Blog – Page 25 – Wisconsin Library Heritage Center

February 2, 2009

Milwaukee-Downer College

Milwaukee-Downer College, one of Wisconsin’s historic colleges, ceased to exist as a separate institution in 1964 when it became part of Lawrence University. Milwaukee-Downer College was created in 1895 when Milwaukee Female College (founded in 1851) merged with Downer College (founded as Wisconsin Female College in 1855). The former campus of Milwaukee-Downer College along with the Chapman Memorial Library building was sold to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1964. The Lawrence University webpage for Milwaukee-Downer College is located here.

The former Chapman Memorial Library building of Milwaukee-Downer College is now Chapman Hall on the UW-Milwaukee campus and houses administrative offices. The library was built in 1937 from the bequest of Alice Greenwood Chapman,a graduate of Milwaukee Female College. The Teakwood Room in the library was moved to the Lawrence University campus along with library’s rare book collection which is now housed in the Milwaukee-Downer Room of the Seeley G. Mudd Library.

Digital images of Milwaukee-Downer College including the Chapman Memorial Library are included in the Lawrence University Archives which are located here. The postcard image of the Reference Room of Chapman Memorial Library at the top of this page is part of Larry T. Nix’s postcard collection.

This postcard was mailed in 1907 and shows an interior view of the library building which preceded the Chapman Memorial Library.

February 1, 2009

South Milwaukee Exhibit

The Wisconsin Library Memorabilia exhibit is on display in the months of February and March at the South Milwaukee Public Library as part of their 110th anniversary celebration. South Milwaukee received a $15,000 grant on September 29, 1915 from Andrew Carnegie for a new public library building. That building was razed in 1965. It was one of 63 public library buildings in Wisconsin that were built with assistance from Carnegie.

A Real Photo Postcard (RPPC) view of the razed South Milwaukee Public Library Carnegie Building.

January 30, 2009

More on Lutie

In Part I of her autobiography My Seventy-five Years, Lutie Stearns provided the following description of her work promoting traveling libraries:

“From 1895 through October, 1914, I traveled thousands of miles in Wisconsin by stage, sleigh, buggy, wagon, passenger coach, and caboose, wearing out five fur coats in succession in my efforts to reach all parts of the state. In taking traveling libraries to the rural districts of Dunn and Wood Counties during the winter I would secure a black bearskin to wear over my fur-lined muskrat coat, which was inadequate for the frequent below zero weather. I would get a three-seated sleigh, remove the last two seats, and fill the space with books which I would locate in farmers’ homes, rural post offices, schools, and other available stations. On reaching what was then Grand Rapids–now Wisconsin Rapids–late one evening after a forty-mile drive, a long day’s drive in those times, my black bearskin attracted the attention of Mrs. Anna W. Evans, Librarian, who wrote the following poem concerning my appearance:

There is a woman named Stearns;
Her living she easily earns,
By driving ’round,
When the snow’s on the ground.
Though the dangers she never discerns.

She dons a coat of black hair;
A cap is next put on with care;
She looks like a man,
But to tell you ne’er can
If the product be woman, or bear.

Now if in her drives through the brush,
A Bruin should come out with a rush,
Would the woman hug the bear,
Or the bear hug the hair?
Or which would be lost in the crush?

Would the bear barely hug the bold jade?
Or the bearskin propelled by the maid
Hug the bear? or the hair
Of the bear would she tear
Or her own, as the price to be paid?”

The image of Lutie Stearns is from the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Historical Image Collection, Image ID: 29372.

January 28, 2009

Lutie Eugenia Stearns (1866-1943)

Lutie Eugenia Stearns was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame in 2008. Stearns, along with Frank Hutchins and James Stout, was instrumental in establishing the Wisconsin Free Library Commission (WFLC) in 1895. From 1895 to 1897 she served as the unpaid Secretary of the Commission. When the WFLC was reorganized with increased funding in 1897, she resigned from the commission and became its first paid staff member. In this capacity she traveled the state establishing traveling libraries and free public libraries. In 1951 she was one of 40 of America’s most significant library leaders selected by the Library Journal for inclusion in a “ Library Hall of Fame”. She is listed in the Dictionary of American Library Biography and the Dictionary of Wisconsin History . Other entries on this site related to Stearns are here and here. The image of Stearns is from the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Historical Image Collection Image ID: 42955.

Wisconsin Magazine of History articles about Stearns:

The Library Career of Lutie Eugenia Stearns by Earl Tannenbaum

My Seventy-five years: Part I (Stearns autobiography)

My Seventy-five years: Part II (Stearns autobiography)

My Seventy-five years: Part III (Stearns autobiography)

A Thousand Little Libraries by Stuart Stotts

Stuart Stotts has also written a fictional account of Lutie Stearns life entitled Books in a Box. Although the book was written for children, it is well worth reading by adults.

