The Canadian Library Association is Formed, June 1946

When the Second World War ended in summer 1945, the long-awaited time for creating a national organization for Canadian librarians, trustees, staff, and anyone interested in libraries had arrived. For almost four years, the Canadian Library Council (CLC), headed first by Charles Sanderson, Toronto Public Library, and then by Margaret Gill, National Research Library, had been planning for the establishment of a national association on a membership basis. There was general agreement that a country-wide association to promote library interests and a national library to provide services that were not currently available to Canadians were both essential. Earlier in the year, in April, the Council had set up specific committees to prepare concrete proposals concerning an organizational meeting and a constitution to be adopted by provincial library associations during summer and autumn 1945. Another  measure, a national survey of libraries to ascertain existing conditions and future library needs was also brought forward for action.

Afterwards, Elizabeth Homer Morton, the CLC executive director working from the National Research Library, crisscrossed the country to seven provinces to discuss matters, such as the national association, inter-library cooperation, and the proposed library survey. By the end of 1945, all seven provincial associations had approved the main CLC resolution. General sentiment favoured an association based on personal membership open to anyone interested in libraries. Because the American Library Association was due to convene in Buffalo in late June 1946, Canadian organizers decided that their meeting should be in proximity to allow for attendance at both conferences. The CLC formed an activities committee under the direction of Freda F. Waldon, Hamilton Public Library, to determine the scope of the proposed organization. Her colleague, Marget Meikelham at McMaster University, began arrangements to host the first meeting on her campus. Thus, the stage was set for an initial founding conference in Hamilton from Friday, June 14th, to Sunday, June 16th, 1946.

The theme selected for the organizational conference was Libraries in the Life of a Nation. The advance program featured two keynote addresses on national issues: the Liberal cabinet minister, Secretary of State Paul Martin, speaking on National Unity and Citizenship and Dr. Luther Evans, Librarian of Congress, speaking on The National Library in the Life of the Nation. As well, several workshop meetings with consultants; private meetings of individuals with mutual interests; a meeting of the new Executive; an assembly vote to create CLA; and the setting up of national committees were also features. Then, some members would be free to travel to Buffalo to attend ALA.

Convocation Hall in McMaster University Hall

The CLC met in Hamilton on June 12–13 at the Royal Connaught Hotel on King Street to review the activities of 1945/46 and make final preparations for the conference. Then, Margaret Gill opened the conference for delegates on Friday morning in Convocation Hall. “I hope that you all feel as I do, that this is really a very thrilling occasion. The older librarians will know that this is the culmination of a great many years of effort to give Canada a national library association. There have been various attempts in the past, and they have not succeeded in getting beyond the very first stage of good intentions. Today and tomorrow we are going to see something more effective. Both the weather and the reception we have had at McMaster indicate that we are well on the way to a good start.” Gerhard Lomer (McGill University) followed with a speech on the background of events leading up to the proposed national organization. Then, a panel discussion on the Canadian library scene was held to inform members about the state of libraries nationwide.

The Friday afternoon session was given over to concerns about the proposed CLA constitution, financial affairs, and proposed CLA activities. Delegates made an important addition to the draft constitution by insisting that its title be bilingual before leaving for a tour of the Hamilton Public Library. Later in the evening, two speakers addressed delegates. C. Cecil Lingard, chief librarian at Regina, spoke about the role of UNESCO and its potential for change. Canada was a founding member of UNESCO, which came into being later in 1946. Paul Martin, the federal MP representing Windsor and Secretary of State for Canada in the Liberal Cabinet, emphasized the political and cultural importance of national institutions. Because Canada exhibited many different ethnic origins and regional disparities, “it is not surprising that in this country, despite our pride in our heritage, we find ourselves less unified than many of us would like.” He fully supported the work of librarians and the need for a national organization. “Your organization can assume an important role in developing a sense of Canadian unity. Through your work in the community you can bring knowledge of other communities. You can help explain to one part of Canada what other parts of Canada are like. You can contribute to the basic understanding that our fellow citizens, wherever they live, are much the same. They have the same objectives, they want the same guarantees and the same securities.”

Librarians resumed discussion on the constitution on Saturday morning before the announcement of the slate of officers for 1946/47.

President: Freda Waldon, Hamilton
First Vice-President:  W. K. Lamb, University of British Columbia
Second Vice-President:  Joseph Brunet, Montreal Catholic School Commission
Treasurer:  Hugh Gourlay, Edmonton
The current members of the CLC were elected councillors for one year pending the election of 1947.

The Saturday afternoon was given over to eight workshops on particular interests: (1) work with film collections, (2) library building design highlighting the London Public Library opened in 1941, (3) effective organization of library services, especially along regional lines, (4) Canadian reference tools, (5) cataloguing for the nation highlighted by a talk by Rev. Robert J. Scollard, St. Michael’s College, Toronto, who stressed the need for a National Library to take the lead in classifying, bibliographic control, and cataloguing for all Canada, (6) the possibility of library services from community centres, and (7) young person’s interests. Another session, held by the Canadian Association of Children’s Libraries, formed in 1939, decided to ask the CLA executive to establish their group as a distinct section of the new association. Sheila Egoff made a presentation on radio programming for children, and Jean Thompson, Toronto Public Library, was elected chair of this group for 1946/47.

