College and Research Libraries


McDiarmid Succeeds Walter 
at Minnesota 

Errett Weir McDiarmid began residence 

at the University of Minnesota on Sep-

tember I as university librarian and di-

rector of the division of library instruc-

tion. 

DR. M C D I A R M I D was graduated from T e x a s Christian University in 1929. 
During his second year there a college 

librarian saw promise in the young sopho-

more, invited him to join his staff, and 

continued him in a part-time capacity un-

til he finished his work for the master's 

degree four years later. It was during 

these four years and under this friendly 

tutelage that the idea of a career as li-

brarian took shape in W e i r McDiarmid's 

mind. Awarded a Julius Rosenwald schol-

arship in 1930-31, he received from Emory 

University the A . B . in Library Science in 

1931. Following a summer at the Detroit 

Public Library, he went to the Graduate 

Library School of the University of Chi-

cago, where he received the degree of Doc-

tor of Philosophy in 1934. 

A f t e r three years as librarian of Baylor 

University, he was called to the Univer-

sity of Illinois as a member of the faculty 

of the library school. T h a t was in 1937. 

He rose in rank rapidly from associate to 

assistant professor and finally to associate 

professor. In 1941-42 he served as chair-

man of an instruction committee, in which 

capacity he had direct responsibility for 

administering all phases of the work of the 

library school with the exception of place-

ment. His teaching had been mainly in 

the field of library administration, and his 

ERRETT W E I R M C D I A R M I D 

handling of the administrative responsi-

bilities with which he was entrusted tem-

porarily proved so effective that he was 

appointed assistant director of the school. 

T h e duties of this responsible post he car-

ried with ease but energetically and with 

large understanding. He provided a qual-

ity of leadership which, if cut short at 

Illinois, affords assurance to the profes-

sion and to the University of Minnesota 

that the bright mantle of Frank K . W a l -

ter falls, as it deserves to fall, on capable 

shoulders. 

D r . McDiarmid's interests were varied. 

84 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



Some of his colleagues at Illinois came to 

know him through the local chapter of 

the A . A . U . P . (which made him its secre-

tary) ; others by meeting him in tennis 

tournaments or by reading about the finals 

in the local newspaper. Partly as a result 

of these and other interests, partly as a 

result of a friendliness that is deep and 

strong, he was widely known and re-

spected among his colleagues throughout 

the university. 

D r . M c D i a r m i d is recognized as be-

longing to the scholarly group of younger 

librarians. H e has been a frequent con-

tributor to library publications. T h e 

American Library Association published 

his work entitled The Library Survey in 

1940. A more recent study, done in col-

laboration with his brother, John M c -

Diarmid, is to appear this fall as a joint 

publication of the American Library Asso-

ciation and the University of Illinois 

Press. T h i s is a study financed by a grant 

from the Carnegie Corporation and is to 

be entitled " T h e Administration of the 

American Public Library." 

Extramural Responsibilities 

His interest in the general problems of 

the library profession has brought him 

numerous extramural responsibilities. In 
1 9 3 7 - 3 8 he served as chairman of the 

A . L . A . Bibliography Committee. Since 

1939 he has been chairman of the A . L . A . 

Constitution and By-Laws Committee. 

In 1939-40 he served as a member of the 

important A . L . A . T h i r d Activities Com-

mittee. From 1940-42 he was a member 

of the Committee on Reorganization of 

the American Association of Library 

Schools. 

Readers of College and Research Li-

braries knew him first as its assistant edi-

tor, beginning in 1941, and later as its 

managing editor. In this latter capacity, 

he has been in direct charge of the journal, 

handling all phases of the work from creat-

ing articles to superintending the progress 

of copy through the press. His relinquish-

ment of the managing editorship was an-

nounced in the September issue of Col-

lege and Research Libraries. T h i s is a 

loss to the journal, one which all those 

who know how much W e i r M c D i a r m i d 

has put into the managing editorship look 

upon with real regret. His going to 

Minnesota dissolves an editorial partner-

ship with a record of only one case of dis-

agreement. T h a t was over the question 

of including the present article in the 

September issue of this journal. " M a c " 

won. 

