Lutie E. Stearns Papers, 1894
[Back to Formatted Version]
Brief Description: Papers of Lutie E. Stearns, librarian at Milwaukee, Wisconsin Public Library (1888-1894), contains her notebook of 15 survey questions and responses from 145 librarians in the U.S. and Canada, includes library policies and activities involving young people, the survey formed the basis for her 1894 Annual Conference Report on Reading for the Young (published in Library Journal, December 1894), and Stearns' "In Conclusion Concerning the Child," a one-page statement on the value of teaching children.
Held at:
The American Library Association Archives
19 Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61802
Phone: 217 333 0798
Fax: 217 244 2868
Email: ala-archives [at] library.illinois.edu
Record Series Number: 97/1/31
Created by: Stearns, Lutie E. (1866-1943)
Volume: 0.2 Cubic Feet
Acquired: 06/29/1983.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by subject title
Biographical Note for Stearns, Lutie E. (1866-1943) : 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.
Subject Index
Children's Services
Library Work With Children
Stearns, Lutie
Surveys of Library Use
Young Adult Services
Languages of Materials
English [eng]