College and Research Libraries


By H E N R Y O . S E V E R A N C E 

Raymond C. Davis 
1836-1919 

Mr. Severance is honorary consultant in 
library practice at the Library of Congress. 

IT is M Y GOOD F O R T U N E to have been a member of M r . Davis'1 staff for eight 
years—1897-1905. H e was then in his 
sixties, a dignified gentleman with a fine 
physique, six feet two inches tall, erect, 
dark gray hair and mustache, bright eyes 
with a friendly twinkle in them. H e was 
held in high esteem by his staff and by his 
colleagues in the university. T h e stu-
dents appreciated his sympathetic interest 
in their problems and his willingness to 
assist them. H e took a personal interest 
in every member of his staff. H e dele-
gated responsibilities to them for the de-
velopment of their respective lines of 
work. H e suggested policies and outlined 
their work, and allowed them to work 
out details and to suggest improvements in 
the service. H e was modest, friendly, 
agreeable. Neither the students nor the 
members of the staff, nor the young men 
on the faculty stood in awe of him. His 
manner and attitude invited confidence. 
H e was one of the distinguished univer-
sity librarians of his time. 

M e n have entered the library profession 
from the ministry, from the legal profes-
sion, from faculties of universities, from 
the printing trades, and have made suc-

1 Assistant librarian, U n i v e r s i t y of Michigan 1868-
1872, l i b r a r i a n 1877-1905, l i b r a r i a n e m e r i t u s 1906-
1919. 

cessful careers in the library profession. 
T h e i r backgrounds, however, included a 
college or university education. I have 
known only one librarian whose youth was 
spent on the sea and in the shipping busi-
ness—R. C. Davis. 

H e was born in Cushing, Me., J u n e 
23, 1836, on a small farm near Penobscot 
Bay. His father was a sea captain, his 
brother a mate. W h e n Raymond was 
thirteen years of age, his father took him 
on a voyage around the world. His ship 
carried lumber from the Maine forests to 
San Francisco. T h e ship next sailed to 
Honolulu, then across the Indian Ocean 
to Calcutta where it was loaded with olive 
oil, seeds, hides, and the like for merchants 
in London. T h e ship put into the ports 
of Rio de Janeiro, Valparaiso, San Fran-
cisco, Honolulu, Calcutta, and London. 
It rounded Cape H o r n and the Cape of 
Good Hope. W h i l e Raymond was as-
signed no specific duties on the ship, he 
did learn all about the management of the 
ship. H e went ashore in the ports and 
saw the beautifully landscaped parks, 
spacious avenues, and public buildings of 
Rio. H e saw how people lived in all 
these ports; learned what the different 
countries produced and shipped;—about 
the geography of the world,—countries, 
rivers, cities, mountain ranges, trade winds, 
hurricanes, and the like. Several years 
later, 1869, he wrote for children an in-

344 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH ) L I B R A R I E S 



teresting account of his two years voyage 
1849-51, and published it under the title 
of Reminiscences of a Voyage around the 
World. 

Upon his return from the voyage he 
entered Hampton Academy and finished 
his preparatory work in Kimball Union 
Academy, both in N e w Hampshire. 
T h e n he matriculated in the University 
of Michigan in 1855. In 1857 he be-
came seriously ill. His physician told him 
that he must have ten years relief from 
mental work. H e urged him to secure 
out-of-door work. H e therefore went 
back to the sea. T h e r e is no record of 
his activities during these ten years. 

T h r o u g h the recommendation of his 
classmate and intimate friend, Claudius 
B. G r a n t , M r . Davis was elected by the 
board of regents to the position of assistant 
librarian of the university in 1868. As 
assistant librarian he cataloged books and 
wrote the cards for the public catalog. 

W h e n the librarian, D r . A n d r e w T e n 
Brook, resigned in 1877, the board of 
regents elected M r . Davis librarian of 
the university at a salary of $1000 a year. 
T h e library contained 23,909 volumes. 
T h e annual appropriation was $1000. 
T h e annual increase was six hundred 
volumes. 