For the evening session, Dr. Luther Evans described the evolution of the Library of Congress, touching upon one of its main responsibilities: “the complex of problems connected with mastering the devices to make these constantly increasing books and documents, sound recordings and motion pictures, newspapers and manuscripts, accessible to scholars and general readers.” Regarding the collections, he alluded to the need for work on a national basis, “co-operation that must inevitably be spearheaded by a leading agency such as a national library.” Loud applause erupted at the end of his speech and Dr. Evans told the audience that if they did not stop clapping, he would give another speech. The evening session concluded with the showing of three library films and discussions about the possibility of using films for public relations programs.

The general conference closed on Saturday night with an address by CLA’s first president, Freda Waldon. She kept her remarks short. “I just want to say that I am very conscious of the honour you have done me and very apprehensive of the responsibility that goes with it. I can only say that I will do my best, and I hope that I shall not let you down after the splendid leadership you have had from Miss Gill.” She finished by saying, “I feel that this conference is a challenge to us and an historic occasion and I do hope that we shall be able to make it go. We have just got to make it go.”

By all accounts, CLA-ACB was off to a successful start. The transition from the Canadian Library Council to the new association was a testament to the leadership, vision, and hard work of a dedicated few, such as Elizabeth Homer Morton, who had moved to Ottawa from Toronto to become secretary.  National goals were being developed and a small (300) membership base slowly expanded. The new executive and CLC councillors departed for ALA in Buffalo on Monday morning where they would meet again. Americans were hopeful that a national organization could be formed and traditional ties with Canadian members would be maintained. The CLC would continue in existence until the new association was incorporated. This eventually took place in December 1947 when W.K. Lamb was CLA president.

During its first CLA executive-council session in October 1946, a dinner meeting was held in Toronto with representatives from learned societies and national organizations. Of course, the principal topics were plans for a national library and a joint brief to the federal government. Shortly afterwards, a brief, A National Library for Canada; A Brief Presented to the Government of Canada, was prepared under the sponsorship of the Canadian Library Association, the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Political Science Association and the Social Science Research Council of Canada. It emphasized services rather than a new building housing an extensive collection. It is the subject of my earlier blog published in 2021. 

Although it was not officially incorporated, the new association had immediately assumed all the activities of the older CLC and its executive office in Ottawa. Its primary pursuit after 1947 was a national library, and for this reason CLA-ACB repeated its ideas again in another brief in 1949, The National Library of Canada, Its Eventual Character and Scope that I discussed in an earlier blog. Although it took several years, in 1952 the National Library Act was passed by the Canadian Parliament, becoming law in January 1953.

A biography of Freda Waldon is available on the Ex Libris Association website.

A biography of Margaret Gill is available on the Ex Libris Association website.

The Morton Years: The Canadian Library Association, 1946–1971 can be read free at the Internet Archive by creating an account.

Biography: Anne Isabel Hume (1892–1966)

For many years, Anne Hume was a dynamic force in Canadian librarianship. From 1936–57, she was the Chief Librarian of Windsor, Ontario, a city that grew to more than 120,000 population during her tenure. During this time, Ann Hume grew with the city: she was a founding member of the Windsor Art Association and the Education Council, a co-organizer of the Institute of Community Leadership, a charter member of the Nutrition Council, a charter member and director of Windsor and District Film Council, a charter member and later the President of the University Women’s Club, a charter member of the Zonta Club, and President of the Music, Literature and Art Club. She was on the executive of the Windsor Council of Women and on the Community Welfare Council, a member of Assumption University of Windsor Senate, a member of the Adult Education Commission, and served on the board of the YWCA. On a professional basis, she was President of the Ontario Library Association (1940–41) and President of the Canadian Library Association (1954–55). Anne Hume was a charming hostess at home as well as other venues and enjoyed a good game of golf. She retired to Campbellford in 1963, a town she knew as youngster, and died there in 1966.

I originally posted this biographical synopsis of Anne Hume for the Ex Libris Association in 2021. The post also continues on the current ELA website. The portrait is her graduate BA portrait that appeared in the Queen's Yearbook for the Arts, 1914.

Anne Isabel Hume

b. 5 April 1892, Seymour Twp. (near Campbellford), ON; d. 3 Jan. 1966, Campbellford, ON.

