelia S. Love, and Mary L . Thornton, trained at Atlanta, as assistants in specified positions. H e was among the first to give young women a chance to demonstrate their right to be a part of the world of librarianship. However, the library's growing up professionally did bring on a crisis. T h e president informed Wilson that his and Miss Strudwick's salaries would be paid out of the income from the $55,000 which had been raised in 1906 to match the Carnegie gift for the new library building. Wilson promptly pointed out that the president had obviously forgotten that the instrument of transfer to the title of the books from the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies to the university stated that all income derived from both endowment and student fees would be used f o r the purchase of books, and that all charges for administration would be borne b y the university just as charges for other university departments were borne. He also reminded him that they had signed that pledge as representatives of the university and the library. T h e president could only reply that he believed Wilson lay awake nights thinking of ways of using income from the university f o r the purchase of books. Wilson accepted this as a lame compliment. Looking back, one can say that Wilson was ahead of most librarians of his time in his approach to personnel problems. He was a kindly person in his administrative relationships; the rights of individuals as human beings were always paramount in his mind. Whether it was the janitor or one of the librarian assistants, he was ready to listen. T h e story is told of Adolphus Clark, a jovial Negro, for many vears janitor of the library and later a messenger, who became involved in an automobile accident following a Sundav

38

Teacher or Librarian? school picnic one August day. He had borrowed a car for the occasion, and on the way home the car was rammed into by a swerving, rickety Ford occupied by a white owner and a Negro driver. T w o other cars were damaged as a result of the collision. A month later Clark had to report for a hearing at the Recorder's Court in Durham. It was a gray, drizzly day, but Miss Nellie Roberson hustled Wilson and Mrs. Lane out of their homes with a scanty breakfast so that they might appear in court in time to serve as character witnesses for Clark. While the accident was not in any way attributable to him, he was in an unenviable position since the opposing lawyer attempted to accuse him of indulging in "spirits" at the picnic. When the judge summed up the evidence, Clark was acquitted. Of Wilson's willingness to go out early on a rainy morning to speak on his behalf, Clark said, "Dr. Wilson has always been like that. He will go out of his way to help anybody he thinks is in the right." Wilson's former staff members attest to his open door—he was always willing to consider their suggestions regarding the library just as he was willing to hear their personal problems. Even when an idea proposed by an assistant might appear at first glance to have little practical value, Wilson would discuss it with him and with other staff members. T h e process was educational to the person offering the suggestion as well as to the staff members consulted. " H e was extraordinary in making the most out of proposals by staff members," observed Robert B. Downs. Wilson had a remarkable ability for singling out assistants who could be given responsibility. Once he had decided that a staff member had certain qualities of imagination, initiative, and reliability, he would delegate duties promptly. Donald Coney, now librarian of the University of California at Berkeley, has described Wilson's procedure in using his staff to develop the library programs: " M y office for several years was 39

Teacher or Librarian? adjacent to his [Wilson's] and w e were in and out of each other's room continually. He discovered that I had a feeling f o r words which he judged to be better than his, and so it became one of m y duties to read the papers and speeches he was forever writing. N o t only that, but his method of composition was a restless, peripatetic one, and he liked to work out his ideas by hearing himself tell somebody about them. I was frequently out of m y depth and could only serve as a lay figure, but even this negative role was valuable to me because it illustrated the depths of my ignorance." T o foresee how people will perform in different situations requires considerable insight. Wilson was not averse to shifting individuals into positions for which they had no obvious experience, if he thought they had potentiality. He was eager that the library continue to operate at high efficiency regardless of whether persons were out sick or on vacation. He always placed great value on memoranda and directives for pinning down the facts of a situation or procedure. He worked hard, and by example animated his staff. Thus, he was able to get the best out of his personnel, and although he may have been driving them, no one resented his leadership. Indeed, as Miss Strudwick commented, " H e had subtle ways of stimulating people to do their utmost."

MISFORTUNE

STRIKES

T h e year 1916 proved eventful for the Wilson family. Mrs. Wilson had been ill for several weeks, when in February Louis was told that he had developed active pulmonary tuberculosis. At that time " T B " was a fearful scourge, and in the eastern United States Saranac Lake, N e w York, was the accepted place to go to get well. Although victory over the disease is not as complete today as is popularly supposed, with the many 40

Teacher or

Librarian?

new treatments, sanatoria do not play the role they did in Wilson's time. Saranac Lake is now mainly a beautiful up-State community. Trudeau, once a life-saving institution, has been closed. During Wilson's stay, however, both the institution and the community were organized around the care of the patient. The motto of the sanatorium, Gloria Victis (Glory to the Conquered), had been coined by Dr. Edward L. Trudeau. founder of the sanatorium, who had himself been ill with the disease. Though never thoroughly recovered, Trudeau, a true benefactor of mankind, carried on heroically and selflessly for others. Unlike the practice at Asheville, where tubercular patients were also treated, isolation was not part of the regimen at Trudeau. Exercise was at first forbidden for Wilson, except for dressing and going to meals. Rest was all important—a habit which Dr. Wilson was to respect throughout his life. After a few weeks Wilson's temperature and cough had disappeared, and he began to find diversion in the crafts shop. He participated in two other activities which the patients had developed for passing the time creatively. One was a group study of current events and the other the publication of the patients' newspaper, Gloria Victis. Wilson found that writing had less harmful effects on his health than discussion. Speaking at meetings usually resulted in raising his temperature. Consequently, he stopped participating in the discussions, and since reading exciting fiction also had adverse effects, he shifted from novels to history, poetry, and essays, which were, if anything, more rewarding. Although he was intensely concerned with getting well and returning to his family and work, Wilson was conscious of American activity in the World War. The day before he arrived at Saranac, the Battle of Verdun had begun. The study group at the sanatorium discussed topics relating to the war, 4i

Teacher

or

Librarian?

and Wilson watched the reports on the progress of the Allies on the sea at Jutland and on the battlefields in France. Some of his acquaintances from North Carolina were engaged in the struggle, and he thought of them often as he gained strength in his own combat with disease. Wilson delighted, like every nature lover, in the Saranac Lake region. In a letter home he wrote: Saranac Lake and Trudeau scarcely know summer, which is limited principally to July. T h e ice clears from the lake in May; the low-lands overflow; leaves and flowers come in a burst of speed, with Indian turnip and lady slippers and m i lium in hidden spots; with cedar wax wings and purple finches in the lilacs and atop the balsams and firs. T h e robins come by the thousands later for the serviceberries and wild cherries. Later still, when the little crickets, hatched out of the grass and clover stems, grow up and hide under rocks on the mountainside, tens of thousands of crows come in a straight file out of the South and begin their autumnal feast. August brings frost; September follows with the flame of reds and yellows of the maples; and October rings down the curtain, lowered in most of the temperate zone in November, revealing anew the boles of the white birch against the green of fir and balsam.

Children's books were scarcely known to Wilson during his childhood, but with the coming of Elizabeth and Penelope he acquainted himself with juvenile stories, poetry, and nature lore. During his illness he made his own contribution to children's literature. At Trudeau, which was perched on the side of a mountain, the river at its base, there was an unending variety of creatures to be discovered on his morning and afternoon walks through the sanatorium grounds. The hillsides were covered with flowers in late June and July. Although he never considered himself the least bit talented in drawing, his letters home frequently contained sketches of the things he saw, and descriptions, which he recalls "reminded the children of Peter Rabbit and Thomasina Tittlemouse, and sharpened their eyes and ears for the wild animals and birds they were 4*

Teacher or Librarian? seeing daily." Well or ill, Wilson was never too busy for his family. At Trudeau Wilson saw the kindness of doctors and nurses, most of whom had been ill themselves, and the goodness of some of his fellow patients; he also saw examples of impatience, selfishness, and just plain meanness. Some patients were anxious to get well and return to work; others considered illness as an escape, an opportunity to retreat from society. Love, joy, and hope mingled with hate, sorrow, and discouragement. In this community of the sick, Wilson became aware more than ever of the strengths and shortcomings of men and women. He was able to return home in October. Although there was no diminution in his total activities, his experience as a victim of tuberculosis led to a greater understanding of the limits within which men have to live, to secure the drab durable satisfactions of life. Naturally, he had to give up tennis. He missed the opportunity to discuss university matters with the president, E. K. Graham. T h e tennis court in its informality had provided an excellent setting for discussions, and many projects were begun and fostered there. However, walks with Graham later filled this purpose. In his notes Wilson has indicated that he was not able to talk with the other presidents who followed Graham. He sent his observations to them in memoranda. Although he never gave the impression of being overly busy, he managed to get an extraordinary amount of work done each day. T h e encounter with tuberculosis had no effect upon his productivity. However, he timed his work carefully, and throughout his career, even when he was away from home on surveys, he took his afternoon nap. Coney, commenting on his work with Wilson, once said: "In those days—and perhaps it is still true—it was Dr. Wilson's custom to remain home after lunch for a nap, returning to the library around three o'clock; I, however, being young and vigorous, returned 43

Teacher or Librarian? promptly and, as a result, about the time I was beginning to taper off at the end of the afternoon preparatory to departure, L. R. W . would turn up full of beans and ideas for a forthcoming paper, hail me into his office, and keep me there until six or six-thirty, somewhat after my usual supper hour. "Experiences like this showed me that you might find valuable help almost anywhere. Here was a man of obvious importance in his university and state, and with a growing national and even international reputation, who had no hesitation about exploiting the few peculiar values I had and he thought he lacked."

