Elizabeth Dafoe (1900–1960)

For a quarter of century, from the mid-1930s to 1960, Elizabeth Dafoe was a central figure in the development of the University of Manitoba library in Winnipeg. No less important was her influence in Manitoba and at the national level. Her efforts were noteworthy and resulted in her selection to represent western Canadian and academic interests in the wartime Canadian Library Council which led to the successful formation of the Canadian Library Association in 1946. Dafoe’s pan-Canadian interests included the formation of regional libraries, a topic she promoted in wartime publications, and  the creation of a National Library in Ottawa. She was President of the Canadian Library Association in 1948-49. From 1953-1960, she was a member of the National Library Advisory Council. The University of Manitoba Library was named in her honour in 1961.

Julia Annette Elizabeth Dafoe

Born Oct. 22, 1900, Montreal, QC; Died 25 April, 1960, Winnipeg, MB

Education:
BA 1923 (University of Manitoba)
LS diploma (New York Public Library School) 1925
1938-39 summer courses at University of Chicago Graduate Library School

Positions:
1925-26 Circulation and Reference Assistant, University of Manitoba
1926-27 Cataloguer, University of Manitoba
1928-1932 Assistant Circulation and Reference Librarian, University of Manitoba Library
1932-35 Chief Cataloguer, University of Manitoba Library
1935-1937 Chief Librarian, Junior Division, University of Manitoba Library
1937-1960 Chief Librarian, University of Manitoba Library

Publications:
Dafoe, Elizabeth (1944). “A National Library.” Food for Thought 4, no. 8: 4–8.
Dafoe, Elizabeth (1945). “Regional Library Service.” Queen’s Quarterly 52, no. 2: 195–205.
Dafoe, Elizabeth (1946). “Your Next Job–Librarian [C.B.C. Broadcast., September 4th, 1945].” Canadian Library Council Bulletin 2, no. 5: 106–7.
Dafoe, Elizabeth (1947). “The First Year: The Canadian Library Association Reports.” Food for Thought 8, no. 2: 9–10, 27.
Dafoe, Elizabeth (1948). “Librarianship as a Career.” Ontario Library Review 32, no. 3: 199–200.
Dafoe, Elizabeth, Freda F. Waldon, and Colin Gibson (1948). “A National Library for Canada.” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 5, no. 1: 14–16.
Dafoe, Elizabeth (1948). “What Is a Librarian?” Ontario Library Review 32, no. 1: 19–22.
Dafoe, Elizabeth, Freda F. Waldon, and Colin Gibson. “A National Library for Canada.” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 5, no. 1 (July 1948): 14–16.
Dafoe, Elizabeth (1949). “National Library Service.” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 6, no. 2: 54–57.
Dafoe, Elizabeth, ed. (1955). Future of bibliography and documentation. By Elizabeth Dafoe and others. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association. (Canadian Library Association. Occasional paper; no. 7)
Dafoe, Elizabeth (1955). “Research Libraries.” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 11, no. 6: 319–320.
Dafoe, Elizabeth (1958). “The Library and the Community.” In Proceedings of the Canadian Library Association 13th Annual Meeting, Quebec City, June 13–19, 1958, pp. 7–13. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association.
Dafoe, Elizabeth (1959). “A University Library [Manitoba].” Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada 36, no. 4: 106.

Associations/Committees:
1943-46 President, Manitoba Library Association
1948-49 President, Canadian Library Association
1949-1954 member, American Library Association Council

Honours:
Elizabeth Dafoe Library of the University of Manitoba was named in her honour.

Comments:
“It is our hope for Canadian libraries that they will eventually form part of a nation-wide system. It is my hope that as they develop it will be possible for them to lay less stress on information and more on knowledge, less emphasis on the book of the month and more on the book of the decade, less accentuation on momentary interests and fads and more upon infinite concerns and problems.” — Elizabeth Dafoe, Canadian Library Association conference, 1949.