Education:

1914 BA Queen’s University
1915 Specialist Teaching Certificate in English and History Queen’s University
1919 Library certificate Ontario Library School, Toronto
1957 LL.D. Queen’s University

Positions:

1915–19 Ontario High school teacher in Beaverton, New Liskeard and Campbellford
1920 Library Assistant, Fort William Public Library (now Thunder Bay)
1920–36 Chief Librarian, Walkerville Public Library
1936–57 Chief Librarian, Windsor Public Library
Occasional lecturer, McGill and Toronto University Library Schools

Publications:

Hume, Anne (1933). “Adult education and reading lists.” Ontario Library Review 17 (3): 102–104.
Hume, Anne (1937). “City of Windsor Public Library system.” Ontario Library Review 21 (3): 133.
Hume, Anne (1938). “Pensions.” Ontario Library Review 22 (3): 193–194.
Hume, Anne (1939). “Public libraries and the schools.” Ontario Library Review 23 (2): 119–20.
Hume, Anne (1941). “Presidential address [Books in Wartime].” Ontario Library Review 25 (3): 232–234.
Hume, Anne (1944). “An experiment in community integration of the arts.” Ontario Library Review 28 (4): 478–480.
Hume, Anne (1947). “The building programme of the public library in relation to its functions.” Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada 24 (2): 42–45, 60.
Hume, Anne (1948). “The public library and the community [Pt. 1].” Quill and Quire 14: 19–21 & 28.
Hume, Anne (1948). “The public library and the community [Pt. 2].” Quill and Quire 14: 37–40.
Hume, Anne (1948). “The Public library and the community [Pt. 3].” Quill and Quire 14: 16–19.
Hume, Anne (1949). “The librarian in the community.” Ontario Library Review 33 (1): 41–44.
Hume, Anne (1949). “Know your Library Week [in Windsor].” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 5 (4): 136–140.
Hume, Anne (1954). “The Year Ahead, 1954-1955.” In Proceedings of the Canadian Library Association 9th Annual Conference Meeting, Halifax, 21–24 June 1954, pp. 30–33. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association.
Hume, Anne (1955). “Seminole Branch Library, Windsor, Ontario.” Ontario Library Review 39 (4): 228–232.
Hume, Anne (1955). “President’s Address.” In Proceedings of the Canadian Library Association 10th Annual Conference Meeting, Saskatoon, 20–25 June 1955, pp. 4–10. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association.

Associations:

President, Ontario Library Association, 1940–1941
President, Canadian Library Association, 1954–1955
American Library Association, councillor
Canadian Association for Adult Education, councillor
founding member of the Windsor Art Association in 1936

“Miss Hume was more than a fine librarian in the technical sense. She was a woman of firm convictions to which she held with perseverance. She was willing to fight for the library cause and had she been lacking in this characteristic she could not have achieved all that she did. Her influence was felt also in many other community organizations in which she had been so active.” — Windsor Star, January 4, 1966

Sources:

 

“Anne Hume: Librarian, Book Service Pioneer Dies,” Windsor Star, January 4, 1966
Canadian Who’s Who 1958–1961
Windsor Public Library video profile of Anne Hume to celebrate International Women’s Day [one-and-a-half minutes]

The Canadian Book Centre at Halifax, 1948–1950

In the summer of 1945, in the aftermath of war, many European communities lay in ruins. Millions of people had died, a mass displacement of persons and families had occurred, and food shortages were commonplace. Amid this disastrous situation, the daunting task of rebuilding and restocking many demolished libraries was no less serious. For example, an estimated 15,000,000 library items had been destroyed in Poland, especially in Warsaw. However, even before the war ended, there were plans to restore libraries, notably the American Library Association’s project to create an American Book Center for War Devastated Libraries to operate from the Library of Congress. From 1945–47, the ALA Center collected, documented, and shipped more than 3,500,000 books overseas to over 40 countries. Another international organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), founded in 1945, undertook to launch a number of reconstruction and rehabilitation programs. Canada was one of the twenty founding members interested in UNESCO library promotion, such as its Bulletin for Libraries launched in 1947, its Summer School for Librarians at Manchester and London, which several Canadians attended in 1948, and the Manifesto for Public Libraries issued in 1949.

In Canada, the efforts of the American Book Center attracted the attention of the Canadian Council of Reconstruction through UNESCO (CCRU), a voluntary organization formed in autumn 1947 to carry out a national campaign to supply the educational and cultural reconstruction of war-devastated countries in Europe and Asia. In the following year, June 1948, the Canadian Library Association (CLA) and the CCRU formed a Joint Book Committee chaired by Margaret Gill, the chief librarian for the National Research Council in Ottawa. She attended the first general conference of UNESCO held in Paris in November 1946 and spoke about her experience at the annual CLA conference held in Vancouver in 1947. With $50,000 approved for a one-year project by the CCRU, the Joint Committee quickly drafted a plan to establish a Canadian Book Centre to collect, document, and ship books and periodicals overseas to Europe and organize a nationwide campaign to collect books. Each book would bear a stamped gift bookplate indicating the source of the donation.

