( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
https://www.amazon.com/War-Service-American-Library-Association/dp/1373144947?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1373144947
Herbert was born on September 20, 1861 in New York City, New York, United States, the son of George Palmer Putnam and Victorine Haven Putnam. His father, at the time of his death in 1872, was head of the publishing company G. P. Putnam and Sons.
Herbert Putnam attended James H. Morse's English and Classical School in New York and graduated from Harvard in 1883. The following year he studied law at Columbia University.
In October 1884 Putnam became librarian of the Minneapolis Athenaeum and was admitted to the Minnesota bar in 1885. In 1887 the Athenaeum was merged with the newly organized Minneapolis Public Library and Putnam was placed in charge of both institutions. Because of the illness of his mother-in-law, Putnam resigned his position on December 31, 1891. With his family he settled in Cambridge, Massachussets, where he was admitted to the Suffolk County bar and practiced law for three years.
Early in 1895 he was chosen director of the Boston Public Library, a venerable institution in need of reorganization and preparing to move into a new building. He stimulated his entire staff to greater efforts, and maintained firm, formal, and friendly relations with them. In 1898 he became president of the American Library Association, completing the unexpired term of Justin Winsor.
When Putnam was called to Washington, with other prominent librarians, to consult on the qualifications of a new Librarian of Congress, he stressed the priority of administrative ability over love of literature. The Library of Congress, in its new building (now the main building), was opened to the public on November 1, 1897. The new librarian, John Russell Young, died after only fourteen months in office, and Putnam succeeded him on April 5, 1899, beginning a brilliant forty-year career. In 1901 he initiated interlibrary loan service and announced his plans for the sale and distribution of duplicates of the Library of Congress catalog cards to other libraries, thereby saving smaller library staffs the time and cost of cataloging each new entry. In 1904 Putnam was elected president of the American Library Association.
At the outbreak of World War I, Putnam became general director of the American Library Association's Library War Service (1917). On March 3, 1925, the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board was created. Putnam served as secretary of the Trust Fund Board. In 1930 Putnam won his long-sought authorization for construction of the library's annex (opened in 1939), designed to relieve the oppressive flow of material coming to the main building. In the same year the library acquired one of the three perfect copies of the Gutenberg Bible.
When Putnam became librarian emeritus (the only librarian to hold that title) on October 1, 1939, the library's holdings had increased more than sevenfold during his tenure. Approached in 1938 by Doubleday, Doran and Company to write his autobiography, Putnam declined for characteristic reasons. "I have kept no records, " he replied, "and I am not given to reminiscence, my habitual concern having been always of today or tomorrow rather than of yesterdays. "
He died in Quissett, near Woods Hole, Massachussets
Serving as the director of the Boston Public Library, Herbert Putnam made many changes and improvements, establishing a children's room, expediting the flow of books between headquarters and branches, encouraging interlibrary loans, extending library hours, creating a special libraries department, and opening a newspaper room. He offered women new opportunities in library work. Putnam was the eighth (and also the longest-serving) Librarian of Congress, he quietly but brilliantly administered the Library of Congress in all aspects. Under his guidance it developed the Legislative Reference Service and acquired the largest collection of Slavic literature outside of the Soviet Union and the largest collection of Orientalia outside of the Far E. The National Union Catalog also came under Putnam's aegis; and new divisions were formed and new collections were received.
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
Quotations: "A librarian should know enough of the literary side of the Library, of bibliography, etc. , to appreciate intelligently the needs of the several departments of specialized work. "
Putnam was elected an Associate member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1902, and elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1907.
Putnam had a great heart, great vision, and a firm hand. His chiefs and specialists were chosen with exceeding care; and they in turn were inspired by his leadership and confidence. He was receptive to new ideas and new directions. Putnam was short and slight.
Quotes from others about the person
Herbert's mental and spiritual credentials inspired Librarian Jens Christian Bay to call him "the tallest little man in the world. "
On October 1886, Putnam married Charlotte Elizabeth Munroe; they had two daughters.
