Plummer, Mary Wright (1956-1916) | The American Library Association Archives

Name: Plummer, Mary Wright (1956-1916)

Historical Note: Mary Wright Plummer was born on March 8, 1856. She was a member of Melvil Dewey's first class in the School of Library Economy at Columbia College. After finishing the program in 1888, she worked as a cataloger at the St. Louis Public Library. In 1890 she began working at the Pratt Institute Free Library where, in 1895, she became head of their newly-expanded library school, as well as the director of the Library at Pratt. She worked to design the curriculum to be more library-oriented, focusing both on in-depth content as well as practice work. She left Pratt in 1911 to become the first principal of the library school of the New York Public Library. Plummer was active in professional associations. She served as president of the New York Library Club from 1896 to 1897 and 1913 to 1914, president of the New York State Library Association in 1906, chairman of ALA's Committee on Library Training from 1903 to 1910, and president of ALA from 1915 to 1916. She died on September 21, 1916 [1].

Sources: 1. Robert A. Karlowich and Nasser Sharify, "Plummer, Mary Wright (1856-1916)," in Dictionary of American Library Biography, ed. Bohdan S. Wynar. (Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc., 1978), 399-402.

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