The first phase, establishing a Book Centre, began in September 1948 at Halifax, where the federal government provided a building close to pier 21 with 8,000 square feet of space that had been used as a hostel during the war. It was on Terminal Road near the dockyards and railway terminus and was quickly refitted with office space, furnishings, lighting, and shelving. The Centre, augmented with additional storage, formally opened in February 1949 under the direction of Maritimer, Margaret N. Reynolds (BA Dalhousie, 1935 and BLS McGill, 1938). She had worked as a special librarian before the war before serving as the chief librarian for the Canadian Legion Services and then overseas in London from 1944–46. Her assistant, a young BLS graduate from McGill (1947), Donald A. Redmond, had served in the Canadian forces after getting his BSc at Mount Allison in 1942. He wrote retrospectively about the hectic activity at the Centre: “Seven Months to Build a Library” in the November 1949 issue of the Canadian Library Association Bulletin. At the outset of operations in 1948, letters were sent to libraries across Canada soliciting contributions of scientific, technical, cultural, and educational books that could be used in European schools, public, and university libraries. In this initial request, libraries across Canada contributed almost 50,000 items transported to Halifax by the beginning of 1949. In the first few months of 1949, these materials were accessioned, shelved, and stored to await shipment to Europe arranged through Canadian consulates.

A broader second phase, a national publicity campaign known as the March of Books/En avant les Livres with the slogan Give a Book to a Hungry Mind was ready to be rolled out by October 1948. An extensive publicity campaign by newspapers, radio, and correspondence was conducted alongside contacts with organizations in cities and towns through the auspices of regional organizers. The National Film Board helped highlight the campaign by producing a short 16mm film for the CCRU, Hungry Minds, which was screened across Canada and documented the intellectual starvation of children and adults in European countries suffering from the aftereffects of war.

Approximately 185,000 books arrived in Halifax for potential distribution overseas. Regional committees were created from the Atlantic to the Pacific in such as large-scale program. These committees organized regional collection depots nationwide where initial screening of materials took place, often supervised by local librarians. For example, McGill University reported two best-sellers, Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor and Warwick Deeping’s Kitty, along with fiction and school texts that were not suitable for Europe were routed to local hospitals or forwarded to the Salvation Army for underprivileged children or appropriate groups. The regional depots reduced the work of the Halifax staff by culling unusable materials. At the peak of its operations, the Book Centre employed fourteen full-time employees. The staff unpacked shipments, screened the donations and organized materials into about twenty subject classifications. Then, shelved materials were screened again before simplified catalogue cards were typed with subject headings, and the books and periodicals restocked alphabetically by author under the relevant subject. Fifteen book lists in pamphlet form were then compiled, printed, and distributed between June to October 1949 to more than a thousand European libraries in the following countries: France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Poland, Greece, and West Germany. Recipients were asked to check their required items and advise the Centre using forms developed by UNESCO, thus eliminating the shipment of unwanted or duplicate books.

By mid-1950, the work of the Centre was complete. It had received a reported 248,093 items and shipped 163,500 items with stamped gift bookplates— about 100,000 to Europe; 16,000 to India (UNESCO was sponsoring a New Delhi Public Library project in 1950–51); 15,000 to Trinidad that had requested assistance; 9,000 to the National Library in Ottawa; and about 20,000 to Canadian rural libraries and schools. The Centre had officially shelved 185,168 items and discarded 21,688, i.e. 12% of the total processed. The most requested subject field was Medical and Biological Sciences. The distribution of books was arranged overseas and official presentations made by Canadian embassy staff from External Affairs, such as the one in April 1950 for 5,000 books at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris by Major-General Georges P. Vanier (below at right), the Canadian ambassador to France.

Canadian books presented in Paris, 1950

Its work completed, the Book Centre closed in June 1950 after twenty-two months of operation. The CCRU continued assisting European schools, universities, and cultural groups, as well as offering fellowships for study until it surrendered its UNESCO charter in 1953. The brief March of Books campaign garnered the most publicity, but there was some residual publicity when the Book Centre was in its final stages. Newspapers and Maclean’s Magazine picked up on Margaret Reynolds’ collection of memorabilia from donated books: unusual bookmarks, photographs, locks of hair, Sunday-school certificates, liquor price lists, letters, news clippings, pressed flowers, badges, etc. It added a personal touch to a national drive that many Canadian librarians felt justified the work of the Book Centre. Although a relatively small contribution in sum, it was a worthwhile effort because the recipient libraries definitely requested each donation. At the summer 1950 CLA annual meeting in Montreal, Margaret Gill reported, “We feel that this aim has been achieved and that the real value of the contribution is many times the face value of the money invested in the project.”

The two librarians responsible for the Book Centre’s success went on to distinguished careers. Margaret Reynolds moved to Ottawa in 1950 to become the chief librarian of the Canadian Agriculture Library and expanded its collections and reputation greatly over two decades before her retirement in 1975. In 1996, she was honoured at a ceremony marking the official opening of the Margaret Reynolds Archival Collection of departmental publications. She died in 1997. Donald Redmond earned his MLS at Illinois in 1950 and became head of the Nova Scotia Technical College, 1949–60. During this period, he undertook development roles in  Ankara (Turkey) and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He was a science librarian at the University of Kansas from 1961–66 and assisted with planning catalogues for the Costa Rica National Library. He returned to Canada to be the chief librarian at Queen’s University from 1966–77. An avid interest in Sherlock Holmes led him to write two Sherlockian books. He died in 2014.