3 A Library Matures

F R O M his arrival on the campus at Chapel Hill, Wilson was concerned with libraries and librarianship on an ever-widening scene. However, in 1929 his efforts were concentrated on the new library building, for which he had planned and worked so diligently. ALMOST

BUILDING

A N E W

LIBRARY

Although the Carnegie building had served well, it was apparent after World W a r I that the university library was outgrowing its quarters. In truth, while the building had incorporated many of Wilson's ideas, he had not really been given much opportunity to influence the final floor plan. With due regard to Andrew Carnegie's generosity, the benefactor's architects did set a pattern for both college and public libraries; "Carnegie Library" was not so much a phrase as a kind of trademark. Admirable as the style of those more than 1,700 buildings was for that day, the libraries could not be extensively adapted to changing needs. The trademark was imprinted deep; the walls were too solid. 45

A Library

Matures

Wilson had dreamed of a new building for some time, and had worked for it. But it was not until his reports of 19231924 and 1924-1925 that he began to sound imperative. His report of 1925-1926 presented a thorough statistical review, with charts, showing the urgency for a new structure. He strongly recommended that the university trustees press vigorously for it. H. W. Chase, then university president, commented upon the need in his annual reports, and in 1927 the university presented the Legislature with a request for $875,000, which, fully granted, would have provided most of the present building. The architect's plans were based on Wilson's acquaintance with libraries, for he had by this time ranged as far west as the University of Minnesota. He took measurements of many structures he saw; he studied their specifications. Then, when he was through scouting, he had A. C. Nash, the university's architect, join him in examining the new University of Michigan library and the public libraries at Detroit and Cleveland. As every librarian knows, planning a new building is fraught with dangers, not the least of which is the intrusion of ideas from those not trained to judge the utility of the building. These ideas usually come from members of a planning committee, but Wilson's nemesis was a nonmember. John M. Booker, of the department of English, had wanted to be an architect in his student days but was balked by poor eyesight. He now developed a set of plans simultaneously with Wilson and the special faculty committee charged with such major decisions as the location of the "library and centralization of the collections. Dr. Booker's motivation may have been in part altruistic. The good professor had definite ideas about everything, and he even spent his own money in preparing the plans, which he presented in 1925 to the Committee on Grounds and Buildings. At the same time Wilson offered his preliminary plans. In 1926, while the building committee was in the midst of its 46

A Library Matures labors, Wilson received a call to head the new library school at the University of Chicago. T h e temptation was great, but Wilson declined the invitation. When it was clear that he had done so, Dr. Booker came to see him and asked whether he should continue his plans. " N o , " Wilson recalls saying, hoping to stop him at that point. "One of the main reasons I did not take that deanship in Chicago was to stay here and make sure that the plans would meet the needs of scholars rather than the peculiar foibles of some individual." This is "tough talk"—on or off a campus—and it showed an aspect of Wilson's temperament which he has not had to display too often over the years. It was, of course, a different kind of diplomacy from that used in the case of the farmer and his bogged threshing machine at Lenoir, but it served its purpose equally well. Dr. Booker withdrew his plans, and the committee was given a free hand. But the incident benefited Wilson's thinking, too. It demonstrated to him the importance of the librarian's part in planning a library building—certainly an idea far from fully accepted at that time, either by library planners or architects. He had always given this idea special emphasis in his courses on library administration. T h e new building was formally dedicated on October 19, 1929. Andrew Keogh, librarian at Yale and then president of the American Library Association, was the principal speaker. In his presentation of the library to the university, the governor, the Honorable O. Max Gardner, reflected on the intimate relationship of Wilson to the building: It is more than a mere structure of steel and stone. . . . It is touched and ennobled by the dreams and sacrifice and devotion of a very great man—Dr. Louis R. Wilson—and it represents the culmination of an aspiration on the part of our people. The aspiration, held high through times of stress and poverty and struggle, is that the boys and girls of North Carolina should have educational advantages equal to those to be 47

A Library Matures found anywhere and that, having these, they should make North Carolina a finer, freer, and more wholesome community in which to live. W i l s o n w a s m o v e d b y this personal tribute, but even more he was pleased b y the understanding the governor showed of the potential values of a university library. Participating in the dedication, W i l s o n reviewed the g i f t s presented to the library, and summarized the concepts w h i c h the university had foll o w e d in developing the building. During the period in which the University has been maturing plans for the library building which we dedicate at this hour, the University has likewise been maturing plans for the part which the library, now adequately and worthily housed, shall play in the life of the University, the State, and the nation. In all its planning, both for the building and the library itself, the University has proceeded upon three fundamental convictions. It is convinced, first of all, that no student can attain his greatest intellectual development who does not supplement the experience gained through lecture and textbook with the knowledge of what different and perhaps clearer minds have thought upon the subject of his study. It likewise holds that no university can achieve the highest scientific and scholarly distinction that does not, through a great central library, furnish its investigators and scholars that quieter, richer background of accumulated fact and wisdom which often provides the sharpest spur to right valuation and creative accomplishment in human life. It is also sure that no state in this day of increasing complexity in every phase of life can work out its highest industrial, social, political, intellectual and spiritual destiny if it does not release to all of its citizens, through a great library in an institution such as this, the generative power and enriching influences contained in books. Wilson had labored over details, anticipating not only immediate needs but those of the longer future. A s he noted in 1929: It is a magnificent structure costing $625,000, but so confident are its creators of the future of the University and of the importance of a library in that future, that the new build48

A Library Matures ing is but one unit of the great library that is to come. . . . Yet, some day it will be necessary to build wings on either side . . . and, later still, to close these wings at the rear with a section as large as the front of the present building. The stacks now being erected for books are nine stories high and will shelve approximately 400,000 volumes. Later extensions can be provided at the rear with a capacity of more than a million volumes, when the future demands it. The building embodied the best available ideas of the day. The main floor included a reserve reading room, an education reading room, a commerce reading room, administrative offices, and quarters for the order department. T h e second floor contained the main reading room, which stretched across the front of the building; the delivery room and desk of the circulation department, and space f o r periodical storage. T h e front part of the third floor was occupied by the upper portion of the main reading room, but the floor also included seminar rooms and small graduate classrooms. T h e basement floor, which was aboveground and well-ventilated and lighted, housed the Rural Social Economics Department, with offices, lecture rooms, and library. It also provided space f o r the Library Extension Department and the North Carolina Collection. T h e Library School was housed later, on the top floor, over the stacks. T h e stacks were located at the rear of the building. Carrels were installed around the perimeter. Wilson was not surprised when he observed a growing use of the new library. There were notable increases in the use of all the library facilities, but the carrels accounted for a 77 percent increase in the use of books b y graduate students and the faculty. T h e carrels were a far c r y from the three well-meant but completely inadequate seminar rooms in the old building. H e had proved his theory that a library clientele will respond if given adequate quarters for work. A footnote may be added to Wilson's observations on the 49

A Library Matures need for all the space asked for in the original plan, for which the legislature did not provide full funds in 1926. In 19511952 it was possible without difficulty to fit the addition to the older structure. The Legislature of 1927 had given enough money for the front unit of the building planned by Wilson. In 1951 an appropriation was secured for the extension of the building, with slight modifications of the original design, but at a very considerable additional cost. The new section was completed and dedicated in 1952, and the trustees on February 27, 1956 named the building the Louis Round Wilson Library. A "magnificent and beautiful building" was but the first step in the librarian's drive to develop a great library. He was still not satisfied to stay put so far as his library resources were concerned. True, the library now had 210,000 volumes—a considerable growth over the 39,000 in the collections when he assumed the librarianship in 1901—but he saw great gaps in these resources if the university planned to advance its research program. He wrote: [ T ] h e University must not only strengthen the general materials . . . [but] must also begin in a serious, purposeful w a y to build up the highly specialized collections which will differentiate the w o r k of the University f r o m that of other institutions, and bring the University distinction in the fields of teaching and research that cannot otherwise be achieved. Beginnings in the fields of N o r t h Caroliniana, Southern materials, rural-social-economics, materials illustrative of the origin and development of writing and printing, must be carefully expanded, and its trained personnel must be so increased as to provide a more extensive and more highly skilled service than is now obtainable. T o this end the book fund f r o m state sources should be at least doubled, and assistance of individuals interested in the development of special aspects of the Library's w o r k should be sought, and highly trained assistants should be provided f o r e v e r y department. T h e enrollment of more than six hundred students in the Graduate School, the increasing demands made upon the L i b r a r y b y