“Her tireless message of the need for a ‘national library’ and her outspoken ideas helped to define the mandate of the National Library of Canada”. [extract from her biography on Library and Archives Canada. Celebrating Women's Achievements].

“Miss Dafoe was a quiet and gentle person who inspired the utmost devotion in everyone who worked with her. In her years at the university many thousands of students and instructors alike called upon her for assistance. How widely her influence thus made itself felt can never be assessed; but assuredly it was great.” — Winnipeg Free Press editorial, May 9, 1960.

Sources:

Library and Archives Canada. Celebrating Women’s Achievements. Elizabeth Dafoe. [Web page archived, accessed in January 2012].
“Miss Elizabeth Dafoe” Manitoba Library Association Bulletin 8 / 2 & 3 (Sept. 1960), 1.
W.L. Morton (1963) “Elizabeth Dafoe: lover of language, literature and libraries.” Proceedings of the Canadian Library Association, 18th Conference: 8–9.
Manitoba Historical Society. Memorable Manitobans: Julia Annette Elizabeth Dafoe (1900-1960). [accessed Feb. 14, 2016]
“Elizabeth Dafoe,” Canadian Library 17 (Nov. 1960): 171.

My biography first appeared in 2016 on the Ex Libris website. The portrait of Dafoe appeared in the Bulletin of the Canadian Library Association in September 1948.

Mary Sollace Saxe (1865–1942)

In the course of thirty years Mary Saxe raised the Westmount Public Library, situated in a park setting, into prominence in the province of Quebec and Canada. She introduced an open shelf system for users in 1917, opened a separate Children’s Room in 1911, and a Reference Room in 1914. The library was connected with a beautiful conservatory, the Palm Room, in 1927. When she retired, the library had a staff of six assistants and an annual circulation of more than 100,000 books. Saxe was active in the cultural life of Montréal through her membership in the Women’s Art Society of Montreal, the Dickens Fellowship, the Canadian Authors Association, Montreal Art Association, Business and Professional Women’s Club, and Canadian Women’s Club. She wrote a book for children, “Our Little Quebec Cousin,” and contributed columns to the Montreal Gazette. She also authored a few one-act plays, such as “All is Discovered,” “Just a Tip,” and “Rainbows” that were performed theatrically.

Mary Sollace Saxe

Born Feb. 23, 1865, St. Albans, Vermont; Died May 27, 1942, Montréal, QC

Education:
Received private education in her youth in Montréal
1899 Trained in library techniques under Charles Gould at McGill University
1929 Took courses in librarianship at New York Public Library School

Positions:
1899 Training at Redpath Library, McGill University, under Charles Gould
1900-1901 Apprentice with Charles A. Cutter at Forbes Public Library, Smith College
1901-1931 Chief Librarian, Westmount Public Library

Publications:
Saxe, Mary S. (1904). “Westmount Public Library.” Public Libraries; A Monthly Review of Library Matters and Methods 9, no. 5: 209.
Saxe, Mary S. (1910). “Popularizing the library.” Library Journal 35, no. 8: 363-66.
Saxe, Mary S. (1911). “Classification of books.” Proceedings of the Ontario Library Association Annual Meeting : 59-64.
Saxe, Mary S. (1912). “With the children in Canada.” Library Journal 37, no. 8: 433-35.
Saxe, Mary S. (1915). “The Canadian library’s opportunities to encourage the reading of Canadian authors.” Proceedings of the Ontario Library Association Annual Meeting : 48-52.
Saxe, Mary S. (1916). “One hundred years ago - relatively speaking.” American Library Association Bulletin 10, no. 4: 299-301.
Saxe, Mary S. (1917). “What seems to me an important aspect of the work of public libraries at the present time.” Proceedings of the Ontario Library Association Annual Meeting : 35-37.
Saxe, Mary S. (1919). “Books and their classification.” Canadian Bookman 1, no 3 (July): 56-58.
Saxe, Mary S. (1919). Our little Quebec cousin. Boston: L.C. Page.
Saxe, Mary S. (1920). “The Library from the inside, out!” Canadian Bookman 2, no. 2 (April): 16-17.
Saxe, Mary S. (1920). “What is the most important aspect of public library work?” Canadian Bookman 2, no. 4 (Dec.): 90-91.
Saxe, Mary S. Saxe (1927). “Libraries of east Canadian provinces.” Library Journal 52, no. 10: 525-26.