C A R L M . W H I T E 

a n d E U N I C E C . M O H R 

DECEMBER, 1943 
8 7 



r The papers of 
h a s t Booker T . Washing-

ton have been pre-
sented to the Library of Congress by the 
trustees of Tuskegee Institute. The collec-
tion contains approximately 180,000 pieces 
and is regarded by scholars as perhaps the 
richest and most important source of in-
formation on the history of the Negro. 

An important addition to the library of 
the School of Fine Arts of the University 
of Pennsylvania is the bequest from the 
estate of the late Charles Louis Borie of a 
number of works dealing with medieval 
manuscripts and the early history of the 
book. This acquisition fills one of the im-
portant gaps in the material dealing with 
medieval art in the University of Pennsyl-
vania Libraries. 

Pennsylvania State College has acquired, 
partly by gift and partly by purchase, 
some five thousand volumes which are to be 
known as the Robert H. Hay Collection. 
They include works of British and American 
authors, with emphasis on Hawthorne, and 
first editions and rarities relating to litera-
ture, religion, travel, art, folklore, and 
American history. Books to which noted 
illustrators have contributed are numerous 
among them, as are titles dealing with ex-
perimental colonies, superstitions, and witch-
craft. 

The Roosevelt Memorial Association of 
N e w York has donated to the Harvard 
College Library its collection of eleven thou-
sand books and eight thousand photographs 
and cartoons relating to Theodore Roose-
velt. As soon as the collection has been 
integrated with the recent American history 
collection at Harvard, it will be available 
for the use of scholars. Nora Cordingley 
will continue her work with the collection. 

M a n u s c r i p t s r e -
South cently received by the 

Virginia State Li-
brary, Wilmer L. Hall, librarian, include 
letters of the Ross family, 1805-16; Herndon 
account book, 1803-66; Fluvanna County pa-
pers; papers and correspondence of Gov-
ernor A. J. Montague; miscellaneous manu-
scripts of Warwick, Prince George, and 
Nansemond counties; papers relating to the 

News from 

Brooke family; Tazewell family papers; a 
George Mason document; a letter book, 
1804-08, of John Clarke, superintendent of 
the Virginia Manufactory of Arms; and 
various Confederate rosters. 

More News from Virginia: A Further 
Account of Bacons Rebellion, Reproduced 
in Facsimile with an Introduction by 
Thomas Perkins Abernethy has been issued 
by the University of Virginia Library as the 
third publication from the Tracy W . M c -
Gregor Collection. The facsimile is of a 
unique copy of a pamphlet published in 1677. 

The manuscript collection of the College 
of William and Mary, E. G . Swem, librar-
ian, has been enhanced by the acquisition of 
the letters, account books, and other manu-
scripts of Charles Campbell, author of the 
History of Virginia and former head of a 
preparatory school in Petersburg. The 
manuscripts include a diary of Charles 
Campbell in Petersburg for the period 1861-

64. 
Jacqueline Bull, assistant reference librar-

ian, University of Kentucky, has been 
awarded a fellowship by the Rockefeller 
Foundation for study in Southern economic 
history. The study will consist of 

(1) An analysis of the collection of 
Southern mercantile records in the Univer-
sity of Kentucky Library in an effort to 
learn the position occupied by the agricul-
tural supply merchant. 

(2) An estimate of the best methods for 
organizing these records into a working 
collection for scholars. 

The collection of the Union Theological 
Seminary Library, Richmond, Va., Henry 
M . Brimm, librarian, has been transferred 
to the first unit of a new library building 
just completed at a cost of $170,000. 

Hollins College Library, Hollins, Va., 
Dorothy A. Doerr, librarian, has received a 
collection of seventy manuscripts, incunabula, 
and early sixteenth century books from M r , 
Samuel Herbert McVitty of Ridgewood 
Farm, Salem, Va. This collection, consid-

86 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



the Field 

ered by appraisers to include one of the 
finest small collections of early printed books, 
consists largely of works of German and 
Italian presses, although there are also ex-
amples from presses located in England and 
France. 