50

A Library

Matures

professors and investigators, the necessity of handling in a skilled w a y the technical and complex materials which are made available through private gifts, such as the Hanes Foundation and Southern Collection, place a burden upon the Library which cannot begin to be met by the means of the inadequate funds now available. A s the academic year 1927-1928 came to a close, W i l s o n focused this thinking on the question of w h a t the goals of the library should be. E v e n b e f o r e the n e w building was ready, he w r o t e in his annual report that he envisioned it as becoming, in the next quarter o f a c e n t u r y , "a great national library of the South." H e pointed out that the authorities had taken a definite step in that direction b y their support, although m a n y needs w e r e still unfilled. H e emphasized such essentials as a bibliographical apparatus, fundamental reference works, distinctive exhibit materials, specialized

collections,

a national

Southern collection, a library school, as well as a corps o f highly trained personnel, "persons of unusual training, both in the subject matter in w h i c h t h e y have specialized and in library administration." In a sense, there was nothing really n e w in w h a t he had to say, but, still, his objectives w e r e rather heady.

BUILDING

THE

COLLECTIONS

O n e does not establish a "national l i b r a r y " b y w i s h f u l thinking. T h e paramount p r o b l e m was, as usual, to find the w h e r e withal f o r the acquisitions, b u t there was an even prior claim. In his 1919-1920 annual report, he had noted in considerable detail the w o r k of a library b u d g e t committee to replace the old library appropriations committee. T h i s formation of a n e w committee originated

in W i l s o n ' s

plan to obtain

adequate

funds f o r the various departments and schools of the university, as w e l l as f o r its general library. W i l s o n had also intro5'

A Library Matures duced the ideas that the librarian should have sufficient reserve funds for unusual needs or purchases, and that all requests for funds f o r special library purposes should be made to the library appropriations committee rather than to the president of the university. He had reviewed the development of the various departments and schools, and demonstrated that with such limited funds as they had they were not able to purchase all the journals they needed, much less the required books. Not only had the departments grown without proportionate support for the puchase of their materials, but with bindings costing an average of ninety cents a volume in 1914, mounting to $2.50 in 1920, journals were not being preserved. Prices of books had also risen comparably. H e noted the increase in the number of students and the resultant demand for more copies of individual titles. He saw trouble ahead f o r the new schools of Commerce and Public Welfare, and f o r the enlarged Graduate School, unless additional funds were made available for the library. Over the years Wilson had not actually come out too badly with respect to budgetary allocations. Since legislatures are recognized to be fickle, he did what many other librarians were doing (and still are). He gradually built up a strong interest in the library among alumni and other "friends" and decided to formalize and enlarge this interest. Groups at Harvard, Princeton, and elsewhere were contributing useful materials to the libraries. Donors of valuable books, newspapers, and manuscripts to North Carolina would undoubtedly do more if they were told of further needs. On May 27, 1932, the Friends of the Library of the University of North Carolina was organized at a dinner given by John Sprunt Hill in the Carolina Inn. Life members were to be those who had given the library $1,000 or more, in money or in materials of unusual and distinctive value. T h e y were A. B. 5*

A Library Matures Andrews, Miss Isabel Cameron, Mrs. Thurmond Chatham, Preston Davie, Dr. Charles W. Dabney, Alex S. Hanes, Dr. Frederic M. Hanes, J . W. Hanes, Major R. M. Hanes, R. P. Hanes, Dr. Archibald Henderson, John Sprunt Hill, Mrs. John Sprunt Hill, Dr. A . B . Hunter, Dr. W . P. Jacocks, Mrs. Graham Kenan, Mrs. John Labouisse, Mrs. Robert Lassiter, and Mary Pettigrew. Wilson was elected an honorary life member. But even good "friends" do not always have something to give; they may have something to sell. In 1928 Dr. Hunter offered a collection of 460 incunabula, choice items which he had purchased in various European countries during 19201926, when he was rector of the Episcopal church in the American colony at Florence. After World War I foreign currencies depreciated, and books sold at very low prices. Wilson, determined to get the Hunter Collection, sent copies of his annual reports and other printed material about the library to each of ten selected alumni and asked whether each would give $20,000 or part of it outright, or underwrite the purchase until the university could arrange for its acquisition. (The State had recently passed a law making it illegal for the university to borrow money.) One sent J500, another $100, but Robert W. Bingham, later Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, wired that he would underwrite the entire purchase. On the strength of this telegram Wilson arranged for the purchase of the collection through the University Book Exchange, making a relatively small down payment. (As events turned out, it was the members of the Hanes family who paid for the collection.) Dr. Hunter, evidently pleased with the way the collection at North Carolina was developing, then presented to the library a group of one hundred manuscripts and documents. The material included account books, diaries, copies of unpublished poems and dramas, and official documents of various kinds 53

A Library Matures ranging from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. The material provided the library with attractive exhibits; faculty and students stopped regularly to view and study the displays. Later, Wilson approached Dr. Frederic M. Hanes, suggesting that the family establish the Hanes Foundation for the Study of the Origin and Development of the Book, in memory of their father and mother, John Wesley and Anna Hodgin Hanes. Wilson asked the dean of the Graduate School, James F. Royster, to invite Dr. Hanes to speak to the Graduate Club about his interest in collections and material on the history of printing. Dr. Hanes delivered an address and was pleased by the cordial reception. When Dr. Hanes gave Wilson a check to cover the cost of the Hunter Collection, it was for $30,000 instead of the $20,000 promised! The university assumed certain obligations, and Dr. Hanes indicated that the family would, from time to time, make additions to the donation. This effort turned out to be one of Wilson's most profitable adventures in fund-raising for the university. During 1929-1930, the Hanes Collection acquired many interesting items, in addition to the Hunter incunabula. In his report of that year Wilson wrote: F o l l o w i n g are some of the most notable accessions: thirteen casts of early inscriptions, including Greek, Latin, Lydian, etc., f r o m Princeton University, through Professor J . P. H a r land; a colored facsimile of the Rosetta Stone; and ten B a b y lonian and ten Sumerian clay tablets f r o m the Yale B a b y lonian collection are valuable additions to the collection illustrating early modes of writing. A collection of eleven early Dutch books, including one incunabulum; a c o p y of T o r y ' s Champfleury, Paris, 1529; and a Book of Hours printed b y Kerver, Paris, 1506 on vellum, represent the most outstanding acquisitions during the year. Other notable purchases are 500 sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century books purchased f r o m D r . A . B. Hunter; an example of the publications of the first Paris press; facsimiles of the Smith Surgical Papyrus, Petrarch's c o p y of Vergil, and the Gutenberg Bible; items illustrating the development of modern private presses,

54

A Library Matures including examples by William Morris, the Nonesuch Press, the Essex House Press, the Strawberry Hill Press, publications of the Foulis brothers, and John Baskerville. A handsome copy of Ibarra's Sallust, printed in Madrid in 1772, and splendidly bound for Charles III of Spain, was recently purchased. In building the collections, Wilson applied various practices now more or less standard in larger libraries. En bloc purchases for specific courses or subject fields were sometimes feasible. For example, during a number of years he made efforts to build the collection of South American materials. Then, during 1 9 1 6 - 1 9 1 7 , it was possible to obtain from a Harvard professor for a small sum a collection of 1,880 duplicate titles. Wilson also used the publications of the University—The University Record, The James Sprunt Historical

Publications,

Studies in Philology,

and The Journal of the Elisha

Scientific Society—to

negotiate exchanges for the publications

Mitchell

of other colleges and universities, historical and scientific societies, and philological clubs. Wilson's efforts sometimes included bargaining. Coney recalls Wilson's negotiations with an itinerant trader, who periodically appeared at the library with some items for examination. I remember the pleasure he [Wilson] took in horsetrading (I suppose it ought to be called book-trading) with the North Carolina citizen who in the early years of the depression equipped himself with a small truck and toured the country roads seeking old books and, I suppose, antiques and other objects. For several months, he called regularly at Chapel Hill and I remember Dr. Wilson's going down to the receiving room and haggling over some ratty volume unknown to me but evidently of value to the North Carolina Collection. His expertness at this kind of business surprised me and revealed a facet of his character that certainly had its origin in his Scottish forebears and his country ancestry. Wilson also went on jaunts to neighboring communities in search of journals, newspapers, pamphlets, and historical man55