Associations/Committees:
1914 Vice–president Dickens Fellowship Montréal Branch
1918-1923 American Library Association, Council member
1932-? Member, Quebec Library Association

Comments:
Mary Saxe believed education and training for all library staff was essential, stating in 1920: “But since no chain is stronger than its weakest link, so no library can give a better service all the time to its community than can be given by its poorest assistant. It is a fatal mistake to appoint one head librarian at an inflated salary and feel that any material will do for an assistant. If possible a library should have an all-star cast of assistants.” — Saxe, “What is the most important aspect of public library work?”

Sources:
George H. Locke (1931). “Retirement of Mary S. Saxe.” Public Libraries: A Monthly Review of Library Matters and Methods, 36, no. 6: 256-57.
National reference book on Canadian men and women, 5th ed., 1936.
“Miss Mary S. Saxe, Author, Dies Here.” Montreal Gazette, 28 May 1942: 4.
Elizabeth I. Hanson (1997). A Jewel in a park: Westmount Public Library, 1897-1918. Montreal: Véhicule Press.
Lajeunesse, Marcel (2020). “Mary Sollace Saxe et la Bibliothèque publique de Westmount.” In Pour une histoire des femmes bibliothécaires au Québec: portraits et parcours de vies professionnelles, pp. 27–41. Montréal: Presses de l’Université du Québec.

My biography first appeared on the Ex Libris Association website in 2015. The portrait is taken from A Jewel in the Park by Elizabeth Hanson (p 89)  [published first in the Library Journal in 1933].

Lillian Helena Smith (1887—1983)

Lillian Smith became the first Canadian children’s librarian with academic credentials when she began her career at Toronto Public Library in 1912. By the time of her retirement, TPL was providing book services at Boys and Girls House, 16 library branches, 2 settlement houses, 30 school libraries, and two hospitals. The quality of services at Boys and Girls House so much impressed Edgar Osborne, a British librarian and collector, that he donated 1,800 children’s books to TPL in 1949, the nucleus of today’s outstanding collections at the Lillian H. Smith branch on College Street. Lillian Smith made valuable contributions to the American and Ontario library associations in children’s and youth services and was instrumental in forming the Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians in 1939.

Lillian Helena Smith

Born March 17, 1887, London, ON; Died January 5, 1983, Toronto, ON

Education:
1910 BA (Victoria University, Toronto)
1910-1912 Diploma (Carnegie Training School for Children’s Librarians, Pittsburgh)
1931 BS in Library Science (Carnegie Library School, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh)

Positions:
1911-1912 Children’s librarian and branch head, New York Public Library
1912-1952 Head of children’s services, Toronto Public Library

Publications:
Smith, Lillian H. (1913). “Boys and girls and the public library.“ Proceedings of the Ontario Library Association Annual Meeting: 67-70.
Smith, Lillian H. (1917). “The children's librarian.” Acta Victoriana 42, 2: 63-65.
Smith, Lillian H. (1917). “A list of books for boys and girls.” Ontario Library Review 2, no.1: 11-33.
Smith, Lillian H. (1923). “The problems of children’s librarians.” Library Journal 48 (no. 17) 1 October.: 805-806.
Smith, Lillian H., ed. (1927). Books for boys and girls. Toronto: Toronto Public Library.
Smith, Lillian H. (1932). “The teaching of children’s literature.” In: American Library Association Children’s Library Yearbook, vol. 4: 73-80.
Smith, Lillian H., ed. (1932). Books for boys and girls, June 1927 to June 1932, a supplement. Toronto: Toronto Public Library.
Smith, Lillian H. (1939).”The library’s responsibility to the child.” In: The library of tomorrow: a symposium, ed. Emily M. Danton. Chicago: American Library Association. p. 124-132.
Smith, Lillian H., ed. (1940). Books for boys and girls. 2nd ed. Toronto: Ryerson Press.
Smith, Lillian H. and Annie Wright (1941). “Canada: a reading guide for children and young people.” Ontario Library Review 25, 1 August: 293-300.
Smith, Lillian H. (1947). “The children’s library.” Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada 24, 2 February: 56-58.
Smith, Lillian H. (1953). The unreluctant years: a critical approach to children’s literature. Chicago: American Library Association.
Smith, Lillian H. (1959). “What books mean to children.” American Library Association Bulletin 53, 4 April: 289-291.
Smith, Lillian H. (1963). “News from Narnia.” Horn Book Magazine 39, October: 470-473.

