In early October 1926, almost sixty librarians from twenty-five countries gathered in Atlantic City and Philadelphia to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the American Library Association along with over two thousand American librarians.[1] By all accounts, the conference was a great success.[2] The international delegates held sessions on foreign librarianship and participated in discussions about improving international relations among librarians. But the best part of this all-expenses-paid trip to the US didn’t happen during the actual meeting: when the conference ended, about thirty international delegates went on a multi-state excursion, visiting twelve cities in the span of two weeks. From Atlantic City to Boston, Chicago to Washington, D.C., the delegates traveled by bus, train, car and steamer to see as much of the US as possible—and as many libraries as possible—ensuring they would return home with minds brimming full of library innovations and international amity.
The ALA sent invitations to governments and prominent librarians earlier that year.[3] Though invitations to the conference were sent to over fifty countries around the globe, the editors of the Library Journal noted that they had hoped for more delegates to represent countries in Latin America.[4] The post-conference excursion committee, chaired by Ernest C. Richardson, made an initial plan and contacted head librarians and state/local library associations in each city to be visited. The travel committee, chaired by F. W. Faxon, and the secretary of the ALA, Carl B. Milam, arranged the final itinerary and travel logistics. Eleven countries were invited to nominate a delegate to attend the conference and post-conference excursion, all expenses paid. Foreign librarians who had already confirmed their attendance at the conference were also invited.[5] To make the entertainment of foreign delegates financially possible, the ALA received a grant of $6,500 from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and additionally fund-raised among ALA members.[6] Twenty-nine delegates from fourteen countries went on the trip, and many wrote back to the ALA afterwards singing their praises of the hospitality and friendship of their hosts. The trip was concluded two weeks after the conference, capped by an informal meeting on international cooperation in Washington, D.C.[7]
We have compiled a complete itinerary for the post-conference excursion based on correspondence and programs found in the ALA Fiftieth Anniversary Conference scrapbooks, vol. I: Preliminary Arrangements and vol. III: International Correspondence Part 2.[8] The foreign delegates were entertained by public and university libraries and library associations in each city. They were given time to tour dozens of libraries and speak with staff in different departments about innovations in librarianship. They even met the U.S. President! Delegates were kept busy but left the country with greater knowledge of the American library system than any of them could have hoped for.
| Saturday, October 9 | |
| 9:10 a.m. | Leave Atlantic City for Princeton |
| Afternoon | Leave Princeton for New York City |
| Evening | Arrive in New York City |
| 7:30 p.m. | Dinner at the Hotel Plaza |
| Sunday, October 10 | |
| 2:00 p.m. | Visit the Pierpont Morgan Library |
| Monday, October 11 | |
| 9:30 a.m. | Visit the New York Public Library |
| 10:30 a.m. | Visit the Children’s Library, Robert Bacon Memorial |
| 11:00 a.m. | Visit the New York Herald-Tribune |
| 1:00 p.m. | Luncheon at the home of Mrs. Robert Bacon |
| 3:00 p.m. | Visit the Brooklyn Public Library, Brownsville Children’s Branch and Headquarters |
| 4:45 p.m. | Visit the Pratt Institute Free Library, tea in the Art Gallery |
| 7:00 p.m. | Visit the New York Public Library, dinner in the cafeteria |
| Tuesday, October 12 | |
| 10:00 a.m. | Visit Columbia University |
| 1:00 p.m. | Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, luncheon and tour of the collections by staff members |
| 5:00 p.m. | Leave New York City for Boston on the Eastern Steamship Line |
| Wednesday, October 13 | |
| 8:00 a.m. | Arrive in Boston at India Wharf, then to Hotel Kenmore for breakfast |
| 9:30 a.m. | Visit the Boston Public Library |
| 12:30 p.m. | Luncheon at the Hotel Somerset |
| 2:00 p.m. | Form parties to visit places of interest: Simmons College Library School, Museum of Fine Arts, State Library and office of the Free Public Library Commission, branches of the Boston Public Library, neighboring town and city libraries (Brookline, Waltham, Somerville) |
| 4:00 p.m. | Visit the Boston Athenaeum for tea |
| 5:30 p.m. | Return to Hotel Kenmore |
| 7:30 p.m. | Dinner tendered by the Mayor of Boston and the Trustees of the Public Library |
| Thursday, October 14 | |
| 8:00 a.m. | Breakfast at Hotel Kenmore |
| 9:30 a.m. | Visit Harvard University |
| 12:30 p.m. | Luncheon with the President and Fellows at the Harvard Union |
| 2:00 p.m. | Visit places of interest |
| 4:00 p.m. | Reception at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum |
| 5:15 p.m. | Return to Hotel Kenmore, then to Trinity Place Station |
| 6:10 p.m. | Leave Boston for Niagara Falls on sleeper train |
| Friday, October 15 | |
| 3:35 p.m. | Leave Niagara Falls for Toronto |
| 6:30 p.m. | Arrive in Toronto |