See also:

The NFB documentary produced in 1948, Hungry Minds, is eleven minutes long and can be viewed at the UNESCO archives at this link.

My biography of Margaret Gill is available on the Ex Libris Association website.

Controlling Undesirable Magazines in Canada, 1946

Jessie Robson (Mrs. Austin) Bothwell and the Saskatchewan Library Advisory Council, The Problem of Controlling the Reading of Undesirable Periodical Literature. Regina: Saskatchewan Library Advisory Council, 1946. [A Brief presented to Saskatchewan Library Advisory Council on November 25, 1946; reprinted in the Ontario Library Review 31, no. 2 (May 1947): 125–136]

By 1950 romance comics were very popular with teenage girls

In the immediate years following WW II, the mass production and distribution of cheap publications, such as comics, pocketbooks, magazines, and tabloids, quickly became a new phenomenon facing Canadians. At the same time, the issue of adolescent development, youth culture, and juvenile delinquency came to the fore. The rapid spread of youthful preferences in fashion, popular music, sports, vocabulary, dating, and reading attracted the attention of parents, teachers, home and school associations, religious organizations, women’s groups, and other civic organizations eager to influence or control the cultural activities of teenagers. Libraries, of course, were confronted with the ever-changing accessibility of popular literature to children, youth, and the working classes.  At the spring 1945 session of the School and Intermediate Libraries Section of the Ontario Library Association, a lively round table discussion, “Are we too conservative in choosing books for young people?” elicited differing comments from librarians who were concerned with the spread of cheap, sordid pulp magazines and unrestricted sales at newsstands of comics featuring gangsters in Crime Does Not Pay or the superheroes battling villains in Exciting Comics.

June 1946 issue

These new social trends disturbed many Canadians at home and across the nation. For libraries, issues about suitable reading were not new. The most immediate postwar library examination of undesirable or salacious literature came from the Provincial Librarian of Saskatchewan, Jessie Bothwell, in 1946. She was an active member of women’s organizations in Regina and was well-regarded for her community work. She was born in Regina in 1883 and married a Rhodes Scholar, Austin Bothwell, who died in 1928, leaving her as a working mother of three children. After earning a library science certificate from McGill University in 1931, Bothwell became Saskatchewan’s Legislative Librarian and was promoted to Provincial Librarian in 1944 in charge of the legislative, open shelf, and travelling libraries. She also spurred the development of a regional libraries act for Saskatchewan in 1946 and became a lifetime member of the Canadian Library Association. She retired in 1951 and died in Regina in 1971.

When the newly elected Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation government formed a seven-member Library Advisory Council in 1945, Jessie Bothwell became a member and its secretary. One of the aims of the Council was to investigate standards for library service. Possibly, this is the genesis of her report at the end of 1946 to the Council that was planning postwar expansion of public libraries. Her report documented arguments for and against questionable materials (mostly on newsstands, not libraries) and outlined contemporary efforts and ideas to control their circulation. There were six sections dealing with (1) the types of periodicals, (2) the arguments for and against, (3) the circulation of literature, (4) the distribution of magazines, (5) the efforts to control circulation, (6) three appendices with statistics on magazine circulation and a bibliography used for the report.

Types. Bothwell classed undesirable periodicals into five categories: (1) salacious and pornographic; (2) low-grade fiction specializing in love, crime, and westerns; (3) confession magazines such as True Story; (4) movie magazines; and (5) comic books. She noted there were already Canadian legal restrictions that could be brought to bear against the first class, which many people considered reasonable. The other categories were inexpensive and widely circulated across North America despite their objectionable, tantalizing features.

Arguments. In summarizing arguments about these periodicals, Bothwell stressed they were a kind of “literary malnutrition” that encouraged lazy reading and escapism. The emphasis on sex, violence and crude portrayal of human character indicated a decline in moral standards. Some materials were a poor substitute for more constructive leisure activities. She noted the argument that comic reading was associated with juvenile delinquency and dubious character formation. However, many people pointed to freedom read on the part of adults as a prime defence. As well, the step-ladder theory of reading and the potential of broadening a person’s knowledge of contemporary life were possible benefits. Further, attacking magazines alone could not solve the general problem of moral development because movies, radio, and popular songs were alternative questionable sources adults, adolescents, and children could access. Often, defenders stated that the causes of juvenile delinquency lay much deeper than reading comics.