Associations/Committees:
1928-1929 President, Ontario Library Association
1932-1936 Member of Executive Board, American Library Association

Honours:
Clarence Day Award, American Library Association, in 1962 for outstanding work in encouraging the love of books and reading.
Toronto Public Library established the Lillian H. Smith Collection in 1962, as a tribute to her years of work at Boys and Girls House.
The Lillian H. Smith branch of Toronto Public Library opened on 16 October 1995 in honour of the first academically trained children’s librarian in the British Empire.

Accomplishments:
        “The Unreluctant Years,” published in 1953, distills Smith’s ideas about library book selection and its potential to edify and stimulate children. Her book remains a classic statement for the rationale to apply critical standards of literary value in book selection for young readers and for her insistence on the provision and employment of ‘best books’ by children’s librarians. Smith also edited valuable editions of TPL’s “Books for Boys and Girls.”
     Storytelling and programming was another vital aspect of library work that Smith and her devoted staff actively promoted. A ‘Book Week’ for boys and girls became a regular feature before Christmas at TPL well before a national Young Canada Book Week was established in 1949. As well, from the end of WWII to the 1950s, librarians at Boys and Girls House collaborated with the CBC in a series of radio programs for children. Service to non-English speaking children was provided through Toronto settlement houses. Boys and Girls House was always noted for its experimental approaches and offerings of drama, folk dancing, puppet shows, and clubs—features that are often taken for granted in the 21st century library.

Comments:
“Miss Lillian H. Smith long envisioned a nation-wide association for the advancement of children’ s reading in Canada and, at a joint conference of the Ontario and Quebec Library Associations, held in Montreal in the year 1939, she took action to make such an organization a ‘fait accomplil.’” — Ruth Milne, “C.A.C.L. Tribute,” 1952.

“Every parent in Toronto should be grateful to Miss Smith.” — Charles Sanderson, Chief Librarian, Toronto Public Library, 1953.

“She loves and understands children; knows how they think and what interest them. Among her associates, she has had the faculty of inspiring loyalty and transmitting enthusiasm—gifts which do much to explain her success.” — Toronto Globe and Mail editorial, 1952.

Sources:
Lillian H. Smith website developed by Michael Manchester. Accessed December 2022.
Fasick, Adele. M., Margaret Johnston and Ruth Osler, eds. (1990). Lands of pleasure: essays on Lillian H. Smith and the development of children’s libraries. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press.
Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians (1952). Lillian H. Smith; a tribute from the C.A.C.L., June 10, 1952. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association.
McGrath, Leslie A. (2005). Service to children in the Toronto Public Library; a case study, 1912-1949. University of Toronto Ph.D. dissertation.
Sydell Waxman (2002). Believing in books: the story of Lillian H. Smith. Toronto: Napoleon Publishing. [biography for children]
Giles, Suzette (2013). “Libraries named after librarians.” ELAN no. 54 (Fall): 7-8.

My biography first appeared in 2015 on the Ex Libris Association website. The graduate portrait is taken from the Torontonensis yearbook of 1910 (p 102).

My blog on Michael Manchester's website on Lillian Smith is at this link.

