Luther H. Evans

Luther Harris Evans (13 October 1902 – 23 December 1981) was an American political scientist who served as the tenth Librarian of the United States Congress.

Born in Bastrop County, Texas in 1902, Evans received his bachelor's (1923) and master's (1924) from the University of Texas at Austin and his doctorate from Stanford University (1927). He taught political science at New York University, Dartmouth College and Princeton University (1927- 1935). Evans left Princeton University abruptly after a faculty dispute. Friends referred him for help to the powerful Lehman family of New York, who got him an appointment with Harry Hopkins, the advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. At a meeting in the White House, Hopkins asked the young professor to propose a plan for a project Hopkins already wanted to do. Evans went back the next day and told Hopkins that the project wasn't worth doing. Instead, he pointed out that the States Archives of the United States were in a state of disarray with profound consequences to American history. Hopkins said, "Dr. Evans, you have a lot of guts -- I know you have no money and that your wife is nine months pregnant, and I have never thought about the state archives. But I hear that you have a good reputation."

This is how Evans came to organize and direct the Historical Records Survey for the Works Project Administration (1935-1939). After this, he was appointed by Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish as head of the Legislative Reference Service and later Chief Assistant Librarian of Congress.

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