Dear Miss Breed: The Legacy of Clara Breed
by Mary Yogi

You can also see the PROPOSAL and SCOPE statement that served as a foundation for this research project.

INTRODUCTION: Clara Estelle Breed (1906-1994) was a librarian for the city of San Diego for 42 years. She began her career as a children’s librarian in 1928 and was later appointed the city librarian in 1945 – a post she held for 25 years. As a children’s librarian, Clara Breed did not simply promote reading, conduct storytelling, or supervise her staff; she was also fully engaged in her community and had an indelible impact on the lives of her patrons. This is especially true for a particular group of Japanese American children in San Diego. My paper will examine the life of Miss Breed (as she was known to her young patrons), and focus on her interactions with the San Diego children sent to “relocation centers” during World War II. Clara Breed continued to care for and guide these displaced children by sending them books, but she also became a trusted friend, supporter, and lasting connection to their hometown of San Diego...

Analytical Intellectual Biography of John Y. Cole
by Elizabeth Jacobsen

INTRODUCTION: John Y. Cole has devoted the bulk of his career to serving the Library of Congress (LC) and to documenting its history. Cole’s tenure with the Library began in 1966 as a reference librarian. He served as a librarian for nearly a decade, while simultaneously completing his dissertation on Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Spofford and publishing four articles and one book on Spofford’s contributions to the Library. In 1976, Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin appointed him chair of a one-year Library of Congress Task Force on Goals, Organization, and Planning. A year later, Dr. Boorstin asked Cole to become the founding director of the new Center for the Book (CFB) in the Library of Congress...

Book Collector Extraordinaire: The Life and Times of Olive Percival
by Ingrid Johnson

INTRODUCTION: Olive Percival, as a richly complex woman, is a fascinating study. Outwardly, she exhibited extreme self-confidence and success. Inwardly, self-doubt and, sometimes, self-pity clouded her thoughts. Because she was very open with her feelings in the diaries that she kept for over thirty years, this tension is clearly revealed. A thorough study of this tension and how it affected Olive Percival in her life is beyond the scope of this paper. It will be considered, however, as it relates to the development of Olive Percival, the book collector, which is the focus of this paper. Inescapably, Olive the book collector was influenced by Olive the person. This paper will attempt to portray who Olive Percival was as well as what her life was like in Pasadena in the early twentieth century of Southern California . In addition, this paper will attempt to illustrate how the social, political, and artistic flavors of the day may have also influenced her as a book collector...

Because of the extraordinary nature of his achievements as an artist and craftsman, writer and political activist, William Morris was a compelling biographical subject for writers even before his death in 1896. Fascination with him continues to the present day. We will compare different biographies of Morris and will focus on the significance of the founding of the Kelmscott Press and his work as printer. In writing a historiographical essay that examines the way different biographers view this aspect of his work and life, one can perhaps learn about the time in which he lived, the forces that were working on Morris and how Morris was or was not a product of his time...

Historiography of Antonio Panizzi
by Teresa Negrucci

INTRODUCTION: Antonio Panizzi, Prinicipal Librarian of the British Museum Library from 1856 to 1866, generally is regarded as a preeminent leader in nineteenth century librarianship. He is mentioned in the same breath as such luminaries as Melvyl Dewey, Charles Ammi Cutter, and Charles Jewett. Born in Brescello , Italy in 1797, Panizzi received his doctorate in law in 1818. As a lawyer, Panizzi was part of the Italian establishment, but he also was a member of a secret revolutionary group that sought to free Italy from Austrian control. In 1822, Panizzi was arrested for his suspected revolutionary activities. He escaped from arrest, traveled across the Continent, and found himself an exile in England . He settled initially within the Italian exile community in Liverpool , where he learned English and taught Italian literature. In 1831, he accepted the position of Assistant Keeper in the Department of Printed Books, launching his illustrious thirty-five year career at the British Museum Library...

Long Beach Public Library: Inception, 1895-1917
by Catherine Outten

INTRODUCTION: This project is a look into the beginning history of the Long Beach Public Library. This is an important topic for research in that it is a typical story of the boom in libraries in the Carnegie era and in the incredible population growth in California during this time. Long Beach went from a tiny seaside get-away for people from Los Angeles, to an incorporated city in its own right. A large part of that transformation was the implementation of city services, including the public library...

A History of Information Literacy in Community Colleges as Represented by Articles in the Professional Press
by Billy Pashaie

INTRODUCTION: Community college libraries have long played a great part, in association with their parent organizations, in the role of education. The beginnings of this responsibility go back to the latter part of the 19th century and the dramatic growth of the academic community in the United States. Ever since the era of Melvyl Dewey and the birth and rise of the Library Journal in 1876, a body of literature has been devoted to the role of the librarian as educator. A topic of frequent discussion has been the education of the user in the effective and efficient use of library resources...

The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research:
An Independent Home for the Left
by Gregory Gregory Alan-Kingman Hom

INTRODUCTION: The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research (SCL) is a library and archive situated in South Central Los Angeles. The SCL has regular presentations of speakers or films on topics relating to the community organizing efforts of Los Angeles activists. The SCL was initially the work of Emil Freed, the son of anarchists and brought up with the consciousness that the world needed to be changed. His political life led him to John Reed Clubs in 1929, which were associated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA); he eventually became a member of the CPUSA, with which he was associated until his dying days.