Marie-Claire Daveluy (1880–1968)

Marie-Claire Daveluy was a Montreal-based librarian whose career spanned three decades in which she made a number of important contributions to Canadian library science. In 1937, she co-founded the École de bibliothécaires at the Université de Montréal. She served as this school’s chair for several years and sought to combine American library techniques within a French-Canadian context. Daveluy also helped establish the Association canadienne des bibliothécaires de langue française in 1943. A noted literary figure, her novels and short works for youth and children won her a number of meritorious awards. Daveluy pioneering efforts succeeded within a male dominated profession that adhered to moral and religious principles prescribed by the Catholic Church which governed many political and social institutions in Quebec before the 1960s “Quiet Revolution.”

Her portrait is taken from L'Académie canadienne-française by Victor Barbeau (Montréal, c.1963), p 41. My biography appeared earlier at the Ex Libris Association site in 2020.

 Marie-Claire Daveluy

Born August 15, 1880, Montreal; Died January 21, 1968, Montreal.

Education:
Hochelaga Convent, Montreal
1920 Diploma in librarianship (McGill University summer library school)
1943 LL.D. (Université de Montréal)

Positions:
1920–1944 Assistant librarian, Bibliothèque municipale de Montréal
1932–1941 Head of cataloguing, Bibliothèque municipale de Montréal
Director of studies (1937–1942) and professor at the École de Bibliothécaires, Montréal

Publications (major contributions):
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1919). L’orphelinat catholique de Montréal : en appendice la Société des dames de charité de 1827. Montréal: Imprimé au Devoir.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1923). Les aventures de Perrine et de Charlot. Montréal: Bibliothèque de l'Action française.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1926). Le filleul du roi Grolo suivi de La médaille de la Vierge. Montréal: Bibliothèque de l'Action française.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire and Jacques Laurent (1934). Jeanne Mance. Montréal: Albert Lévesque.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1936). Une révolte au pays des fées. Montréal: Albert Lévesque.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1938). Charlot à la Mission des martyrs. Montréal: Librairie Granger Frères.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1940). Le Richelieu héroïque: les jours tragiques de 1837. Montréal: Librairie Granger Frères.
Daveluy , Marie-Claire (1940). “L’École de bibliothécaires de l'Université de Montréal.” Culture: sciences religieuses et sciences profanes au Canada 1 (1) avril: 13-18.
Daveluy, Marie Claire (1944). ‘Les jeux dramatiques de l”histoire’; Que disaient nos aieules?; Le ‘Général” Vallières; Une visite inattendue; trois pièces en un acte. Montréal: Libr. Granger Fre’res.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1945). “L’École de bibliothécaires: son but — son enseignement.” L’Action Universitaire: Revue Des Diplômés de l’Université de Montréal 11 (10) juin: 119-125.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1947). “Ma carrière.” La bonne parole 37, no. 3 (mars): 3–7 and 37, no. 4 (avril): 6–9.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1948).“ L’École de bibliothécaires: son histoire, ses buts, ses initiatives,” Lectures: revue mensuelle de bibliographie critique 3, no 5 (janvier): 303–309.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1949). Essai d'un code de classement en langue française. Montréal: Éditions Fides.
Daveluy, Marie -Claire (1952). Instructions pour la rédaction des catalogues de bibliothèques. Montréal: Éditions Fides [vol. 1].
Daveluy, Marie-Claire and Jacques Laurent (1962). Jeanne Mance, 1606-1673. 2. éd., rev. et mise à jour. Montréal: Fides.
Daveluy, Marie-Claire (1965). La Société de Notre Dame de Montréal, 1639-1663: son histoire, ses membres, son manifeste. Montréal: Fides.

Associations:
Vice-President, Association canadienne des bibliothécaires de langue française.
Membership, executive and honorary positions in various associations: Académie canadienne-française, Société des écrivains canadiens, Fédération nationale Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Société historique de Montréal, Orphelinat Catholique.