A Library Matteres uscripts and archives. One such visit almost had a horrendous ending for his assistant, Charles Baker, who was from the North. Wilson received a call in 1921 from Miss Christine Fisher (a sister of Mrs. Frances Christine Tiernan, w h o wrote under the name of Christian Reid), inviting him to visit Salisbury and discuss the possibility of buying a collection. Her father had been prominent in building the Western North Carolina Railroad and had assembled a mass of newspapers and railroad reports. While packing the treasures he had purchased, he found a box of Minié balls, Confederate ammunition known as "Minnie balls." He took a carton to Chapel Hill and stored it with the library materials in the basement. Later, when Wilson got around to sorting his prize, Baker helped him with the unpacking and saw the carton. Wilson explained that the Minnie balls were made in Kinston in 1863, and that each shell consisted of a paper cartridge, powder, and a bullet. In loading the rifle the soldier would break open the paper cartridge, pour in the powder, then insert the bullet and the rest of the paper f o r tamping the bullet. Wilson cautioned that they were probably still active. T h e next afternoon Baker appeared for work with his eyebrows and some of his hair badly singed. He had been curious about the makeup of the Minnie balls and had taken one of the cartridges home. T h e next morning he broke open the paper, poured out the powder on his back porch, made a long taper, lit it with a match, and touched it to the powder. T h e Minnie balls had become damp during their storage in the library basement and consequently nothing happened. H e left the powder there, not anticipating that the sun shining on it later would dry it out. A f t e r lunch he lit it, but forgot the taper and suffered the unexpected blast. Wilson was sympathetic, but observed that a "Minnie ball"

56

A Library

Matures

was something to be respected by a Yankee, even after 58 years. Before Wilson became librarian two important collections of North Caroliniana had been lost, as it was then thought. The first was that of Francis Xavier Martin, an early historian of North Carolina, who moved to N e w Orleans with his collection only to have it waterlogged in a boat and largely consumed by cockroaches. T h e second had been assembled by D. L . Swain, president of the university from 1835 to 1868. Most of the materials were kept in Swain's house and, upon his death the executors ruled that they were his personal property and allotted them to his widow. Some of the materials were sold, but most had been acquired for the North Carolina Historical Society, and were placed in a bank vault in Raleigh. They were never taken from the State by Mrs. Swain, a fact not generally known until 1964. Some of the Martin materials were also to be recovered, but Wilson did not know that in 1918. In 1918 Dr. Stephen B. Weeks, the historian, a lifetime collector of North Caroliniana who was an alumnus of the University of North Carolina, offered his collection of some 10,000 titles for purchase. Wilson was greatly excited; it would be an important acquisition as a foundation for the collection, and it would attract similar material. Since the university had no funds for the Weeks Collection, Wilson went into action. He prepared an extensive memorandum on its desirability, which easily convinced President Graham that the university should acquire it. The president, in turn, passed the memorandum on to the trustees, who appointed Professor J . G . deR. Hamilton, Trustee R. D. W . Connor, John Sprunt Hill, and Wilson to examine the collection. Later, President Graham and Wilson, representing the university, and Charles L . Van Noppen, representing Dr. 57

A Library Matures Weeks, met to consider its purchase. Van Noppen, the agent handling the Weeks Collection, offered it for $25,000; Wilson thought that $15,000 was a fairer price since the collection contained many titles the library already possessed. Van Noppen offered a compromise figure of $20,000, which was accepted. In the intervening years Wilson's conjecture that the collection would be a loadstone attracting other collections proved correct. Similarly, the value of the Herty Collection for research was clear to Wilson. Dr. C. H. Herty, a professor of chemistry, had bought privately, at a very low price, a number of the most important sets of chemistry periodicals. When he left the university in 1917 to become editor of the Journal of Industrial Chemistry he offered his journals to the library at their original cost. There was no money for them, but at that time, in 1918, there was still no law against the university's borrowing. President Graham gave notes, except for the down payment. As a result of World War I prices rose, and all state institutions were in debt when the legislature met in 1919. An act was passed which wiped out all the debts of the university, including those for the Weeks and Herty Collections! Furthermore, when the budget bureau was set up later, it requested an accounting of expenditures for library purposes for each of the four preceding years, embracing the debts for these collections, as well as estimates of library expenditures for the next biennium. These extraordinary expenditures were included by the university, and an extra ten percent was added by it for the next biennium. The legislature took the increase in its stride. Wilson was also able to build up the literature resources through acquisition of the King Collection. Rush King, who had been a student at North Carolina during 1900-1902, inherited from his father, Pendleton King (who had been a member of the faculty at Louisiana State University where he

58

A Library Matures wrote a life of Grover Cleveland, and who later was sent to Aix-Ia-Chapelle as American Consul by Cleveland), several thousand volumes of the best standard works in German, French, and English. King had the collection shipped to the Greensboro Public Library, in accordance with his father's will. Because it contained many titles in foreign languages, and the will stipulated that the collection be maintained in a separate room, the Public Library declined it. Young King needed money and was willing to sell the collection for the cost of the shipment from Germany and the ten or fifteen years' storage charges—some $2,500. Again there was no money, but the collection was negotiated for and King was later paid with funds from the library budget. From a manuscript catalog kept by senior King, it was shown that the collection, which had originally cost $7,500, was easily worth double that amount when it was acquired.

NORTH

CAROLINIANA

Perhaps the most dramatic rewards for Wilson's efforts were the embellishments of the North Carolina Collection. In his 1931—1932 report Wilson noted the addition to the North Carolina Room of a valuable portrait of John Sprunt Hill. It had been painted by Philip Alexius Laszlo de Lombos, internationally known portrait painter, and was a gift from Mr. Hill. This was by no means his first gift. He had been interested in the North Carolina Collection since 1903. In 1906 he had given $5,000 for the endowment of the collection, and in 1917 had subsidized the employment of Mary L. Thornton as librarian in charge of the North Carolina Collection. Mr. Hill had paid Miss Thornton's salary f o r a number of years. He had also supported the cost of publishing one of the Extension bulletins of the University of North Carolina Press, and had underwrit59

A Library Matures ten other activities f o r which funds were not immediately available. Mr. Hill had begun his contributions to the university as far back as 1890. In 1903, in his alumni address at commencement, he advocated a strong library and a graduate school. He established a fellowship in history, which he converted into an endowment when the library began seeking funds to match the Carnegie grant of $55,000. His early contributions were primarily for the library. Later he gave money for the conversion of the Carnegie building into the Hill Music Hall, for the University Press, and f o r many other purposes. He was trustee of the building committee when the time came f o r the third library building, and he lent his full enthusiasm to its construction. W h e n the 1927 Legislature proposed giving only about $500,000 f o r the new building, Hill appeared with President Chase and Wilson before the authorities in Raleigh and laid the matter on the line: T h e university must have at least sufficient money to build the unit as planned. This would be $625,000. When the sum was not immediately forthcoming he strongly urged the governor and the budget bureau to back the university's proposal f o r enough money to insure a building to which additions could be made easily later. In the 1920's he also gave for library purposes the property where the Institute of Government was erected (now the office of the Consolidated University). A t that time the property represented a $6,000 endowment for aid to the library collections. His principal contribution, however, was the Carolina Inn. Wilson had discussed with Hill the plans f o r further endowment of the library. T h e y talked about the Carolina Inn project, and as a consequence the property was conveyed to the university b y the Hill family in 1935, the income to be used particularly f o r the maintenance of the Inn and the N o r t h Carolina Collection. Hill appropriately became the first chairman of the Friends of the Library, and later honorary 60

A Library Matures chairman. He continued to present gifts to the university, and the library received four store buildings on Franklin Street, as well as a subsidy of $3,000 for the publication of Mary L. Thornton's manuscript on North Carolina documents. He also gave 1,000 shares of the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company for the publications fund of the library. John Sprunt Hill was indeed a library friend—one assuredly in the "angel" class. In the summer of 1932 Hill commissioned William Steen to paint a portrait of Wilson for the library. The portrait hangs in the delivery hall of the circulation department.

