Herbert Putnam
| Herbert Putnam | |
|---|---|
Herbert Putnam
|
|
| 8th Librarian of Congress | |
|
In office 1899–1939 |
|
| President |
William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | John Young |
| Succeeded by | Archibald MacLeish |
| Librarian Emeritus of Congress | |
|
In office 1939–1954 |
|
| President |
Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
George Herbert Putnam September 20, 1861 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | August 14, 1955 (aged 93) |
| Spouse(s) | Charlotte Elizabeth Munroe |
| Children | Shirley Putnam, Brenda Putnam |
| Alma mater |
Harvard University Columbia University |
| Awards | Knight of the Royal Order of the Polar Star, Roosevelt Distinguished Medal |
George Herbert Putnam (September 20, 1861 – August 14, 1955) was an American librarian. He was the eighth (and also the longest-serving) Librarian of Congress from 1899 to 1939. He implemented his vision of a universal collection with strengths in every language, especially from Europe and Latin America.
George Herbert Putnam was born in New York City at 107 East Seventeenth Street, the sixth son and tenth child of Victorine and George Palmer Putnam. The father, one-time collector of internal revenue in New York by appointment of Abraham Lincoln, was the founder of a well known publishing house, known previously as the Putnam Publishing house, but now known as G. P. Putnam's Sons.
In 1886, Herbert Putnam married Charlotte Elizabeth Munroe of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and together they had two daughters, Shirley and Brenda Putnam. Brenda Putnam grew up to become a celebrated sculptor in the early 20th century, highly known for her “children, cherubs, and garden ornaments.” Throughout Herbert Putnam’s career, he was described by his colleagues as maintaining “an impenetrable dignity…formal manner, invariable gracious and cordial, covered shyness and a deep reserve. He had few intimates, even among his closest colleagues, but he was fond of good company and good conversation” as well being “painfully modest, a family man who had an unreciprocated view of his staff as family.”
He died at his home in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on August 14, 1955.
After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1883, Putnam spent the following year at Columbia University Law School. Eventually, however, his interest in administrative work led him to the Minneapolis Athenaeum where he served as librarian in 1887, until it merged into the Minneapolis Public Library in 1888. Putnam was elected city librarian of the Minneapolis Public Library at that time and served while simultaneously being admitted to the Minnesota bar of Law. According to the Honorable Lawrence Lewis of Colorado at a Tribute for Putnam in 1939, Putnam at this time “modernized antiquated methods, revised the charging records of books on loan, inaugurated a new system of cataloging and classification, opened the alcoves to readers, [and] insisted that ‘there are two great problems of library management – one to get the books for the readers, the other to get the readers to the books.’” During this time he developed the Putnam Classification System (based in part on work by John Edmands), which would influence his later design of the Library of Congress Classification system.
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