Circulation and Distribution. Bothwell provided some interesting information on Canadian magazine reading habits post-1945 but was not able to identify specific figures for ‘problem’ magazines. She had to rely on American figures for the general classes she described. She felt the sale of American magazines followed patterns south of the border where comic books exceeded all other magazine genres in terms of readership: the monthly readership was estimated to be 100,000,000 per month. Popular weeklies, such as Liberty and Colliers, stood second in line. Women’s magazines came in third at just under 25,000,000 per month, followed by movie, confession and detective magazines. News and home and garden magazines were less popular than their newsstand rivals. There were only a few pulp magazines or comics published in Canada, and just ten percent of a 1941 poll read ‘story magazines’ (Redbook, True Story, etc.) Tobacco shops, general stores, and drug stores served as important retail outlets for these affordable magazines. She reported Canadian sales of $36,487,000 for books, magazines, and stationery for all of Canada in 1941.

Controls. The fifth section got to the heart of the matter, i.e., the control of controversial periodicals through legal means. Bothwell went into some detail on five fronts. She began by noting the federal Criminal Code prohibited the publication, sale, display, and distribution of mailing obscene matter that might corrupt morals. Provincial Attorney-Generals were responsible for enforcement. The federal post office had the power to bar obscene, immoral, seditious or indecent items from the mail. The federal Customs Tariff Act could seize seditious, immoral or indecent publications at the border, therefore preventing entry into Canada. These methods were workable, but it was not feasible to stretch the legal powers too far, as in the case of movie or confession magazines. Bothwell recounted the efforts to impose a tariff on periodicals in 1931 by the Bennett government that ended unsuccessfully because American firms began publishing magazines in Canada after the tax was introduced. The tax was repealed in 1935.

Provincial regulations were apparently not effective either. Provinces could legislate police in regard to public morals and delegate responsibility to municipalities. Municipal councils also controlled the licensing of newsdealers. A special sales tax on classes of periodicals was also possible through provincial legislation but there were problems concerning the collection of this tax, not to mention its unpopularity with the public. The report broached the difficult issue of grading periodicals, possibly into adult or juvenile classifications. The whole issue of establishing these grades, either by self-regulation or by the government, was left unsaid.

A second front, one educators and librarians had favoured for many years, was to provide alternative, wholesome reading, thereby opening the possibility of low-grade readers eventually transitioning to better publications. Of course, many of these readers did not use libraries. “Pressure must be put on publishers to bring out an increasing number of good books in paper-bound editions which are colourful, attractive and easy to read. The newsstands must also be encouraged to carry these.” Getting children to learn the ‘library habit’ at an early age was another potential counter to objectionable magazines and comics.

Canadian summer issue 1945

Bothwell then outlined attempts to influence magazine content. A community-based approach  — organized protests by women’s groups and community organizations against the “worst offenders” might induce publishers to “clean-up their publications.” As well, parents and teachers in homes and schools could influence better reading habits. Possibly, publishers themselves adhere to higher standards through self-regulating codes. Bothwell then turned to children’s reading, a concern to many educators, politicians, and librarians.

The fourth section on controls, that is, the intelligent use of comics, recognized this form of entertainment was likely to become a permanent feature. Already, some teachers realized that graphics, simple language, and comics type helped pupils grasp ideas more quickly. Comics could be an inspiration for artwork, posters, and dramatic productions and for instilling forward looking attitudes, ideas, and vocabulary building for some children. 

Finally, the report dealt with the potential to immunize children and adolescents against undesirable literature. Bothwell noted the conclusion of a recent British Columbia report on social welfare and education which recommended the government “lend every possible encouragement to the establishment and development of community centres, and the greater use of school buildings for recreational physical education, and other leisure-time purposes under the leadership of trained personnel.” With sufficient outlets for activities and a well-rounded life of work and play, children and young adults (a terminology that was becoming prevalent in libraries) would spend less time with comic books.

Jessie Bothwell’s report was the most substantive library report on the broader issue of controversial publications in Canada for many years. She did not elaborate on federal censorship of publications because these were not available for purchase by libraries. Nor did she wade into the issue of self-censorship by librarians selecting books. For the most part, she did not have to because libraries avoided steamy publications and they restricted adult access to risqué novels and controversial non-fiction subjects that adults normally had to request to read. Some publications that were sold in stores, such as Erskine Caldwell’s Tragic Ground or the magazine 1946 Cartoon, were subjected to criminal court actions during 1946. The Attorney-General in Ontario deemed these items salacious or obscene; however, court judges ruled otherwise during short trials and the charges against the Toronto book dealers and distributors were subsequently dismissed by early 1947. These test cases demonstrated the difficulty in pursuing criminal charges in the Canadian court system against realistic fiction and comic depictions of army jokes.

