I thought list members might be interested in the following:
"Seminar in American Bibliography and Book Trade History
American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury Street
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609-1634
(508) 755-5221
Libraries Transformed: From Male to Female Institutions
Ken Carpenter
Harvard University
Wednesday, November 17 at 4:30 p.m.
Elmarion Room, Goddard-Daniels House
190 Salisbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Precis: Considerable attention has been devoted to the feminization of
librarianship, but that is only one aspect of a process by which libraries
that were for the most part male institutions in the eighteenth century have
now become gendered female. The form of the tax-supported public library
was to a large extent shaped by a desire to serve women. Changes in the
reasons for reading contributed to support for that new type of institution,
as did changes in the reasons why some wanted others to read. Thus, serving
those who wished to read for pleasure became more acceptable in the
libraries that preceded the public library, and the change in the reason why
some wanted others to read is perhaps best exemplified by the libraries
founded and supported by the WCTU. In fact, after the Civil War, women
increasingly came to be the donors of libraries, the trustees of libraries,
the instigators of Carnegie grants, and the primary force behind legislative
support for libraries. In short, there's a pattern, with the feminization
of librarianship being only a part of it, an aspect that must be understood
differently when viewed from the perspective of being a square in a larger
quilt."
I'm not supposing that UK members will be rushing off to Worcester, Mass.,
but I am interested in the precis of Ken Carpenter's talk. I was especially
struck by the difference between the place of women in 19th and early 20th
century British public library development, and what Carpenter is saying
here about the same period in the US. To say "the form of the tax-supported
public library was to a large extent shaped by a desire to serve women,"
would simply not apply to the early public library movement in the UK. And
it's hard to think of examples of women being involved in UK public library
development in the way Carpenter outlines for the US. I can think of the
Verneys in Buckinghamshire, and Lady Manners and her advocacy of country
reading rooms etc. But, who else?
Does anyone have any comments to add (where are you Evelyn?)? I hope I shall
be inundated with other examples of women being involved in UK public
library development. Has anyone undertaken any meaningful study comparing
this aspect of UK and US public library development?
All the best,
Chris Baggs
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
cmb@ aber.ac.uk
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