Category: ALA History

Herb and Mary Biblo: “A Very Active Husband and Wife Team in Librarianship”

Posted on by Cara Bertram

Despite missing Valentine’s Day, the ALA Archives can’t let the month of February go by without talking about Mary and Herbert “Herb” Biblo, one of the great couples in American Library Association history. Between the two of them, they contributed decades of service to ALA and established themselves as advocates for social justice within the association and the profession of librarianship. In an interview with Herb, Art Friedman, a friend, succinctly and accurately, summed Herb and Mary up as “a very active husband and wife team in librarianship.”

Herb and Mary Biblo sitting at a table.
Herb and Mary Biblo at the Council meeting during the 2001 ALA Annual Conference.

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“The Gross Misrepresentation”: An Accusation of Communism in Punxsutawney

Posted on by Cara Bertram

In late 1955, the American Legion John Jacob Fisher Post in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, attacked the local library in their newsletter and in a letter presented to the borough council. The catalyst for this attack was the adoption of the Library Bill of Rights by Punxsutawney Free Library’s board.

In the December 1955 issue of the Legion News published by the John Jacob Fisher Post, Legion member Pete Wehrle wrote an editorial attacking ALA as a communist front. The editorial questioned if the American Legion Post would stand for the library board to “tie up with a Red Front organization” such as the ALA, to which it said no. The editorial used combative language against the library board, saying: “In short folks we are going to do a job on this matter. We will pick the field and the time and place of the fray. We will also pick the method – these things are always the prerogative of the assult (sic) force.”[1] Continue reading ““The Gross Misrepresentation”: An Accusation of Communism in Punxsutawney” →

International Origins in Williamstown

Posted on by Cara Bertram

In 1949, a petition was brought to ALA Council during the Midwinter Meeting to form the Round Table on Library Service Abroad. The petition was approved and thus officially began what was later known as the International Relations Round Table (IRRT). However, IRRT’s origins can be traced to a year earlier in 1948 to the (confusingly named) International Relations Round Table on Library Service Abroad, a conference held at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Also called the Williamstown Conference, its resounding success laid the foundation for IRRT.

In February 1948, the ALA International Relations Office (IRO) sent out a questionnaire to librarians on its Foreign Library Service Roster. The last question asked, “Would you be willing to attend, at your own expense, a ‘guinea pig’ session, devoted to the international aspects of library work …?”[1] 100 librarians affirmed their unreserved interest in the “guinea pig” session, while others noted their interested dependent upon funding.[2] With a strong response to the question, Helen Wessells, associate director of IRO, started planning. Continue reading “International Origins in Williamstown” →

1876 Librarians’ Conference Scrapbook

Posted on by Cara Bertram

In 1926, during the fiftieth anniversary of the American Library Association, the Boston Public Library presented ALA with a scrapbook of letters, postcards, and documents tracing the origins of the Librarians’ Conference of 1876, the start of the association. The letters were kept by Melvil Dewey and Justin Winsor, prominent organizers of the conference, and later assembled into a scrapbook by someone at the Boston Public Library (BPL) in 1877, where Winsor had served as superintendent.[1] Preceding ALA’s fiftieth anniversary, Charles Belden, then director of BPL, convinced the BPL trustees to have the scrapbook rebound and transferred to ALA during its anniversary celebrations, for which Belden was the presiding president.[2]

Scrapbook with detached pages.
The scrapbook in its original binding with detached pages.

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Librarians Go on a Road Trip! The 1926 Foreign Delegate Post-Conference Excursion

Posted on by Deborah Walters
A group of foreign delegates in Atlantic City during the ALA Fiftieth Anniversary Conference, October 1926.

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.

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“No Censorship at Any Time”: The 1953 Westchester Conference

Posted on by Deborah Walters

In early May 1953, a group of 25 representatives from the American Library Association, the American Book Publishers Council (later the Association of American Publishers), and other associated citizens, met in Rye, New York to discuss the fundamental freedom to read. This “Westchester Conference,” named after the Westchester Country Club meeting place, was a resounding success. Out of this conference grew one of the most important and well-known policies of the American Library Association: the Freedom to Read Statement. Continue reading ““No Censorship at Any Time”: The 1953 Westchester Conference” →

Henry and Edith Carr, ALA’s Golden Couple

Posted on by Deborah Walters

Henry and Edith Carr pose for a photo ca. 1910, in fancy dress.

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, the ALA Archives can’t help but think of love. The spirit of the holiday compels us to remember possibly the most famous ALA couple of all time, Henry and Edith Wallbridge Carr. Married for 43 years and active in the American Library Association for even longer, the Carrs were well-known within the library community of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Where did the romance of these two librarians begin? At an ALA conference, of course!

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Fighting Censors and Book Bans: Establishing the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom

Posted on by Deborah Walters

This blog post is part of a series exploring the important events and people in ALA’s history for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of ALA in 2026.

Almost 60 years ago, the Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) of the American Library Association needed a partner in the fight for intellectual freedom. The 1960s brought concerns about censorship, freedom of the press, the freedom to read – and the impact on librarians who sought to uphold the values within the Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read Statement. The ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) was the solution, providing support and education on intellectual freedom to librarians and the public.[1] Little did they know how vital the OIF would become to the fight against book challenges and censorship and to the support of librarianship and the freedom to read everywhere. Continue reading “Fighting Censors and Book Bans: Establishing the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom” →

Librarians, Segregated: The 1936 ALA Annual Conference

Posted on by Deborah Walters

This blog post is part of a series exploring the important events and people in ALA’s history for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of ALA in 2026.

The Advance Attendance Register for the Richmond Conference displayed a rendering of the White House of the Confederacy.

Wilson Bulletin editor, Stanley J. Kunitz, called it the “The Spectre at Richmond” – but the racial discrimination at the 1936 ALA Annual Conference was no ghostly apparition.[1] The conference was held in Richmond, Virginia, a city with Jim Crow era racial segregation laws. While the American Library Association itself had no segregation or discriminatory policies, up until 1936 they had not established any ruling against holding a conference in a segregated city where members would be subject to discrimination. Thus, “the Spectre” marched into the halls of the hotels and auditoriums, reminding all librarians present that there was still work to be done. Continue reading “Librarians, Segregated: The 1936 ALA Annual Conference” →