When the Ontario Library Association formed an Intellectual Freedom Committee in June 1948, it endorsed the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and adopted a ‘watch and ward’ tactic to investigate any perceived infringements affecting libraries and librarians. However, efforts by the the American Library Association to counter intolerance, suppression of free speech, and censorship with its revision of  the Library Bill of Rights in 1948, did not really influence OLA or library practice in Canada. For Bothwell and many others, the larger question of censorship and the production or distribution of published material was of less concern because her support for the established role of the library to substitute good literature to counter the “low-grade magazines” struck a responsive note. Indeed, Bothwell became chair of the Canadian Library Association’s Committee on Undesirable Literature for a short time in 1950–51, and two years later, this committee, now headed by Edgar Robinson (chief librarian of Vancouver Public Library), submitted a report to the federal Special Committee on Sale and Distribution of Salacious and Indecent Literature that reiterated this position:

“That we are convinced that the most effective means of combatting [sic]the bad book is by substituting the good book. That we believe that the demand for undesirable reading can be decreased by increasing the number of libraries, and, with them, the supply of acceptable reading matter.”

By the mid-1950s, the ‘Golden Age’ of comic books and mass-market pulp magazines was drawing to a close. American publishers introduced the Comics Code Authority in 1954 to self-regulate the content of comic books and appease critics. Paperback novels, radio dramas, and television shows had eroded the popularity of long-standing magazines such as Love Story Magazine or Weird Tales. Most adults using libraries were conservative in their literary tastes and reluctant to alter existing conditions in the sphere of intellectual freedom. It was a complacency based on community standards that few librarians were prepared to challenge. Yet, there were signs of liberalization: the 1953 CLA brief to the Senate had stated that censorship was ultimately more harmful than good. In a few short years, the courts would reverse the ban on the novel Peyton Place, and bolder libraries would venture to circulate Lolita.

There is an online tribute to Jessie Bothwell by the Saskatchewan Library Trustees Association that was originally prepared in 1975.

Read my earlier blog on the acceptance of The Grapes of Wrath by chief librarian, Alexander Calhoun, Calgary Public Library, 1939.

Lapsed Canadian Carnegie Library Grants, 1901–1922

At the turn of the 20th century, the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie rapidly became an internationally recognized supporter of public libraries in Anglo-Saxon countries. In Canada, in the period 1901–22, 125 buildings were erected as libraries using grants promised by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The terms for receiving a grant directly from Carnegie personally or the Carnegie Corporation before the grant period ended in 1917 were straightforward. After a community representative(s) outlined the need for a public library and a promise of funding was secured, two commitments were required from local municipalities before funds for a building were released: a suitable site and a promise to provide at least ten percent of the total grant for annual operating expenses. There were also two further requirements, one that boosted the social standing of public library service: the library must be free to its citizens at the point of entry and, from 1908 onward, applicants had to submit building plans for final approval before receiving funds. Most architectural arrangements were made locally.  Carnegie and his personal secretary, James Bertram, who managed most of the library correspondence, often insisted on dealing with elected officials and library trustees. The standard Carnegie formula for awarding grants was approximately two dollars per capita.

There are many books, articles, and internet sources of information on the Carnegie program in Canada. A standard printed reference is the 1984 work by Margaret Beckman, Stephen Langmead, and John Black, The Best Gift: A Record of the Carnegie Libraries in Ontario published in Toronto by Dundurn Press. However, there were some communities — thirty-one in all — that sought and received a promise of Carnegie funds to build a library which never reached the construction stage. These communities eventually saw their opportunity lapse. There were many reasons why these communities lost the chance to build a library with the promised funding:

 — people were not convinced that a public library was necessary;
 — a few municipalities officially declined the Carnegie offer;
 — there was opposition to increasing the annual tax burden, that is 10% of the promised grant;
 — the requirement to pass a bylaw to create a free library was not achieved;
 — local communities were unable to secure a suitable site;
 — the requirement that it be purpose built as a library became objectionable;
— after 1908 building plans had to be approved by James Bertram and he rejected some because they were too ornate or featured non-library space for features such as museums or offices;
— many people, including organized labour, objected to ‘tainted’ or ‘blood’ money given Carnegie’s controversial record in suppressing the Pennsylvania Homestead Strike in 1892;
— anti-American attitudes despite Carnegie’s enthusiasm for Anglo-Saxon community governance;
— some communities requested additional or reduced funds that were not approved Bertram;
— local apathy or confusion about the stipulations of the grant promise.

The acceptance of a Carnegie grant was often controversial and subject to many comments in the contemporary press, such as humorous graphic printed in Toronto by The Moon on February 21, 1903.

Because Carnegie was viewed as a foreign figure or as an ardent capitalist, many writers have assumed that lapsed or refused grants were motivated by a desire to avoid associating with Carnegie and creating memorials to his name. But again, a few case studies reveal the complexity of  involvement with the Carnegie library program. The largest grant, $150,000 to Montréal, ground to a halt in 1903 after formidable opposition from the Catholic Archbishop, censorship concerns, and the linguistic divide in the city. In Ontario, Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) received three promises: a grant of $10,000 in 1902, an increase to $30,000 in 1909, and then an additional $10,000 in 1910. Despite some delays with building plans, the city was ready to erect a $40,000 building by early 1912. However, Bertram reduced the grant by $10,000 in March 1912 because revised 1911 population census figures indicated fewer people than the official application, which was based on municipal assessment. As a result, everything collapsed; the library board and council preferred a larger building and the project was lost. Halifax declined its $75,000 offer after it was unable to get a suitable site and became embroiled in a legal battle about its authority to accept. St. John’s $50,000 promise lapsed after its building proposal included museum and offices which did not receive approval. Saskatoon, a relatively new city in a new province, decided not to proceed with its $30,000 offer after its request to raise the amount to $75,000 in July 1912 due to building costs was turned down by Bertram.

