{"id":1514,"date":"2014-07-21T15:01:15","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T15:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archives.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/?p=1514"},"modified":"2021-01-27T19:31:51","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T19:31:51","slug":"miss-public-libraries-mary-eileen-ahern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/2014\/07\/21\/miss-public-libraries-mary-eileen-ahern\/","title":{"rendered":"Miss \u201cPublic Libraries\u201d Mary Eileen Ahern"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Last<\/a>
The last issue of Libraries magazine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Festschrifts are a common way to honor someone in academia, and line the shelves of many academic libraries. They typically contain academic essays related to the person\u2019s life work, contributed traditionally by the person\u2019s former doctoral students and colleagues. But what about a Festschrift that\u2019s instead full of nothing but praise for the person being honored gathered from common workers in their field, and furthermore isn’t for an academic, but instead for a public-service librarian? This is the final issue of\u00a0Libraries\u00a0<\/em>magazine, honoring one Mary Eileen Ahern.<\/p>\n

When Ahern retired from the editorship of\u00a0Libraries <\/i>journal at the age of 71, not only did the rest of the editorial team decide to end the magazine, they devoted the last issue of the journal to her and filled it with testimonials and gratitude, including an essay from Melvil Dewey (in the height of his spelling reforms). Here’s a sample of some of what’s in the issue:<\/p>\n

So I say to Miss Ahern, as she lays down her editorial pen: Your periodical has been an inspiration to literally thousands of workers in the library field; some mere beginners but also to many others who have grown old in professional library service. You have always stood for the highest ideals; you have constantly championed what seemed the right course, even though it might not be the popular one toward which the crowd seemed to be hurrying. You have invariably stood for full and free discussion of every mooted question and have claimed the right to look at it from various angles. You have refused to accept obiter dicta<\/i> without rigid scrutiny. You have been fearless in the championship of what you thought to be the right. You never courted favor at the expense of your convictions [1].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Miss Mary Eileen Ahern lead a tremendous life of hard work and service to the library profession. Like many early female librarians, Mary Eileen began her career as a school teacher and later moved in to library work. Her first library job was Assistant to the Indiana State Librarian in 1889, after 7 years of teaching. In 1893 she was promoted to State Librarian. Despite these\u00a0years of service in the Indiana State Library, when the political powers changed in 1895 she lost the position of State Librarian [2]. Out of work, she decided to go to library school.<\/p>\n

\"Katharine<\/a>
Mary Ahern and other librarians at an unknown event, c. 1900. Caption on the back reads: “Mr. Brunden, our host, Miss ‘Public Libraries’ Ahern; Mr. Dewey (with the Placid look upon his face); Miss K. L. Sharp; Miss M. McIlvaine.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After 6 years of library work without the advantage of professional training, Mary Eileen Ahern attended\u00a0the the Armour Institute in Chicago, where she studied under May Bennet and Katherine Sharp, and graduated in 1896 [3]. She\u00a0seemingly never\u00a0forgot her time there, as in 1921 she donated $100 dollars to the Katharine L. Sharp memorial, which is approximately about $1200 in today\u2019s money [4].<\/p>\n

While attending library school Ahern was approached by representatives from\u00a0the Library Bureau, who had decided to produce a\u00a0new journal directed towards small public libraries, and were looking for a head editor [5]. \u00a0Ahern accepted the job, and the first issue of the new journal\u00a0Public Libraries\u00a0<\/em>(later renamed\u00a0Libraries)\u00a0<\/em>was published May 1896. The magazine would be published continuously for the next 35 years, with her as both editor and frequent contributor. Her name became synonymous with the publication, so much that the anonymous captioner of the photo to the right labeled\u00a0her “Miss ‘Public Libraries’ Ahern.”<\/p>\n

\"Mary<\/a>
Mary Eileen Ahern visiting with an unknown child while in France in 1919.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mary Eileen Ahern was active in the Library War Service during World War I, in charge of fundraising for Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin [6]. In 1919 Miss Ahern went abroad to inspect the work of the Library War Service in Paris, which was still underway after the end of the war and keeping the servicemen busy while they waited to come home.<\/a>\u00a0As donations and support for the program was flagging after the armistice ending the war, her time abroad and information on the good the library service was doing for servicemen helped keep the public interested [7]. While abroad she also took the time to find the final resting place of a soldier for his mother, who wrote thanking her.<\/p>\n

Your looked and longed for letter reached us yesterday and we cannot express to you our appreciation for what you have done for Fryar and for us. It was a hard blow to fall after those long weary months of waiting and hoping and your cablegram was the first personal thing we heard about dear old Fryar – and now we year from you just where he is lying makes us realize that he has some individual care during his last days [8].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After her tour abroad Miss\u00a0Ahern went back to her extensive\u00a0visiting of public libraries and attending national and local library conferences, including a record of perfect attendance from 1893 to 1931 for all 40 ALA Conferences held between those years [9].<\/p>\n

If you’d like to read more about Mary Eileen Ahern’s work, check out the last issue of\u00a0Libraries\u00a0<\/em>magazine,<\/a> which has been digitized in full. Miss Ahern’s papers<\/a> are also available for use at the ALA Archives, and selections mentioned in this post have been digitized.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Citations:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

1. Koch, Theodore W., \u00a0librarian, Northwestern University Library. Libraries,<\/em> Vol. 36, No. 10, Dec. 1931. pp 436-7.<\/a>\u00a0From the University of Illinois Library.<\/p>\n

2. Dale, Doris Cruger. “Ahern, Mary Eileen (1860-1938).”\u00a0Dictionary of American Library Biography.\u00a0<\/em>1978. pp 5-7.<\/p>\n

3. Ibid.<\/p>\n

4. Letter from Mary Eileen Ahern to Miss Frances Simpson, April 28, 1921. From the Katharine L. Sharp Memorial Correspondence<\/a>, Box 1, Folder “General correspondence about\u00a0Sharp Memorial Committee A-Z 1914-1918.” University of Illinois Archives.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Dale, Doris Cruger. “Ahern, Mary Eileen (1860-1938).”\u00a0Dictionary of American Library Biography.\u00a0<\/em>1978. pp 5-7<\/p>\n

6. Ibid.<\/p>\n

7. Hansen, Harry. BOOKS DISPEL ENNUI FOR U. S. DOUGHBOYS;\u00a0Chicago Woman Tells How\u00a0Library Body Is Serving\u00a0Soldiers Abroad.<\/a>\u00a0Chicago Daily News,\u00a0<\/em>Feb. 26, 1919. From the Mary Eileen Ahern Papers, ALA Archives.<\/p>\n

8. F. Hutchinson to Miss Mary Eileen Ahern, April 30, 1919.<\/a>\u00a0From the Mary Eileen Ahern Papers, Box 1, ALA Archives.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Dale, Doris Cruger. “Ahern, Mary Eileen (1860-1938).”\u00a0Dictionary of American Library Biography.\u00a0<\/em>1978. pp 5-7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Festschrifts are a common way to honor someone in academia, and line the shelves of many academic libraries. They typically contain academic essays related to the person\u2019s life work, contributed traditionally by the person\u2019s former doctoral students and colleagues. But what about a Festschrift that\u2019s instead full of nothing but praise for the person being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":573,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[120,123,130,153,186,212,214],"class_list":["post-1514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-librarian-spotlight","tag-journalism","tag-katharine-l-sharp","tag-librarianship","tag-mary-eileen-ahern","tag-public-libraries","tag-women-librarians","tag-world-war-i"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/573"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7213,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514\/revisions\/7213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}