The University of 
Southwest Texas Library has 

added a new member 
to its staff, the "Service Coordinator," 
whose specific function is to remove the 
obstacles between the student and the book. 
Faculty members are encouraged to indicate 
the specific book requirements for their 
classes and with that information this staff 
member tailors the service to fit the need. 

Brother Hugo, C.S.C., librarian of St. 
Edwards University, Austin, Texas, has re-
ported the acquisition of the Texas Knights 
of Columbus Archives comprising about 
seventy thousand manuscripts and photostats 
of manuscripts. 

The University of Texas Medical School, 
Elizabeth D. Runge, librarian, has estab-
lished a new reading room called the Found-
ers' Room. It was created by Dr. Chauncey 
D. Leake and formally opened on Decem-
ber 18, 1942. It contains the nontechnical 
books in the medical library, including biog-
raphy, medical history, medical Texiana, 
plays and novels by and about doctors, as 
well as many classics and first editions of 
medicine. Also shelved in this room are 
Dr. Leake's interesting rare books and in-
cunabula relating to the healing art and 
interesting books from other gift collec-
tions. The Founder's Room serves the stu-
dent body as a recreational reading room. 
Mildred M . Robertson is in charge. 

Texas Christian University Library, Mrs. 
Bertie H. Mothershead, librarian, has re-
ceived as gifts the nine hundred-volume edu-
cation library of Professor R. A. Smith and 
the five hundred-volume library of the late 
Professor W . C. Morro, head of the New 
Testament department of Brite College of 
the Bible. 

• Keyes D . Metcalf, 
Middlewest director of the Har-

vard University Li-
brary, and Theodore C. Blegen, dean of the 
Graduate School of the University of Min-
nesota, have completed a survey of the re-
lationship between the State Historical So-
ciety of Wisconsin and the University of 
Wisconsin Library and have made recom-
mendations for a joint building program 
and a reallocation of the fields of collecting 
covered by each library. 

The Rockefeller Foundation has granted 
$5000 to be used in promoting Oberlin Col-
lege's program of Far Eastern studies. Five 
hundred dollars will be devoted to visual 
aid materials such as maps, charts, and 
slides; the balance to the purchase of books. 
Julian S. Fowler is librarian. 

M a x Sherover, president of the Lingua-
phone Institute of New York, has donated 
to the Oberlin College Library a large col-
lection of records relating to linguistics, 
phonetics, and diction of English and for-
eign languages. The collection includes also 
a representative selection of recorded 
speeches by prominent personalities, dead 
and living, and readings by prominent actors, 
poets, and authors. M r . Sherover makes the 
gift in honor of his son, Charles, a recent 
Oberlin graduate, now in military service. 
A special room has been set aside and fur-
nished to facilitate the use of these records 
and those of similar content already owned 
by the Oberlin library. 

In M a y 1943 Indiana University acquired 
through purchase the Sweet collection of 
letters, documents, broadsides, prints, and 
books bearing on the W a r of 1812. There 
are about two thousand manuscript items 
in the collection, including letters of Presi-
dents James Madison, James Monroe, W i l -
liam Henry Harrison, and Andrew Jack-
son. The British point of view is repre-
sented by the correspondence of Sir Alex-
ander Cochrane, vice admiral of the British 
Navy at that time, and Lord Melville (Rob-
ert Dundas, second viscount), first lord of 
the British Admiralty. An interesting docu-
ment is one signed by Robert Fulton and 
James Welden on their agreement concern-
ing the use of submarine boats and torpe-
does against the British fleet in the W a r 

DECEMBER, 1943 8 7 



of 1812. The collection was amassed by 
F. G. Sweet, of New York City, and his 
son, Forest H. Sweet, of Battle Creek, 
Mich. Indiana University will maintain 
this material as a special collection, adding 
manuscripts and books as opportunity per-
mits. 

The Library Asso-
JVest ciation of Portland, 

Ore., Nell Avery lin-
ger, librarian, owns the original journal kept 
by Col. Charles S. Bulkley, who was in 
charge of the United States Russo-American 
Telegraph Expedition in 1865. There has 
been considerable interest in it since the 
Canada-Alaska highway was started. A 
photostatic copy has been made by the United 
States 29th Engineers and presented by the 
commanding officer of the Alcan military 
highway to Prime Minister W . L. McKen-
zie King. 

