Stearns, Lutie E. (1866-1943) | The American Library Association Archives

Name: Stearns, Lutie E. (1866-1943)

Variant Name: Stearns, L. E.

Fuller Form: Stearns, Lutie Eugenia

Historical Note: Lutie E. Stearns was born on September 13, 1866 in Staughton, Massachusetts, the youngest of eleven children. Stearns graduated from the Milwaukee State Normal School in 1886 and took a teaching position thereafter in the public schools. She was an avid user of the public library, both in her professional and personal life. In 1888, the Milwaukee Public Library Board hired her on as the Head of the Circulation Departments. While in this position, she aided in the increase of school circulation of library materials substantially. Stearns was instrumental in establishing the Wisconsin Free Library Commission in 1895. She served as the first secretary of the Commission and became Librarian in 1897. By 1903, she was Head of the Commission's Traveling Library Department, which brought library materials to patrons in small towns, villages, and farms. She held this position until 1914. In 1928, she toured Europe as a member of the American Seminar for International Relations and disseminated information about library materials. She eventually retired from her library duties and wrote a column for the Milwaukee Journal from 1932-1935, titled, "As a Woman Sees It." Stearns passed away from on Christmas in 1943.

Sources: [1] John Calvin Colson, "Stearns, Lutie Eugenia (1866-1943)," in Dictionary of American Library Biography, ed. Bohdan S. Wynar (Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc., 1978), 504-505.

Records or Manuscript Collections Created by Stearns, Lutie E.