John Miller Chancellor (1896-1980)

John Miller Chancellor had a distinguished career at the national level where he was an authority and proponent on adult eduction in public libraries. He served as the Adult Education Specialist for the American Library Association from 1934-1942. He resigned from ALA and moved to Wisconsin in 1943 where he became a farmer in Mount Horeb. He was appointed to the Wisconsin Free Library Commission at a critical point in the development of public libraries in Wisconsin. He served on the Commission from 1947-1951 and was its Chair in 1949-1951. He was a major contributor to the publication “The Wisconsin-Wide Library Idea for voluntary Education through Reading” (1948).  On the Commission he defended intellectual freedom during the McCarthy era. He was made an Honorary Member of the American Library Association in 1962. Honorary membership in ALA is conferred on individuals whose contribution to librarianship is “so outstanding that it is of lasting importance to the advancement of the whole field of library service”.  Earlier positions included: reference assistant at the New York Public Library; readers advisor at the New Haven (CT) Public Library; and supervising librarian at the U. S. Bureau of Prisons. Chancellor was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame on October 25, 2012.