January 24, 2009

Carthage College Lincoln Connection

The nation is celebrating the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth this year. Wisconsin has a number of connections to Abraham Lincoln including those of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Carthage College was founded in 1847 as the Literary and Theological Institute of the Lutheran Church of the Far West. After a series of name changes it became Carthage College when it moved to Carthage, Illinois in 1870. It relocated to Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1962. Abraham Lincoln served as a Trustee of the College in 1860-61 and sent his oldest son Robert Todd to the Preparatory Department of the College when the college was located in Springfiled, Illinois. The special envelope above was created when the “A Nation of Readers” stamp was issued in October of 1984.

A high point in the recent history of the college was the dedication of the Hedberg Library on October 18, 2002. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington gave the dedicatory address. The Hedberg Library at Carthage College was the 2004 Wisconsin Library Association Library of the Year.

January 18, 2009

Lyman Copeland Draper (1815-1891)

Lyman Copeland Draper was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame in 2008. Draper became corresponding secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in 1854, an office he held until 1886. In that capacity he was responsible for significantly increasing the size of the Society’s library. He was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the period 1858-1859. In that capacity he was instrumental in promoting the beginnings of the University of Wisconsin Library. He is listed in the Dictionary of American Library Biography and the Dictionary of Wisconsin History . An biographical article by William B. Hezzeltine appeared in the Spring 1952 issue of the Wisconsin Magazine of History. The image of Draper is from the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Historical Image Collection Image ID: 2628.

January 13, 2009

Anne Morris Boyd and UW-Whitewater

Today (January 13, 2009) is the 125th anniversary of the birth of Anne Morris Boyd (1884-1969) who served as Librarian of the State Normal School at Whitewater (now the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater) from 1913 to 1917. Boyd served on the faculty of the University of Illinois Library School from 1918 to 1949 and was an authority and an advocate for government publications. She was the author of the landmark publication United States Government Publications As Sources of Information for Libraries, and served as President of the Association of American Library Schools. She is listed in the Dictionary of American Library Biography.The postcard of the interior of the library shown above was mailed on Sept. 30, 1912, one year before the arrival of Boyd. More about Boyd can be found here.

The State Normal School which was founded in 1868 became the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1971. The University Library at UW-Whitewater is a far different library today than when Boyd was librarian. A set of Flickr photographs of Willie the mascot at the University Library can be found here. A history of the Anderson Library Building at UW-Whitewater is located here.

January 12, 2009

ALA Waukesha Follow-up

In a previous post on the 1901 American Library Association meeting in Waukesha, I mentioned that momentos or favors were often given to conference participants. I recently discovered another such momento for the Waukesha conference. It is the book Shakespeare the Man by Walter Bagehot which was published by McClure Phillips and Company of New York. There were 1,000 copies of the book published with 450 designated specifically for distribution at the ALA conference.

January 6, 2009

Death of a Library

Postcard depicting Whitford Memorial Hall which housed the Milton College Library from 1906 to 1967. It is now a retail store.

On May 15, 1982 a Wisconsin college library along with the college it was part of died. The death of the college was announced to the staff and faculty in the library. The doors of the library were closed and the building in which it was located and the collection of books were transferred to other entities. Staff were only able to retrieve their posessions under supervision.

The college was Milton College in Milton, Wisconsin. The library was the the Shaw Memorial Library. Milton College dated back to the Milton Academy which was established in 1844, and was one of the oldest continuously operating colleges in Wisconsin. The Shaw Memorial Library building was completed in 1967. Prior to that time the library was located in Whitford Memorial Hall from 1906 to 1967, and before that in Main Hall. Both the Whitford Hall building and the Main Hall building are still in existence and are part of a historical district in Milton.

The Shaw Memorial Library building was acquired by and now houses the Milton Public Library. The library’s collection was sold as a unit to a college in Milwaukee.

Links related to Milton College and its libraries:

Milton College Preservation Society
http://www.miltoncollege.org/

Library History
http://www.miltoncollege.org/hist07.htm

Whitford Memorial Hall
http://www.miltoncollege.org/hist09.htm

Newspaper article on closing of the college
http://www.gazetteextra.com/milton062407.asp

Whole Earth Review article by Barbara Rubin Hudson, Spring 1988

January 3, 2009

In Bed With Carnegie

Finding alternative uses for Carnegie library buildings that have been vacated for newer and more functional facilities can be a challenge. The old Carnegie library in Ladysmith, Wisconsin was transformed into a very unusual alternative purpose. It is now the Carnegie Hall Bed & Breakfast. In a Google search, I was only able to find a couple of similar uses in the nation. The Carnegie library building in Sterling, Colorado is now the Old Library Inn. The Carnegie library building in Olean, New york is now the Old Library Restaurant in conjunctin with a bed and breakfast. Why not spend a night with Carnegie on your next vacation.

The public library in Ladysmith is now named the Rusk County Community Library. The library has done a good job of outlining its library history.