T h e year 1877 was an epoch in the 
history of the library for three reasons: 

1. Raymond C. Davis began his long serv-
ice of twenty-eight years as librarian. He 
was a modest conservative energetic young 
man, who had already proved his worth, 
who had acquired good business experience, 
who was an author, and had a keen appre-
ciation of the service of books in the educa-
tion of students. 

2. The state legislature began a series of 
special appropriations for the library. The 
initial appropriation was $1000. 

3. Alumni and friends were becoming con-
scious of the needs of the library. Gifts 

began coming in larger numbers. Large 
gifts were not lacking. The McMillan 
Shakespeare library of 2500 volumes was 
received in 1882, later the Goethe library. 
The income from the Coyle fund and the 
Ford-Messer fund was expended for special 
classes of books supplemental to those se-
cured on state appropriations. 

M r . Davis was an adept in soliciting 
books as gifts for the library. T h e num-
ber of gifts soon exceeded the number of 
books acquired annually by purchase. 

Purchases Limited 
T h e allotment for the purchase of books 

was so limited that M r . Davis had to use 
extreme care in the selection of books to 
be purchased. H e searched secondhand 
catalogs and auction catalogs for bargains. 
W r i t i n g about the library's collection of 
books, D r . Bishop called it "an admirable 
selection of books, purchased with rare 
skill with meager fu n d s." 

T h e circulation of books was rather 
limited as students were not allowed to 
take books from the reading room, but 
professors were. T h e reading room in 
the building was ample for several years. 
T h e seminary rooms were limited to ad-
vanced and graduate students. A new 
library building was erected in 1883 and 
was said to have been "the first fruits 
of his administration." It was one of the 
earliest university library buildings. I t 
proved to be a very satisfactory building 
for its purpose. In the course of twenty 
years additional stacks and study rooms 
had to be added. 

T h e pioneer university librarians such 
as R. C. Davis, A. S. Root, J . C. Rowell, 
and Justin Winsor had no collection of 
professional library literature which they 
might consult in the solution of their prob-
lems. Nothing had been published on li-
brary buildings, on card catalogs, and 

SEPT EMBER, 1941 345 



classification of books except the prelimin-
ary editions of Dewey's decimal classifica-
tion of 1876. J . C. Rowell devised a 
classification for the library of the Univer-
sity of California. M r . Davis continued 
the "fixed classification" begun by his pre-
decessor, also the card catalog of the books. 
T h e cards were written by hand. T h e r e 
were no typewriters adapted for this card 
work. Cornell University library and 
H a r v a r d College had also adopted the 
card index in 1875 in their respective 
libraries. Later M r . Rowell changed to 
the card index. T h i s "fixed system" of 
classification worked well until the stacks 
became full. T h e books could not be 
moved from one shelf to another without 
drawing all the cards for them from the 
public catalog and shelflist and changing 
the shelf numbers on the cards. T h e cards 
were filed in two alphabets: one in an 
author catalog; the other, in a subject and 
title catalog. T h e system became im-
practical. 

Finally in 1897 he decided to adopt the 
Dewey System with some modifications. 
From that date all new books were given 
the new classification. T h e whole col-
lection of the library, 117,000 volumes, 
was gradually reclassed. 

University librarians of the present day 
have their problems but a different set 
of problems than the pioneer librarians 
had. W e have the recorded experience of 
earlier librarians and the solution of their 
problems to guide us, but those early li-
brarians used the "cut and t r y " method 
until they reached a solution. T h e y had 
the problems of "departmental libraries," 
"care of pamphlet material," "use of stu-
dent help," and "how to acquaint fresh-
men with the use of the library." 

M r . Davis authorized departmental li-
braries and made the chairman of the 

department responsible for the library in 
his department. T h e library acquired 
bundles of pamphlets in the Parsons Li-
brary and accumulated hundreds more in 
the ordinary routine. H e solved this 
problem by binding the important ones in 
cheap bindings, which he treated as books. 
Others which appeared to have value, he 
arranged by subject and had them—ten 
or twelve numbers—bound into books. 