For the past year the librarians of the 
seven state colleges of California have cir-
culated a round robin letter. Each library 
adds a letter as it comes around. Contri-
butions are sometimes made by several mem-
bers of a staff. The topics discussed may 
be on a particular subject requested by one 
of the libraries, personal news, or news of 
library activities or problems. 

San Diego State College Library, John 
Paul Stone, librarian, has received three 
important collections on loan for the dura-
tion of the war: the 25,ooo-volume scientific 
library of the Natural History Society of 
San Diego; the 3000-volume library of an-
thropology of the San Diego Museum of 
M a n ; and the personal library of 1375 vol-
umes given to President U. S. Grant in 
1866 by the City of Boston. The Grant 
Collection may remain with the college on 
permanent loan from the San Diego M u -
seum. 

Through the efforts of Dr. Guenther 
•Reinhardt, the Charles Doe Memorial Li-
brary, University of California, now owns 
the most complete file of Der Bund to be 
found in this country. The library's file of 
this leading Swiss neutral newspaper is now 
complete from 1939 through November 
1942. 

Library science courses have been added 

to the curriculum of the Adams State Teach-
ers College, Alamosa, Colo., and students 
may now minor in that division. Lenore M . 
Brownlee is librarian. 

Lloyd A. Brown, 
Personnel formerly of the W i l -

liam L. Clements Li-
brary of the University of Michigan, has 
been appointed librarian of the Peabody 
Institute, Baltimore, to succeed Louis Henry 
Dielman. 

Evelyn Steele Little, librarian, Mills Col-
lege, has been given a year's leave of ab-
sence to serve with the British Branch 
of the Office of W a r Information. Helen 
Blasdale will serve as acting librarian in her 
absence. 

Forrest F. Carhart, Jr., of the University 
of Michigan Library, has been appointed 
assistant librarian of the University of West 
Virginia, W . P. Kellam, librarian. 

Mrs. Vivian Reynolds Boughter is li-
brarian of the State College Library, West 
Liberty, W.Va., following the resignation 
of Virginia Patterson. 

Edith M . Brainard, librarian of Itasca 
Junior College for the past two years, has 
resigned to accept the librarianship of Gus-
tavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn. 

Wuanita Bell, acting librarian of the 
Bemidji State Teachers College, Bemidji, 
Minn., the past year, has been appointed 
librarian to succeed Eileen Thornton, who 
has resigned. 

Christine L. Reb, librarian, Baker Uni-
versity, has been granted a leave of absence 
to become librarian of Winter General Hos-
pital, Topeka, Kan. 

Harold Lancour, librarian and assistant 
professor of bibliography at Cooper Union, 
New York City, and chairman of the En-
gineering School Libraries Section of 
A.C.R.L., has entered the Army. His duties 
will be assumed by David K. Maxfield, first 
assistant librarian. 

Sadie T . Kent, who has been connected 
with the Southeast Missouri State Teachers 
College, Cape Girardeau, since 1905, and 
college librarian since 1910, has retired to 
partial service as librarian emeritus. A t 
the time of her retirement the board of 

88 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



regents named the n e w college library build-
ing the " K e n t L i b r a r y . " 

F e l i x E u g e n e Snider, f o r m e r l y librarian 
of the E a s t C a r o l i n a T e a c h e r s C o l l e g e , 
G r e e n v i l l e , N . C . , has succeeded Sadie T . 
K e n t as librarian of the Southeast M i s s o u r i 
State T e a c h e r s C o l l e g e . 

M a r i o n F u l l e r is n o w assistant librarian 
of O r e g o n C o l l e g e of E d u c a t i o n L i b r a r y , 
M o n m o u t h , replacing L o i s C r i s w e l l w h o 
has been appointed c a t a l o g e r in the O r e g o n 
State C o l l e g e L i b r a r y . 

E l l a R . M c D o w e l l , w h o has been munici-
pal r e f e r e n c e librarian of the Seattle P u b l i c 
L i b r a r y , has been made head of the n e w l y 
o r g a n i z e d K i n g C o u n t y R u r a l L i b r a r y S e r v -
ice w i t h h e a d q u a r t e r s in Seattle. She has 
been succeeded by K a t h e r i n e K a r p e n s t e i n , 
recently assistant librarian of the U n i v e r -
sity of C a l i f o r n i a L a w L i b r a r y . 