Awards and Accomplishments:
Marie-Claire Daveluy was a literary author, librarian, bibliographer, and historian. She is likely best known as the author of popular children’s works exemplified by Les Aventures de Perrine et de Charlot. Her stories were based on historical themes and provided a moral compass for young children.
During her lifetime she was often at the forefront of cultural life and was accorded many honours.
—The first female member of the Société historique de Montréal in 1917.
—Prix David (Province of Quebec) awarded for literary merit in 1924 and 1934.
—Prix de l'Académie Française, Paris, awarded in 1934 for Jeanne Mance.
—Co-founder with Aegidius Fauteux, Émile Deguire, and Paul-Aimé Martin, of the École de Bibliothécaires de l'Université de Montréal.
—She helped found the Association canadienne des bibliothèques d'institutions in 1943 [known as the Association canadienne des bibliothécaires de langue française after 1948].
—Founding member of Académie canadienne-française in 1944.
—As a member of the Conseil de l’École de Bibliothécaires, she was a signatory to the declaration, “Les bibliothèques dans la province de Québec,” in 1944 which emphasized the public library as a responsible provincial educational institution for rural and urban communities.
—Médaille du centenaire, Société historique de Montréal awarded in 1958.
—Parc Marie-Claire-Daveluy, a small streetside spot in Montreal, was named in her honour in 1987.

Sources:
Chabot, Juliette (1968). “Marie-Claire Daveluy (1880-1968), bibliothécaire et femme de lettres.” Bulletin de l’Association canadienne des bibliothécaires de langue française 14(1): 12–15.
Morisset, Auguste Marie (1977). “Marie-Claire Daveluy, bibliothécaire, bibliographe, écrivain.” In Livre, bibliothèque et culture québécoise;: mélanges offerts à Edmond Desrochers, edited by Georges-Aimé Chartrand, vol. 1: pp. 405–423. Montréal: Asted.
Grivel, Marie-Hélène (2016). “Créer une littérature nationale au Québec: l’impact des textes de Marie-Claire Daveluy, de La presse aux sagas.” Strenae no. 11 (October).
Bienvenue, Louise (2018). “Marie-Claire Daveluy (1880-1968), historienne des femmes.” Histoire sociale/Social History, 51 (November): 329–352, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/his.2018.0029.
Lajeunesse, Marcel, Éric Leroux, and Marie D. Martel (2020). Pour une histoire des femmes bibliothécaires au Québec: portraits et parcours de vies professionnelles, “Marie-Claire Daveluy, bibliothécaire de carrière,” pp. 43–75. Québec, Presse de l'Université du Québec.

There is an excellent French language biography with a short English translation at Marie-Claire Daveluy in Wikipédia. Accessed December 17, 2021.

Mary Kinley Ingraham (1874—1949)

 Mary Kinley Ingraham was the chief librarian at Acadia University from 1917-1944 at a time when very few females headed academic libraries in North America. Fittingly, her achievements include literary works as well as academic publications. As an acknowledged leader in Maritime librarianship, she was one of the founders of the Maritime Library Association in 1918. Ingraham was also an innovator: under her guidance, Acadia launched a pioneering bookmobile service to three provinces in 1930.

My biography appeared earlier in 2015 in the Ex Libris Association biography website. The image from the Acadia University archives is taken from Tanja Harrison’s article, “The courage to connect: Mary Kinley Ingraham and the development of libraries in the Maritimes” (p. 80).

Mary Kinley Ingraham

Born March 6, 1874, Cape Wolfe (or West Cape), PEI. Died November 19, 1949, Livermore, Maine, USA

Education:
1899 Graduate of Acadia Ladies’ Seminary
1915 BA (Acadia University)
1916 MA (Acadia University)
1917 Summer course (Simmons College School of Library Science, Boston)

Positions:
c.1897-1905 School teacher in Nova Scotia
1911-1913 School teacher in Massachusetts and Georgia, USA
1917-1944 Chief Librarian, Acadia University
1918-1944 Instructor, library science, Acadia University