Smaller places were usually in a more precarious financial state, especially in Ontario. Tilbury’s original $5,000 grant, approved before the WW I, was rescinded by the Carnegie Corporation in the mid-1920s. The entire project was beset by a series of false starts at the tendering stage, a reluctance to submit a free library bylaw to the electors, requests for additional money, delays because of municipal funding problems, a prohibitive rise in costs, and bitter local rivalry over site selection. Otterville, a police village situated within the Oxford County, was considered by Bertram to be too small for a grant; instead, he promised $6,000 to the township of South Norwich in March 1915. Special legislation permitting townships to form boards was duly arranged by the province in 1916, but the war effort scuttled any further movement in this direction until January 1923, when township electors refused to pass a free bylaw. Consequently, the award to South Norwich lapsed. Trenton received a promise for $10,000 in April 1911 and passed its free bylaw; however, when local library efforts flagged the provincial library Inspector, Walter Nursey, rescinded its free status in 1913, and Bertram judged the endeavour finished. Efforts to revive the Trenton pledge after WW I failed. Bertram testily advised that its revised proposal to construct a library as a war memorial should be financed by a local community, not an “outside agency.” Caledonia’s $6,000 promise lapsed because its free status was revoked when it failed to comply with provincial regulations. Thessalon, which received a $8,000 promise, requested a smaller amount since representatives felt that $500 (not $800) per annum was sufficient for its library. Similarly, Neepawa (Manitoba) assessed that it could not commit to the ten percent annual tax expenditure and asked for a reduced promise: Bertram refused based on his knowledge that $600/year was already the bare minimum needed for adequate service.

Eventually, the communities that experienced problems with Carnegie funding did build public libraries at their own expense. The library story did not end because library advocates continued to press for better services. Larger cities, such as Halifax and Montréal, now boast prominent central library faculties. Smaller communities are part of larger municipal or regional systems. For the most part, the history of their lapsed grants remain to be told in more detail because attention has been focused on the architecture and stories of successful Carnegie promises. A listing of lapsed Canadian grants follows:

Province	Community	Promise in $$$	Date of Award
Alberta	Raymond	10,000	December 24, 1909
Manitoba	Neepawa	6,000	January 8, 1908
Manitoba	Brandon	36,000	July 9, 1913
Newfoundland	St. John's	50,000	March 25, 1901
Nova Scotia	Amherst	5,000	February 6, 1907
Nova Scotia	Halifax	75,000	February 4, 1902
Nova Scotia	Yarmouth	4,000	October 3, 1901
Nova Scotia	Truro	10,000	October 4, 1902
Nova Scotia	Sydney	15,000	March 8, 1901
Ontario	Arthur	7,500	March 13, 1909
Ontario	Beeton	5,000	May 16, 1911
Ontario	Chesley	10,000	January 6, 1912
Ontario	Merrickville	2,500	April 8, 1907
Ontario	Milton	5,000	January 29, 1906
Ontario	Newmarket	10,000	March 29, 1911
Ontario	Paisley	5,000	January 8, 1908
Ontario	Petrolia	10,000	December 13, 1907
Ontario	Strathroy	7,500	March 21, 1908
Ontario	Thessalon	8,000	August 28, 1908
Ontario	*Port Arthur*	10,000	April 11, 1902
Ontario	Port Arthur	increased 30,000	February 1, 1909
Ontario	Port Arthur	increased 10,000	April 16, 1910
Ontario	Port Arthur	reduced 10,000	March 18, 1912
Ontario	Trenton	10,000	April 8, 1911
Ontario	Gananoque	10,000	August 11, 1911
Ontario	Otterville	6,000	March 16, 1915
Ontario	Caledonia	6,000	December 8, 1913
Ontario	Millbrook	8,000	December 8, 1913
Ontario	Tilbury	5,000	July 23, 1914
Ontario	Tilbury	increased 2,000	March 11, 1918
Québec	Montréal	150,000	July 23, 1901
Québec	Sherbrooke	15,000	February 4, 1902
Québec	Trois-Rivières	10,000	April 11, 1902
Saskatchewan	Saskatoon	30,000	May 16, 1911
Saskatchewan	Indian Head	10,000	May 8, 1908

* the 1902 Port Arthur promise was rescinded and replaced in 1909–10

My two earlier blogs on Carnegie libraries are on the Brantford Library constructed in 1904 and the Brockville Library opened in 1904. 

My blog on William Austin Mahoney, who was the architect for many Carnegie libraries in Ontario is at this link.