A f t e r his experience as a freshman, in 
using the library and in his work with 
students when he was assistant librarian, 
he concluded that students did not know 
the existence of such tools as indexes and 
bibliographies. H e therefore began a 
course way back in 1879 to acquaint the 
freshman with the card catalog, the in-
dexes, and other reference books and the 
method of drawing a book from the li-
brary. T h i s was probably the first course 
of its kind to be given freshmen. H e 
continued the course at the opening of the 
university every year until his resignation. 

Course in Bibliography 

Another significant course, and I think 
the first course of its kind ever offered in 
any university, was a systematic course of 
instruction in bibliography, a one-hour 
course with credit, begun in 1881 and 
continued until 1914 when the condition 
of M r . Davis's health made the discon-
tinuance mandatory. W h e n Melvil 
Dewey opened his library school in Co-
lumbia University, he secured M r . Davis 
to give the course in bibliography. H e 
continued his annual lectures until the li-
brary school was transferred to Albany. 

T h e publications of universities and of 
learned and scientific societies and institu-
tions have been a prolific source of valua-
ble material for our libraries. Since the 
t u r n of the century all the large univer-

346 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH ) L I B R A R I E S 



sity libraries, domestic and foreign, have 
established exchange relations with one 
another. 

In 1894 M r . Davis saw the possibility 
of accumulating this class of material for 
his library. H e advocated the establish-
ment of a journal by the university which 
might be a medium for publishing the re-
sults of researches in the university. His 
second motive was to have the journal to 
send university and society libraries in ex-
change for their publications. T e n years 
elapsed before such a system of exchanges 
was organized. 

Established Book Bindery 

Another important venture in university 
libraries was the establishment of a book 
bindery in the library in 1897. In bis 
reports he stated that the results had been 
eminently satisfactory, that books re-
mained in the library for use, that the 
cost of binding had been less than it would 
have been if the binding had been done by 
commercial firms, and that the quality had 
been superior. M r . Davis considered the 
two most important events in his adminis-
tration, the erection of the library build-
ing in 1883 and the establishment of the 
book bindery. O n the occasion of the 
dedication of the building M r . Davis gave 
a short sketch of the history of the li-
brary. In this article he urged the board 
of regents to make this library "a great 
library center in the wide Northwest." 
H e said the seats of the great libraries in 
the United States were four—Boston, 
N e w York, Philadelphia, and Washing-
ton, and that the fifth center might well 
be Ann Arbor. 

T h e choice of Theodore W . Koch as 
assistant librarian in 1904 and librarian 
1905-1916 was highly important. H e 
proved to be one of the most efficient 

modern librarians. 
M r . Davis was a life member of the 

American Library Association, having 
joined in 1878, two years after its organi-
zation. T h i s brought him early into con-
tact with leaders of the profession. H e 
was such a modest, unassuming man that 
he never became prominent in the discus-
sions of the conferences. H e was as-
sociated with other librarians in compiling 
the cooperative Poole's Index and in other 
joint undertakings. 

Honored by Board of Regents 
T h e board of regents back in 1884, de-

siring to recognize the efficient service he 
was rendering to the faculty and students, 
conferred upon him the honorary degree 
of Master of Arts. 

M r . Davis and Ellen Regal, a sister of 
M r s . I. N . Demon, professor of English, 
were married in 1880. T h e y spent their 
summer vacations in Castine, M e . H e 
was an active member of the First Bap-
tist Church. H e resigned his position in 
1905 and was given the honorary title of 
librarian emeritus. H e died at his home 
in Ann Arbor, J u n e 20, 1919. 

" H i s work as a librarian was char-
acterized by great fidelity to duty, by high 
standards of book selection, and by kindly 
and friendly relations with his staff, with 
his colleagues of the faculties, and with all 
classes of students."2 

Honorable Claudius B. G r a n t char-
acterized him as follows: " M r . Davis was 
a rare man, rare in his unselfishness, rare 
in his devotion to duty, rare in his loyalty 
to truth, rare in his regards for the feel-
ings of others. I have never heard him 
speak an unkind or harsh word to any-
one. A model as a patriotic Christian 
citizen." 

2 University Senate Memorial, J a n . 16, 1920. 

SEPT EMBER, 1941 347