Publications:
Ingraham, M.K. (1921). “Italian and English book collectors of the Renaissance.” Dalhousie Review 1, no. 3: 293-300.
Ingraham, M.K. (1920). Acadia; a play in five acts. Wolfville, NS: Davidson Bros.
Ingraham, M.K. (1921). “Librarianship as a profession.” Canadian Bookman n.s., 3, no. 1: 38-40.
Ingraham, M.K. (1931). “The bookmobiles of Acadia University,” Library Journal 56, 15 January: 62-63.
Ingraham, M.K. (1932). A month of dreams. [poetry] Wolfville, NS.: n.p.
Ingraham, M.K. (1940). “Sixth annual conference of the reorganized Maritime Library Association.” Bulletin of the Maritime Library Association 5, no. 2: 2–6.
Ingraham, M.K. (1947). Seventy-five years: historical sketch of the United Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Kentville, NS: n.p.
Ingraham, M.K. (1949). “My favorite books.” Bulletin of the Maritime Library Association 13, no. 2: 1-2.

Associations/Committees:
1918-1944 Secretary-Treasurer, Maritime Library (Institute) Association

Honours:
1947 DCL, Acadia University

Accomplishments:
Mary Kinley Ingraham was a significant public figure in the development of libraries in the Maritime Provinces after she became chief librarian of the Emmerson Memorial Library at Acadia University in 1917. During her quarter century tenure she improved and expanded circulating holdings, special collections, and library services to students and faculty, even during the Great Depression. Trained initially as teacher, she saw the need to institute formal courses on library education as part of the BA program at Acadia for Maritime library students. As well, she inaugurated a bookmobile service in 1930-31 for rural Maritime readers who were not served by public libraries in three provinces. Later, Acadia operated a travelling library service for communities that continued until WW II. Ingraham was one of the founders and secretary-treasurer of the Maritime Library Association (1918-28) which continued in 1934 as the Maritime Library Institute (1935-40) and became the Atlantic Provinces Library Association in 1957. She contributed many short articles to the Association Bulletin. Ingraham also was active on the literary front, publishing two volumes of verse, plays, a history of the Baptist Women’s Union, and serving as editor for the review journal, “Book Parlance,” 1924-29. Upon her retirement she was made Librarian Emeritus.

Comments:
“The best preparation will not make a librarian out of a man or woman who has not innate fitness for the work. No one should seriously consider librarianship as a profession who does not know himself to have in his approach to books the grave, searching attitude of the scholar.” M.K. Ingraham (1920)
“Acadia University at Wolfville in the land of Evangeline, with Mrs. Mary K. Ingraham as its ‘live librarian,’ has been the most active representative of library progress in relation with the Maritime Library Association….” Mary S. Saxe, Library Journal (1927)
“Librarians who had the pleasure of knowing and working with her were charmed and impressed by her personality. She helped us to know one another better through the Bulletin. She gave us the joy at conventions of hearing minutes and reports—written and read—in her own inimitable style.” Dorothy Cullen (1950)

Sources:
Shaw, Beatrice M. H. (1924). “Maritime Librarian,” Maclean’s Magazine, 15 Nov., 37: 68-70.
Beals, Helen D. (1944). “Mrs. Ingraham Retires” Library Journal 69, 1 December, 1961.
Cullen, Dorothy (1950). “Mrs Mary Kinley Ingraham 1874-1949,” Bulletin of the Maritime Library Association 14, no. 2: 1–2.
Elliott, J.H. (1954). “Pioneers! O Pioneers! 4. Mary Kinley Ingraham.” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 10, June, 261.
Harrison, Tanja. (2012). “The courage to connect: Mary Kinley Ingraham and the development of libraries in the Maritimes.” Library & Information History 28, no. 2: 75-102.
Bird, Kym (2005). “In the beauty of holiness, from the womb of the morning: allegory, morality, and politics in Mary Kinley Ingraham’s Acadia,” Theatre Research in Canada 26, no. 1-2: 26-55.
Mary Kinley Ingraham Fonds, Acadia University Archives, Accession No. 1944.0

The Mary Kinley Ingraham biographic entry in Canada's Early Womens Writers provides extensive information on her family and literary career.