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Tuesday, November 19, 2024

A New History of the English Public Library: Intellectual and Social Contexts, 1850–1914 by Alistair Black (1996)

A New History of the English Public Library: Intellectual and Social Contexts, 1850–1914 by Alistair Black. London: Leicester University Press, 1996. 353 p.

This blog is a condensed version of my review that appeared originally as “In review: the new history for public libraries,” Epilogue; Canadian Bulletin for the History of Books, Libraries, and Archives 11, 2 (1996): 27–35 published by Dalhousie University.

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Alistair Black recently published an important book on public library history in England. His timing is apt because it appears when speculation and pessimism about the prospect for library history exists. To distinguish his new history, Black has used a theoretical perspective and model for public library development in the Victorian-Edwardian period and presented his ideas using a non-narrative historical mode. As well, this New History explores the dimensions of the two library histories: history-as-event (the actual past) and history-as-account (past recorded by historians). His valuable work merits a critical review and it invites a short discussion about the study of library history from a Canadian context and a general historiographic perspective.

Black’s publication encompasses the period from the mid-Victorian years to the onset of the Great War. His main arguments are as follows. Beginning in the last part of the nineteenth century the public library as a social institution inspired and promoted an agenda of societal progress and individual self-realization that incorporated intellectual, aesthetic ideas, and material, practical concerns. Black contends that libraries were considered to be a stabilizing force because they were part of an overall civilizing process and because they incorporated existing elements of social control along class lines between 1850–1914. To organize his arguments, the author introduces a model composed of idealist and utilitarian “flywheels.” At the societal-structural level, each of these revolving, conceptual movements were a source of aesthetic and practical arguments to encourage access to resources in municipal rate-supported public libraries.

The cultural uplift and stabilizing missions that libraries undertook are historical reconstructions that are relatively familiar and less controversial territory for library historians today than more than two decades ago when Michael H. Harris published a thought-provoking revisionist article on social control concerning the origin of the Boston Public Library in the 15th September 1973 issue of Library Journal. What is new is Black’s over-arching interpretation of library growth and the non-narrative basis of his work. He provides convincing deductive, theoretical statements about the general nature of culture and the relevance of social stability. In addition, he deliberately eschews the methodology that library historians have traditionally employed: various chapters of the New History focus on questions or issues rather than chronology, description, and narration of events. It is intellectual history at work, the viewpoint that ideas are major factors in shaping historical events.

I would encourage readers to explore the New History, for many stimulating ideas can be found. However, for the purpose of this review, I must be content with a brief summary.

In chapters 1–2, Black’s definitions of culture and social stability are discussed. As well, the public library goal of free service and tax-based funding is viewed from the different outlooks of the English social classes. In this context, the public library’s role in easing social tensions becomes a central part of its early development during a period of class conflict and the extension of political rights to the working class. The first part of Black’s book provides essential structural and theoretical information for the reader.

Next, the utilitarian promotion of public libraries by philosophic thinkers, such as John Stuart Mill, William Ewart, Edward Edwards, and the 1849 Select Committee parliamentary inquiry, is investigated in chapters 3–5. Material issues—the library’s contribution to the value of useful knowledge, the achievement of economic well-being by individuals through lifelong learning, and the demonstration of political economic benefits (e.g., the growth of a skilled workforce for labour markets)-are covered in chapter 6. Obviously, the utilitarian flywheel helped generate library development during the birth of the public library movement at mid-century.

In chapter 7, the idealist flywheel, particularly reform liberalism that encouraged state intervention, a more informed citizenship, and equality, is introduced. The influential idealist philosophy of Thomas Hill Green is especially relevant here. In the following chapter, Black argues that many idealist elements became the principal concerns of an assertive middle class which endorsed the concept of cultural advancement associated with free libraries. This process included support for ideas related to social control and emulation of many worthy Victorian virtues, such as success, that harmonized social relations in the later part of the nineteenth century.

Black proceeds in chapters 9–10 to analyze and describe an emerging profession of librarians and public library design. As librarians gradually adopted an expanded public service ethic, they also advanced scientific claims for their own profession. These developments are discussed in terms of power and status and their properties in society. As well, the design of social space in libraries exhibited changing architectural styles and plans; for example, open access to collections recognized democratic reforms and monumental, decorative exteriors reflected the public’s preference for expressing civic prominence and dignity. By 1914, Black deems that the major phases of development in the New History had evolved fully.