BREAD-AND-BUTTER

COLLECTIONS

These stellar collections are examples of Wilson's efforts in developing the resources of the University of North Carolina Library, but they represent only a small part of his success. He was also industriously procuring materials which, if less spectacular, were necessary to all fields of knowledge. Periodicals and journals—both current and those runs of back volumes so dear to every librarian's heart—definitive editions, and the like, kept pouring in. Throughout his long career he paid close attention to the "working" collections. Occasionally whole units were added. In 1927-1928, a banner year, the library of Franklin H. Giddings, professor of sociology and the history of civilization at Columbia University, was obtained and became the nucleus of Chapel Hill's holdings in sociology. In the same year the library acquired the A. H. Patterson Collection in general science, chiefly physics and astronomy. Dr. Patterson had been dean of the university's School of Applied Science at Chapel Hill. While government publications had long been respected in American libraries, prior to World W a r I their systematic collection and use had been restricted mainly to the larger li61

A Library Matures braries. But Wilson called attention in his 1915-1916 report to the publications of the governments of France, Germany, and other European countries w h i c h the library had obtained. T h e channels f o r ordering these government publications remained open as far as w a r would permit, and Wilson also sought new sources. In the late 1920s his w o r k on government documents paid off. His insistence on developing the N o r t h Carolina Collection and the Rural Social Economics library led to the designation of the Chapel Hill library b y the Social Science Research Council as the official government document center of N o r t h Carolina. Since it had the most comprehensive collections of official and unofficial publications relating to the State, the University of N o r t h Carolina Library was an obvious selection. In 1953 H o w a r d W . Odum, professor of sociology at Chapel Hill from 1920 to his death in 1954, spoke of Wilson's amazing ability to look ahead: " H e always seemed to have his fingers on activities w h i c h w e r e yet to come. His statesmanlike approach, his wide knowledge of events, and his clear vision of interrelations of the disciplines were always present in his decisions." There

was

one

more

area

which

Wilson

wished

to

strengthen. Again, in his 1915 report, he pleaded for funds for the purchase of bibliographical aids such as a set of the catalog cards of the Library of Congress, and the catalogs of the British Museum, of special libraries in the United States and Europe, and of the R o y a l Society of London. H e wrote: I have also n o t mentioned the need f o r scholarly e n c y c l o pedias, dictionaries, and w o r k s of reference w h i c h cannot be purchased at present, the lack of w h i c h not o n l y cripples the effectiveness of the L i b r a r y , but f r e q u e n t l y makes impossible the bringing of n e w w o r t h w h i l e men into the f a c u l t y , or the h o l d i n g of such m e n w h e n t h e y are called a w a y b y other institutions.

His concern for inadequate book collections not only at the University of N o r t h Carolina but at other Southern university 62

A Library Matures libraries prompted Wilson to gather extensive bibliographical materials. Wilson had seen little hope of building up the reference resources without a grant of some kind, and therefore obtained and interfiled the catalog cards from other university libraries. In his report f o r 1 9 3 1 - 1 9 3 2 , Robert B. Downs, acting librarian after Wilson's departure for Chicago, noted that catalog cards were obtained from the John Crerar Library, the Harvard University Library, and the University of Chicago, together with Library of Congress depository cards. In 1932 President Frank Porter Graham announced a grant of $30,000 from the General Education Board to the University of North Carolina library f o r bibliographical aids. These funds provided essential tools needed to strengthen the library. President Venable had once remarked that Wilson lay awake nights thinking of ways to get university funds f o r buying books. It was a selfless ambition, f o r he had seen the academic good which could be accomplished through the richness and variety, as well as the more systematic and comprehensive cultivation, of the libraries at California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, Pennsylvania, and Texas, and at Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. So far as Wilson was concerned, North Carolina had a long w a y to go. Yet it had already come quite a distance. Wilson had set the pace. Wilson did not harbor a blind belief that a library per se could make a scholar. In his address at the dedication of the Mary Reed Library at the University of Denver in 1932, " T h e Service of Libraries in Promoting Scholarship and Research," he summarized the traditional functions of the librarian in aiding scholarship; but he concluded b y affirming that, with all the librarian's assistance, there must be some decisive motivation within the student to make him use the library as a true scholar.

4 Putting the Library to Work

WILSON

W A S , first and foremost, an educator. T h e library

sources he w a s building w e r e never an end in themselves, but a means. T h e r e f o r e , the more uses he c o u l d find f o r his plant, the better. T w o possibilities held his special a f f e c t i o n — l i b r a r y service extension and a library school.

LIBRARY

EXTENSION

E a r l y in his career at Chapel H i l l he had b e g u n t o lend books to f o r m e r N o r t h Carolina students f o r use in

high

school debates, to teachers in the State's public schools, and to members of w o m e n ' s clubs. A s long ago as 1907 his report had called attention t o these loans: T h e Library has placed material at the disposal of all persons who have come to Chapel Hill to do special work; it has furnished debating materials and references to several of the colleges and schools in the State; it has furnished a number of reading lists and bibliographies whenever called on. 1 In his recommendations f o r the ensuing y e a r he indicated the need of the library to aid the extension w o r k in every w a y 64

Putting the Library to Work possible. Books, pamphlets, and other library materials were of little value if they remained on the shelves. T h e library needed an active program of getting them to schools, clubs, and to the individuals f o r whom they could provide direct service. His belief in this program gave direction to the development of the extension program. Wilson had the support of others from the faculty, particularly Nathan W . Walker, who had come to the university in 1905 to develop courses in secondary education, and who was appointed State inspector of high schools in 1907. He saw the need f o r better library facilities in the schools, and since there were no funds available from the State he suggested that the superintendents and principals borrow books from the university. Wilson approved heartily. N o t only were schools benefited, but the communities of the State were brought closer to the university through the cooperative enterprise. Could the university increase its service to the citizens of the State? Late in 1 9 1 1 President Venable appointed a committee to investigate the possibilities. Edwin Mims, who had proposed such a committee in 1910, was named chairman; his associates were Edward K . Graham, M. H . Stacy, A . H. Patterson, and Walker. This step pleased Wilson, who had helped Mims during the exploratory stages. Some lecture engagements were arranged b y Mims in 1 9 1 1 - 1 9 1 2 , but they were of limited significance. Venable had also sent Professor Marcus C. S. Noble to observe the extension facilities at the University of Wisconsin (then and now an outstanding operation). A f t e r the committee was appointed in 1 9 1 1 , Wilson continued to work with Mims and his group. T h e committee arranged a program of lectures; Wilson supplied materials to all inquirers, in much the same w a y as before. Perhaps most of all, he stressed service to former students of the university who were teaching and directing the literary society activities of their pupils in the local school systems. H e saw in this service to youth a realization

88 Bowker, R. R., 1 Branscomb, Harvie, 200, 220 Branson, E. C., 70 Breedlove, Joseph P., 107

d'Éducation,

161

140

Carnovsky, Leon, 157, 173, 174, 195 Carolina Inn, 60 Carrels, 49 Catalog cards, 63, 133 Catawba College, 18-19, Caxtons, Rylands collection, 136 Center for Research Libraries, 176 Central Lending Library, England, 140

Certain, C.C., 110, 114 Chapel Hill, see University of North Carolina Chapman, Edward A., 215 Charters, W . W . , 152

280

Index Chase, Harry Woodburn, 46, 85, 98, 137, 203

Chatham, Mrs. Thurmond, 53 Chaucer's Relative Constructions, Children, need f o r training in use of materials, 66 Children's literature, 42, IJI Chorley, Kenneth, 118 Chronicles of the Sesquicentermial, Church activities, 145 Civil service agencies, tests and measurements, 115 Clark, Adolphus, 38—39 Cleavinger, James C., 1J4 Clerical work, 175 Cleveland Public Library, 4J Coates, Albert, 86 Coker, W . C., 98 Collection building, 53-62, 201 Collections, library, 217-23 College library standards, Southern, "J College and Research Libraries (periodical), 199 College and university libraries, •5 2 i '94-95 Colli jn, Isak, 140 Columbia Seminary, 218-19 Columbia University, 29, 186; library survey, 231-33; School of Library Service, 153, 231-33 Committee on Civilization, 180 Committee on University Extension, U.N.C., 143 Committee work, 83-90, 116 Communication Center, U.N.C., 73 Compton, Charles H., 158, 196 Computers, in library service, 244

"Constructive Library Platform for Southern Schools," 109 Contributions of the University to Public Education, U . N . C . Summer School, 236 Cooperative library programs, 22326, 227-28

Corday, M. Jean, 140 Cornell University, library survey, Cost accounting in libraries, 175 Couch, W . T., 99, 101-4 Council of National Library Associations, 215 Country Newspaper, 102 County libraries, 187, 19J-96 County library service, 120, 189 County Library Service m the South, 81 County library system in England, 140

Courses taught by Wilson: at Chicago, 171-72; at U.N.C., 20j Cowley, J . D., 164 Craster, H . H. E., 165 Craver, Harrison W . , 233 Crerar Library, 63 Crittenden, C. C., 229 Current Trends in Collection Development m University Libraries, 204 Curriculum development at Chicago library school, IJO, 1J4-JJ, Curtis, Dorothy, 1J4 Cutter, Charles A . , 1