| 7:30 p.m. | Dinner at the King Edward Hotel and Hart House, University of Toronto (women at King Edward Hotel with Mrs. Locke, men at Hart House with the President of the University of Toronto) |
| Saturday, October 16 | |
| 10:00 a.m. | Bus tour through Toronto, visit the Toronto Public Library, the Boys and Girls House, the Reference Library, and the University Library |
| 12:30 p.m. | Return to King Edward Hotel |
| 1:00 p.m. | Luncheon tendered by the Mayor and Corporation of the City of Toronto |
| 3:20 p.m. | Leave Toronto for Detroit |
| Evening | Arrive in Detroit |
| Sunday, October 17 | |
| 9:30 a.m. | Car tour through Detroit with Detroit Library staff, noting automobile plants, residence streets and Belle Isle, briefly visit the McGregor Library |
| 11:00 a.m. | Visit the Detroit Public Library, luncheon with Trustees and staff |
| 12:00 p.m. | Leave Detroit for Ann Arbor |
| 3:30 p.m. | Arrive in Ann Arbor, tea at the University Library |
| 4:30 p.m. | Visit the University Library |
| 6:20 p.m. | Visit Study Hall in Angell Hall |
| 6:45 p.m. | Dinner at the University of Michigan Union |
| 8:30 p.m. | Visit the William L. Clements Library of American History |
| 9:30 p.m. | Retire (women at the University Librarian’s home with Mrs. Bishop, men at the Union) |
| 11:15 p.m. | Leave for Michigan Central Station |
| 11:40 p.m. | Leave Ann Arbor for Chicago on sleeper train |
| Monday, October 18 | |
| 6:30 a.m. | Arrive in Chicago, then to Drake Hotel for breakfast |
| 10:00 a.m. | Visit the Offices of the American Library Association and John Crerar Library |
| 1:00 p.m. | Luncheon at the University of Chicago Quadrangle Club |
| 2:00 p.m. | Visit the University of Chicago and Harper Memorial Library |
| 2:30 p.m. | Visit Ida Noyes Hall, then University or Chicago Public Library branches |
| 4:00 p.m. | Visit the Chicago Public Library and Training Classrooms for tea |
| Evening | Return to Drake Hotel |
| Tuesday, October 19 | |
| 10:00 a.m. | Visit the Henry E. Legler Branch of the Chicago Public Library |
| 11:30 a.m. | Car tour through Chicago to Evanston |
| 1:00 p.m. | Luncheon at Mr. Mason’s home, then car tour through the Northwestern University campus and North Shore suburbs |
| 4:00 p.m. | Visit the Newberry Library |
| 7:00 p.m. | Dinner at Drake Hotel with ALA professional staff and Chicago librarians |
| 12:00 a.m. | Leave Chicago for Cleveland on sleeper train |
| Wednesday, October 20 | |
| 7:35 a.m. | Arrive in Cleveland, then to Hotel Cleveland for breakfast |
| 9:30 a.m. | Visit the Cleveland Public Library |
| 12:30 p.m. | Luncheon |
| 1:30 p.m. | Visit Cleveland Public Library branches and school branches |
| 3:00 p.m. | Visit the Western Reserve University Library and School of Library Science |
| 3:45 p.m. | Tea at the School of Library Science, then car tour through residential section and Lake Shore Drive, or rest at the University Club |
| 6:00 p.m. | Dinner at the University Club |
| 7:50 p.m. | Leave Cleveland for Washington, D.C. on sleeper train |
| Thursday, October 21 | |
| 8:50 a.m. | Arrive in Washington, D.C., then to Mayflower Hotel |
| 12:15 p.m. | Visit the White House and meet President Coolidge |
| 1:00 p.m. | Luncheon with Dr. Putnam, Librarian of Congress |
| Afternoon | Visit the Library of Congress |
| 7:00 p.m. | Dinner at Mayflower Hotel with the D.C. Library Association |
| Friday, October 22 | |
| 9:45 a.m. | Visit D.C. libraries and points of interest |
| 1:00 p.m. | Luncheon at Mayflower Hotel, then informal meeting on international cooperation |
| 3:00 p.m. (or within 30 days) | Leave Washington, D.C. for New York City |
—
All sources are located in the American Library Association Archives at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Charles F. D. Belden Papers, 1902-1927, Record Series 97/1/33, Box 1, Folder: Reports and Memorabilia, 1925-26, unless otherwise noted. This folder is digitized and will soon be available online here: https://digital.library.illinois.edu/collections/d2b35160-3c86-013d-4e6f-02d0d7bfd6e4-6. Photographs are found in Record Series 97/1/33, Box 1, Folder: Photographs, 50th Anniversary, 1926.
[1] American Library Association, “Opened with greetings from the presidents…”, news release.
“Visiting Delegates from, and Representatives of, Foreign Countries and Libraries: Tentative List.”
[2] [Editorial Notes], Library Journal 51, no. 18 (1926): 916.
[3] Invitations to the Fiftieth Anniversary Conference and Post Conference Excursion can be found in RS 97/1/33, Box 1, Folder: Reports and Memorabilia, 1925-26.
[4] [Editorial Notes], 916.
[5] “ALA Post Conference Excursion 1926,” Fiftieth Anniversary Conference Records, 1923-1926, Record Series 5/1/26, Box 1, ALA Fiftieth Anniversary Conference III, International Correspondence Part 2 (1926): 474.
[6] Delegates representing the library interests of fifteen countries to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, October 17, 1926.
[7] Resolution of the Informal Meeting on International Cooperation, October 22, 1926, Fiftieth Anniversary Conference Records, 1923-1926, Record Series 5/1/26, Box 1, ALA Fiftieth Anniversary Conference III, International Correspondence Part 2 (1926): 583.
[8] Record Series 5/1/26, Box 1, American Library Association Archives at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.