In his concluding chapter, Black discusses his main arguments about the public library’s important stabilizing societal role before 1914 in dispensing humanistic and scientific education that satisfied the aesthetic and material concerns of all classes. Here, and throughout New History, I find his arguments informative, balanced, and convincing in terms of an historical account for England. The reader is not at a loss for definitions and relationships between variables. Within each chapter, Black identifies social terms (e.g., hegemony, status) and conducts an extensive examination of the connections that library promoters had with the two main conceptual flywheels. As he notes at an early stage, this can be a “heavyweight treatment” (p. 4), and, in the case of how much idealist philosophy the public library promoters read, he acknowledges that the evidence is slight in chapter 7 (p. 157). Akin to other British and American library history colleagues who have recently developed new research fronts, Black has launched a fresh approach and navigated his subject with vigour and candour.

Other library historians also believe the use of theory and hypotheses may serve us well. Clearly, Black favours using rigorous historical methodology common to the social sciences. He feels, for many reasons, that traditional event-based historical works lack a focus or do not effectively serve contemporary librarianship. Conceptual frameworks, structural inquiries, and non-chronological presentations can be difficult to read, but they have merits that appear in New History. First, there is a more explicit approach to historical assumptions about chronological periods and the social structure within which library development occurred. This approach allows a theory of library development to be elaborated without the interruption of any [hi]story. Second, ideas about library growth and progress are set out as theses to be tested from the available evidence rather than sequences of events to be followed step-by-step. Third, terminology from the social sciences, e.g., social hegemony (how the domination of a group or groups is achieved by political and ideological means) or culture (the beliefs, customs, and way of life of groups), are presented in a more precise way. Finally, the use of models, the energizing, methodically revolving flywheels in this case, is introduced for specific purposes to represent the real world.

The use of theory and models in the New History requires some examination. It is not theory on a grand scale: its role is more humble. We are not dealing with the Frontier, Staple, Laurentian, or Metropolitan-Hinterland Theses that Canadian history students study from a national perspective to explain Canada’s development. Black’s use of theory provides a conceptual framework for historical inquiry, a means to describe and to understand library development by testing evidence for the utilitarian-idealist model. This application allows for a certain coherent, structured analysis throughout. After the evidence has been interpreted, analyzed, and presented, the reader should give some thought to the overall hypothesis of the “why” of development. Of course, the place of theory in history is a matter of continuing debate. Some historians, especially in Britain, would reject the use of theories in their inquiries because they believe that people and events have a uniqueness and singular importance each of their own.

Black’s modelling effort for the 1850–1914 period also presents an opportunity to be creative. Historical models can be helpful frameworks that set out the major components involved and indicate their importance. In this way, unconscious assumptions cannot impose upon the “facts” (judgements on the past which historians usually agree upon), the historian of libraries must focus upon how components relate to one another in the historical process. The reader profits from a more systematic presentation of issues. Of course, any model is not an actual replica of a process: one important criticism of structuralism is that it discounts the struggles that individuals and groups engage in to achieve their goals. Models should act as a link between theory, hypotheses, and observations and the historical field of study. They should not displace people and events in historical reconstructions.

At a more general historical level we could ask: what are historians attempting to do, and what is history about? After all, Alistair Black refers to the present unrest in library history (pp. 16-19), and, in his concluding chapter, entices his readers (myself at least) to explore the interrelationships between history-as-event and history-as-account by discovering how contemporary late twentieth-century public library viewpoints of service may be invigorated by observing more proactive Victorian and Edwardian precedents. He is especially concerned that today’s libraries and librarians make modest societal claims; indeed, they appear to have lost the ability to stake out valuable positions that would attract widespread support and actively promote further library growth. But we must understand that introspection is not limited to the field of library studies. The entire historical profession has been engaged in serious self-analysis for some time. Today there are numerous historical schools of thought, but, in general, there are four main groupings. There are those who continue to narrate the events of history and use a chronological format for their presentations. Typically, this is the “old history,” but there have been new converts to narration in the last twenty years. There are social-scientific oriented historians who employ a broad range of analyses and quantitative techniques. There are Marxists. And there are many followers of the French Annales school, a very diverse group which explores all aspects of history, the events of everyday life and the subconscious. In fact, these four groupings have existed for decades and it is difficult to say what is old or new about their approaches or selection of subject matter. The old history is not a monolithic edifice by any means because it is continually refreshed by new ideas and methods.