C o n e y , Donald B., 39-40, 43-44, 5556, 76, 133, 137, 231-33

Conference of Librarianship, 106 Conference on Research and R e gional Welfare, 236 Connor, R . D. W . , 70 Consolidated University Television Service (North Carolina), 73

Dana, John Cotton, 20-21, 26-27, '93 Danton, J . Periam, 183 Davenport College, 7-8 Davidson (N.C.) College, 218-19 Davis, Jackson, 78, 117, 119 Day, George Parmly, 99 Debating programs in library extension, 66 Definitive editions, 33 Depression, 101, 147 Detroit Public Library, 46

281

Index Deutsche Bücherei, 133-34 Dewey, Melvil, 1, 37 Dewey's abridged classification, 20 Dialectic Society, at U.N.C., 22, 32, 38 "Distribution of Library Resources," 199 Divisional plan, in library organization, 222 Doctoral programs in library schools, 151, 178, 2 1 3 - 1 4 , 232-33 Documentation, 241 "Does North Carolina Read?" 199 Douglas, Mary Peacock, 119 Douglas, R . D., 107 Downs, Robert B., 36, 39, 63, 76, 199, 203-4, 227, 228 Duke University, 228 Dunbar, Ralph M., 200

Extension and Tutorial Classes of Nottingham, 165 Extension work, and Wilson's reading studies, 190 Faculty: development, at Chicago, 172-74; role in educational programs, 206; status of librarians, 34-35, 142-43, 214; Wilson's technique in handling, 210 Faculty Debate Committee, 35 Federal aid to libraries, 195-97, 229-

Early English T e x t Society Prize, École des Chartes, 162 Education, 1 1 1 - 1 3 ; for librarianship, 152, 191; in library use, importance of, 66, 194 Education and Citizenship, 96 Emergence of the College Library, '94-95 Emerson School of Oratory, 28 Emory University, 117 Encyclopedias, 62 England, 129 English Teachers Association, 73 Erie County, N . Y . , library service, 224-25 Erskine, John, 186 "Essentials in the Training of University Librarians," 199 Ettinghausen, M., 134 Europe, 124-39, 158-70 European libraries, 168-69 Exchanges, Wilson's use of university press materials for, 55, 97-98 Extension, see also Library extension, University extension Extension services, in England, 165-6Ö

Fellowships, for library school students, 117 Few, W . P . , 72 Fisher, Dorothy Canfield, 229 Fisk University, 78, 79 Florence, 123-25, 127-28, 130, 131 Florida, 123 Foreign students in library schools, '93 Foundation work, 117-22 Foust, J . I., 148 Friday, William C., 204 Friends, Society of, 4, 13 Friends of the Library of the University of North Carolina, 52-53 Fuchs, H., 134, 140 Fulbright librarians, 160 Fuller, Jean M. L., 76 "Functions of the College Library," 110 Gaines case, 119 Gardner, O. Max, 47-48, 88 General Education Board, 63, 78, 117, 190-91, 196, 219-20, 221 Geneva libraries, 162 Geography of Reading, 171-72, 189, 198-99 George Peabody College for Teachers, 120, 223-24 Georgia Library Association, 106, 110 Georgia Library Commission, 106 German language, Wilson's interest in, 25 German Reformed Church, 18

282

Index Germany, 128-29, '3°. 131» 133. 134 Gerould, James T., 196 Gesamtkatalog, 134 Gibraltar, 123 Giddings, Franklin H., 61 Gifford, Seth K., 8 Giordani, Igino, 183 Gleason, Eliza Atkins, 77 Gloria Victis, 41 Godet, Marcel, 140 Gooding, Nathan, 95-96 Goodrich, F. L. D., 174 Good Teaching Award of Beta Phi Mu, 116 Gore, Joshua W., 17 Gottschalk, Louis, 134 Government of the American Public Library, 173 Government publications, 62 Graham, Edward Kidder, 23, 28, 43- 58-59. 65, 68-69, 85, 91, 96, '37- >87, 203 Graham, Frank Porter, 63, 85, 146, 184, 204, 205 Graham Memorial Building, 85-87 Grants for library education, 191 Grass Roots Opera, 73 Graves, Louis, 91, 98 Graves, Ralph, 23 Gray, Gordon, 204 Green, Elizabeth, 70 Green, Paul, 70, 105 Greenlaw, Edwin, 98 Greensboro (N.C.) Public Library, and King collection, 58 Groome Fund, for Southern poetry books at U.N.C., 31 Grosvenor Library, 224-25 "Growing Importance of Libraries," 114 "Growth of Libraries," n o Guggenheim Foundation, 117 Gummere, Francis B., 9 Gunston Hall, 28 Guppy, Henry, 136 Gutenberg Museum (Mainz), 133 Hafner, Walter, 158 Hamilton, J. G. de Roulhac, 98

Hampton Institute, 78, 117, 191 Hanes, Anna Hod gin, 54 Hanes, Frederic M., 53, 54 Hanes, John Wesley, 53, 54 Hanes, R. M., 53 Hanes, R.P., 53 Hanes Collection, 134 Hanes family, 53 Hanes Foundation for the Study of the Origin and Development of the Book, 51, 54, 134, 138 Harper Library, 155 Harrington, Karl P., 16-17 Harvard University Library, 63 Harwell, Richard B., 228 Haverford College, 8-9, 18-19, 116 Heidelberg University library, 133 Henderson, Archibald, 53, 91, 239 Henne, Frances E., 173 Henriot, Gabriel, 163 Herbert Putnam Award, 116 Herndon, S. L., 29, 30 Herty, C. H., 58 High School Debating Union, 66, 67; Committee, 143 High School Journal (periodical), 97 High School Library (periodical), .87 High school library standards, 114 Highsmith, Henry, 114 HiD, John Sprunt, 53, 59-61 Hill, Mrs. John Sprunt, 53 Hill, R. H., 165 Hill Music Hall, 60 Hinton James Day, 236 Hodges, Luther H., 36 Honorary degrees and honors received by Wilson, 116 Hopkins, Stephen, 2 Horace, Epistles, 25 Horace, Odes and Epodes, 25 Horton, Douglas, 149 House, Robert Burton, 184, 238 Howland, John, 2 Hume, Thomas, 17 Hume Senior Essayist medal, 17 Hunter, A. B-, 53 Hunter Collection, 53-54 283

Index Hutchins, Robert Maynard, 144'45. 178, 183 Immigrants, and the public library, "3 Impressions of Men and Movements at the Unversity of North Carolina, 237 Index Librorum Prohibitorum, in Notre Dame survey, 122 "Influence of Lyly and Green upon the Pastoral Comedy of Shakespeare," 20, 185 Information retrieval, 241 Institute of Government, U.N.C., 6 Institute for Resarch in Social Science, 99, 100, 117, u 8 Institutes, at Chicago library school, '75

Instructional methods, 153 International exchange of librarians, 161 International Federation of Library Associations, 139 International Labour Office, 161 International librarianship, 139-40, '93

International Library Congress, Madrid, 158 Introduction to Library Science, '73-74

Italy, 124-28 Jacocks, W . P., 53 James Sprunt Historical Monographs, 97 Japanese Library Association, 203 Jefferson, Joseph, 10 Joeckel, Carleton B., 155, 173, 195, .96 John Crerar Library, 63 Johns Hopkins University, 1 Johnson, Alvin, 229 Johnson, Gerald, 101 Joint University Libraries, 223-24, 228 Jones, Howard Mumford, 70 Jones, "Mars" Jessie, 92 Jones, Rufus, 11, 13-14, 17

Joseph W . Lippincott Award, 116 journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, 97 Journal of Social Forces, 97 Julius Rosenwald Fund, see Rosenwald Fund Kelling, Lucile, 205 Kenan, Mrs. Graham, 53 Kenan, Thomas Stephen, 92 Keogh, Andrew, 47 Keppel, Frederick P., 75, 77, 117, 118, 178 Kilgo, John C., 107 King Collection, 58-59 King, Pendleton, 58-59 King, Rufus, 218-19, 1 2 2 King, Rush, 58-59 Klein, Arthur J., 217 Kuhlman, A. F., 199, 200, 220 Labouisse, Mrs. John, 53 Ladies' Home Journal, 188 Land-grant colleges, 227-28, 230-31 Lane, Edna, 39, 98 Lassiter, Mrs. Robert, 53 Laura Spelman Rockefeller Foundation, 99-100, 118 Laszlo de Lonibos, Philip Alexius, 59