H u m p h r e y O l s o n has replaced A d r i e n n e 
M a s o n as l i b r a r i a n of P i k e v i l l e J u n i o r C o l -
lege, P i k e v i l l e , K y . M i s s M a s o n is n o w li-
b r a r i a n of N i c h o l s G e n e r a l H o s p i t a l in 
L o u i s v i l l e . 

E t t a B e a l e G r a n t has been promoted f r o m 
assistant l i b r a r i a n to librarian of M u r r a y 
State T e a c h e r s C o l l e g e , M u r r a y , K y . , to 
succeed Ellison L . B r o w n , w h o is in the 
m i l i t a r y service. 

C a t h e r i n e O . V a u g h n has been appointed 
librarian of K e n t u c k y State C o l l e g e f o r N e -
g r o e s at F r a n k f o r t . 

H a r r i e t D . M a c P h e r s o n , f o r m e r l y a mem-
ber of the f a c u l t y of the School of L i b r a r y 
Service, C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y , is now li-
b r a r i a n of Smith C o l l e g e . 

John V a n M a l e , f o r m e r l y director of the 
Pacific N o r t h w e s t Bibliographical C e n t e r at 
the U n i v e r s i t y of W a s h i n g t o n , Seattle, has 
assumed the librarianship of M a d i s o n C o l -
lege, H a r r i s o n b u r g , V a . H e succeeds Rich-
ard H . L o g s d o n , w h o is now acting director, 

department of l i b r a r y science, U n i v e r s i t y of 
K e n t u c k y . 

M i l d r e d R u t h e r f o r d has succeeded M a r y 
H u t c h e s o n as librarian of the Sue B e n n e t t 
C o l l e g e , L o n d o n , K y . 

G i l b e r t H . D o a n e , librarian of the U n i -
versity of W i s c o n s i n , is n o w an officer in 
the U n i t e d States A r m y and has been or-
dered to active duty in the m i l i t a r y govern-
ment p r o g r a m . 

O r l i n C . Spicer, f o r m e r l y assistant in the 
reference and circulation department, U n i -
versity of M i s s o u r i L i b r a r y , has been ap-
pointed librarian of M o n t i c e l l o C o l l e g e , 
G o d f r e y , 111. 

W i l l i a m H . Jesse, of the U n i t e d States 
D e p a r t m e n t of A g r i c u l t u r e L i b r a r y , has suc-
ceeded M a r y E . B a k e r as librarian of the 
U n i v e r s i t y of T e n n e s s e e . 

E m o r y C . S k a r s h a u g , until recently li-
b r a r i a n of the B u r n a m C l a s s i c a l L i b r a r y , 
U n i v e r s i t y of Cincinnati, has been appointed 
librarian of C a r r o l l C o l l e g e to succeed H a n -
na K r e u g e r w h o is now assistant librarian 
and instructor in l i b r a r y science at W e s t e r n 
Illinois State T e a c h e r s C o l l e g e , M a c o m b . 

Jennie D . Lindquist, noted f o r her w o r k 
in the field of children's reading, is n o w a 
member of the staff of the U n i v e r s i t y of 
N e w H a m p s h i r e L i b r a r y , R o b e r t L . M a r -
tin, acting librarian. 

N a o m a Rich, associate librarian of the 
H e b e r J . G r a n t L i b r a r y of B r i g h a m Y o u n g 
U n i v e r s i t y , P r o v o , U t a h , has been g r a n t e d a 
six months' leave of absence to study at the 
School of L i b r a r y Service, C o l u m b i a U n i -
versity. 

T h e June installment of " N e w s f r o m the 
F i e l d " erroneously reported L o r e n e A . 
G a r l o c h as acting librarian, U n i v e r s i t y of 
P i t t s b u r g h . She is chief of reference and 
circulation. C a r r o l l F . Reynolds is acting 
librarian. 

DECEMBER, 1943 
8 7