Laurel Grotzinger Papers, 1933, 1954, 1965-2017 | University of Illinois Archives

By subject and chronological thereunder

Arranged into the following three series:

Series 1: Personal Materials includes Grotzinger's publication list, biographical information, curriculum vitae, retirement biographies and obituary, payroll information, photographs of Grotzinger, information on the Laurel A. Grotzinger Scholarship Fund at Carleton College, Epsilon Extra, newsletters from Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Phi Muse, president elect name tag from the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, business cards, a bibliography of her publications, and (1) Awards and Honors and (2) Press.

Series 2: Professional Materials contains (1) research utilized in her publications and presentations, (2) awards, presentations, and publications from her time at Western Michigan University, (3) publications including The Plague of Graduate Illiteracy and Library History: An Existence, (4) materials from conferences attended and presented at, such as the Michigan Library Association and the American Library Association, (5) organizations that she was actively involved with such as the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, and (6) materials related to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, such as her work on the PhD Celebration Committee.

Series 3: Correspondence includes general correspondence with friends and students, requests for letters of recommendation, and correspondence on topics such as graduate education and publications such as the "Dictionary of American Library Biography Second Supplement."

Laurel Grotzinger was born in Truman, Minnesota to Edward Ferdinand and Marian Gertrude (Greeley) in 1935. In 1957, she received a B.A. in English with minors in French and History from Carleton College (Northfield, Minnesota). She would go on to receive her M.S. and PhD in Library Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1958 and 1964 respectively. In 1964, she started her 51-year tenure at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan) as an Assistant Professor. Grotzinger served as the Assistant Director of the School of Library Science from 1966-1972. In 1979, she became the Dean of the Graduate College, making her the first woman at Western Michigan University to become a Dean. Grotzinger served in many roles at Western Michigan University, including Chief Research Officer and Dean of the School of Library and Information Science. When she retired from Western Michigan in 2015, she had become a Professor Emeritus of University Libraries. Grotzinger was a member of many professional organizations, including Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Delta Kappa Gamma, the American Library Association, and the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters. She also had an extensive body of research, including multiple presentations and publications related to the field of Library and Information Science. Her work and scholarly contributions were acknowledged by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign when she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science in 1994. She passed away in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2018.

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