League of Nations, 104-5, 163-64 Learned society journals and publications, 33 Leary, Bernice E., 195 Legler, H . E . , m - 1 2 Lemaitre, Henri, 140, 162 Lenoir Academy, 5 Lenoir Topic (newspaper), 6, 15, 185 Lester, Robert M., 120 Librarians: mobility of, 75-76; need for qualified, 191; salaries, permanent appointments, 23-24; status of, 213-15 Librarianship: close ties to other disciplines, 155; as a profession, 170; terminology, 191 Libraries: as educational institutions, 34-35, 110-14; and schools,

284

Index 110-14; as social agencies, 207; use in instruction, 203 "Libraries in the Advancing South," m , 189, 199 Libraries in the Southeast, 80 Libraries of the Southeast, 226 Library Association Record, 192-9} Library: budget, 71-72; buildings, 31, 49; commissions, 119; cooperation, 115, 168; directors, 233; finance, 32-33; objectives for U.N.C., 50-51; standards, no, 114-15, 191; support, 221; surveyors, 151-52, 216-17, 234; surveys (see also Surveys), 200, 216-35 Library in College Instruction, 203 Library of Congress, 63, 160 Library education (see also Training of librarians, 150-55; foundation support, 119-20; importance of to South, 74-77 Library extension, 64-74, 79> ' 6 8 69 Library Extension Department, U.N.C., 73-74 Library Extension Publications of U.N.C., 70 "Library Extension Service," 697° Library in General Education, 201 Library Journal, 1, 21, 109, 185, 195 Library Planning, 202 Library Primer, 20, 26-27 Library Quarterly, 175, 192-93, 195, 198 Library Resources and the Philological Club, 1901-1932, 201 "Library Resources in the United States," 201 Library Resources of the University of North Carolina, 101 Library schools, 74-77, 153, 233; curricula, 154-55; foreign students, 156, 193; methods of instruction, 153; Negro, 78; purposes and objectives, 150-52, 17677; student funds for, 117; surveys, 231-33; Wilson article on development of, 198

Library science, 27, 177 Library Services Bill, 196 Lingle, Mrs. T . W . , 70 Literary Digest, 188 Literary societies, 22 London, 137-38 Long, Harriet C., 196 Lord, Milton E., 158, 196 Louisiana State University, 120; library survey,228-29 Louis Round Wilson; Papers in Recognition of a Distinguished Career in Librarianship, 182-83 Louis Round Wilson . . . festschrift, 182-83 Love, Cornelia S., 38, 70 Lowell, Mildred Hawksworth, 203 Lundy, Frank A., 222-23 Lydenberg, Harry M., 154, 199 Lyle, Guy R., 200, 220, 228 McCall, Katherine, 36 McCants, James, 2 McCarthy, Stephen A., 227 McDiarmid, Erret W . , 225, 229 McGehee, L. P., 98 McGill University, library school, 191 McGinty, Margaret, 148 Mclver, Charles D., 107 McKie, George, 23 McLean, A . W . , 147 McNair lectures, 98 McNinch, Mary Groome, 31 Maday, M. A. de, 161 Madrid, 159 Magnolia Gardens, S.C., 123 Malcolm, Theodore, 199 Maler, Jan, 140 Mangum (Betty Smith) house, 28 Mann, Margaret, 154 Martin, Francis Xavier, 57 Mary Reed Library, 63 Mayflower, 2 May Fund, 31 Mazarine Library, Paris, 135 Measures and tests in librarianship, 214-15

285

Index Mechanization of libraries, 244 Memorandum Concerning the Advanced Library School, 150 Merging of libraries, 214-25 Metcalf, Keyes D., 231-33 Methodist Church, 3-4, 149 Microphotography, 175 Midwest Inter-Library Center, 176, 178 Milam, Carl H., 78, 120, 134, 139, 158, 229 Milczewski, Marion A., 80, 226 Milford, Sir Humphrey, 103 Millis, W . A., 1 1 1 - 1 2 Mims, Edwin, 65 Mitchell, Sydney B., 153 Mobility of librarians, 141 Moe, Henry Allen, 117 Morrison, F. W., 89 Moulds, John F., 183 Mumford, L. Quincy, 231 Munthe, Wilhelm, 179 Murphy, Walter, 91,92 Mussolini, 124 Nash, A. C., 4j National Central Library (England), 169 National Education Association; joint committee on library cooperation, 115; Wilson's work on Certain's committee, 110 National Society for the Study of Education, 201-2 National University Extension Association: Conference, 1914, 70; Wilson's service on constitution committee, 115 Negroes: importance of providing opportunity for, 80; lack of access to reading material, 80-81, 188; lack of opportunity for graduate study in South, 221; library service to in South, 77-82; need for school libraries, 80 Negro institutions, Wilson's role as consultant, 119 Negro librarians, provision for training, 78-81, 117

New Frontiers m Librarianship, 176 Ne-w Republic, 187 News and Observer, 186-87 Newsstands, influence on reading, 188 New York Public Library, library school, 153 New York State Department of Education, 230 New York State Library, 29, 141, 230; survey by Wilson, 228-30 New York State Library School, 36-37, '53 New York State School of Agriculture, 227 Noble, Marcus C. S., 65 North Carolina Club publications, 70 North Carolina Collection, at U.N.C., 63 North Carolina College for Negroes, 79 North Carolina High School Bulletin, 97 North Carolina Historical Commission Bulletin, 189 North Carolina Law Review, 97 North Carolina Library Association, 82, 106-7, 187, 242 North Carolina Library Commission, 107 North Carolina Negro Library Association, 82 North Carolina State College at Raleigh, 87-88, 89 North Carolina State Department of Education, 72, 186 North Carolina Symphony, 73 North Carolinians, 22, 23, 59-61 North Central Association, 115 Norwood, Louisa, 5 Occupational training, 113 Odum, Howard W., 62, 98, 105, 117 Oertel, Johannes Adam Simon, 5 Ogden, Robert C., 108 Organization of libraries, 223-28 Orne, Jerrold, 204

86

Index Randall, William M., 149, 172, 174, "95 Raney, M. Llewelyn, 143-44, '54 Rankin, E. R., 69,93 Rare books, 23, 54-55, 219 "Reader Receives New Consideration," 195 Reading analysis, North Carolina, 187-88 Reading prizes, at U.N.C., 22 "Reading as a Southern Problem," 189, 190, 199 Reading studies by Wilson, 198-99 Recataloging, 175; at U.N.C., 35 Reclassification, 175; early problems at U.N.C., 22 Rectory Studio, 5 Reece, Ernest J., 154 Reed, Sarah Rebecca, 203 Reference works, 62 Religious libraries, 218-19 Research, at Chicago library school, 175, 195; in library science, 152 Research libraries, 193-94 Richardson, Ernest C., 158 Rip Van Winkle, 10 Roberson, Nellie, 39, 70 Rockefeller, John D., 85 Rockefeller Foundation, 118 Rogers, Bruce, 99 "Role of the Library in the Advancement of Scholarship," 201 Rome, 126, 132 Romola, 126-27 Rosenwald Fund, 117, 190-91, 19596 Ross, Annie Smith, 106-7 Rothrock, Mary U., 196 Round, George Hopkins, 2 Royster, James F., 54, 70 Royster, Mrs. James F., 70 Rules for a Dictionary Catalog, 1 Ruml, Beardsley, 100-101, 117, 118 Rural Social Economics Library, 63 Rylands Library (Manchester), 136

Orr, Robert W., 230-31 Ortega y Gasset, Jose, 159 "Other People's Lives," 70 Outlook, 10 Pan American Union, 202 Paris, 134-35, 162-64 Patterson, A. H., 61,65 Peabody, see George Peabody College for Teachers Personnel in librarianship, 214; problems, 38-40; study, 152 Pettigrew, Mary, 53 Petty, Annie F., 107 Phi Beta Kappa, 25 Philadelphia Bibliographic Center, 118 Philanthropic Society, at U.N.C., 22, 32, 38 Philological Club, U.N.C., 25 Philology, 25, 33 Photoduplication facilities, 120 Pierson, W . W., Jr., 70 Pilgrim's Progress, 4 Pioneer Library, 3 Prince, David M., 17 Principles of College Library Administration, 174 Pritchard, Jeter, 85 Private presses, 54, 55 Professional activities of librarians, 81, 115-16 Prussian State Library, 134 Public libraries, 110-114; in England, 166; role in adult education, 113-14 "Public Library as an Educator," 110 Public library facilities in N.C., 7475 "Publishing in the South: the Next Twenty Years," 105 Putnam, Herbert, 192 Quakers, 4, 13 Raleigh, N. C., News and Observer, 186-87

