Lenora Blouin was an American bibliographer, librarian, and author. She is the author of May Sarton: A Bibliography.
Background
Lenora Pauline Blouin was born on the 7th of July, 1941, in Seattle, Washington, United States. Her parents, Leonard Theodore and Pauline Marguerite Blouin eventually settled on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound and named their little farm Hope View. At age 7, Lenora and her family moved to San Jose, Califonia, where her increasing love of reading flourished.
Education
As a child, Lenora Blouin attended San Jose High School and then received an Associate of Arts degree from San Jose City College. Soon after, Lenora studied at San Jose State University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968, a Master of Arts degree in 1972 and a Master of Library Science degree in 1974.
Career
Lenora began her career as a Young Adult Librarian at the Santa Clara City Library. She worked as a reference librarian at San Jose Public Library (now the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library) in San Jose from 1976 to 1986. Lenora eventually became Head of the Reference in 1986, a position she was extremely proud to hold until her retirement in 1996.
Blouin’s writing career began in 1978 with the publication of the May Sarton bibliography. In 2000, May Sarton: A Bibliography, 2nd Edition, was published. She was chosen as a keynote speaker for the May Sarton Centennial Symposium, May 2012 in York, Maine. Lenora was continuing research on her third edition at the time of her passing.
Religion
Lenora was a devoted member of the Campbell United Methodist Church. She made many dear friends, taught Disciple classes and thoroughly enjoyed the music and sermons. After her very first visit, she knew this was a church she would call home.
Views
Quotations:
"When one thinks of writers, one usually does not think of bibliographers. Bibliographers, although important and necessary to the art of research, are not necessarily considered to be engaged in the creative endeavors associated with writing prose or poetry. I have never shared this view".
Membership
Lenora Blouin was a member of the National Coalition of Independent Scholars, Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia, and Society for the Study of American Women Writers.