Increasingly, postmodern concerns intrude on the study of history. Postmodernism presents a challenge to the historical profession at the same time that, in its own way, it provides fresh historical insights. Generally, postmodernists dismiss history: they declare it is empty of meaning for individuals, groups, or nations; or conversely, say that “everyone is his/her own historian” in the search for past meanings. There are many arguments to be presented against the linearity of time, the objectivity of historians, and the conventional, narrative explanations frequently presented in history books. The “end of-history” is a phrase now often raised by contemporaries; it seems to signal the end of identifiable historical directions; the rejection of progress or evolutionary historical explanations; and skepticism about the value of historical narratives, theory, models, and explanation.

Postmodern critics challenge the very basis of historical inquiry. They reject the view that historians should or can be objective; they scoff at the idea that history-as-account can help interpret or transmit our cultural heritage to future generations; they deny that reason can be used to explain history-as-event, the past we all view from different perspectives; and, further, they deny that there is a real, knowable past. History for many postmoderns is a very limited, personal inquiry with mostly contemporary time frames; discontinuous events; and stories drawn from memory, interpreted texts, as well as a great variety of non-traditional documentary sources. It is as important to feel history as it is to understand it. These redefinitions have serious consequences. Without the concept of linear time and the status of scientific objectivity, historians find the creation of causal explanations an impossible task. Theory making at any level, on a meta- or micro-scale, becomes a transient activity with relatively few definite consequences.

What then can we be sure of? Library historians deal with what has taken place. In my view, historical knowledge cannot be an exact set of true statements, completely accurate descriptions, or definitive representations of the past. We must acknowledge limits to our understanding and the potential for different interpretations of events, facts, and evidence. Historical knowledge, like the science of physics or chemistry, must rest on understanding existing evidence. Because we cannot be certain that all relevant evidence is available to us in our present, there can be no closure on historical explanations, cause and effect relationships, structural analysis, or chronicle of past deeds and events. The dimension of time is always with us, and within it, we will constantly change our perspectives between the present and points in the past. The pursuit of new possibilities seems limitless.

Black’s New History should be viewed in this light. In the past half-century, a number of classic histories on public library development in the United States and Britain have focused on the “why” of public library growth. However, I believe library historians should not be too preoccupied with explaining why things have happened. Instead, they should also explain the how, what, when, who, and where of library history. These explanations require different questions: “What restrictions should be placed on the contents of a public library?”; “How did the practice of open access to public library collections come about?”; “Who was responsible for promoting public library growth?”; or “When did classification systems become standardized in public libraries?” The events and agents of change are as important as the concept of causation in history, and depending on the question or audience the historian is addressing, different forms of presentation will be employed.

At times, it is very difficult to separate history-as-account from history-as-event. The past shapes much of the present. What is written about the past and the way it is presented can influence contemporary historical events. Exactly how the past affects the present can be a historical and even a philosophical problem. Perhaps it is best to view the past as an open book, with many pages and many possibilities for additional pages. Historians have many procedures and methods which help us explore the past. Alistair Black’s New History has a lasting value. His book offers us new perspectives and explanations about the development of public libraries, and at the same time he encourages us to attempt to use different historical methods which lead to new discoveries about past and contemporary libraries and librarians.

The old history will always be with us, ready to be infused with the new history. In time, the new history itself will be challenged by even newer historical perspectives and methodologies and face the prospect of change. In many ways, the past is before us and the history of public libraries is ripe for (re)exploration, (re) interpretation, and, ultimately, revitalization.

 

Saturday, August 31, 2024

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.


Sunday, July 21, 2024

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

Comments:

“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]

Sunday, June 23, 2024

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.

Sunday, June 16, 2024

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.