Ste. Genevieve Library, 163 Salaries for librarians, 23, 35-36 Saranac Lake, 40

287

Index Saturday Evening Pott, 188 Scales, Alfred M., 98 Scarritt College for Christian Workers, 223-24 Scholars as librarians, 36-37, 200-1 Scholfield, A . F., 16$ School librarians, training, no, 121 School libraries, 109-10, 119, i j i , 186; in England, ¡66; for Negroes, 80 School library supervisors, 119 Schools, library service to, 69-70 School and Society (periodical), 192, 194-9î Science collections, 61 "Scotch Traits in Thomas Carlyle," 185 Scott, W . W . , 6 Segregation, 77-82 Selected Papers of Cornelia Phillips Spencer, 237 Seminar rooms for U.N.C. library, 33

"Service of Libraries in Promoting Scholarship and Research," 63 Sevensma, T . P., 133, 140, 161 Sharpless, Isaac, 14-15 Shaw, Charles B., 154 Shaw, Ralph R., 209-10 Shera, Jesse H., 175-76 Sherman, Clarence E., 196 Smith, S. L., 120 Snell, Chester D., 70, 98 Social Forces (periodical), 99, 187 Social Science Research Council, 63 Sociology collections, 61 Sotheby's, 138 Soule, C. C., 26-27 Southeastern Inter-Library Research Facility, 228 Southeastern Library Association, 114, 120-21, 192, 226, 228, 241 Southeastern States Cooperative Library Survey, 80, 189, 225-26 Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, 114 Southern Association of Colleges and Universities, 217

Southern Collection, University of North Carolina library, 50 Southern Conference on Education, Chapel Hill, 120-21 Southern Educational Association, 65-66, 109 Southern Regional Board of Education, 213 "Southern University Libraries in the Twentieth Century," 228 Southern Women's Education Alliance, 148 Spaulding, Forrest B., 196 Specialization: in collecting, 168; in library school programs, 151, 232 Spencer, Cornelia Phillips, 3, 23738 Spofford, Ainsworth Rand, 20-21 Stacy, Marvin H., 65, 96,203 Stacy, W . P., 36 Staff: importance of permanent, 23; morale, 234; Wilson's relationship to, 36-40 Standards, establishment of, 191; for high school libraries, 110 Stanford University, library survey, 226-27 State aid to libraries, 196-97, 229-30 State archives, 228-29 State library associations, 242 State Library of North Carolina, 74 State library plans, 115 Steen, William, 61 Stoddard, George E., 228 Stone, Charles, 114 Strohm, Adam, 153-54 Strudwick, Nan (Ann), 37,40 Students: career possibilities, 21213; of Chicago library school, 180-82; personal problems, 2 1 1 12 Studies in Library Science, 177 Studies in Philology, 25, 97, 102 "Study Outlines," for women's clubs, 70 Subject specialists as librarians, 200-1 Supervisors of school libraries, 119

288

Index Suppon for extension services, 6768

Support for libraries, 32, 38 Surveys (see also Library surveys): informal, 234-35; of library schools, 231-33 Swain, D. L., 57 Swain Hall, 69, 83 Swank, Raynard C., 226-27 Switzerland, 133 Syllabi, Wilson's, 207 Taam, Cheuk-Woon, 183 Tanner, Kenneth, 91 Tar Heel, 86, 87 Tauber, Maurice F., 202,225, 231 Teaching methods, 206-13 Technical operations in libraries, 207 Techniques of librarianship, 193 Telford, Fred, 152 Tennessee Library Council, 225-26, 241 Tennessee Valley Authority, 225 Tennis, 35, 43 Tests and measurements in librarianship, 214-15 Textbooks for librarianship, 152, 191 Thompson, C. S., 152 Thompson, James Westfall, 173 Thornton, Mary L., 38, 59, 61 Training of librarians: agency cooperation, 191; British and American systems, 165; need for geographical diversification, 80-81; new needs, 193-94; f ° r universities, 199-200 Tripartite university, 87-90; survey for, 146 Trudeau, Edward L., 41 Trudeau Sanitorium, 41-43 Tuberculosis, 40-43 Tuskegee Institute, 78; library survey, 221 "Twenty Million Dollar Bond Issue," 94 Tyler, Ralph W., 174, 214-15 2

Umstead, John W., 86 UNESCO, 160 Union catalog center, Nashville, 228 Union Catalog, Philadelphia area, 118 Union catalogs in Europe, 167-68 Union Catalogue, Atlanta-Athens area, 228 Union Theological Seminary (Richmond, Va.), library survey, 217-18 United Church in Chicago, 149 U.S. Bureau of Education, 1 U.S. Office of Education, 71 University of Berlin, training of librarians, 134 University of Chicago Graduate Library School, 171-83, 191; deanship offered Wilson, 46, 143-44; graduates, 180-82; influence, 178-79; objectives, 176-77; publishing program, 177 University of Chicago Library, 63 University of Chicago Studies in Library Science, 177-78 University Day at U.N.C., 236 University of Denver, 63, 116; library survey,221 University extension, 65,66, 71 University of Florida, library survey, 200,219-20 University of Georgia, 26, 141; library survey,200, 219-21 University librarians, 200 University libraries in England, 167 University Library, 161, 202 University of London School of Librarianship, 164 University Magazine, 20 University of Michigan, 46 University of Minnesota, 45 University News Letter, 70 University of North Carolina, 1415, 19, 25, 116, 146-48; collections, 51-64; cooperation with Duke University, 228; library buildings, 25, 45—51 ; library report for 1904-

Index 05, 26; scsquicentennial publica- Venable, Francis P., 23-24, 30, 3436, 63, 65, 87-88, 142, 203 tions, 237; and tripartite univerVenable, Manning, 35-36 sity, 87-88; Wilson's report on Vine Hill Male Academy, 17-18 university needs, 202; Wilson's role as consultant, 240 Wagstaff, Henry M., 238-39 University of North Carolina, Walker, Nathan W., 65, 98 1900-1930, 203-4 University of North Carolina Ad- Wallace, Anne, 106-7 Walzer, Zeb V., 98 visory Committee, 240 University of North Carolina Bu- Waples, Douglas, 172, 174, 183, 195, 214-15 reau of Extension, 187 Wasted Land, 101 University of North Carolina under Weber, Blanche, 161 Consolidation, 204 University of North Carolina Mag- Weeks, Stephen B., 57-58 Weil, Leslie, 98 azine, 97, i 8 j University of North Carolina Press, Weil lectures, 98 95,96-105, 118, 185, 240 What Makes a Book Readable? 195 University of North Carolina RecWhat People Want to Read About, ord, 96, 186 •74 University of North Carolina Wheeler, Joseph L., 158 School of Library Science, 74-77, Wheeler house, 29 118, 213-14 Whitney, James L., 1 University of North Carolina Wo- Wight, Edward A., 189, 195-96 men's College at Greensboro, 87Wiley Buck and other Stories of 88,89 the Concord Community, 237 University of Notre Dame, library Willey, M. M„ 102 survey,221-23 William and Mary College, 120 "University Plans for the Future," Williams, Horace, 17, 206-7 202 Williams, L. A., 69, 71 University presses, 98-99 Williamson, C. C., 152, 198,215 University publications, as exWilson Academy, 5 change items, 55 Wilson, Edwin, 8 University Record, U.N.C., 66,69 Wilson, Elizabeth, 28, 42, 184 University of South Carolina, li- Wilson family, 148, 243 brary survey,219-20, 221, 225 Wilson, J. K., 91 University of Texas, 141 Wilson, Jethro Reuben, 1 University of Virginia, 187 Wilson, Joseph, 2 University of Wisconsin, extenWilson, Louis Round, Jr., 30 sion program, 65, 70 Wilson, Louisa Jane, 1 "Use of Books and Libraries in Wilson, Louise, 184 North Carolina," 187, 190 Wilson, Penelope (daughter of Udey, George B., 154 Louis Round Wilson), 30, 42, 127, 148, 184 Vanderbilt-Peabody-Scarritt sur- Wilson, Penelope (Wright), 27-28, vey, 223-24 184 Vanderbilt University, library sur- Wilson, Robert, 10 vey, 223-24 Windsor, Phineas L., 142 Van Hoesen, Henry B., 154 Winston, G. T., 91 Van Noppen, Charles L., 57-58 Wolfe, Thomas, 170

290

Index Women as librarians, 37-18, 166 Women's clubs, extension work with, 70 Workers' Educational Association (Great Britain), 165 Works, George Alan, 144, 146, 149, •5 2

World War 1,41-42 Wright, W . I., 29 Wright family, 28 Wyer, James I., Jr., 153 Y.M.C.A., 11, 14 Y . M . C A . College, Nashville, 223